weekends & foxes
Apr. 16th, 2003 04:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julietWork do on Friday evening tolerably fun (lots of v good food). Although now I am SUFFERING the consequences as Andrew nicked off to the pub still clutching the pint glass I use for water-consumption, & left it there. I do have a mug from which to drink water, but it holds less & thus requires more downstairs-trips.
Anyway.
Saturday, Pete & I went to do a little demonstrating around noon (it's pretty much back down to the usual suspects now, although was still larger than most demos I've been on). Then buggered off on reaching Piccadilly Circus, towards Regent's Park for Martin-birthday-picnicking. Over the course of the afternoon, many folk turned up, including![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
beingjdc, j4, uon, lots of GIFT people, some of whom I hadn't seen in ages, mbm, & assorted others. There was picnic, and then there was PUB with added BEER. Whisked j4 off into a corner to discuss rural transport & presentations for a bit (& she got the job! Hurrah!). Had ice-cube fights. Talked complete nonsense at customary great length. Exchanged many PGP keys. And then there was FOOD (at Ask, who do good pizza), & MORE BEER, till closing time. Was feeling a little stressed by this time, so probably as well that everyone chose to take themselves off home rather than having more Martin-birthday-fun elsewhere.
Sunday I headed up to Camden (after exciting chores such as rat-cage-cleaning were completed) to meet up withwintrmute & have a little wander round. I really, really, didn't mean to buy anything. So, I wound up with a nice bias-cut purple strappy dress with flowers made of sequins on it (it's pretty!). And a very very short skirt. No, really, I do mean *very* short. I wasn't going to buy it, due to concerns about its shortness (despite wintrmute's urging me that it was fine. But then got to the pub & decided I did want it after all & had to go back. Whoops. Must Spend Less Money. Was fun, though - the general wandering part, as well as the shopping part.... Still haven't found any nice shoes, though.
Monday morning, I was on my way to the West Country, to visit the League's sanctuaries down there. This was supposed to be an induction-type visit, & should really have occurred sometime *before* I'd been working for the League for half a year.
It was, of course, lovely weather, which helped - but even in nasty weather, it's a gorgeous bit of countryside. Over the couple of days, we met all the staff at the sanctuary (who are all v nice), & had explained to us what sort of work they do (land maintenance, habitat surveys, education-type stuff, hunt monitoring, etc etc); went for walks through no fewer than 3 of the different pieces of sanctuary land the League owns (there's somewhere around 50 in total, I think) - I particularly liked the boggy wood; were introduced by Adrian to the concept of eating new hawthorne leaves & wild garlic leaves (wild garlic leaves are very strong, but nice); saw some deer (from a distance - they run away if you get too close); met a rescued foxhound; and met a tame fox who was utterly *gorgeous* (Stanley was found in a tower-block in Birmingham after the inhabitants of the flat had been evicted; he was far too tame to be rehabilitated to the wild, so he lives in a nice big enclosure at Baronsdown with Rosie, another fox from a similar background. She's a bit shyer, though) & came charging up to us & rolled over to have his tummy tickled, bless. And I got *paid* for all this, too. Ace.
Only a 2-day week this week, therefore. And have been v productive today, go me, despite the fact that it's gorgeous weather & I wish only to go sit in the park and enjoy it. I lack green spaces in the vicinity of the office for lunchtime, dammit. Mind you, I suppose there's always the courtyard of the George, which whilst not green, *does* feature beer & sunshine (nb: sunshine not guaranteed by management, available only on whim of weather). Anyone fancy beer & chips tomorrow lunchtime at the George, assuming it remains sunny?
Anyway.
Saturday, Pete & I went to do a little demonstrating around noon (it's pretty much back down to the usual suspects now, although was still larger than most demos I've been on). Then buggered off on reaching Piccadilly Circus, towards Regent's Park for Martin-birthday-picnicking. Over the course of the afternoon, many folk turned up, including
beingjdc, j4, uon, lots of GIFT people, some of whom I hadn't seen in ages, mbm, & assorted others. There was picnic, and then there was PUB with added BEER. Whisked j4 off into a corner to discuss rural transport & presentations for a bit (& she got the job! Hurrah!). Had ice-cube fights. Talked complete nonsense at customary great length. Exchanged many PGP keys. And then there was FOOD (at Ask, who do good pizza), & MORE BEER, till closing time. Was feeling a little stressed by this time, so probably as well that everyone chose to take themselves off home rather than having more Martin-birthday-fun elsewhere. Sunday I headed up to Camden (after exciting chores such as rat-cage-cleaning were completed) to meet up with
wintrmute & have a little wander round. I really, really, didn't mean to buy anything. So, I wound up with a nice bias-cut purple strappy dress with flowers made of sequins on it (it's pretty!). And a very very short skirt. No, really, I do mean *very* short. I wasn't going to buy it, due to concerns about its shortness (despite wintrmute's urging me that it was fine. But then got to the pub & decided I did want it after all & had to go back. Whoops. Must Spend Less Money. Was fun, though - the general wandering part, as well as the shopping part.... Still haven't found any nice shoes, though. Monday morning, I was on my way to the West Country, to visit the League's sanctuaries down there. This was supposed to be an induction-type visit, & should really have occurred sometime *before* I'd been working for the League for half a year.
It was, of course, lovely weather, which helped - but even in nasty weather, it's a gorgeous bit of countryside. Over the couple of days, we met all the staff at the sanctuary (who are all v nice), & had explained to us what sort of work they do (land maintenance, habitat surveys, education-type stuff, hunt monitoring, etc etc); went for walks through no fewer than 3 of the different pieces of sanctuary land the League owns (there's somewhere around 50 in total, I think) - I particularly liked the boggy wood; were introduced by Adrian to the concept of eating new hawthorne leaves & wild garlic leaves (wild garlic leaves are very strong, but nice); saw some deer (from a distance - they run away if you get too close); met a rescued foxhound; and met a tame fox who was utterly *gorgeous* (Stanley was found in a tower-block in Birmingham after the inhabitants of the flat had been evicted; he was far too tame to be rehabilitated to the wild, so he lives in a nice big enclosure at Baronsdown with Rosie, another fox from a similar background. She's a bit shyer, though) & came charging up to us & rolled over to have his tummy tickled, bless. And I got *paid* for all this, too. Ace.
Only a 2-day week this week, therefore. And have been v productive today, go me, despite the fact that it's gorgeous weather & I wish only to go sit in the park and enjoy it. I lack green spaces in the vicinity of the office for lunchtime, dammit. Mind you, I suppose there's always the courtyard of the George, which whilst not green, *does* feature beer & sunshine (nb: sunshine not guaranteed by management, available only on whim of weather). Anyone fancy beer & chips tomorrow lunchtime at the George, assuming it remains sunny?
