A Bug's Life

You remember in January 2005 when the hamster escaped and I had to disassemble the cupboards to get him out? Putting them back together was more tricky, but I was delighted to find that the tenants had replaced a couple of the bits of wood and all I had to do was replace the doors. I have cupboards again, with doors like real people's cupboards and not embarrassingly shambolic!

I went on rhubarbfool's trip to Shepreth Wild Animal Park on Saturday, a short train ride away. We were in the Nocturnal House at feeding time - first the keeper put down some plates of fruit for the potteroos and they sat and nibbled. I got a few photos but without flash they're very dim and red and if I posted them they'd be with the caption "You had to be there, really." The special thing about this place is they have free-flying bats! Egyptian fruitbats, bodies the size of an orange, big thin leathery wings, would flutter and swoop past your head. They had fruit kebabs hung from the ceiling for them, and three of these huge creatures dived in, crawled around on the kebabs, and retreated to hang upside-down while eating banana. One of their bats can't fly, never could, and despite investigation they can't find out why. She has bred, though ("Probably couldn't get away from the males," said the keeper) and her children fly. She potters around in a separate part of the house, and was picked up so we got a good closeup view. Again I have photos, but you had to be there. The wings are amazing, so wrinkly, so different from birds'. Also: wolves, baby meerkats, huge blue macaws, noisy playful otters.

My project to make my own duvet cover is finished! She says, leading you to assume that she has made her own duvet cover. Much as I expected, I looked at fabrics at John Lewis, found some nice ones, saw they were dry clean only, found the cheapest plainest sheeting, worked out that for the cost of the fabric alone I could buy a duvet cover and four pillowcases and fitted sheet and did that instead.