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Easter holiday break 18 April 2003 ~ 19:37 Wednesday 16 April was mine and nightdragon�s last day at the college where we work before our Easter holiday break. In our case, the break is extended by an extra three days of annual leave (Americans call it �vacation�) which we are taking to go to Boston for a week. This has left us with Thursday and Good Friday at home for some quality leisure time. Mark tried sunbathing today but, despite a high of 70 degrees, there was a stiff and quite cold breeze and he soon gave up in frustration. At least he had a good hour of warm sunshine yesterday, bless him.I decided this past Wednesday night would be a good time to pop around and visit my oldest friend Gary. (I don�t mean oldest as in he�s old, but in length of time I�ve known him, which will be twenty years next year! He�s actually three years younger than me!) It was a surprise visit as I�d been unable to get to speak to him on the phone�either land line or mobile�and hadn�t heard from him for several months, apart from one drunken phone call he�d made to me from an Erasure concert on his mobile, singing along to the band! When we got there, he took a while to answer the door, but eventually did because I�d done the �secret ring!� He later told us that when he�d peered out of the window and seen Mark�s long hair, he thought Mark was me! Anyway, we went in, Gary showed Mark around his flat, and he and Mark drank some wine and we chatted. We showed him our websites and he showed Mark his photos from his holidays in Australia and Thailand. We didn�t leave until half-past ten! It was great to see him again and catch up, and we both agreed to get together again soon. On Thursday my better half and I had a much-needed lie-in, then got up and pottered down to the local caf� for a bite to eat. Then we headed off to Victoria Station for a quick visit to the American Express office to change up some US dollars into sterling. We were a bit skint (hard up) so we decided to use some of the money we�d already got for our trip to Boston. That didn�t take long and then we hopped a train one stop to Batteresa Park station. The park is a lovely place and we planned to spend the afternoon there. Although it was a little late (3.30 p.m.) we managed to spend an hour sunbathing (it was a sunny 73 degrees with only a little breeze). Then we went to look around the small children�s zoo. There were pygmy goats, ducks, peacocks, tiny munjac deer, wallabys (brown and albino), a pot-bellied pig, meerkats, mongooses, otters (but they were hiding) reptiles, monkeys, lots of birds, and provost squirrels�a beautifully multicoloured Asian squirrel that they also have in London Zoo. But the highlight was the Red Squirrel Walk, an enclosure of the native British squirrel species (the greys are immigrants from North America). Last time Mark came with me they�d all been in their nesting boxes, but this time a solitary squirrel was feeding, sitting in the branches, looking at us. They are gorgeous creatures with their pretty ear tufts, little smaller than their grey cousins. After the zoo, we went to get a drink from the caf� and sit by the lake. It really was a fine day. See you in Boston!
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