January 2022 - Political events & friendly animals!

 January and 2022 came, so happy new year to you all! And by god was it cold. This had to have been the coldest winter for a long time. It was so cold in fact, that my friend and colleague Mel (who is Welsh, but I don't hold it against her!) refused to let me walk home from work, and would drop me home instead. We went out to her car after finishing the late shift, and I discovered these beautiful patterns in the frost on the roof of her car. We were then told that January was the warmest January on record, with temps of 15 degrees. I don't know where that was, but Southampton was having it's own mini ice age!

Isn't that beautiful? Her car is a gold colour, and it just seemed to sparkle.

Something that didn't sparkle however, was some of the breaking news regarding Covid. Infections had reached over 200,000 in one day, but that wasn't the worst bit of it all. The worst bit, was what was now deemed as "Partygate". While the country was in lock down, the Conservative party was throwing parties, bring your own booze events, mass gatherings all within Downing Street. Even on the evening before Prince Phillip's funeral, there was a party held at number 10. An apology was issued for that very quickly, but yet no apology was given to the British public. Throughout this entire scandal, not once did anyone come out and issue a heartfelt apology to the nation. Every time it was a "I'm sorry that I was caught". It is disgusting, and it put a real dent in the reputation of the Conservative party. I had broadly agreed with most of their policies put in during Covid, in particular the furloughing program, which had meant that many people like me in low paid jobs had a chance at not losing everything when we were unable to work. But the thought that while the entire country had put their lives on hold, unable to see family & friends, there were large parties and gatherings taking place in Downing street, is unforgivable. The Metropolitan Police force then began an investigation, but we will have to see what that turns out like, as they don't exactly have the greatest reputation also. It's like letting a convict investigate another convicts crimes. The crisis seems to be worsening, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Enough about political scandals, James took me out for the day to Studley Grange Butterfly World. It's just outside Swindon, and it's one of our favourite places to visit. Excuse it's ramshackle appearance, inside it's charming, full of beautiful animals, as well as craft shops and a café.

There's many different species of butterflies present, as well as a large Koi pond

I suppose I could write an inspirational quote about these budgies and how you should always stand out and be true to yourself, but this is just a group of yellow/green budgies with a blue one who all seem to be fine just chilling out. Think of your own inspirational quote for it!

It was still very cold, and these Ferrets were all snuggled up together to stay warm. I warmed up with a cup of tea and a toastie in the café!

Why do Sheep always have this look of confusion and wonder at the same time? It's like they can't believe what they are seeing in front of them, and so they just sort of stare at you with that look. They are so adorable though!

But the stars of the show are always the Goats. They will run to you when they see you coming, desperate for food and attention, although more so for the food. They all have personalities, and you just can't help but love them! Here's one eating out of James hand while trying to climb over the fence! We then walked back through the Butterfly bit, and I saw this gorgeous one sat on an orange. Such a beautiful colour! 

Entrance is £9.45 for adult, and obviously less for children. Have a look at their website: Butterfly World for more information, opening times and events.

Here's my breakfast one morning before work, a pot of tea and leftover pide from the night before. I used to eat pide constantly while I was in Türkiye, it's like a really thin pizza in an eye shape with any toppings you want, but it has this most fantastic sesame taste to it. I've just discovered Uni Kebab, here in Southampton, and theirs are fantastic, even if the service is often quite slow. But it is so worth it!

I was at work, when I had a phone call come in from a customer who had been in the store earlier. She explained she needed a stick to walk with, but had left it in the store while shopping earlier. Amazingly, she'd hung it in the fridge with the cream and just completely forgot it was there. Her son came in, and explained how embarrassed she was for doing it. I told him it had all made us smile, and we had kept it safe. It's probably something I'm going to end up doing when I get older, I am forever leaving things dotted around, or taking things home with me, as was evidence a couple of days later when I accidently took the master keys home with me for the safe and only discovered after I had gotten home! Thankfully James drove me back to work to drop them off, I don't think I could have done the 40 minute walk each way all over again!

January was also James's birthday. We don't really do birthdays, and it wasn't a big one, but I still wanted to get him a little something. I managed to find a lovely alpaca scarf and matching hat from John Lewis for him. Here's Husky helping me wrap it up and then taking the credit for it! I'm terrible at wrapping, I normally get James to wrap all my presents up for me, but I couldn't really make him wrap his own birthday present up now could I? 

Or could I?