Wednesday 28th

A little late in posting this, but finally got here in the end.

This morning I looked to my list of "to do's" for the Easter run-up and printed off a number of new and replacement ID signs. The Flamingo Paddock had to have all but one of its nine species replaced due to curling older signs (The unseasonal hot weather has taken its toll on some of the ID signs) and as there are two ID sign points in that aviary/paddock that was a total of 16 to be printed, cut, laminated, cut, stuck with double sided and put on display... along with about four other birds IDs. Then there was the ID, with the flagtail characin fish added, to be put up in the Aquarium... this would have to wait until late in the afternoon as the brilliant weather has meant there are many more visitors than we usually get at this time of year. This is great news, but does mean that it can be tricky trying to work up a step ladder when there are many people and kids around in a confined space. I'm also aware that it is not so nice for the public to have someone up a step ladder blocking their view of a tank as they walk through... So it is easier to wait until later in the day when most have gone home, to do such work.

So the morning was mostly spent working on the computer, as many of the ID's I am having to convert across from a Quark file to an Illustrator file before I print them. This is an ongoing job that will have to be done for all the ID signs (which is several hundred) I have on file in the computer. So for the time being rather than opening an ID file and being able to print it straight away.. I have to spend a few mins on each one, converting it.

After lunch there was an 'All Staff Meeting'. There are always two, each the same, held on different days, at different times, enabling all staff to attend one or the other. These are held every few months and are designed to keep all the staff apprised of what's happening with the zoo's plans for the future, coming season and any other interesting events or bits of news.

After attending the meeting I then was required to draw a dinosaur footprint. And no... we don't have any dinosaurs kept at the zoo! This is something special for the kids over Easter at the zoo.

Anna, my colleague, printed an image of a footprint from her computer - one that she has used on some of her design work recently and I then drew a 2" grid over it and hot-footed it to the Maintenance Department yard where a 8'x4' ply board was laying on the floor waiting for me. With a pencil I drew a 10" grid on this and then onto that I copied across the dino footprint, again with a pencil so that it was about a metre across in width and just over that in length. Once I was happy with the shape I used a marker pen to go over the outline. I use a marker pen as it is easier for the guy who has to cut round the outline with a jigsaw to see where the line is.

This is a job for the Maintenance Department - they will cut out that shape and use the hole in the board as a stencil to spray footprints onto one of the big lawns... as if a dinosaur had walked across it. Kids love this kind of thing don't they.... some adults too. As I was drawing the shape, several staff passed by and were intrigued and a little excited that I was doing a dinosaur footprint. Nigel, the Curator of Birds, said it looked remarkably like the footprint of a cassowary... which until recently we had housed at the zoo.

The cassowaries is are a type of bird, along the lines of an emu or ostrich. They may not be as big as either of those, but they are still big birds that can kick out with devastating force. Of their three toes, the inner one sports a long, thick claw with which they are easily able to inflict lethal injuries.

Having completed that job, it was then a bug rush to get the ID's I had done up and on display. Anna, helped me get the ID's up in the Aquarium and in the Flamingo Paddock before returning to the studio. This was a great help as time was pressing on and the animal houses (including the Aquarium and Flamingo Paddock) were shut and locked at 5pm... I didn't finish with the dino footprint til 4.40pm!

We got the Aquarium done first and were in the Flamingo Paddock, pulling off the old signs and sticking up the new ones when the keeper came to lock up. Thankfully, she kindly waited so we could finish.

Then there were just a few signs left to go on a few of the outside aviaries before I headed back to the studio... just in time to clear my desk and computer go home at 5.30pm.

There are still a few outstanding jobs on my "To do" list ... mainly cleaning off scuff and graffiti marks... but they will have to wait until Monday.