'Wild Place'

This week the Graphics team have been at Wild Place putting up all the signage.

Monday 15th
I was late in due to me not setting my alarm the night before and the cat not waking me (as is her usual trick) from about 6am. Of all the mornings!

This week Phil asked me to bring the car in so that we had our own transport up to Wild Place (formerly known as Hollywood Towers Estate), so that we had freedom of when we went and how long we were there for. For the last few months both Phil and Louise have been working on the signage for the new visitor attraction, and now it was all coming back from the printers and being delivered straight to the site. All that was needed now was for us to put it all up. This includes not only animal ID and interpretation signs but all the signs for directional posts, car park, entrance, no entry's, staff only's, information panels, push and pull's for the lemur walk through, woodland pathway etc etc. Quite a stash of boards and panels some small and easily handled, others were large and needed several people to carry and put up.

We got up to Wild Place (WP) about mid morning and checked out the shed where all the signs were stored, wrapped in bubble wrap and stacked ominously high. 

Some of the signs to go up

Unfortunately it was discovered that a printing error had occurred; the printers had left off a white layer which made the graphics and photo images stand out. As the boards onto which it was all printed was a light wood, it rendered the photo images much more dull than both Louise and Phil had designed them to be. There were a few other issues and so without getting anything done we headed back to the zoo so that Phil could contact the printers and try and sort something out. WP is opening next Monday, so that leaves no time for a major reprint of all the signs. 

Once the printers had been contacted and a few things sorted we headed back to WP again (6 miles car travel from the zoo) and got there around 12.30pm. Phil set Anna and I on the directional signs and he and Louise sorted other signs.

The first 'directionals' go up

The weather was toasty hot and we had to wear Hi-viz jackets, which are not at all helpful for trying to keep cool as they trapped and held the heat! Sturdy boots or shoes had to be worn also. Hats, cool light tops and shorts were a must.. as was carrying plenty of water about with you.

Anna and I had a dilly loaded with lots of square 'directionals' which were to be screwed to a total of 7 wood posts. Each post had a different array of squares sometimes on three or four sides. We had to work out which side of the post was coded a,b,c or d and then find the correct directionals to go on in the right order. They had to be lined up pretty accurately as if the top one was out, that just got progressively more out of line the further down the post you got. Which was a little frustrating to get right at times especially when dealing with a flat surface that was bowed in the middle so the squares wobbled as the screws went in. More frustrations were with the cordless screwdriver we had which is an old cheap one that has seen better days and quickly lost its power, so didn't have the umph at times to drive the screws in past a harder section of wood, like a knot. Oh how Anna and I cussed and swore at the stupid thing! It was consequently a much slower progress than we would have liked. By 4.30 we were only on our second post! We couldn't believe how long it was taking.

We all left the site and headed back to the zoo a short while after, hot and tired from the afternoon's work.

Back in the studio before I went home I did a little more work on creating layers in some of the new Bug World ID's.


Tuesday 16th

Before we headed back up to WP this morning I had time to amend a scientific name, on a invertebrate ID sign, and print it ready to laminate tomorrow.

Back up to WP and carrying on as we did yesterday with Anna And I on the directionals. There is a lot of work going on up there and many workmen, trucks, tractors, diggers etc moving around. It looks a long way off being ready in time, but somehow these things always seem to get pulled out of a hat at the last minute. 

The 'Model Village' - the visitor centre with shop, cafe etc still with much work to be done on it

Anna and I caught up with the two guys, Mike and Martin, who were cementing in the wood posts ahead of us. So Phil gave us some ID signs to put up for the zebra, eland and pygmy goats. 

A completed post showing two of the three sides.

The photo for Blackhorse Wood is one of mine.

Again the day was spent in the scorching sun, walking back and forth over the site between the shed where the signage was stored and where the signs were going up. We were in the swing of it more now and Louise joined Anna and myself as we put up various signs around the Secret Congo section. Louise doing some precarious climbing up high fences to get a banner cable-tied in place. 

For the most part I felt unhappy that I was not able to do as much as I wished... I had a frozen shoulder last year and although I am now in the pain free recovery phase.... my wearing of a rucksack and carrying bags getting the train to and from work for a couple of month had aggravated my shoulder which is now pretty much sore all the time and obviously very troublesome to use for anything requiring height, pressure, strength etc. So Anna insisted on doing the bulk of the work and I acted as her assistant handing her signs, screws etc, which didn't make me feel very good and pretty useless!

We had a short lunch break by the sensory foot trail... Anna and Louise tried it out quickly. The glass seemed the most scary! 

Anna and Louise trying out the Sensory Foot Trail

We finished about 4.30 and headed back to the zoo.


Wednesday 17th

After laminating the invertebrate sign and taking it up to Bug World first thing this morning I was dismayed to be told that the scientific name was still wrong. I had changed one part but not another! So I had to go back to the computer change the spelling again, reprint and laminate! Got that done before Phil, Anna and myself headed up to WP. No Louise today as she doesn't work Wednesdays but she will be there Thursday and Friday to help Phil with the last of the signage.

Another long hot tiring day at WP. We seemed to have got a good proportion of the signs up. First one this morning was the main entrance sign... This was not as tricky as we had thought and we managed between the three of us to get the two panels in place for this sign... and then we covered it, so that people didn't see it and think it was already open.

The main entrance sign before it was screwed into its final position

Anna was not fairing well in the heat, she had had enough, really, by mid afternoon. But she gritted her teeth and pressed on. AT last we were able to finish off the directional posts.. Mike and Martin having cemented in the last two as we waited. All around there is a hive of frantic activity as zoo staff and contract workers hurry to get the last of the jobs done. I can't wait to see it all done and finished and accepting visitors.

The ceremonial photo of the last 'directional' being screwed into place.

The highlights for me of this week was seeing the two yearling eland males. They were in the holding paddock on Monday but out in the main grass paddock on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Eland

They look magnificent, yet they still have a lot of growth and bulking up to do, as they mature in to the largest antelope species. The Chapman's zebra arrived Tuesday and Wednesday... they weren't yet out in the grass paddock but looked eager to be so. The pygmy goats were very cute but we didn't see the lemurs (they were shut in after arriving on Wednesday), the helmeted guinea fowl have yet to arrive, but the okapi looked great in the dappled shade of their paddock. 

Female okapi

Phil and Louise still had quite a bit to get done for the Thursday and Friday. I won't find out how it has all gone until I get back to the zoo in a week's time. I have next week booked off as holiday as I am teaching a 5 day batik workshop in Gloucester.

I'm eager to know how it all went and to go and see Wild Place up and running.