Swans, spiders, and Pelicans?

England are famous for their swans, and in a brief wander of St James' Park last week, we saw some swans, as should be expected. I am by no means an admirer of birds, but must admit that these are magnificent animal. Slightly further up the path, we turn around a bend and what should we see but some Pelicans. Not happily behind the comforting barrier (really just a chain...but it makes me feel better) but right in the path! These birds are enormous. So John and Sarah go right up to them, and I, being a brave soul, make a bee-line to the furthest possible point from the birds. Even from 25 feet away, i was fully amazed at these birds! They easily weigh more than Sarah, and just stood there with a subtle calm as people and other birds flurried around them in excitement.

The other thing England should be noted for is the number of spiders! While out jogging I have seen a notable number of excellent spider webs (i have always been fascinated with the patterns in a spider web). In addition, the spiders guarding these webs were no tiny beings...they were quite large! As well, there are seemingly millions of tiny spiders; while sitting in the field during Sarah's footie training, and again later during John's match, numerous tiny black ant-sized spiders would find their way up my leg or arm. Hard not to feel crawly after that.

In non-animal related news, tomorrow I go to orientation at Birkbeck (The college in University of London that takes care of us MA students). I also have a formal registration this week, and a meet-up with my classmates, where we'll take in a production of Macbeth that was at the Camden Fringe (including a performance from one of my classmates). Looking forward to getting down to the theatre business here in Londontown.