When I was young, my mother bought a season ticket to Fota. Every Sunday, she would say, “Will we go to Fota?” And every Sunday, we would groan, “Do we have to?” To be fair, I think the wildlife park may not have opened at that point and we were being asked to visit the arboretum and gardens rather than exotic wildlife every Saturday, so you can see why it might be unappealing.
A part of me knew that buying a season ticket to Dublin Zoo would see me repeat my mother’s experience and so it is. Now the prospect of a trip to the zoo is greeted with sounds of horrified protest. We’ve only been twice since I got the ticket but something about being able to get in free fills parents with enthusiasm and fills children with an equal and opposite measure of disgust. They don’t actually mind it once they get there, it’s the prospect of going there that fills them with dread. Look, have a picture from the zoo, why don’t you?
Are we all glad that NaBloPoMo is almost over?