I have always been intrigued how quickly a cafe will fill up once it has a couple of people in it. You may look into a cafe and think that as there is no one in the food will be bad. once you see other people inside it gives it a sense of credibility.

I recently stopped at an ice cream kiosk on the seafront, "hows business" I asked " terrible" the little old lady inside told me. I sat on a bench with a friend eating the ice cream, suddenly she had lots of customers. People saw me eating the ice cream and perhaps the idea of an ice cream seemed attractive or was it something deeper?

is there something that draws people to a certain spot at the same time?

I like to play in my sons pool team, Thats mostly so I get to see them, I don't know how the team and me evolved it just did. I'm probably the weakest player and don't get much of a chance to play I'm usually the reserve.

Last night we had to play a team that were top of the league. Every one of my team lost so they put me on last and I played the most amazing game..it was like magic,(despite someone shouting don't hit the balls till they take the black triangle of them!) I was shaking with nerves but my son whispered to me don't shake mum, the guy you are playing is shaking more than you he doesn't want to lose to a woman.

I doubled the black into the centre pocket and won, the other team were shaking my hand and remarked that it had been an exciting game...my team were jumping on me. I think sometimes you have to visualise success.

My daughter has now gone on holiday to Cyprus. I was asked to mind the dog which is sick, for I thought one week..

The day she went she said it was for two weeks...

Minding the dog might not have been too bad but I started with an inner ear problem and kept being sick. I was being sick and the dog was being sick...it was hard cleaning up the dogs sick and trying not to be sick on the dog! The smell of the dog sick was awesome....

The strange thing was the dog had something wrong with its ear too...

I was so proud on Thursday when I went to my son and daughters graduation ceremony. They had worked so hard to get their teaching certificates.

just next to the place where the ceremony was held was the old shop my daughter used to work in. she hated it there. The people were pretty mean, most days she was miserable going into work. by chance she heard her brother was going on a teacher training course and left the shop..

what joy it was for us standing outside the hall she was smartly dressed in her black gown and cap and knowing she had secured a highly paid job.

it was one of those blissful moments.....we watched the people going in the shop I said "They need someone to dress those windows"
we laughed

I did enjoy watching tribal wives on wednesday, its brilliant!

I have often thought to myself how I would like to live in a tribe, I like the idea of that sort of lifestyle, but being vegetarian I don't think I would eat much. A few berries maybe!

I like the idea of not being stuck in the office, just eating my berries and weaving...sleeping in a hammock...dangling my toes in the water....

I had no garden when I first moved into this house after a lot of toil its looking pretty good right now, trees are growing...theres roses and the big patch of bare earth is now grassy..

Its no good sitting in my chair outside though, because the family at the back of my fence have bought a giant trampoline

All I see all day is kids heads bobbing up, if they catch me looking they start to do acrobatics.. my peace and quiet has been shattered!

I need to get some big trees I think

I like the early morning at the zoo. The sunshine and the noises, the elephants opposite me.

sometimes they peer over their enclosure at me, I think they see my shop as an enclosure and me as another animal. We gaze at each other and I feel melting inside, they are such magnificent creatures and so gentle.

maybe they are waiting for me to put the radio on so they can dance..

I used to have a childhood fantasy of riding to school on an elephant but thats another story...

Before the customers can get into my shop they have to go through an enclosure with monkeys in, the monkeys are very mischievous and they love to steal things. The monkeys best item for stealing is a babys dummy. I can't say how many screaming babies have come through the portal of my shop...I certainly sell a lot of dummies. A snip for a pound!

The monkeys also like crisps and will decend on a crisp eater without mercy! They have stolen money and I pods..I don't know what happens to these items..

its lovely seeing the childrens faces as they walk through the door having seen the monkeys running about.

I have to make sure that none of the monkeys escape, none have on my shift!

I used to work in an office, now I work at the zoo.

I guess I have trouble sitting still for too long!

The bus going up to the zoo is a little tiny bus that breaks down quite often, it runs every half hour but is more likely to turn up after an hour. The journey to the zoo would be about 10 or 15 minutes in a car, but the little bus goes around 2 large council estates on route taking the journey to 45 minutes.

The bus stops at the top of a hill a fair distance away from the zoo. I get off at a little country lane and I have to run as the bus is always late and there is a clocking on machine. If I clock on more than 3 minutes late I lose 15 minutes pay and get told off.

running through the lane I notice polish workers littering the lane all smoking and talking on their mobile phones, the lane at the top reminds me of one of those victorian streets littered with people. As I run further down the lane squirrels are running about and they look so sweet, I love this lane in the summer the grass is so green and the sun shines through the woodland and makes amazing dapples of light.

it reminds me of "the secret garden"

Recently the lane has not been such a source of joy to me, as the weather has been wet and cold and I have holes in the soles of my shoes which feels uncomfortable running on pebbles...

I manage to clock on by the last second and I'm issued to a little shop in the centre of the zoo, called "The Water Garden" This shop is small but it has a radio and its outside the elephant enclosure.

I sit gazing at the elephants and would love to hug one!

When I put the radio on sometimes they swing their trunks and I'm sure they are dancing, they look so amusing and its like we have this special time between us. The elephants were rescued from a circus and would have been dead had the zoo not rescued them. The elephants remember their tricks though..maybe that's why they dance!

If the shop is quiet, I see the gamekeepers lifting up the elephant poo and cleaning their enclosure. I once asked about that and was told that often the gamekeepers injure thir backs with the weight of the poo. maybe there's worst jobs than mine!

Today I went to have a look at a ship that got wrecked on the beach, there was lots of people taking photos and two men sat on a rock guarding it. The base of the ship looked rusty...it looked rather sad lying in the sea a bit like a beached whale, it had a rusty bottom. at first it was the other way up but the wind and tide have moved the ship further north. I wished it had treasure on board but no it was carrying biscuits...a single chocolate finger floated on the surface of the water, confirming the cargo. The ship is called the "Riverdance" I think its danced its last Irish jig.

I work in a zoo, most people think thats quite funny, I'm not sure why. The leafy lanes around the zoo are scattered with polish people smoking, I hear them talking on their mobiles in Polish..Im always late in the morning as the bus runs every hour and get me there 3 minutes late. I'm always running past the Polish people to get into work and clock on...

My boss has told me off about being late, If I get the earlier bus I will have to leave the house an hour earlier.

This week is half term and the children will eat me alive! There are queues and queues of children all wanting to buy a pencil and a rubber each.

we sell dinosaurs on sticks and they like to bash me on the head with them as they are purchasing them. one child was throwing T shirts at me yesterday. we sell bags of sweets....they cost a fortune. its a pick and mix thing...it always costs more than the people imagine....I hope I have an easy day...I doubt it though!