Tropical World
April 4th, Chris Clarke’s twenty third birthday, saw a group of us head over to Tropical World in Roundhay. A bargain at three pounds to enter, we spent a good couple of hours walking round some excellent exhibits on tropical and exotic flora and fauna. The swamp zone contained a lot of butterflies and some cute little turtles along with some of the largest koi carp I have ever seen. After the sweltering humidity of the swamp, we headed through the rainforest part - where we were amused to see a pile of turtles, literally, climpbing over one another to get to the sun! The wildlife on show was simply staggering, we must have seen a hundred species at least. At three pounds, this is definitely on of the hidden gems in Leeds and I would recommend it to all!
Following the heat of the greenhouses we headed for a liquid lunch at a nice litte gastro pub, an even only marred by Matt picking up a parking ticket. With everyone else charged with preparing for Chris’ surprise party, Kieran, Chris and I headed over to the Original Oak for some light refreshment. This light refreshment turned into a bit of a session. It was a good, old fashioned, lazy afternoon - the conversation, company and drinks were a perfect combination!
7pm soon came round, the time of the surprise party, so Kieran and I got Chris on a bus and headed up to Bod. The evening was a great success, the wine flowed, the food was eaten and the conversation was sparkling - at least for the most part. With it being Easter the buses were not running all night, so we had to call it a night fairly early. With just one car, I headed home on the last bus.
All in all, a really good day!