Extreme Clowning's London Zoo trip - Sponsored by Ben's Cookies and funded by Ftarce strictly cartoons

Firstly a huge thank you to everyone who made this day possible

Including all of the supporters of the strictly carton Auction on TWITTER, Lisa Riley and Robin Windsor, and The Strictly come dancing Band.

Secondly i would like to add a very special thank you to the amazing zoo keepers at London Zoo who made Jimmy's visit extra special and allowed us to get up close and personal with the animals.

It became a true day to remember - thanks to them

And not last but least a huge thank you to Fran and Tamsim from Ben’s Cookies for donating an amazing box of Cookies

http://www.benscookies.com/our-stores/

well here are the photos people - enjoy.

6am Wake up!

Reminiscing about his last trip to London zoo 25 years ago

hat hair anyone?

our lunch picnic became breakfast – jimmy suffering from blind persons cling film nightmare

are we there yet ?

Jimmy feeling the tiles on the underground and he then informed he had found a square!

Jimmy almost moaning about the long hard ten minute walk to the zoo! lazy git

Jimmy having a good ole grope! he gets so much from statues like this

wait Japanese tourists wait lol

These were great – he really loved these

oh dear!
 

Scary Bird!
 

 

big leaf anyone ?
 

 

In the Reptile house feeling the raised textured skin freezes – tortoise

 

snake
 

 

Lizard
 

 

Big fat hairy pigs!
 

 

trying to encourage Jimmy to stroke a sheep!
 

WE LOVE THIS LADY – we asked her if we could stroke a rabbit as when i wrote to London Zoo they said and i quote –

“ The only animals that can be touched at the zoo are the animals in the children's petting zoo” so we went there and we couldn't actually

reach the rabbits to stroke them so this lovely lady helped us

and she then took us to feed a Lama!

 

Brave Jimmy
 

 

And then this amazing woman took us to meet honey

who is a member of the Racoon family
 

 

And then – just when you thought she couldnt do anymore…..
 

Jimmy stroked a Meercat
 

Jimmy loved the Butterfly house

Myself and claire got a bit sad a couple of times throughout the day

as we really wished that he could see the amazing things that we could

the beautiful butterflys was one of them

the size and colours was amazing
 

 

at one point Jimmy did get excited and thought he had one land on his head but it turned out to be a drooping leaf from a tree!
 

 

Claire telling Jimmy about the HUGE dragon – he was in skyfall apparently
(the dragon - not Jimmy)
 

 

Jimmy feeling a textured model of his skin
 

 

We was advised by seb – the reptile keeper that it may be to our advantage

if we met him outside the giant tortoise house at 2 – wink wink
 

 

And at 2 we was invited into meet Dirk, Dolly and Dolores
This was AMAZING
 

 

as Jimmy also got to see what an enclosure was like
 

 

when he last went 25 years ago everything was in cages

and now i told hm that had all changed he got a bit confused

he kept asking me if there was glass or wire

he seemed to think they was all walking about

so this really helped
 

 

Dirk was a star he was also BLOODY MASSIVE!
 

 

Here i am relaying a question from Jimmy to the keeper

about the tortoises poo and how big was it!

 

The skin at the front of the leg was rough and like armour
 

 

but the skin at the back of the leg was very soft
 

 

Brave Jimmy – have a feel on his own
 

And now penguins

 

these bite so we didnt get in the water
 

 

but jimmy was able to feel movement though the vibrations of the glass
 

 

Now – going back to amazing zoo keeper

you know the one we had met in the beginning with the rabbit - Susie

well she radio’d her friend Lucy who looks after the lemurs and we was invited to feed them!
 

 

YES WE WAS INVITED INTO TO FEED THEM!!!!
 

 

We was all so excited – especially claire as they are her favourite
 

You are about to see quite a lot of photos that are very similar
but this was such an opportunity i just kept snapping away
 

 

Getting used to there tiny feet climbing all over him
 

The shop
Now I always leave this until last
mostly because jimmy is like an old lady and takes forever
but the main reason is i use the toys to relate to the animals that we have seen
during the day - this will help him to remember the animal, or even make a connection to an animal that he has felt before and not know the name
the Schleich animals in particular are amazing
as they are so accurate
 

Obviousley we didnt see smurfs at the zoo but i love them so i took a photo
 

Just look at the concerntration in that face

Jimmy purchased 3 more animals for his collection
he bought a giant tortiose and a lama (2 animals he had met that day)
and an oxo! (an ox to us)

After the zoo we caught a bus straight to Oxford street Jimmy told me how much he loved the big red double decker bus i beleive they bring memories back from when he used to live in london with his family
we got off at oxford circus where we

was to pick up a box of cookies that Bens Cookies had kindly Donated for us
they was amazing - Jimmy really loved them
So a HUGE thank you to Bens cookies for there kindness
it went a long way xx

http://www.benscookies.com/our-stores/

We popped to Cyber candy before we got the train home and Jimmy was falling asleep
he was so tired he was falling down!

we foget his thought process is not like ours and the communication really wears him out, and with all of the excitement and new information he was knackerd!
so we caught a taxi sraight to Kings cross

Once on the train he ate 2 more cookies and came alive again...
 

and decided to put his hoody on back to front!
 

and there wear his hat
 

so there you have it

a totally amazing day

full of suprises

And a lot of loose ends tied up for jimmy - where he had been told about an animal and finally

been able to feel them this allows him to put the 2 together and make a clearer picture

The lemurs and the tortoises was the highlight of the day

he had been told about lemurs by us but had no recollection of them from when he could see - so to him they are a reasonably new animal

and he had also only even seen a small tortoise

he never knew they could grow as big as dirk

so thank you zsl keepers for everything - Susie, Seb and Lucy

And thank you twitter followers with your support

for the strictly cartoons

your kind donations made this day happen

Just to add to this blog

as it was such a long blog it took me quite a while

i started in on saturday night when we got home and finished it sunday morning

i was just about to post it and jimmy came in and put a hex bug down my crack and it made me press delete! and i lost the whole bloody blog - luckily my wife managed to restore it - so thank you claire