They're just lyin' around...

My daughter and I went to the Metro Toronto Zoo on Monday because she wanted to photograph the animals. She needed images for her animation research.

It was hot. Oh, God it was sooo hot. We strolled leisurely along concrete paths emblazoned with multicoloured footprints, reading signs that led us to Eurasia, Africa and The Americas. The pavilions were hotter than outdoors, even if they protected us from the blazing sun. I welcomed the breeze kicked up by passing exotic birds and butterflies. I blinked stinging sweat from my eyes in order to focus on the wildlife. I felt a layer of grease on my face, convinced that the other patrons noticed. I asked a lady how she could look so cool, and she assured me she was melting, too.



Outdoors, we stuck to the shade and sipped from our water bottles which were becoming warmer by the minute. I mentally tracked several beads of sweat rolling between my shoulder blades and past my waistband. I know, I know... too much information.


In the African Savannah, I noticed my personal mecca, a group of umbrellas emblazoned with Molson Canadian logos. Beer! Cold, frosty, bubbly beer! We trudged up the hill and ordered two fries, and I secured a table for us under a canopy. I approached the lad mopping the bar and asked where the beer was, peering hopefully at the frosted glass on the tall refrigerator.

He said, "Sorry, no beer. They're not serving today." He gestured helpfully at the canteen where we had obtained the six dollar French fries. "They have Sprite and such there."

Really. Really? Seriously? The first day of summer and it's a hundred and twenty degrees in the shade, and they don't have freakin' beer?

Sigh. We sat and gobbled our fries, and powered through to the end.



Most of the animals were asleep in the shade. The only active ones seemed to be the fish. I petted a snake and watched a giraffe use his tongue like a snake to grab a banana from a keeper.


If anything, I walked off the fries.