Random Things

I first visited the enthralling Wellington Zoo as a Blenheim teenager visiting the Capital to spend an enjoyable weekend with his girlfriend. At one point, we merged in the crowd watching the chimpanzee tea party, which was then a feature of the Zoo’s attractions. Today, the show would be considered quite inappropriate.

The chimps were taken out of their enclosure into an outdoor amphitheater. They were trained to sit around a concrete table and take afternoon tea like hairy humans. Zookeepers supervised and tried to keep order. The combined antics were quite entertaining. We, however, were tired of the show before it was finished and I suggested we climb up the steep bank at the back rather than depart by the usual exit and disturb the view of other patrons.
We’d almost reached the top when now doubtless looking like two cartoon characters, we simultaneously slipped on wet grass and went tumbling back to the bottom of the slope, winding up at the back of the tea party audience.

I can’t recall what happened next, apart from our picking ourselves up and feeling horribly embarrassed. If anyone saw us tumble, we probably would have looked as amusing as the chimps.

It’s a random accident, among other random things, that I still vividly remember after sixty years.

And no, it didn’t cause my girlfriend to break up with me. Later, we married each other.