There was a great song released years ago called 'Mamma's taking us to the zoo tomorrow' which I remembered singing when my mother was on the verge of taking me and my sister to the zoo.
Well fast forward about 40 years and I'm preparing to take my own children to the zoo in London. In these here times of technological white heat, you can look on the internet for opening times and buy tickets to avoid the queues.
It also saves the shock of arriving to find that to wander around London Zoo will cost you the best part of £100.
Actually it's going to be £67. But that's because I have declined the chance to add a £1.70 donation on each ticket to a fund to save the endangered North American Greengage Peacock.
I jest about the endangered peacock. But what about the endangered parislondonreturn bank account?
A trip to Sainsbury's at Harringay was enough to make the visit to the zoo look like a cheap day excursion.
But what do I expect? This is summer in the city and cities cost. London seems far more expensive than Paris. Maybe that's because it is far more expensive than Paris.
But there's no point bleating about it. I'm here with the children. They're over to see their paternal grandmother and that can only help a few months after losing their paternal grandfather.
But from the way the children have been behaving of late, I think they might be seeing some relations at the zoo.
