Bob's odd holiday

Yes I know I’ve not written anything here in ages. No I didn’t die; scarily I’ve actually been doing work! (Shock horror!) Then I finally got my summer holiday…at the end of October…so not so summery then. It was brilliant though. 10 days of doing nothing! (and making corrections to my second year report :( - yes even on holiday I couldn’t completely escape work)

So I was gona blog about the brilliant holiday but…it was mostly brilliant because I didn’t do anything exciting or blog worthy. I mean I saw some odd comedy and sang along to some class holiday entertainment acts, climbed a 9m climbing wall and abseiled back down, and made a voodoo fairy vanish. But other than that it was pretty much just relaxing. I did some knitting, read a few ‘fun new occult mystery novels’, watched prison break (why would someone call their kid Wentworth?) and planned for nano… not exactly blog worthy. But well needed.

I got back home on Monday and almost wished that I could go back and have another 10 day holiday…except there were 3 good things about coming home:

1. Nano has started: national novel writing month, the aim of which is to get 50 000 words worth of fiction written over 30 days (November). I did it last year so I’m having a go again.

2. I missed my snails! I’ve finally rehomed most of the babies I kept so now there’s just Nicky, Dovitz and 2 un-named not quite baby anymore snails waiting to be painted and named. I’ll post about that later me thinks.

3. My Shower!!!!

I feel the shower incident may require a whole post of its own but here goes. So we stayed in a caravan on a lovely camp site/holiday park type place with its own swimming pool and amusements and nightly entertainment (plus prize bingo which I’m reliably informed you have to dress up as a little old lady to win). There were also showers of the usual camp site standard. Always slightly too cold, you can’t move the shower head, pick one without mud walked into it and good luck keeping your clothes dry. So I usually look forward to escaping, but this time it was far worse…
There was a poo in the shower!!!


No not that Pooh, the other kind…ew.

Seriously! I mean it’s not as if the toilets aren’t right next door or anything…freaks. I feel so sorry for whichever cleaner got stuck clearing that up. Ew.

So anyhoo I am back now, back to the snails and nano and my lovely poo-free shower! And maybe back to getting some blogging done as well…although most of my free time may be taken up by blatting out 50 000 words of vaguely coherent fantasy.

Baby Snails!

Just a month late... here's some pics of my baby snails:


And baby on daddy/mummy's shoulders:


As the snails are hermaphrodites they are kinda both male and female (hense they each got each other pregnant). I'm pretty sure that for the first lot of babies Dovi was the dad and Nicky the mum and vice versa for the second set (they had about 100 babies each!!)

The babies are now about a month old and a lot bigger, will have to get more pics!!

I also (finally) added some folliage to their tank including some basil and coriander (no I am not ready seasoning them for eating!!) but they do really like the herbs. Now just empty pots half burried in the tank...may need to get more.

Snail update #2...

The snails are still alive!! Woo hoo!! I haven’t killed them yet!!


However, they still have not moved to their new digs :( Things have been so hectic here I haven’t had time to steal them some compost!! Hopefully by next week Nicky and Dovitz should be in their giant tank (180L for 2 snails!!)

For now though they are still pottering about in their small home and seem happy enough. I was worried that the weather over the weekend might bake them. Yes I know ‘giant AFRICAN land snails’ so they should be used to a little heat, but I still worry about them. For no reason apparently. They have been out happily wandering their tank again and munching their way through much cucumber, cabbage, lettuce, tomato, apple, courgette, banana, pine apple, peach, strawberry, melon…

I’m told I’m spoiling them! But it’s fun finding out what they like to eat and what they turn their noses up at (or would turn their noses up at; if they had noses). For instance banana they just left alone (so I was going to make banana bread out of it until some helpful person threw them away! Yes they were a little brown, but that’s perfect for making banana bread!) Cucumber however they love. Or at least they love the softer middle bit and tend to leave rings of cucumber skin.

And just for you Ro I’ll take a break from fitties, just snail pictures today. (And I’d find it really disturbing if anyone thinks they’re fit!)

Snail Update #1

Nicky and Dovitz have been living in their tank with me now for just under a month. Their normal daily activity comprises of: lying burried in their compost and not moving. Not the most exciting of pets...

However today both snails decided to go for a wander.



Dovitz (usually the more timid of the two) did a full floor to ceiling to floor again loop before eating some tomato and doing a good impression of a head stand! (unfortunately no pics)

Nicky briefly wandered over to the tomato...then burried himself again (see the pic of Nicky going all stretchy stretchy to reach his meal)

A few explanations...

I thought it best to start with a few quick explanations...

Who is Odd Bob?

Well that's me. Obviously Bob is not my real name and no I won't tell you what my real name is!! All I will tell you is that Bob is a nick name I picked up after watching far too much Blackadder...

Blackadder: "What is your name, boy ?"
'Boy': "Kate."
Blackadder: "Kate, that's an unusual name for a boy."
'Boy': "It's short for ... Bob."

No my name isn't Kate either... I am a girl though. And that's about all I'm going to tell you about me now...

Who is Kris?

Kris is an odd character that hopped into my mind a few years back. He goes wander off through fiction and fantasy to find me things of interest. Occasionally I may add 'Kris updates' with where he's been and what new fandoms he's found for me to wander in...

Who are the snails?

The snails are...well they're snails. Nicky and Dovitz (if you watch motoGP you may recognise the names...if not...o well)



Nicky and Dovitz are Giant African Land Snails. Although being only a few short months old they aren't so much giant as just big at the moment.

((Just a quick note for any law abiding zoologists out there, Giant African Land Snails or GALS are a dangerously invasive species which are illegal to keep as pets in some countries!! Fortunately I live in the UK where it is perfectly fine...so long as I don't let them free!))

There will be occasional updates on the life and times of my little GALS because...well mostly just because. There's bound to be someone bored enough out there who'll read it!!

I think that just about brings you up to date...