Summer Ball Bombed - and - The Secrets of Woodlands

Me in my extra special dress
(another thing probably more worth £45)

Well I would like to start by saying that I have paid a total of £55 for the two events I attended this weekend: £45 for the Summer Ball and just £10 for Woodlands with the Rock Society, and you know the worst thing? Those prices would have been more justifiable if they had been switched.
Ok ok, I know what you'd say. The Summer Ball required a large ticket price to pay for the free champagne (cheap bottles of plonk, though), the tents and the music, etc. but it really didn't live up to the hype of the video I watched for last year's event. I got myself dressed up in a bit of a hurry last night because I still couldn't paint my nails properly without risking them smudging.....sigh. Then I forgot to pluck my eyebrows with only 1/2 hour to go! Somehow made it out to meet my friend Jenna by 7.10pm. We walked the red carpet to enter, received our free plastic 'flute' of 'champagne' and wandered the area of campus covered with tents, music stages, and two fairground rides, and came to the conclusion which I mentioned. We even had to pay for the food and drink (which was also rubbish - £6 for a pot of greasy noodles). Only when another two friends arrived did we try to enjoy ourselves and dance. But by 11pm, stuck in a heavy jostling crowd of drunk and raving people, I figured, Craig David or no Craig David (he was the only musician on the set that night which i knew), it wasn't going to get any better so I called it a night and went home.

Derpy farting dino!!

Today it was an equal rush to get out in time, and when I got to the meeting place, there was no one I knew well, so I spent today all on my lonesome. Not that I'm complaining; I've found I'm my own best company when exploring new places like this. Found a valley of dinosaurs with motion-activated sound (the Apatosaurus sounded like it was farting!); found a secret path through the Fantasi Forest; petted a few goats and pitied the sad looking bunnies and snakes and porcupines. In the nocturnal creatures dome, there was a cage labelled Hamsters with one hamster....and one gerbil......(well done) it was a place I kept returning to, though, because you were asked to be quiet inside and it was dark, just the sound of the gerbil running on its wheel.

Evita <3

I did, however, find a falconry enclosure which was heaven for me because I LOVE birds of prey. In the entrance was a bird called a Caracara whose name was Evita and she was BEAUTIFUL (felt so sad for her being caged up - like all the others). Each bird I could imagine seeing soaring through some forest or across a mountain range in Canada or Australia, and it filled me with wonder. I stayed so long I drew the attention of the guy tending the area and we chatted for a little while before I wandered off to get ice cream (strawberry double cone - mmmm)
It was such an interesting place, all in all. You can hopefully see the justification for saying it would have been worth £45 instead of £10, though the only expense required was petrol to get us there and entry fees. I am glad I brought my own food, though, as it saved me money, the only things I paid for were the ice cream (£2.60) and a bottle of water (£1.20). 
There is a lot more I might have been able to remark on but as this entry is getting pretty long - and I don't think anything further would be of significant interest - I shall sign off. I ate a lot of fish fingers when I got home, though!
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day at the library again so let's hope I can get up early enough.