a shocking announcement and a clutch of baby rhinos – first published 7 August 2013

A visit from the new CEO in early August 2013 and had us all feeling rather nervous and on edge. It wasn’t as if the CEO dropped in every five seconds and we were all expecting the worst. There had been so many changes, people there one day, gone the next. Unsettling times to say the least. We all wondered if we would be next on the chopping block. His visit also meant smart office dress. Of course we were always smart, more or less, except dress down Fridays, but a visit from the CEO required super smart. A rainy start to the morning didn’t help.

7 August 2013

Another wet morning meant a bus ride to work. At least it was cooler so the beret, canvas coat combo wasn’t such a bad idea. Of course, by the time the bus arrived in town the rain had stopped. It’s frustrating how that happens but it meant a walk through the enchanted park and a squirrel ran across the grass posing quite happily for me. That doesn’t happen very often, they’ve usually dashed up a tree by the time I’ve focused on them.

The last couple of days have been a mad rush. There were preparations for the one ship visit I am not going to be present for. Coincidentally this is the visit where the top big wigs are going to be on board. I couldn’t have picked a better time to have a day off. There were also preparations for a visit to our head office in the frozen north next week. That one is something I’m not looking forward to, especially the three and a half hour train journey. Then there are the groups, the schedules, meetings, phone calls, hand holding entertainers, ordering supplies before the last UK turnaround, blah, blah, blah. If nothing else my job is varied and interesting.

All the little email chickens I sent out last week chasing booking forms and such have come home to roost. So, on top of all the mad preparations, I had those to check, file, tick off the list and send for booking. Then today Arabella was in the office for the CEO visit which always meant a mad whirl of activity. Arabella and Anika got called into the office for a ‘chat’ not long after we’d made our early morning coffee. There was no time for me to pump Arabella for information though because, almost as soon as they came out, the CEO gathered us all together. There was going to be an announcement. We all looked at each other nervously.

In the end the news was something none of us expected. The new COO has resigned! We hardly knew him.  He was rarely in the office and he didn’t talk to anyone much when he was. While I’m sure he was very well qualified as a COO I’m not sure he knew how to deal with an office full of strong and somewhat strange women. We were all shocked but I’m not sure anyone was particularly sad. All that time taking photos suddenly seemed a waste though.

At midday a break in the rain gave me a chance to dash up to town on a top secret present buying mission for Commando’s birthday. All I’m saying is the mission was a success. Once I had my bags of loot I picked up a frapachino and, in an effort to snap myself out of my gloomy mood, went to the enchanted park again for a sit down and some flower spotting. The winding paths were dotted with blooms.

The trimezia were still in flower and very popular with the bees too, which was a good start, along with my favourite hydrangeas. Some bright orange lilies, just like the Turks caps they’re named for, had me getting my phone out again then I sat on a bench to drink my frapachino. As I sipped I looked around the park. A flash of red on the edge of a bed not visible from the path caught my interest. The flowers looked triangular like Trimezia but red, not yellow.

Of course I went to investigate. My instinct was right, they were Trimezia, red ones. Who knew they came in different colours? More to the point I can’t believe these lovely little flowers have not crossed my radar before now.

Amongst the red trimezia I spotted one solitary yellow flower hidden like some kind of flower version of Where’s Wally or spot the difference. Now I know they come in both yellow and red it’s hard to decide which I like beast. The yellow are edging into the front in the race to become my favourites I think, then again…

The St Johns Wort are also in full flower. The bright yellow with a delicate burst of long stamens really draws the bees. There’s been a lot of talk recently about bees being in short supply but if you hang around the St Johns Wort, or the lavender in my garden you’d never guess it.

While I sat on a bench, drinking the rest of my frapachino I spotted a young woman taking photos of the flowers. She saw me watching and looked a touch sheepish and embarassed.
“You’re not alone,” I told her, “I take photos of the flowers in this park every day, it’s so beautiful here.”
“I’ve never been to Southampton before,” she said, in an accent I couldn’t identify, Spanish maybe or Italian. “I am very tried from the train but I just had to stop to take pictures of the lovely flowers.”
I wished her a pleasant visit and she went about her way, weaving between the flower beds stopping every so often to take yet another photo. It makes me smile to think my city and the little enchanted park has such a magnetic pull on visitors. For a city centre it really is quite exceptional, at least I think so. I wonder what she made of the rhinos?

On the way back to the office a bed of crocosmia made me wonder why the ones in my garden aren’t out yet. Still this is an enchanted park so I guess nothing should surprise me.

This was a rhino free day but the Marlands is stuffed to the gills with baby rhinos so I think it’s time to tell you about some of them. The first clutch were lined up beside the scenic lift that gives me vertigo. First in line is Sunset the Rhino of Words. He’s all the  bright oranges and yellows of a beautiful evening sky covered with words depicting the plight of the rhino. It makes a powerful statement, especially as it was designed by the year eights of Houndsown School.

Next is Jumbo Joker designed by Shepherd’s Down School. As some of the children have limited vision they wanted their rhino to be multi sensory so turned him into a collage with small recycled toys collected by friends and family. Jumbo is very tactile and two ‘Where’s Wally’ toys are hidden somewhere about his person. I didn’t find them. The concept behind him is the environment, hence the recycling. All in all a very well thought out rhino and certainly unusual, even in the world of painted rhino sculptures.

Beside Jumbo Joker is Forest, Forest Education Centre’s rhino. Year eleven student Mark Carter won a competition to design the rhino and he was inspired by 60’s psychedelia and Celtic tattoo art. I like his bright colours and the swirling geometric shapes.

Next in line is sparkly Jules Rhinestone designed by Klaudie Gill, another competition winner. Her school is Great Oaks. Klaudie’s design was painted onto Jules and all the pupils and staff covered the paint with beautiful gemstones. She is most certainly the glitziest rhino I’ve seen so far, very eye catching.

Then there was Rocko Alliots the Rhino. Accountancy firm, Alliots sponsored Rocko and Norwood Primary School designed him. He is inspired by the endangered animals the children researched and based on a design by pupils Melissa Gowring and Joshua Honour. He has panda eyes, a leopard spotted horn, tiger stripes and zebra feet making him a rather multi cultural rhino, or should that be multi species?

My last rhino today is Oakley, Oak Lodge School’s rhino. At least thirty pupils drawings were used from children of all year groups and everyone had a hand in painting him. He’s a colourful mass of stars, rainbows, flowers, musical notes and theatrical masks, a real rhino of the arts.

This is by no means the end of my haul from the Marlands but you’ll have to wait for the rest until another day. Then again, if you live in Southampton you can always pop in and have a look. You might want to take a camera though.*

This afternoon, amidst all the planning and going through impossibly long lists with Arabella, only one tenth of which actually got dealt with, there was a meeting of our own. A new artist came to talk to us about joining our happy throng of entertainers. The artists are my favourites, maybe because I studied art back in prehistoric times. You should see some of my cave paintings, they’re brilliant!

The fact that she was almost three quarters of an hour late because she got lost (despite a sat nav and the maps I sent her) did not bode well. The turning up with no portfolio of any description was also a disappointment. Her work, as seen on line, looked very interesting. Sadly she was not. She came with no ideas, no plans, and a very artisty vagueness. A wonderful artist without a doubt and a very nice person but not really a leader of workshops. Oh well, back to the drawing board, excuse the pun.

Then it was time to go home and, as it wasn’t raining, I decided to walk. Along the embankment the whitebeam has set fruit. The berries are green but will soon turn red and then the birds will have a treat.

On Gigi’s cut the clematis vitalba is flowering, little white star bursts that will be fluffy like an old man’s beard later which is where the common name comes from. Everywhere there are blackberries, entwined amongst the undergrowth, the fruits turning from green, through ruby to deepest burgundy, soon they will be black and ready for picking. I will have to take a bag to work with me then for sure.

Finally one of the nearby gardens is fragrant with huge ostentatious lilies. Mixed with bright evening primrose flowers they make a striking display. After a frustratingly wet and windy start, a shocking announcement and the disastrous audition it turned out to be a day of flowers.

*sadly the rhinos are long gone from Southampton but this summer we will have a zebra trail so watch this spot.