A fond farewell to the zebras

17 October 2016

All Summer long CJ and I searched out the wonderfully coloured zebras all over Southampton. Sadly, they couldn’t stay forever and, a few weeks ago, they all quietly disappeared, leaving the city feeling slightly bare and bereft. By the skin of our teeth we’d found all of them, although our trip to Marwell wasn’t entirely successful and we’d missed a couple of clusters of the miniatures. All was not lost though because there was one final chance to see every single zebra before they were auctioned off. Today was that day. 

Our farewell to the zebras began with a walk to Telegraph Woods. It was a beautiful blue sky day, perfect for walking. When we got to the kissing gate I noticed someone had lost what looked like a school tie and it was draped over the rail. It’s strange how there always seem to be lost items here. CJ went through the gate first and I followed him into the cool woods.

We strolled under the still mostly green canopy discussing why autumn  seemed to be so late in coming this year. There was a hint of yellow here and there but nothing that could really be called bright.
“Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by seeing a Canadian autumn,” I suggested.
“Well I haven’t and I still think it’s not very colourful this year.”
“It could be the mild winter I suppose. They say the best autumns come after the coldest winters.”

Before long we’d reached the second kissing gate at the other end of the wood. Beyond it we found the green grass of the Aegis Bowl. The sky, that had been hidden by the trees, seemed bluer than ever, shot through with the whispiest of cloud. Now all we had to do was find the way in. As neither of us had been inside the building before, this proved slightly more difficult than anticipated.

After a little aimless wandering we found a door but it was shut and had a notice telling is to go to the other side of the building to visit the zebras. This entailed a walk right around the cricket pitch. On a wet cold day this might have been a hardship but, with the sun shining, neither of us was complaining.

Eventually we found the right entrance. We could tell by the zebras standing outside and the open door. A few signs earlier in our walk probably wouldn’t have gone amiss though.

Inside, with our entrance fee paid, we were met with a colourful zebra sensory overload. For a moment we just stood and stared, not sure where to start. The middle of the room was filled with brightly coloured stands containing all the miniature zebras so, after a little discussion, we decided to begin there and find the ones we’d missed at Marwell. Even with all of them together it took us some time to tick them off.

Next we went in search of the one full sized zebra we hadn’t had the chance to see properly. Not long after the Zany Zebra trail started, Ticket To Ride was stolen. He was missing for a long time. Finally he was found floating in the River Itchen in need of major repairs. He never did go back onto the trail and, despite several fruitless walks to town, we only saw him through the window of the closed Zany Zebra shop.  Now he was there right in front of us. We made up for lost time having a long look at him and taking lots of pictures. There seems a certain irony in the fact that the zebra sponsored by a bus company should end up having travelled the most distance of all, even having a little swim in the river. He didn’t look any the worse for it, but I guess he’s had a lot of work done since.

After that we slowly wandered around looking at all the familiar faces. Each one seemed like an old friend and memories of finding them on the city streets came flooding back.

Upstairs there were even more, including all the baby zebras that had been hidden in shops and public buildings. It seemed hard to believe there had been so many and that we had actually ticked off every single one in our wanderings.

Just when we thought we’d seen them all we discovered another room with rank upon rank or baby zebras lined up two rows deep against the window. Stopping to look at each one was a long job but so much work had gone into them we felt they deserved a little individual attention. When we finally came full circle CJ asked me which was my favourite. For a while I stood looking around me trying to decide. Some, like Zebby Road, The Trojan Zebra and Mary stood out in my mind but, in the end I really couldn’t choose. It’s probably a good job I don’t have the money to make a bid on one in the auction* because I’d never be able to decide which to buy.

After the explosion of colour inside the Aegis Bowl, the blue sky and green grass felt like a welcome rest for our poor overloaded eyes. On the way home we stopped for a look over the new golf course that is slowly taking shape behind the woods before we plunged back into the cool green trees.

The bright cheery zebras may be gone forever now but, with the promise of Autumn heavy in the air, I’m hoping there will be plenty of colour ahead.

* The auction, held later in the week, raised nearly £90,000. Along with all the donations made on line during the life of the trail the money will go towards helming conserve Grevy’s zebras and other endangered wildlife and to support communities in northern Kenya. 

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