Queen's Park

Whilst walking to the park during my lunch break for some fresh air and sunshine I noticed a flyer attached to the railings advertising a Love Parks event.

With nothing else planned for today it looked like something interesting to do.

The land was originally known as Porter's Meadow and was acquired by Queen's College Oxford after the dissolution of the monasteries.

The park was opened at a civic ceremony on 23 May 1885 and named Queen's Park.

The park is situated opposite Dock Gate 4 where the cruise ships come into dock.

It's bizarre looking down a busy road and seeing the liners so close and looming so large.

There are plans afoot for me, S and G to do the zebra trail during the summer hols. Today is was just me and S out adventuring and whilst we were waiting for the bus (more on that in a mo) we checked out the three zebras who are in residence in the park until the end of the summer.

This one is called Rio, he has the Olympic torch painted on his body, but it's the patterns around his eye which caught my eye.

Next up we have Henman. On this one we liked the fairy floating away on a dandelion seed head.

I have to admit I have forgotten the name of this one. From a distance (viewed from the aforementioned bus) and with the sunlight on him the pink colour was dazzling. 

And here is the bus we were waiting for. This bus was new to Southampton City Transport in 1970. I took a bus like this to town too many times to count and after the trip on it today I wouldn't want to take too many again. It's such a jerky ride compared to the ones we have in service today!

As you can see from the front of the bus it was running for dock tours. We were driven past the 2 cruise ships and round down to the quay, but we weren't allowed off the bus. 
I managed to get a quick snap of part of the Emerald Princess as we passed her by.

There was a clear view over to the pier at Hythe, somewhere where we've enjoyed a few days out during the hols over the years.

There were some activities on offer in the park today, but S felt she was too old for taking part in them now, which is fair enough. We've certainly had our fair share of arts and crafts and games over the years when the children were younger and it was lovely to see the little ones who were there enjoying themselves.

Although the flower beds are beautifully maintained and the marigolds are healthy and colourful that is pretty much all there is in them.
There was a leaflet asking for people to volunteer to take part in a bulb planting event in the autumn. I've signed up for it and will try and help depending on when it's going to be. Seeing as I use the park during my lunch break it would be nice to show my appreciation for this green space.

There is a memorial in the park to General Gordon. I must confess I did not know he had ties with Southampton. Looking at the page I have linked to there is more here in the city which needs investigating. I love finding out new things about the place I live.

The city centre is just a short walk away and as we were heading there we passed a hairdressers with this sign in their window which made us laugh.