good fortunes

7th february 2022

I had a happy Chinese New Year.

The Stork found a paper dragon somewhere, and we both dressed up in our red ribbons.

Ted and Lopsy brought us some of the fortune cookies that Teddy had made.

We ate them for our elevenses.

I felt quite nervous about the fortunes, even though Lopsy had promised that they would all be good ones.

I really need a lot of good fortune at the moment.

What a relief. Mine said that everything will be all right.

The Stork’s had a picture of favourable flying conditions.

He took a basket of the crumbs up to the cuckoos.

They were very pleased.

Sure enough, there was good news almost immediately about my friend Kimbleton’s hunt for Walrus and Bruno.

I had heard that Kimbleton had found a second clue, and would have to hurry on to follow it up.

Which meant that they couldn’t go back to the Fairy Prison to check whether Points is being held there or not.

Apparently the Fairy Prison is very small indeed.

The more I think about it, the more likely it seems that if I were the Director General of Prisons, that is exactly where I would send anyone as small as Points.

So I’ve decided that I’ll have to head there to ask the fairies to release her.

I’ve made a nice fairy cake which I hope will smooth the way.

I’ve started to collect my equipment together.

Bicycle panniers, helmet, hi-vis jacket, tent, tent poles, sleeping bag, warm clothes, waterproof clothes.

Swimming trunks. (The fairy prison is at the seaside.)

Bucket and spade.

The fairy cake. Mustn’t forget that.

Perhaps I’ll leave the bucket and spade, since I’ll have Points on the back of the bicycle on my way home.

I wonder if I could manage without my sleeping bag? The nights will be getting a little less cold soon.

I’ll have a map to fit in too.

I took a circuitous route last time.

But Jenny has promised to print out a map for me, so this time I won’t go via Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucester, Sir Fynwy, Gwent, Powys, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Rutland or Cambridgeshire.

As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’m aiming for the same bit of seaside as last time, so that route wouldn’t get me to the right place anyway.

My packing was interrupted by Ellie, who called by on her way to the park.

I’ve heard of Public Pianos in stations and shopping centres.

It’s a very good idea to put them out of doors, during a pandemic.

Are pianos waterproof?

Of course Ellie played beautifully. A little morsel of music by a baker called Lilly.

I wish Teddy could have heard it. He loves anything French.

Afterwards we sat and chatted in the cool sunshine.

Though I can’t imagine what Jenny could do to one of those scooters to make it suitable for Ellie.

They’re ridiculously big.

I came home still wondering what on earth the latest clue is that the Tardigrade has found.                                                                                

I was a little sceptical about the previous clue they’d told us about.

They believed they were hot on the trail, because they’d found a seaside sculpture that they felt sure was in Walrus’s style.

I have to say, I wasn’t convinced that Kimbleton would be able to spot Walrus’s style.

But apparently this time they have incontrovertible evidence that they’re on the right piece of coastline, and that Walrus and Bruno must be nearby.

They telephoned to report that they’d found a message on the beach which had clearly been written by Walrus and Bruno.

And I hope to have good news myself, about Points.

But it may not be very very soon, because it will take me quite a while to get to the Fairy Prison.

I haven’t even finished packing yet.

I nearly forgot my mask.

Just as well everything’s going to be all right.

hiraeth, and a scooter

19th february, 2022

Little Strawberry gave me what I mistook for an onion.

Luckily I didn’t eat it. Just in time, Teddy told me that it was a bulb.

It will turn into a flower, given the right conditions.

I’ve been facilitating its root formation, and it’s doing quite nicely.

It would have been good if it had been a daffodil, because Saint David’s day is coming up.

Don’t think me ungrateful. I am looking forward to the hyacinth flower with eager anticipation.

But I’m hoping to give Dillion a really nice party on Saint David’s Day. He misses Wales so much.

I’ll make leek soup.

I’m practising the Welsh national anthem on my triangle.

I think that will please Dillion.

I’m trying to learn the words as well, but I’m slower at learning than I used to be.

I get as far as “Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf i’m gwlad” and then I get stuck.

Perhaps Dillion will bring his harp round, and we can play it together.

I thought it would be all right to ask just one person round, if we keep the windows open.

The Prime Minister says that we don’t have to worry about the Virus any more, but Bimbo tells me the Scientists say otherwise, so I shall continue to be cautious.

I find I sometimes have to weigh one risk against another.

For instance, the risk of dying from the Virus, against the risk of Dillion being miserable because he’s far from his homeland and suffering from severe Hiraeth.

Just thinking about Hiraeth makes me feel it too, even though I’m at home and have nothing to feel homesick about.

I can make plans for Saint David’s Day because my trip to the seaside is cancelled.

It’s a relief, to be honest.

I think I’ve let myself get out of condition.

The long bicycle ride looked a daunting prospect.

I would have done it, of course, to rescue dear Points from the Fairy Prison.

But when Ellie was willing to go, I jumped at the offer.

The scooter works very well, but Ellie needed a bit more practise on it.

I suggested we take both our vehicles to the running track.

It’s a safe place to practise until she’s got the hang of the scooter.

I offered to lend her various travel equipment.

She didn’t want my helmet.

She felt that on balance it would increase rather than decrease the risk, given its impact on her field of vision.

And she’s not taking a tent. She says her Loden coat is waterproof.

She’s travelling light, with just a backpack.

She’s taken the fairy cake to use in negotiations with the fairies.

I would have liked to give her a spare one, for her and Points to eat on the way home, but it’s not a big scooter.

There’s still Ruffy to worry about.

He was arrested at the same time as Points, but he’s too big to be in the Fairy Prison.

I’ve been trying to find out where he is, but he doesn’t seem to be in any of the mainstream prisons in England.

However, I shall pause my search for Ruffy, until I’ve heard from Points.

She may know where they’ve put him.

How very good it will be to have them both home.

How very nice it is not to have to bicycle all the way to the seaside.

I did have a lovely time when I was there a year or two ago.

But it’s not the weather for swimming now, and I think I’ll wait till it’s definitely safe to use Public Transport.

It was on that last trip that I found Um and the Baby.

Oh dear. I think I feel a bit of Hiraeth about them.

Usually I manage to put them out of my mind, but then something will remind me of them.

Yesterday, for instance, I started to make a necklace for Jenny, to thank her for my stabilisers.

But I spilled all the beads, and I thought how much the Baby would have enjoyed that.

The Stork promised to take me to visit Um and the Baby in their new home, wherever it is.

But he seems to have forgotten.

I’ll deal with Saint David, and Ruffy, and then I’ll see if I can nudge the Stork to take me.

It’s bad enough seeing my friends mostly on Zoom or Skype, and hardly ever in real life.

But it’s even worse when people disappear completely.

Well, it’s no good moping.

Things to be done.

I shall clean the floor while learning the second line of the Welsh National Anthem.

I think I can do some yoga at the same time too.

The broom comes in handy for the harder poses.