hiraeth, and a scooter

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.