I’m all right

It’s me again.

You see I’m wearing this very cosy anorak that my aunt crocheted for me.

That will have been back in the sixties, when anoraks were all the rage.

They say the weather’s not so cold now, but I’m still feeling a bit chilly, so I’m wrapping up warm.

I’m sorry I was out of touch for a few days.

I was feeling a bit miserable, but I’m better now.

No point moping.

There are plenty of things that I should be getting on with.

The first thing was to tidy away all the Baby’s toys. And its cot, and its sleeping-bag, and the blanket that Lopsy knitted, and all the equipment that my friends collected for it.

The Baby did look so snug tucked up in its little sleeping bag.

It used to do some ingenious things with those teething rings. I do hope that the environment it’s in now is sufficiently stimulating.

No no. The only crucial thing is for Um and the Baby to be safe and happy. Of course I’m very glad that the Stork has found a good place for them to be.

I’ll give Ellie back the toys that she borrowed for us from her nursery.

I was going to ask little Strawberry to take the rest down to the charity shop, which apparently is open again now.

But Strawberry says she thinks I should keep them in case the Baby comes back to visit.

I don’t have much hope of that happening. But I suppose it would be silly not to be prepared, just in case.

I’ll pack it all away in a box. Out of sight, out of mind.

Except for the playpen. I’ll give that back to Gibbs. It never really worked.

It is quiet here now, but the cuckoos are kindly cuckooing twice as often as usual: on the quarter as well as the hour and half past.

It’s very nice of them.

I played them a new cuckoo piece on my triangle. It’s by Delius, but I think it’s a bit derivative. It sounds like Billy the Kid to me.

I can’t practise my duet with Teddy yet. He hasn’t quite finished tuning his shampoo bottles. Lopsy says they’re sounding good.

I must be sure to make a very shiny clean sound when I play my triangle with him.

I hear that Gibbs and Seaford have been playing a little dance together on recorder and kazoo.

I can practise twice a day, now that there’s no one to interrupt.

The house does feel empty.

My friend Dorset Monkey sent me a parcel.

What a kind monkey! He saved half his chocolate easter egg for me, to cheer me up.

Tasty. It certainly did cheer me up, for quite a while.

I remembered the little chocolate easter eggs that I’d got ready for the Baby.

I was going to hide them for it to find, but we never got the chance.

So I ate those too.

Perhaps that wasn’t a very healthy breakfast.

I’ll have something plain for lunch. Rice and lentils, and maybe a bit of a carrot.

After that, I have to hunt for my great-grandfather’s pocket watch.

I have a hunch that it may be the thing that my key will wind. I’ve been trying for months to work out what that key is for.

But I don’t know where the watch is. I haven’t seen it for years.

I wanted to show it to the Baby. I believe babies like mechanical things.

Well, there’s no time for sitting around idly thinking of what might have been.

Things to be done.

I’ll look for the watch systematically. First, in all the places beginning with A.

Nothing in the airing cupboard. Or where I keep the apple juice. Or the Antiseptic Area.

I’ll keep on trying.