good news! parties!

6th march 2022

Our St David’s Day party went well, I think.

Dillion is the first guest I’ve invited round since all this Virus business started.

(Not counting Um and the Baby, who were here for asylum rather than for sociability.)

I did a Lateral Flow Test in the morning, and I opened all the windows, and I felt I’d done all I could to make the occasion safe for both of us.

I didn’t make leek soup after all, because I remembered it was not only St David’s Day, but also Pancake Day.

So when Dillion turned up with a leek, I whipped up a creamy leek sauce to go on the pancakes.

Tasty.

And a vegetable sauce doesn’t trickle off the pancakes the way that treacle or condensed milk do.

Dillion had brought his harp.

After our pancakes, we played Welsh tunes together.

And after that, we listened to Radio Cymru on the wireless, with a cup of tea and some bits of biscuit.

I practised my Welsh.

(I hope that means, this music is very nice, and the Welsh people are very musical.)

But whenever Dillion answers me in Welsh, I can’t keep up.

Anyway, it was a lovely occasion, and I think it cheered Dillion up.

A few days later, a postcard arrived.

It was probably posted weeks ago.

The post is taking a very long time to get anywhere these days.

I’m not blaming the postpeople. The Queen has sold them off to someone who values Profit above Service.

We have a very good postperson here, who cheers us all up by whistling while he works.

It’s a hazardous job, cycling through all the traffic. Especially for a very small postperson.

Let’s see, who’s been writing to me from the seaside?

Perhaps it’s from the Tardigrade.

It looks as though he’s having good weather.

No, it’s not from the Tardigrade. It’s from Exxx.

That couldn’t be a new way for Ummm to spell her name, could it?

Ah, it will be someone beginning with E, and three kisses.

Edward from Grandpont? Elsfield Bear? e.e. cummings?

I once sent a fan letter to e.e. cummings, but he’s not likely to send me kisses, specially after all this time.

And anyway, it wouldn’t be a capital E, would it?

Oh, of course, it’s from Ellie.

So Points really is in the Fairy Prison. What a relief to know for certain where she is.

But will Ellie manage to get her out?

Perhaps I’ll get another postcard tomorrow with more news.

DING DONG

Who can that be?

Now that I’ve had Dillion to visit, I feel braver about inviting people in.

She showed me the little switch. It’s so small that it’s easily overlooked.

I could get back into the swing of entertaining.

Though I’m not sure that I was ever very far into the swing of it, even before The Virus.

Oh. She’s gone.

Did I hear her say that Points would be coming? I think I did.

So Points really is out of prison, and back home. I can hardly believe it.

That is definitely worth celebrating.

I’d better get ready for the party.

I promised to give them snacks. What have I got to offer them?

The rice has got rather hard… I’m not sure what that green stuff is… some quite old soup… something rather grey…

I wonder which of those would be most festive?

now I remember why I don’t often organise parties

24th March 2022

There’s to be a party on my doorstep tonight.

Lopsy’s organised it, to welcome Points and Ellie home.

I haven’t yet heard exactly what happened, but somehow Ellie managed to rescue Points from the Fairy Prison, and bring her home.

It’s wonderful news.

Poor little Points has been incarcerated for six months, so her release is definitely cause for celebration.

It’s quite a hustle bustle to get ready for the party.

Lopsy said that everyone will be coming round in the evening, and I said I’d provide snacks.

But how many people? And what time? And what can I give them as snacks?

All right, I’ve blended the leftovers from the fridge. They’ve made quite a presentable dip.

Whether it will also be edible remains to be seen.

The Stork approved of some of the ingredients, but didn’t seem to think much of the combination.

I’ll make sure I put out some sunflower seeds for him to nibble at the party.

I realise that my old anorak really isn’t smart enough for a social occasion.

In fact it needs mending badly. Look, I can put my paw through this hole.

I know Jenny would mend it for me, because she’s very practical, and would do it quickly and neatly.

But I oughtn’t to ask her to do a traditionally female task that I’m perfectly well able to do myself.

I’ll tackle that challenge tomorrow.

I’ll get out my strategy suit with the jelly pocket.

You might like to read more about my strategy suit. It’s no ordinary suit.

I’m putting out my best towels for people to sit on.

Reindeer and Mme Cholet from across the road have come round, to ask if they can help with anything.

Yes! They can sit on some of the towels, and stop them blowing away.

It’s very nice to have them here to give calm encouragement.

Shamus has arrived early, with some shamrock biscuits.

He’s playing on his fiddle, to jolly me along.

Of course it’s lovely to hear his jigs. But the music is making it a bit hard for me to concentrate, actually.

The music has attracted some passers-by who I’ve never seen before.

Some of them have settled down, looking rather hungry.

A young stripy monkey has started to eat the carrots that little Strawberry kindly brought from her garden.

There’s quite a crowd here.

I suppose it’s all right for all of us to be gathered together, if we’re outside in the fresh air?

Oxford Monkey has turned up in his fruit-kebab van, all the way from outermost Wessex.

He’s been working so hard on Bunce and Snowy’s farm, making new floating benches for the seedlings, that they gave him the day off.

Let me think.

It’s a kind idea, but actually there isn’t as much food as there was.

And we don’t know this person’s Covid status, do we? 

And really the idea was for all Points’s friends to greet her, but already we’ve got half a dozen people here that she’s never even met before.

Oh dear, I think I’m a horrible person.

I wish I hadn’t been so mean. I should have thought of inviting her straight away.

If she really is homeless, perhaps I should ask her to come and live here? There’s plenty of room.

I didn’t worry about having Um and the Baby to stay.

Was that because they were bears? I didn’t know I was so prejudiced.

A lot of my best friends are monkeys. Well, one or two of them.

I hope it wasn’t my dip that put him off coming.

It was good to meet some new neighbours.

One of them was a caterpillar, who was very interested in the chips that Lopsy had brought.

And a spider dropped in, who has a problem with his eyes. One of them sticks out further than the other.

He was keen to talk to Ted and Jenny about their experiences of eye surgery.

(Teddy had an eye transplant years ago, after an accident involving a wardrobe, and Jenny’s skin condition has necessitated transplants of her eyes and skin throughout her life. She’s on the waiting list now for the next operation. But of course waiting lists are very long at the moment.)

Teddy had made some croissants for the party.

He and Mme Cholet bonded over their love of French food and culture.

Bimbo came with gobstoppers.

He used to be able to do a clever trick of keeping one suspended in the air above the tip of his trunk, by breathing out a steady stream of air.

He no longer has enough puff to do this, but he thought it would amuse the rest of us to try.

My dip didn’t seem very popular, until I thought of enhancing it with coloured sprinkles.

Then everyone tucked in.

It began to get dark, so I lit the nightlights, and we waited for Ellie and Points, and the Stork.

Shamus brought out the cheese shamrocks that he’d made.

Then he and Gibbs played more music, and there was singing and dancing.

After a while most of the neighbours drifted away, but Ellie and Points still hadn’t arrived.

I hadn’t heard it, with all the noise of the party.

It was Ellie, the hero of the hour.

Of course everyone was sad to hear that Ellie and Points wouldn’t be coming.

But it was quite late.

And they all cheered up at the thought of another party in a day or two.

As Gibbs was leaving, he asked me who the yak was.

I hadn’t noticed a yak. But there’d been so many people there, I was quite dazed.

Is it all right to leave the washing up till tomorrow?