almost midnight...

...and time to say regardless of whether you are celebrating or drowning your sorrows...

happy new year!

on reflection...

as the year turns towards its close, my thoughts inevitably turn to the emotional highs and lows of the past year – spurred on by hippolyta's christmas gift...

don't sit under the christmas tree...

...with anyone else but me!

it's today!

a very merry

christmas!

it's beginning to feel a lot like...

i asked this chum over for the holiday but he's finding it a tad warm...

buttons at bag end

getting the hobbit habit...

there's still two films to go and radagast the wizard may need a replacement rabbit for his bunny-sledge.

dying for a pint

sheila sent me this joke: it is a bit sad but (a bit) funny.... 

A rabbit walks into a pub and says to the barman, 'Can I have a pint of beer, and a Ham and Cheese Toastie?'

The barman is amazed, but gives the rabbit a pint of beer and a ham and cheese toastie.

The rabbit drinks the beer and eats the toastie. He then leaves. The following night the rabbit returns and again asks for a pint of beer, and a Ham and Cheese Toastie.

The barman, now intrigued by the rabbit and the extra drinkers in the pub, (because word gets round), gives the rabbit the pint and the Toastie. The rabbit consumes them and leaves.

The next night, the pub is packed. In walks the rabbit and says, 'A pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman.'

The crowd is hushed as the barman gives the rabbit his pint and toastie, and then burst into applause as the rabbit wolfs them down.

The next night there is standing room only in the pub. Coaches have been laid on for the crowds of patrons attending. The barman is making more money in one week than he did all last year. In walks the rabbit and says, 'A pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman.'

The barman says, 'I'm sorry rabbit, old mate, old mucker, but we are right out of them Ham and Cheese Toasties...'

The rabbit looks aghast. The crowd has quietened to almost a whisper, when the barman clears his throat nervously and says, 'We do have a very nice Cheese and Onion Toastie.'

The rabbit looks him in the eye and says, 'Are you sure I will like it.'

The masses' bated breath is ear shatteringly silent. The barman, with a roguish smile says,'Do you think that I would let down one of my best friends. I know you'll love it.'

'Ok', says the rabbit, 'I'll have a pint of beer and a Cheese and Onion Toastie.'

The pub erupts with glee as the rabbit quaffs the beer and guzzles the toastie. He then waves to the crowd and leaves....

...NEVER TO RETURN!!!!!!

One year later, in the now impoverished public house, the barman, (who has only served four drinks tonight, three of which were his), calls time. When he is cleaning down the now empty bar, he sees a small white form, floating above the bar.

The barman says, 'Who are you?' To which he is answered, 'I am the ghost of the rabbit that used to frequent your public house.'

The barman says, 'I remember you. You made me famous. You would come in every night and have a pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie. Masses came to see you and this place was famous.'

The rabbit says, 'Yes I know.'

The barman says, 'I remember, on your last night we didn't have any Ham and Cheese Toasties. You had a Cheese and Onion one instead.'

The rabbit said, 'Yes, you promised me that I would love it.

The barman said, 'You never came back, what happened?'

 'I DIED,' said the rabbit.

'NO!' said the barman. 'What from?'

After a short pause, the rabbit said...

..............................................
..............................................

'Mixin'-me-toasties.'

happy halloween

from me

and the mistress of all evil

i met this spooky lady in disneyland one year – we did not exchange telephone numbers...

a rabbit's reflections

sadly my holiday in the sun ia now well and truly over and I have had to say goodbye not just to the fair isle of kalymnos in greece, but to old, new (and very particular) friends.

what a scrapbook of memories i have brought back to london with me: while brian was busy working on his various creative endeavours (which were, naturally, always accomplished with his eyes closed for the purposes of better concentration) i took long walks on the hills above emborios with roger, sheila and david...

with my cousin, buttons hippo, we visited some old ruins (which prompted bh to make an unnecessarily disparaging comment about hippolyta that led to my having to give him a good talking to about showing courtesy to the fairer sex)...

happily, we were always able to resolve our differences over a a glass or two of ouzo in a shady taverna –– you can't see the ouzo in the photo because (a) like the queen, i avoid being photographed with a drink in my paw and (b) we'd already drunk it...

but, of course, chiefest among my memories will be of the very happy times i spent in the company of one whom i think i may now truthfully describe as my own, dear, hippolyta...

ah, happy days –– and nights!

crowning moment

the perfect end to our holiday: h and i are granted a royal audience prior to our departure...

parting is such sweet sorrow...

...so wrote the bard and one knows just how he felt having spent a last evening with h before she departs for home...

i found her a tad overwrought by the sullen heat and being dutifully fanned by my cousin buttons hippo whilst recalling (at length) a catalogue of the hottest places of the world that he had either visited or heard of...

...but, as soon as i arrived, h quickly sent him off to entertain the local goats with his travel stories so we could share some last quality time together...

...this morning, over coffee, we had a full and frank discussion about the future--- our future...

i explained that i couldn't ever leave brian, after so many years because he'd simply go to pieces; and h said, for her part, that she really has to put her blossoming career as a diva extraordinaire above all hopes of personal happiness...

painful though it was, we have agreed to view the very special time we have shared during the last two weeks as simply a holiday romance of the kind that happens in musicals based on abba hits.

however, we will try to honour our affection for one another and hope that the future may possibly provide us with some further – less fleeting – opportunity to renew the bonds of true love...

* sniff *

stirred but not shaken

hippolyta relaxed last night and showed herself a hippo of great sophistication by ordering a piña colada. fortunately, i think it went onto sheila's bill.  

unfortunately, it came without a cherry, a wedge of pineapple and one of those little paper parasols: buttons hippo thought h would send for the head barman to complain, but – maybe due to the softening influence of what the greeks call agape – h's decorum never slipped, as can be seen from this delightful photo...

she is one sassy hippo, that girl!

the daily round

i could easily get used to this life: lazy days...

...the occasional explore...

...romantic, moonlit nights...

 

...and so to bed...

in other words

i have been trying to find words to adequately express my feelings for hippolyta and then i remembered the most requested song from her ever-popular cabaret set (who can forget her show-stopping performance at the hippodrome?) and decided that it says all that needs to be said..

fly me to the moon 
let me swing among those stars  
let me see what spring is like  
on jupiter and mars
in other words, hold my hand 
in other words, baby, kiss me
 
fill my heart with song  
let me sing forever more  
you are all i long for  
all i worship and adore
in other words
please be true   
in other words
i love you
why don't you fill my heart with song? 

let me swing forever more  
because you are all i long for  
all i worship and i adore
in other words, please be true  
in other words
in other words

i love you

good sports

hippolyta has spent the last two days resting up – basically she doesn't 'do sight-seeing'; but I think she is scared of being mobbed by her adoring fans which (she says) happens more or less wherever she goes in the world.

anyway, buttons hippo and i went off with david and brian and roger and sheila for a jaunt around the island ending up at a waterside taverna where we climbed tress...

 

...played footie...

...tried to play snooker...

...which is not as easy as it looks on the telly...

 

...and not quite as much fun!

fun and games

we have been having an action-packed couple of days... while hippolyta acclimatised herself to life on a greek island (an unavoidably exhausting process for a diva of distinction), my cousin, buttons hippo, and i had fun on the beach with a belated birthday present to brian from sheila and roger of (what else would you give a disney-nut on holiday?) a blow-up bambi!

then, when evening came around, another romantic sunset tryst with h...

...before she accepted my invitation for a sleep-over!

of course with buttons hippo playing gooseberry and recounting his oft-told yarns of the daily life up the limpopo, sleep (and anything else) was somewhat low on the agenda...

well-met by moonlight

at last and against at all expectations...

hippolyta had arrived! 

but––– chaperoned by my loquacious cousin, buttons hippo!!

i'm not sure, greece has turned out to be quite what h expected; the rustic retsina clearly wasn't in the same league as the buck's fizz she was, apparently, expecting as an evening aperitif, but she managed to hide any disappointment with her usual charm and grace.

Later, while buttons hippo bored the assembled company at artistico taverna with a minute-by-minute account of their travels (with added anedotes about his early life on the banks of the limpopo), h and I slipped away for a téte á téte and a chance to share the beauty of the almost-full moon rising above the mountains of kalymnos...

i invited h to stay on for a sleep-over, but she is still rather fatigued by the journey, so retired to her beach house (which she is rather grudgingly sharing with roger and sheila) leaving buttons hippo to stay instead and expand on the qualitative differences of life by the aforementioned limpopo in comparison with reported accounts of attractions enjoyed by hippos visiting the shalimar. it's almost four in the morning and he's still talking!

never mind, two weeks with h is a wonderful (if challenging) prospect!

 

holiday blues

last night in the artistico taverna, brian sang that song about the hippopotamus that goes 'mud, mud, glorious mud...'; it is really very silly, but, of course, it set my mind turning to thoughts of hippolyta...

i am counting the days to her arrival and hoping that – unlike other years – there won't be any last minute glitches...

a rabbit in middle-earth

in case those hobbity actors decide they aren't going to help that nice mr jackson make his third hobbit film, i should like him to know i am more than ready and willing to help out.

you see, i know all about the lord of the rings – not just because i happen to live with a fellow who is a bit of whiz with these books and so i've had to listen to a lot of yak about them – but also because while brian was in new zealand last year interviewing the cast and the movie-makers, i was gadding about visiting quite a few of the movie locations...

The very nice jack machiela (who is, without question the most experienced guide in middle-earth) took me to all the places around wellington that were featured in famous scenes from the trilogy...

knowing that some of my readers might not actually believe in my adventures without proof, jack kindly took lots of photos.

this is jack meeting me at my hotel... 

so, we set off...

and stop where frodo and sam had their picnic ...

and where the hobbits were chased by the nasty black riders and had to 'get off the road'...

i always thought rivendell was quite hard to find... i guess gandalf must have missed this sign post... 

 

this is legolas' tree but there wasn't any sign of orlando who was probably busy chahtting to brian at the time...

here i am at isengard with a staff like gandalf and saruman – i kept hoping sir ian or sir christopher would come along...

 

on next to the banks of the river anduin – who shall i go with? frodo and sam? or aragorn, legolas and gimli? decisions, decisions...

 

next location – lunch!

aragorn's horse, brego (that's his nose top right of picture), rescues me when i am washed up half-drowned...

off now to visit weta cave at the studio where all those amazing monsters and creatures were born...

i'd no idea that some of those characters were quite so small...

or that others were quite so bi!

 

(not absolutely sure how this photo got in here –– or how i got in there!)

anyway there are others that are really horrid...

there were times when i could have done with one of these guns – i think they must have cut the orc gun squad out of the lord of the rings, but maybe they'll make it into the hobbit...

i also got to play my own version of where's wally? Can you spot me?

i had a really great day out, so many thanks, jack!

if you'd like to the lord of the rings tour, this is the place to start!