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!

sigh

gosh it's been quiet on my blog...

i was about to break the silence and post the (i thought) happy news that i would be joined on my annual holiday in greece by hippolyta, the diva of ascot, but have just heard that the accommodation favoured by h's 'people' don't allow hippos...

this is particularly sad as i had hoped i'd be able to share the balmy evenings of early september with h while brian and roger regaled locals and tourists alike with their amusing rendition of 'mud, mud, glorious mud'...

h, i am sure, is devastated.

oh, well, maybe another year...

bunny-eater

here i am tucking into some chocolate bunnies that i got for easter...

between mouthfuls, i have vague worries about whether i am becoming a cannibal...?

birthday bunny

yesterday, as some of you may know, was my birthday (don't ask how many years, I am very bad at counting) and I thought you might like to see a couple of photos of my visit to hippolyta, who gave me a a box of very yummy chocolate carrots...


as you can see h and i enjoyed some quality face time (as they say these days) while the others listened to some boring old programme by brian on the radio...

hoppiness is...

...ginger biscuit bunnies!

hoppy easter

"will you send a dinghy, please?"

while waiting for the 'move' to get completed, i've been passing the time working on what i think might be the perfect vehicle for making a film debut: the wicker rabbit...


all i need to do now is convince sir christopher lee to sign the contract.

"i think i could turn and live with animals. they are so placid and self-contained. they do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins. they do not make me sick discussing their duty to god. not one of them kneels to another or to his own kind that lived thousands of years ago. not one of them is respectable or unhappy, all over the earth."

from the heart

roger and sheila came over yesterday to help brian and david with their book-packing (i did mine age's ago: the tale of peter rabbit, the adventurers of br'er rabbit and, obviously, watership down) and they bought me a mysterious package from 'a secret admirer'! ;)

...thanks hippolyta!

sheila said you made them yourself. not just beautiful but talented: in my experience, a rare combination in a hippo!

swalk

it's valentine's day and a young rabbit's fancy lightly turn to thoughts of love...

bird-brained

a terrifying memory from last year that I have been too traumatised about to blog before now: david took me bird-of-prey-watching and, in a moment of madness, seemed to be contemplating using me as a lure for that evil, hawk-eyed creature...


so, obviously, i skedaddled...

dozy outing

david and brian took me to the theatre on new year's day...


but the show took so long to start...


that i eventually fell asleep waiting...

ears cheers to the new year!

hoping you have
a hippity-hoppity
2012

gingering up christmas

i had some nice seasonal goodies from friends and admirers: chocs from sharon while hippolyta and the ascot hippos kindly sent me these ginger bears (that's bears not beers) for christmas.

there were so many of them to begin with that i felt as if i was in gulliver's travels – until, that is, brian started eating them!!

it's christmas day...

...so make it a really good day!

one of the things in the photo below is not a Christmas tree decoration: can you spot him?

let it snow, man!

a hoppy christmas
to all my readers!

precious moments

he seemed quite nice really, not all the way he acts in the movies....

dreamtime

i spent a rather jolly day last saturday visiting with hippolyta...

but back home, later that night, i woke in a sweat having had a really strange dream...

there was organ music and my cousin buttons hippo was telling me that he was my best man and had the ring safe and sound and there was hippolyta by my side and a voice saying, do you, buttons, take this hippo...?

i must have eaten a dodgy carrot...

frank'n'bunny

hoping you have a horrendously horrid halloween!

of course, in case you wondered, that isn't really frankenstein's monster, whereas, this really is you-know-who...

lucky me!

never let it be said that brian didn't look after me! in fact he gives me a treat every now and again – like this bag of good luck buttons he bought me in new zealand (the green thing on the packet is, apparently, a lucky tiki); they weren't actually quite as exciting as i'd hoped - chocolate buttons covered in hundreds-and-thousands.

still, chocolate is chocolate...

bun voyage

brian's planning on flying home - i've been thinking about returning via a rather more exciting route...

bored bunny

i am so bored: brian is not well (he says) and i'm stuck in a hotel with no view out of the window other than other people's hotel rooms and no escape! this photo shows me having a much better time on my last visit: as you can see, the women down here are big!

off we go again

life is weird: months go by when practically nothing even remotely interesting happens and then suddenly it is one ceaseless whirl of activity!

scarcely back from our greek odyssey and it's time to pack my bags again in preparation for a trip to new zealand where brian (he tells me) is going to be studying the habits of hobbits – whatever they are!

not sure when i will be able to blog, but i will report my adventures on my return, if not before...

cat-nap

i thought my stories of life on a greek island were pretty riveting, but zebedee could (as you can see) scarcely keep his eyes open! cats!

time to go home

back home, alas, to autumn!

still, there's always next year...

yummy!

what will i miss most about kalymnos? oh, little things like (not so little) portions of walnut and honey cake with ice-cream...

goodness, my tie won't fit soon!

censored!

uh-oh! how did this photo get in here...?

oh, well, you know what rabbits are...

radio daze

last year, our hostess brought this very jolly radio from a travelling shop and i was livid with brian for not getting one for me! i thought it might have made having to listen to his programmes a bit more fun...

crumbling remains

thinking back to an earlier greek holiday when we visited athens, i found this photo of me and an old ruin – and, on this occasion, i am not talking about brian!

reunion

i've been catching up with my old friend hasi from austria who, as you can see is a bit of a snappy dresser. also not sure how he keeps his fur so white – i'd be envious if i wasn't very aware that the great thing about being brown is that it doesn't show the chocolate stains!

obviously, as a brit and an austrian in greece, hasi and i converse in our universal language of 'rabbit' without (like our human companions) necessarily having to keep rabbiting on all the time!

on my way

trust you'll overlook a bunny having a bit of a gloat, but the guys and I are on our way to greece and the island of kalymnos – which you can see coming into view through the ferryboat window...

i can already feel the sun on my fur – or what passes for it in my world!

a visit to uncle ray

brian's friend, the author ray bradbury is celebrating his 91st birthday today so i thought i'd post a couple of photos which brian took when we went to visit him a few years back...

château moi

another possible new home if mr disney doesn't mind!

goodbye kitty!

when we went to brighton the other week, i was about to go for a quick spin in – or, rather on – a rather jolly pink-and-red car until i realised that the driver simply wasn't looking where she was going...

Typical cat!

jaws 2

more dangerous goings-on in disneyland...

if you thought i was brave in confronting monstro the whale, well, that was nothing compared with this bit of derring-do...

radio rabbit

is there nothing i can't turn my paw to?

here i am at the bbc the other week helping out with brian's new series of radio plays, 'the history of titus groan', which starts going out on radio 4 this afternoon...

rabbit in wonderland

today, as brian points out on his blog, is the anniversary of lewis carroll having told the story of 'alice in wonderland', so i thought i'd mark the day by posting a photo of my own encounter with one of the most elusive of the wonderland-folk – the cheshire cat.

smile please... say cheese!

home from home

still on the look-out for somewhere to live when brian and david have to move, i came across this bijou place: waddesdon manor...

if it was good enough for the rothschilds, it will do for me.

just one problem how to get rid of the national trust...?

what's jaws?

this is me, a few years back, having a whale of a time in disneyland!