arking about

while hippolyta was busy signing post-concert autographs, buttons hippo and i sloped off and had a go on this kiddies' ride...

there were other more exciting ones – including a police helicopter – but brian, who's got a bit of an ark fixation (probably because he is old enough to have came out of it) insisted we use this ride.

as far as we could tell the rabbits and hippos on this particular ark went in one by one!

once a diva...

hipploylta is such a star it is impossible to maintain my usual anonymity while travelling with her.

no sooner had we hit town than she found a stage and was instantly into her one-hippo show. as you can see, i was the supporting artiste: "a rabbit, a song and a smile"...

later on, she played the local amphitheatre for an unforgettable performance at which buttons hippo (yes, he eventually rumbled the fact that the early christian baths never had visitors) and i had top-price seats - compliments of hippolyta's management...



 as you can see, we were bowled over and totally knocked out by h's finale rendition of "mud, mud, glorious mud"...

diversionary tactics

you may have wondered whether hippolyta travelled to greece this year without my cousin buttons hippo and, if so, how h and I are managing to spend a little quality time in private (see my last post) without his inevitable presence...

well, yes, he did come, but we managed to convince him that the local mayor had personally asked him to undertake an important local job of giving guided tours to the daily coach-parties of international archeologists visiting the nearby early christian baths.
 
that's him waiting for them in the bottom right-hand corner...                                                      

as he is still waiting for the first coach to arrive, this ruse may not last for long, so h and i just have to make the most of every precious minute!

swinging times

first chance i've had to blog since coming on holiday...

after a pretty boring week with just brian and david, things have looked up now the glamorous hippolyta is here and we can relax in the sun and plan the rest of our time together on this charming greek island...

greek ruin

this is me on an earlier trip to greece, amongst some ruined remains in athens...

we fly off tomorrow and i expect to be reduced to a similar ruin if hippolyta doesn't join me on holiday...

*sigh*

catching up

gill recently sent me a message via brian, pointing out that my blog hadn't been updated for far too long and she (and no doubt other devoted readers)  were getting bored silly by looking at picture of me with a pair of rubber gloves (see last post) that i am never going to grow into!

so, rather belatedly, here's a couple of photos of me on my annual outing to the races at ascot (brian was, at the time, having a fall in a nearby garden that took him back into hospital – more rubber gloves!) and, after indulging in the sport of kings (and loosing david a few pounds of – he says – hard-earned cash!) being happily reunited with my dear (dare I say intimate?) friend, hippolyta (aka 'the diva of fernbank road'), and having an opportunity to plan our upcoming island-getaway-holiday...

doctor buttons

brian is goes into hospital tomorrow and, obviously, i'll be going along to keep an eye on him. i'm all ready with the rubber gloves...

what do tiggers like for breakfast?

i am currently recovering from s visit to the london zoo...

 ...which was not only a lot less fun than my last visit four years ago, it was downright traumatic!

it started out ok when i met this fellow who's getting on for 150 and was telling me jolly tales about his childhood days on the galapagos islands in the 1860s...

but then, just as we were about to go and watch the tigers being fed, one of the keepers was giving a talk and said that tigers ate all kinds of meat, but that the ones at the zoo were rather fond of chicken and, best of all––––

rabbit!!!

easter antics

had a very jolly day with hipployta and the gang yesterday and they very sweetly clubbed together to get me this albino chocolate bunny...

...needless to say, he didn't look like this for long!

sheila and roger gave brian and david another bunny burrowing for easter eggs...

...obviously I couldn't bring myself to eat a bunny's bottom.

regrettably (but not unexpectedly) brian had no such scruples!

easter hoppiness

easter ggs with feet?! must make them 'runny eggs', i guess!

back in the burrow

we've finally moved back into our old home - thank goodness! 

as you can see we have yet to unpack my library: br'er rabbit stories, the tale of peter rabbit, watership down, the velveteen rabbit, little grey rabbit, the tale of the flopsy bunnies, harvey, the best of bugs bunny, who killed roger rabbit, the tale of benjamin bunny, oswald the lucky rabbit annual, rabbit run, rabbit rich and rabbit redux...

the flames of love

though memories may grow hazy with the passage of time, the flicker of true love always burns bright...

  

love on valentine's day

posh nosh

i went with brian and david to a dinner in oxford last friday – not to enjoy the yummy-looking food (no chance of getting so much of a mouthful when brian's around) but for my annual reunion with lafayette, who sounds french but who comes from sweden, where he lives with a famous swedish writer...

laf, as i call him, is a sweetie but he does tend to go on at some length about the bedrock of swedish culture which, if i understand him correctly, is made up of three things called lutherism, trade unionism and self-reliance. 

i told him that english culture was made up of fish 'n' chips, football and beer which pretty much brought our cultural exchange to an end...

i'm dreaming...

...of a white easter!

snow fun!

it's a bit parky but with gill's scarf i was warm enough to make a few snowballs to lob at brian!

 

twelfth night...

...and time to finally put those christmas decorations away, and i can certainly 'put these away' all right!

yummy!!

tree hugging

must have had too much whiskey... no idea how i got up here...

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!