Mummy went outside at lunchtime and said the grass would be dry enough for us in about half an hour. Twenty minutes later it rained very hard, so we couldn’t go out. Then a couple of hours later Mummy said it was dry enough so she put us out and did some watering of the beans as they hadn’t had enough water she said. And then she stood around watching the clouds.

There was a big black cloud just hidden behind the trees although I think she could see it because she was watching which way it was moving.  She watched it till it made a very loud noise. Then it started pouring with rain and she had to rush to get us in.  I couldn’t decide which of the tents and tunnels to get in but Victor got in the pop-up tunnel and Mummy held him in that so I went for the big tent which had fallen sideways.  Then she got Hec in his snuggletunnel and Humphrey who was nice and calmly sitting in his tent.  Then she got the soft furnishings in and closed the door.  She left the cage tops out because it was raining very loudly.

And then when the sun came back out again she left the cage tops for a while because she said the sun would dry them.  So we spent most of the afternoon without the tops on our cages and I wondered whether Hector would work out Hugo’s old trick of jumping over the side of his cage into ours.  Which he didn’t, until Mummy had gone out to get the now dry cage tops.  And she put ours back and was unhooking George’s hammock from the corner as it was dripping wet when she suddenly realised that there was an extra piggy in our cage!  So she picked Hector out and told him he was a pickle and put him back where he belongs.  And she’s told him off quite a few times since for gnawing at the cage bars so she put a piece of cardboard between the cages.

Victor and I have started a little guessing game to see how long it will be before she moves our cage over to the other side of the room, back to where George and I were for ages because Hugo kept gnawing on the bars.  I’m guessing six weeks, Victor is guessing three.  What do you think?

But something else I noticed.  She’s called Hector a monster and a troublemaker and a wild child, but it’s the first time she’s called him a pickle.  That’s definitely a sign of improvement I think.  And she said it when she was holding him and looking into his eyes.  If she tells you off looking into your eyes she doesn’t mean it that much, I’ve learned.