Hello Locksley here again.

You may wonder why I suddenly want to do a review of the year (which is what Mummy called it).

Well, this day last year we were on holiday at the Dorset cottage. And it was the Monday when Biggles decided to go over the Rainbow Bridge.

Mummy said it was the end of an era, the last of the boys she’d had in Norfolk. We all came straight here, of course. But when Biggles went, Ludo and I were left alone in the cottage (although it did mean that Ludo got the blue cage for the rest of the week, which he liked a lot).

Then when we got back home, Mummy went on an expedition overnight, and came back with Victor and Pippin. Sometimes I wonder about Mummy’s choices. I mean, we don’t actually get along together like a house on fire, which is a very strange saying, isn’t it? It didn’t take long for them to fall out with one another. Was it even quicker than me and Ludo? At least I had Neville to make friends with, but that was the year before.

So Victor and Pippin moved in, and Mummy started doing strange things. First off we had a party for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and then Mummy had her 0 birthday at the end of June, and we had lots of visitors, including Uncle James and Auntie Rebecca (who aren’t related, I mean Uncle James is Mummy’s brother, but Rebecca is Mummy’s friend).

And all this time we’d been suffering from the noises made by the builders next door, and the mess they made in our garden so we couldn’t go out until Mummy had put the vacuum cleaner over the grass. So by July I was starting to lose my hair, and by August Mummy decided she had to take us away for a week again. So in September we went to the Hampshire cottage that the Norfolk four had stayed in before Mummy moved in here. You can read all about that in the Tales from Hampshire section.

After that it quietened down, except for Mummy going up to London to see the Queen where she was Lying In State. She had gone over the rainbow bridge, and there were lots of rainbows around, so it’s true.

And then winter came and seemed to go on forever, and Pippin had his first birthday. And Mummy’s hands hurt, and her skin itched, but eventually that stopped, and she’s doing a bit better with her hands now. She tries to do too much though. She’ll have to rest them today because yesterday she moved the runs in the garden and sowed lots of veggetabel seeds to grow for us, and the day before she was out all day painting pictures. And last week we spent watching the King’s Coronation, so now we are the Coronation Four.

I still miss Biggles. Though I have worked out why he used to lie by the big window in the sun in the morning. It’s lovely! You should try it too (especially Artemis).

Sunbathing – there’s a thing.

Hope next year is not so eventful.

Love

Locksley xxxx