Hello, Locksley here.

We’ve had the same sort of week as the week before, cool and damp, then a nice day, then a hot day, then rain. Yesterday was a bit of everything. We went out late in the afternoon, when Mummy came back from the birthday party next door. Uncle Nelson was ninety years old. That’s about 8 in guinea pig ages. Old.

Two days earlier, Mummy gave us all baths. It was mainly to clean our grease glands, but mine wasn’t as bad as the others. We had all-over baths. I had ‘kind and gentle’ shampoo for flyaway hair, the others had ‘just for boars’ shampoo. Because it was a hot day, Mummy towelled us dry and then we went out in the garden to finish drying in the hot weather. Mummy said it was 28 which isn’t too bad, especially for a slightly damp pig. She brought us in before it cooled down too much, and everyone was dry except me! Most of my body coat was more or less dry, but my long back hair was still sopping wet. I think it had all drained down to the backside.

Mummy asked me a few days ago when it was hot, whether I’d be more comfortable with a haircut. I wasn’t sure, as I’d never had one. But when she brought me in from the garden and felt the tail of my coat she said ‘right, that’s coming off!’ And she got the scissors out and started cutting, all round the back, and all the lumpy bits underneath that she’d been trying to untangle when she was towelling me earlier. Well, I didn’t mind if it meant no more tweaking those lumpy bits – that’s ouchy!

So now I haven’t got flowing locks and a long tail, but look even more like Biggles. It’s much more comfortable. I know Auntie Noelle’s Garfield likes it when those lumpy bits have gone, too.

Mummy says the long bits will probably grow back again but she will try to stop them getting tangled next time.

I enjoyed my bath and haircut, but I gather Pippin thought it was a torture he didn’t deserve. Maybe he’d not had a bath before. Victor said he had one every time he went to a rescue, but Mummy reassured him he wasn’t going to one of those ever again. Ludo sulked until he realised how handsome and sleek he looked the next day, but Mummy forgot to take his photo.

Till next time (we may get Pippin to post next week),

love

Locksley xxxx