The Idler

A Country Diary - 42

17 March 2006

TODAY I AM very sad. We have lost Rosie Blossom Brownpatch, our lovely fluffy bunny. Ten days ago we bought the rabbit, a white dwarf English T Rex, from the pet shop for Delilah’s birthday. Since then she has been a great source of fun, living in a basket in the corner of the kitchen and hopping about all day, competely unfazed by the cats and by the baby. She was a very amusing bunny. In the evenings she would come and sit by the fire. But at some point yesterday evening, on the brink of a cold and snowy nght, she vanished. We think we must have left the front door open, and that she lolloped though the front door, down the path, past the gate and out into the terrfying dark wilderness. I spent an hour searching the outdoors last night. No luck. Then, after a fitful night, I hoped I might find her huddled in the porch this morning. No luck. Presumably she has been torn to pieces by wild beasts out there, or frozen by the snow. Unless by some miracle she has joined a bunny commune. Apparently they live in groups of 10 to 15 bunnies, but I can’t imagine that those tough rural rabbits are going to welcome a fluffy white town-bred house bunny.

TO MAKE matters worse, I had just blown thrity quid at the vet getting Rosie some drops for an eye infection.

THE CHILDREN seem less sentimental than us about the loss of Rosie, poor bunny in the snow. O Rosie! Bunny in the snow! Why did you have to leave us? Why did you have to go? O Rosie Blossom, you know we miss you so! We left the front door open, I���m sorry we were slack. Now you’ve gone for ever and you’re never coming back. Well, that’s how I feel. But when I said to Arthur, “what shall we do about it” He just shrugged, threw his bouncy ball at the wall and said, “get another one.” So I suppose that’s what we’ll do and one hopes that over time we will cease to mourn poor Rosie. Now though I keep thinking that I’ve seen her sitting outside somewhere, bu on closer inspection the white blob turns out to be a plastic bag or football.

MY OTHER DEPRESSING NEWS is that some of the broad bean plants have chocolate spot fungus, and are covered in little brown spots. This disease is supposed to happen to potash-starved beans, which I think is totally unfair as I dug in a lot of compost and wood ash when I sowed the seeds. What other disasters? Yes, two of my nice sash windows blew over in the wind and the glass smashed. Which serves me right for leaning them against a fence rather than leaving them flat on the ground. Now it’s mid March and it’s snwoing outside. What a thoroughly miserable morning.

STOP PRESS: BUNNY FOUND

I’m delighted to report that Rosie Blossom Brownpatch was found alive and well and hopping around in the larder at 11.45 this morning. I think she must have been hiding amongst the bin bags in a long-neglected corner. I grabbed her and cuddled her and then gave her a meal which she devoured greedily. So she wasn’t bunny-in-the-snow, after all. What a relief.