We welcomed a very sweet visitor to our home today.
You are worrying, I know, that we may be contravening government guidance
which forbids visits by friends and family over the duration of the Lockdown.You are surprised, especially as regular readers, at least, know that I am a very law-abiding person. I am aware this makes me sound boring but I can’t help it, it’s just
the way I was brought up. However I have listened (sometimes more intently than at other times, to be strictly honest) to the guidance issued every day and nobody, from the Prime Minister (before he fell ill) to the army of Cabinet Ministers being trotted
out for their Day at the Dais, has yet mentioned that small, fluffy toy rabbits with long ears are not allowed to visit, particularly when this is for the essential purpose of bringing comfort.
The Middle of the Darling Daughters, moreover, has reassured me on a yellow post-it note accompanying the toy rabbit, that he has been thoroughly washed and securely enclosed in a sealed freezer bag to avoid transmitting any
nasty infection. It makes me wonder what would have happened had Paddington Bear travelled from Darkest Peru during a Coronavirus pandemic and whether the accompanying note “Please look after this bear. Thank you” would have been sealed in an infection-busting
freezer bag.
My visiting bunny is named Hop. I do like a toy which does what it says on the tin. Or, more accurately, on the yellow post-it note. Moreover,
he comes with sweet letters and cards from the Rascally Trio plus instructions in the form of a poem which brings tears to my eyes. Yes, indeed, the Usher Gene went into over-drive.
“We hugged this little bunny rabbit
We squeezed it really tight.
We filled it with our wishes
Hope
and love and light.
So when you’re feeling really low
Just hold it very tight
You’ll feel our love within it
Morning, noon and night.”
Faris has written the whole poem out in his very best handwriting, finishing off with a picture
which I guess is of me holding hands with him. I appear to be naked which is a little worrying. Tala and Lilia, not to be outdone, have filled in strategic gaps left in the poem written out for them by their proud mamma. Like many five years olds, the twins
occasionally form letters like “b” the wrong way round which means that in both Tala’s and Lilia’s letter, the bunny is described as a “dunny”. Somehow that makes the letters all the sweeter (as well as giving me a giggle...)
Hop is all the more precious because he isn’t new - he once belonged to the Rascals and now they have given him to me. I shall look after him very, very carefully because
it’s the least I can do. Besides, I am sure I may need his healing qualities over the next weeks as Lockdown is (almost inevitably) extended.
We all miss
so much as we do our bit. Was there ever such a soul-less instruction as “social distancing”? Even when we know it’s for our own good and that of others. Being unable to give - and receive - a hug is the worst of it. I, however, have
Hop who comes embedded with wishes, hope, love and light. He isn’t just a visitor, he is now a member of the family.
Every time I hold him, I can feel the
hugs...