Morning all,

Well, I have now recovered from my sore throat and to celebrate this small milestone, Teacup, Herring Gull Harry and I went for a picnic in Bluebell Meadow.

It was a beautiful, sunny day as we found a shady spot underneath some lily leaves. Teacup laid out a patterned rug for us to sit on and then we got out the food and what a spread it was. We had worm sandwiches – of course – mosquito and fly cookies, dragonfly fairy cakes and fried grasshoppers. Delicious. All drunk with pumpkin juice and Teacup bought along some fizzy willow which was very moorish and slipped down nicely.

After we had eaten, we sat back and enjoyed the sunshine chatting about fizzy willow. I then had this brilliant idea of seeing who could drink a full glass of fizzy willow the fastest. Herring Gull Harry went first and set a very impressive time for Teacup and I to beat. Teacup went next and she drank half of the glass of fizzy willow before she was overcome by the giggles. She tried to finish the glass but as she was frequently consumed by the giggles, in the end her time didn’t count.

Then it was my turn. I poured the fizzy willow into my glass up to the brim. I took a deep breath and started drinking. I drank one gulp after another and I could see out of the corner of my eye the drink disappearing from my glass. Five more gulps, then four, three, two and finally the last one. I was out of breath by this point and as I took the last gulp, I fell back on the picnic rug and looked up at the sky while getting my breath back.

“Wow, that was impressive,” said Herring Gull Harry looking at my empty glass in disbelief.

“Was I the fastest? I asked.

“Yes,” confirmed Teacup, “you were very impressive. I have never seen someone drink so fast before.

Then, an annoying thing occurred. I had a hiccup. Afterwards, I was fine but a couple of minutes later I hiccuped again, and again. In fact, soon I couldn’t stop hiccuping.

“Errol, you alright? What is going on” Teacup asked.

“I seem to have hiccups,” I spluttered in between hiccuping. They had a real hold of me.

“I’ll thump your back,” suggested Herring Gull Harry, a little too enthusiastically for my liking! But it didn’t work.

“Try drinking this glass of water down in one go,” said Teacup. So I did so and just as I thought they had stopped, there was a hiccup, and then another, and another.

“Hold your breath,” said Herring Gull Harry but still the hiccups kept on coming. My sides were now starting to ache.

I jumped in the river and swam underwater for a bit thinking that this would cure my hiccups but, back on the riverbank, they started again.

In desperation, I hopped onto a low branch of the nearest tree and hung from it by my legs for a few minutes.

When I returned to the others, a miracle had occurred. My hiccups had gone and the nightmare was over. I can’t tell you how peaceful it is without them even now, two days later.

E