TOBY

Toby was a tortoise. Well, Toby probably still is a tortoise, because apparently tortoises live until they're about 150 years old.

As a child, my family moved to the Midlands in 1966 and we inherited 'Toby the tortoise' - he came with the house. When we moved 5 years later, we just left him for the next family. How cruel was that? But I guess in 1971 that was how things were done. As kids, we loved Toby the tortoise. Would it really have been so bad to take him out of his familiar environment and move him to Scotland? I guess we'll never know. Though I have to say that myself and two sisters are all in our 40/50's and we still talk about 'Toby the tortoise'.

We owned Toby in the days when 'Blue Peter' (the only kids TV show of any quality) had a tortoise. Theirs was called Fred (until a viewer wrote in and said it had a curved shell so it must be a girl) then they changed its name to Freda. But every year at the start of winter, 'Blue Peter' would demonstrate how to put a tortoise to sleep for its winter hibernation.

Toby used to go into a cardboard box filled with straw, the box would be put into an old air raid shelter that we had. And there he would stay until spring.

Toby was 'officially' my youngest sisters' pet. However Toby has always had a special place in the hearts of all of us. We had a huge sloping garden but Toby's space was on the big patio at the bottom of the garden. When we first moved into the house Toby used to climb the steps and go wandering around all over. My dad soon put a stop to that - he barricaded the steps so that Toby had to stay where we could keep an eye on him. He had various little shelter areas, with bowls of water, on the patio that he could go in if he was cold or if it was rainy. I haven't a clue what he got fed on - dandelions & lettuce leaves spring to mind, but he must have had something else as well?

One incident is still very prominent in my mind - one of my sisters' friends came to play, he picked up Toby and before anyone could stop him, he dropped him - deliberately on his shell. My mum saw what had happened, through the kitchen window, came out, told the boy off and sent him home. Bet these days she'd probably be reported for child abuse and the boy would be reported for animal cruelty??!! Physically Toby was fine but I often wonder if he'd suffered any emotional trauma.

Every time I see a tortoise I think of Toby. I know that tortoises are 'protected species' now and you can't just go into a shop and buy one.

I often wonder whether we failed Toby as pet owners.