Latest Accessory.

No home should be without one. This is our new hedgehog hole, by means of which, the critters can travel between our garden, and that of our neighbour without venturing near the road. It was a minor inconvenience that the soil on the other side is higher than the slabs on this, hence the climb up to the passage aided by two locally manufactured bricks. I’m sure the bricks are not absolutely necessary as hedgehogs are quite capable of climbing trees to raid birds’ nests, but it’s a gesture.
 
Anyway, Said Neighbour has leapt into the spirit of the venture and has cornered our builder and ordered his own hole on the other side of his garden.
 
Such a project has been on my mind for a few years – since we heard a terrible row outside one evening. Investigation revealed a pair of courting hedgehogs. The following day, I found a flat one in the gutter outside our front gate, which was rather upsetting and, a few minutes later, a female middle-aged resident of the village came over the hill at a stupid speed while I was crossing the road and aimed her car at me; I had to leg it. As she passed, she both made some unseemly gestures and shouted that she would get me next time. I found her car just round the corner outside the village shop, so I wrote down her registration and waited; she returned and started hurling abuse at me. The police took the matter as seriously as they could bearing in mind that there were no witnesses and, whenever I saw her after that, she did a magical disappearing trick. The next time I saw the car, it was being driven by a young girl (presumable her daughter) having lessons.
 
Anyway, since this wall had just about fallen over and needed to be made safe, the hedgehogs are getting a new safe route through a few gardens.