lilac is the colour of 2007

And fuschia pink was the colour of 2006, and so I know I've seen this snail in 2006 and in 2007. How nice that it's stayed so long and that it's still alive. This is how I cope with the snails in the garden; I varnish their shells. I call the painted snails 'the squadron'. Only the snails that slither into the guinea pig eglu become members of this elite sect. (this is looking into the door of the eglu)

After a rainy night, the most snails I've picked out of the eglu so far number 20. I find that the same snails congregate there again and again, but I sometimes have a new recruit.

I haven't decided on next year's colour, yet.

And I'm always sad when I find an empty shell of a one-time squadron member.

Bytheway, I didn't come up with this idea on my own. A lady I met on a journey to Oxford about six years ago was a research scientist. We talked about snails in the garden, and she told me about her nail varnish snail experiment - apparently snails with the same colours on their shells congregate in the same places. I haven't paid as much attention as I should to verify this.