A trip to the village...

Wilson has popped into the village as he 'needs' another picture frame. 

He has asked me, while he's gone, to welcome all his new readers and followers from far-off and exotic countries:

United States, Russia, France, Ukraine, Canada, Germany, Denmark, India and Italy.

Howdy! Здравствулте! Bonjour, Hallo, Ciao, hej med jer, Namasté, Namo namah!

(Any spelling mistakes or mistranslations are mine, not Wilsons!)

He also asked me, rather unfairly I thought, to point out that while passive-agressive Uncle Zoltan is with us, he's not bothering you!

Finally, please don't forget that you can chat with Wilson on Twitter: @WVermilingua 

Party Time!

All the children went back to the hive to help Uncle Zoltan eat his fresh-baked cookies.

Wilson also went to the hive where, being too big to enter, he observed the tea-party through the window to make sure everything was above-board. He's still sure that Uncle Z is going to kidnap the youngsters and hold them prisoner; I admit that Uncle Z has a LOT of problems, but I think W is being paranoid.

Wilson told me later that nothing untoward occurred, and that the cookies looked and smelled delicious. 

'I kept pointing to the cookies then pointing to my open mouth, New Dad,' he said, 'but either no-one saw me or they didn't understand. Nobody brought me out a cookie…'

Party invitation

The Johnson brothers quickly ran home to see whether Antony and Tiny Toy would like to join them in eating the cookies they'd just baked with Uncle Zortan.

Antony and TT were very keen to go, but Wilson still has the strongest reservations about Uncle Z's motives — he's certain that he intends to kidnap the toys and sell them into slavery, or at least imprison them in the hive and make them do his housework.

However, after much pleading, he eventually conceded that Antony and TT could go, on this one occasion, providing that he, Wilson, could keep an eye on the proceedings…

Forced labour

Once the card game was finished all the youngsters wanted to go over to the bee hive to see what was going on. 

The bees told Johnsons Major and Minor that they could go, but Wilson put his foot down saying that he didn't trust Uncle Zoltan, and therefore Antony and Tiny Toy were forbidden to go… which didn't go down very well.

When the Johnsons arrived Uncle Zoltan greeted them and took them off to the kitchen, where they all made cookie dough (and quite a mess!) together.

Once the cookies were in the oven, Uncle Z sent the Johnsons home to see whether anyone else wanted to come and help eat them.

Diesel's Big Day

This morning the whole family assembled in the living room under Wilson's watchful eye to test and play his prototype (and as yet un-named) game. 

Everyone really enjoyed themselves, although Diesel didn't really understand the rules — he had them explained to him several times, but ten seconds later he'd have forgotten not only the rules but also where he was and what was going on. 

In spite of this, I think he had a nice time. 

As far as you can ever really tell with a goldfish.

A communication is received

When I came down to breakfast this morning I found Wilson staring at a note magnetted to the fridge door.

'Help Wanted.' he read aloud to me, shaking his head in dismay. 'Must be Young and Fit. No Pay. Anteaters need not apply. Report to: The Bee Hive. Signed, Uncle Zoltan'

'Have the bees seen this?' I asked.

'Yes. they said we should "humour him",' he replied. 'Really! This is an outrage! Look!' he continued, 'He's even brought his own fridge magnet, like mine aren't good enough for him!'

I stepped closer, the better to see, and read, 'Always say never — it saves so much time!' 

W walked away, shaking his head in disbelief.

Beta testing

Wilson has printed out a set of his playing cards and is now in what he calls 'Beta SandBox mode' of the game's development — testing it for playability and addictiveness with Polly and Billi.  

There's quite a lot of shouting, so I'm guessing there is some disputing of the rules going on, but  there's also a lot of laughter, which has got to be a good sign.

I wonder whether this is the idea which will finally make Wilson a millionaire?