The children return home safely

Antony and his friends returned from the hive and sought out Wilson so they could give him his slice of gateau from Uncle Zoltan.

W sniffed it suspiciously, then ate it declaring it to be 'Totes delish!'

Then he enquired how the tea-party had gone, and the children told him what a top time they'd had.

W then announced that he felt a bit dizzy and that the cake must have been drugged… although no less delicious for that.

Tomorrow, being the first of the month, the Bees, Polly and Billi, will be blogging for the first time! Wilson is a tiny bit tense about this — I think he's nervous in case their blog is more popular than his...

Uncle Z is At Home...

While Wilson got on with inventing his totally-not-like-Snap! card game (which he has confided to me will be called pANTS!) the youngsters all headed over to the bee hive for Uncle Zoltan's 'At Home.'

Due to the pressure of excitement and anticipation they all arrived a bit early — but Uncle Z let them in anyway, ushering them into his livingroom, where they found an abundance of delicious-looking cakes.

They all sat round laughing, eating cake and taking it in turns to wear Uncle Z's hat, while their host told them stories and jokes about his childhood as a young pupa. 

When his guests had eaten all they could, Uncle Z handed Antony a large slice of gateau saying, 'I suppose you'd better give this to that anteater you seem so fond of...'

Home Baking

First thing this morning, Wilson went over to the hive to see whether Uncle Zoltan needed any help with the baking for this afternoon's At Home. He didn't.

I thought this was a nice gesture on W's part — a sort of rapprochement — but I was wrong. W told me he'd offered to help with the cooking only so that he'd get to lick out the mixing bowl.

Anyway, last night he heard from one of his Twitter friends, a young elephant called @floellaella. She gave him an idea that would allow him to transform his ANTWIN game into something totally original and not at all like Snap! He hasn't told me what this 'Simple but game-changing idea' is, but he's very excited and plans to spend the afternoon working on it. 

And trying not to think about the cakes he won't be eating at Uncle Z's At Home…

At Home

Today there was another note from Uncle Zoltan left on the fridge door, this time announcing that he will be holding an At Home tomorrow between three and six o'clock in the afternoon. 

This seems unusually formal — Victorian even — but the children are all very excited and looking forward to it. Polly has warned them that they must be on their very best behaviour.

Wilson, who in any case is too large to attend, is getting on with inventing his next Card Game and pretending not to feel a bit left out.

I hope this game doesn't turn out to be Happy Ant Families or Ant Bridge — I hate disappointing him…

Near miss

Last night Wilson slept in my bed. Along with everyone else. I drew the line at having Diesel's bowl actually in bed with me — it was bad enough constantly banging my elbow on one or other of the sTone Brothers without having cold water sloshing around too.

W was frightened by the close passage of another asteroid. Wanting to ensure that no-one would be orphaned should the worst happen, we all stayed very close together. With so much nervous chatter, it turned out to be a very long night.

The worst didn't happen, and today dawned sunny, so W went out into the garden to inspect his flooded Asteroid Shelter, taking with him a bucket so he might bail it out.

'I can't be caught out again, new Dad!' he told me as he stared into the water-filled hole that once was his shelter. 'The BBC said it was the biggest near-miss asteroid ever recorded — it was so big that it had its own moon!'

Wilson takes it on the chin...

Today Wilson showed me his new game. It is called ANTWIN — a clever play on the words Ant, Twin and Win.

It's played with cards bearing pictures of ants, and players take it in turns to deal these cards one-at-a-time onto a pile. When two consecutive cards are identical the first player to shout 'TWINS!' wins all the cards in the pile. The game continues until one player has all the cards.

It's a good game, and I said so. It's a VERY good game… but basically it's just Snap… Ant Snap, but Snap none the less.

I broke this to W and he took it very well, shrugging philosophically and replying, 'I've still got a couple more top original game ideas up my sleeve!' 

He thought for a moment, before adding, 'Though of course, I haven't actually got any sleeves… Still, there's plenty of time until Easter!' 

Hanging Day

Wilson has framed and hung his new portrait in the living room. 

It is a photograph showing Colin the Knitted Camel immediately after his birth — his yarn has not yet even been cut and tied off! 

W is very proud of it.

I should like to apologise to Wilson's friends in Ukraine for forgetting to say Dobryy den' yesterday.