|
Location: Lake District, Cumbria.
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,042
|
|
Dinky’s very special appointment!
Dinky was aware of something wet and slimy on his nose and as he opened his eyes and wiped at his nose....poop, another one dropped down on his head this time. Argh those dirty pigeons were above him again. Where's Bongo when you need her, he thought to himself. As Dinky opened his eyes further and looked out towards the Welsh hills he could see a big red balloon shaped thingy getting nearer and nearer to the cathedral. He shouted "Bertie come look at this" but, there was no reply and Dinky scanned his eyes all around but, Bertie was nowhere to be found.
As the big balloon thingy approached nearer and nearer he heard a tiny squeaky voice shout out "Dinky it's me I'm up here" Dinky looked towards the big balloon thingy and he could just see Bertie's antenna peeping over the top. As it drew alongside the cathedral, Bertie said "come on Dinky, hop in" and Dinky floated across and landed in a big basket, which was attached to the bottom of the balloon. A tall man was also inside the basket. He had short brown hair and was dressed in a very warm looking padded jacket and a woolly hat. This is Jack and he’s the hot air balloons pilot. He’s a friend of mine and he’s agreed to take us on a very special trip to meet a very special person. Dinky was intrigued, as he loved adventures and wondered where they were going and who they would meet. Jack had a sort of burner thing, which was very hot and made quite a bit of noise at times when he turned it up. Jack told dinky that he would be meeting some friends of his, Rachel, Sam and their dog Poppy and then they would all be going together to meet the very important person.
The wind was blowing North Westerly and very soon they were travelling over the land far down below really quickly. They passed rivers, forests, hills, towns, and cities until they finally started going down a little by little. Dinky could see that they were going over a city because of all the buildings he could see below. He could also see a big river and as they descended lower still he could see bridges and boats on it. As they passed London Bridge Dinky realised where he was…….London! Dinky knew that London Bridge is a very old bridge that spans the river Thames and that it was originally made of wood and was replaced by stone in 1209 with shops and houses built along it’s side. In 1831 it was replaced again by granite and then again by the present concrete one in 1973. Jack didn’t know that but he did know that there are 34 bridges over the river Thames and the one you see on postcards the most is Tower Bridge, which is a very pretty bridge.
As they went down really low to land in a park they saw Rachel, Sam and Poppy coming to meet them. “Well” said Jack “can you guess who we’re going to meet yet?” Dinky and Bertie shook their heads and then Sam told them “we’re going to see the Queen”. Dinky was thrilled as he met the Queen the last time that he visited London and she had promised him a return visit one day.
As it was a pleasant day they chose to walk the rest of the way to Buckingham Palace and they would get something to eat as they walked. As they walked through the park they met all manner of people some in bright green tracksuits, jogging along and listening to music as they ran. Mothers were out with babies in prams, and some people were out walking their dogs. The flower borders were still very pretty, although some of the daisies were hanging their heads down and looking a little tired. There were white daisies, tiny blue flowers (that no-one knew the name of), and rows of blue lavender that smelled lovely as it gently wafted in the breeze. Further along the way they saw more formal rows of beautiful red roses. Peeping out from behind one of the rose leaves Jack spied a little red beetle, crunching away as he ate a mouthful of greenfly. As he pointed the beetle out to Dinky, Bertie rushed over and said “well fancy meeting you here Barney” Barney was Bertie’s cousin, and he was here with a group of his friends on holiday. There was an old park bench just by them and Rachel and Jack went to buy some hotdogs off the man on the stand for them all to eat. Sam and Dinky decided to play with Sam’s new Lego, while they waited for lunch. They started to put the Lego together brown bricks, grey bricks and some white ones as it got taller they put on a flag that had a skull and crossbones on it and their pirate ship was complete! Bertie decided to share his cousin’s lunch of greenfly “yuk” said Sam.
After they had all eaten off they went to the Palace, minus Bertie who invited himself to stay with his cousin and his friends (he never really had good manners that Bertie). On the way there they tested each other to see who knew the most about London. Dinky said that London is the largest city in Britain and Europe. "Ah ha" replied Rachel “but did you know that it is only the 9th largest city in the world though” “Well” said Jack “ I know that London is made up of two cities, the city of London and the city of Westminster and that London was the first city in the world to have an underground railway called the Tube”. This went on between them, laughing all the way until they reached the entrance to Buckingham Palace. The flag was flying above (it always does when the Queen’s at home) and there were four sentries (or foot guards) at the front of the building wearing huge bearskin hats and red uniforms. Apparently there are only two of them when the Queens away from home. They never moved a muscle and Dinky wondered if they were real. They were and they escorted Dinky, Rachel, Sam, Jack and Poppy the dog inside to see the Queen.
Her majesty came to greet them all, closely followed by her five dogs…..Corgis named Monty, Willow, Holly, Emma and Linnet. Poppy had so much fun playing with them all. They all had a marvellous time at the palace and had lots of sandwiches and cakes to eat. Finally when it was time to leave they all thanked the Queen and set off outside on the journey home. The wind had got up and Rachel got hold of Dinky’s string along with Poppy’s lead in one hand and held Sam’s hand in the other. Jack was busy taking photographs of the palace and the Queen’s guards as a gust of wind suddenly pulled the string out of Rachel’s hand. Up and up went Dinky “oh no here I go again” he shouted at his friends below “thank you for everything, and don’t forget to post my card to Megan” “We won’t they all shouted back in unison” Bye Dinky…………………
Megan was happily playing in the garden when the postman arrived.
"I can read and slide you know"
Im so happy if I close my eyes and concentrate really hard........
A big thank you to Rachel, Sam and Poppy for looking after Dinky so well and helping him to send the postcard.