All creatures great...

...and small.

On Saturday it was 'Aunty Toni to the rescue'. An urgent phone call from Mum on Thursday had set things in motion.

My niece and her boyfriend have been living just outside of Nottingham along with their menagery of pets.

Last week Tom got a job in Spain so arrangements had to be made for my niece to move back to her flat at Uni in Leicester so that the Nottingham flat could be vacated...problem...pets are not allowed in the flat at Uni.

So this was where I came in...

The pets needed to be collected and transported down to my sister so that she can look after them until other arrangements can be made. Aunty Toni Removal Service answered the call, lol.

Saturday morning saw me wizzing round the M25 and up the M1 to collect an undisclosed number of creatures. My estate car has never been so empty (it normally resembles a portable crop workstation - I mean - a girl has to be prepared when she goes out scrapping...) and the rear seats were folded down in readiness.

Weather 'up North' hasn't been too great lately (unless you have webbed extremities) so I was keeping everything crossed that I wasn't going to be battling up the motorway in heavy rain. Well, apart from a few short but heavy squalls the sun shone. I arrived in good time and the 'decamp' commenced.

Six larrrrrrrrrrrrrrge cages, tons of food & bedding, a Chinchilla and numerous Hammys in various colours and sizes were duly fitted into my car - pint into a half-pint pot, no sweat.

The little furry folk didn't stay in their cages they were all in travel boxes so that was additional bulk to be wedged in. My niece very kindly informed me that the largest hammy was an escape artist of epic ability but told me not to worry (????????????) "Honey likes the passenger footwell so if she gets out of her box that's where you'll probably find her" (probably???). I was also told not to worry if it sounded like some of them were fighting "they do that all the time, it's playing really...if it gets a bit noisy turn up the heating in the car and they'll fall asleep" **I didn't inform her that so would I, yikes!!**

The trip home was uneventful most of the way. Again, a few heavy, short sharp showers but nothing much until I hit the M25....................the world disappeared!

Rain so hard that the wipers couldn't cope, semi-darkness and IDIOTS driving without any lights on. I know the papers are full of comments about lightbulbs, carbon emissions, global warming...but, pleeease, common sense should prevail...to drive safely you have to be able to see and be seen (doh!).

The last bit of the journey was horrid but luckily by the time I reached my sister's home the rain was down to a gentle spit.

How long does it take two females to construct six cages and re-house numerous furry beings?

TOO LONG!

The car was unloaded at 5pm and I finally climbed back into it around 9.30pm (and only one break for coffee during the whole time).

All the little furry beasts are snug back in their cages but are now located at their "grandma's". Beds, toys etc might not be on the cage levels that they were previously but the furry folk didn't seem to object :o).

Good job other arrangements were made for the fish..............................