Is it a bird or is it a plane?

I looked out of an upstairs window this morning and saw a very large leaf floating in the swimming pool.  Then it started to move - in a swimming motion. Tough to say how big it was at that distance. I called Naomi to peer out the window and our best guess was a tortoise. It had that outstretched neck and short legs and a humped back.  It was pedalling furiously to stay afloat.  I ran (tiptoed trepidatiously) downstairs and looked out of the kitchen window.  Definitely looked like a tortoise (how, why?).  You know the way you approach something when you are a bit unsure? I do. It is characterised by walking with your head turned the other way, stealing the odd glance towards the object but never letting your gaze rest long enough for you to take fright. “Come on,” I said to myself, “It’s only a tortoise that has, bizarrely, escaped from its home with nice wood shavings on the floor and a little bowl of water for light refreshment.”  But it wasn’t a tortoise, it was a hedgehog doing a very effective doggy paddle.  I grabbed the skimmer net and fished it out in a jiffy (surprisingly heavy, a hedgehog).  I set the poor thing down gently near the hedge and it immediately curled up into its defensive ball..  An hour later it was gone, so I guess it survived.  

It was an other hot day (37 degrees C) and we spent most of it indoors with all the shutters closed.  P and J came over for apéros (two hours that went by in a jiffy) and then we retired indoors again to cool down and watch TV and do Blips.  The flowers are fading in the heat, rendering bright colours down to lovely muted hues.