Is it safe to come out yet?

Spotted this little chap outside my kitchen window - he was a silly gift to my other half by some friends a couple of years ago, and was relocated to our new home in the black bucket and unceremoniously plonked into the back garden and forgotten about, due to the large volume of snow and ice that hid him.

I'm not a gnome fan but haven't the heart to get rid of him, and his look over the rim of the bucket really made me smile this morning when I noticed him - the garden is now free of all snow and ice. Now where oh where will his new home be now we have so much garden to choose from.