Harvey

I had the great privilege to see James Stewart in the early 70's, on the stage in the West End playing the role of Elwood P. Dowd.

Today was a bit like Harvey, this time not an invisible rabbit but an invisible rabbit hutch. Angie had tracked down some free wooden garden furniture and in doing so also nearby a rabbit hutch looking for a new home. As we have had all sorts of problems with our Chabo chicks and brooding hens, we thought such a hutch may be a way of solving the problem for next year.

(Chabos are notorious brooders but also very often terrible mothers. Just recently we again discovered 10 chicks a hen had kept hidden from us. Within two days eight had died seemingly crushed by the mother.)

Just before we left, Angie rang the hutch lady to say we would be coming and she replied she would put the hutch out by the garage as she off to the Oktoberfest in Munich. First stop near Buchloe for the garden furniture and then to Landsberg to collect the hutch. Found the property in a new industrial/commercial area, the house surrounded by masses of rabbit hutches and two standing outside. One was clearly not the one for us, the other also didn't look quite right but was the only one it could be. We were however uneasy, double checked by ringing the door bell but nobody (as expected) home and we only had the landline telephone number.

Less than happy with the situation, we loaded the hutch and left to do some shopping in Landsberg.

The next day (Sunday) in the evening , Angie happened to look in the web and saw the hutch "advertised" again but with the comment it had been stolen by someone from the Ottobeuren area and would be reported to the police. Angie phoned immediatly speaking to the husband who said "our" hutch was still there and had been outside all the time and he would get his wife to call back as to what we had to do. Angie was mystified as we had checked all the property and only found the two. Luckily when the wife called, it turned out they had asked someone else to put the hutch out and they only did this much later, long after we had been and gone. So the matter was cleared up and luckily the hutch we took was destined for someone near us and means we don't have to drive all the way to Landsberg to exchange the homes.

Good it turned out well. The woman was distraught when she found the wrong hutch taken as she couldn't believe the "charming" woman she spoke to for ages the night before (Angie) would do such a thing.

I think she's a little bit chaotic: the evening before on the phone Angie had said she should note our phone number showing on her display, she replied she couldn't see it but didn't need it. I am sure our number was stored in their telephone system, if she had the time to look. She is clearly a very dedicated "rabbit protection" person with a very good web page dedicated to treating rabbits well. The mass of hutches in her garden are not hers but a friends who runs a rabbit hotel.

So the pooka ended well.