There had been a sudden change in the weather, and although a bitterly cold north-east wind was howling across the sea, there were periods of bright February sunshine that almost felt a wee bit warm, if you could only find that most sought-after of Scottish locations, a sheltered spot out of the wind…

So Algy flew a little way inland, away from the biting wind, and found himself a mossy perch in the peat bog. Everything was still exceedingly wet, and he could hear the ground squelching to itself all around him, but he paid no attention to his soggy tail feathers, for his mind was on other things. As he leaned back in the welcome sunshine, Algy was thinking of a children’s rhyme he had learned:

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake—
Catch it if you can.

It was Shrove Tuesday! Algy thought that maybe he would hurry over to his assistants’ house, and see if there were any pancakes to spare… perhaps with some maple syrup, banana and homemade vanilla ice cream…

If you are having pancakes today too, Algy hopes they are delicious 🙂

[Algy is quoting the children’s rhyme Mix a Pancake by the 19th century English poet Christina Rossetti.]

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