The Scotch mist swept back in from the sea, and it rained all day … and it rained all night. And then it kept on raining, with a stiff south-westerly driving the water horizontally across the land. There was no chance of staying dry, so Algy found himself a perch with a good view of the hay field. He was fascinated by the perpetual motion of the rippling grasses, with each gust of wind setting off a new wave. It reminded Algy of a silly song …

          This little ripple had rhythm
          And the other little ripple had none
          So all day through
          And all night too
          He kept on singing
          Boo-boo-ley-doop, Boo-boo-ley-doop, Boo-boo-ley-doop …

So for everyone who is feeling too hot, or who just needs cheering up with a wee bit of nonsense, Algy offers you This Little Ripple had Rhythm by Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra, and the watery animation that accompanies it in the old movie The Big Broadcast of 1938.

Algy dedicates this post especially to all his friends who are suffering from the heatwave currently affecting the western parts of North America. He hopes that this may help you feel slightly cooler. If he could send you some of this cold, wet weather, he would!

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Although it was almost midsummer the sky was entirely grey, and it was a cold, dreich day. It did nothing but rain a slow, persistent sort of dreary drizzle the entire day. So Algy decided that the best thing to do was take a very long bath in his favourite puddle.

(A few of Algy’s perennial followers may have seen him bathe in this puddle before, but Algy hopes that you won’t mind seeing his bath time again.)

Algy’s tree had at last got a beautiful new coat of spring green, so despite the fact that it was dripping wet in the persistent Scotch mist, he couldn’t resist spending the afternoon on its cushion of soft new needles. He hoped that if he spread his wings out far enough, he could keep the water off his book. In the distance, another of the recently arrived summer visitors was calling to him …

Listen to the sounds Algy heard as he was reading in his tree.

The rain was persistent, and the ground was getting rather too soggy for sitting in comfort, so Algy flew up into a tall tree. Far below him, the loch shimmered in the diffuse silvery light, while the hills on the other side were shrouded in Scotch mist.

https://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/adventuresofalgy/40445779583/tumblr_mgkv52MHbH1rruorh?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio

As Algy bathed in his puddle, he listened to the pitter-patter of the rain falling around him and the twittering of the other birds in the trees.

{You may need to turn up the volume if you are listening through built-in computer speakers.}

It was a cold, dark and exceedingly wet December day in the West Highlands, so Algy tucked himself into the dripping branches of his tree and dreamed wistfully of an island in the sun …

Algy thanks Joe Shlabotnik for the use of his photo.