#prickly

Ch: You guys look greeat!!

A: Is this…really necessary?

Ch: Yes!! It’ll help you guys bond!

L: But—his style is so…tacky!

Ch:…it’s not much different to yours, dad…

Tuesday was the kind of day in the wild west Highlands of Scotland when all sensible creatures who ventured out into the open very quickly sought a sheltered spot out of the wind… if they could find one…

And although fluffy birds are perhaps not the brightest beings in the world, when it comes to sheltering from the weather they do tend to exhibit a fair amount of common sense.

Algy was no exception, so when he spotted an inviting patch of juniper with a nice carpet of soft, dry grasses beneath, he immediately flew over and tucked himself well down among the evergreen branches. The encircling bushes did indeed provide a great deal of shelter from the wind, which was whooshing and wuthering vigorously in the tall trees nearby, but unfortunately Algy had not reckoned with the particular characteristics of juniper, for as soon as he landed he discovered that what had seemed like soft green leaflets from a distance were in fact exceedingly prickly needles, which seemed determined to stick into him on all sides.

Handsome but irritating.