JULY 2001

1 July 2001 : What a nice time we had sending out all the Lilli's in June, and some pretty nice emails we received in return. I didn't realise just how many people has missed us in our absence this year, and it is great to be back with y'all.

2 July 2001 : Bertie has decided to go on ahead of me to Lilliput while I tidy up the Lilliput Miniatures pages and records. LPRL H.Q. have informed us of a rather nasty business going on back in Lilliput. A new fashion amongst the Petz eaters is to specialise in young puppies for extra delicacies... isn't that just awful!! How could they be so wicked as to even eat Petz at all.

3 July 2001 : Bertie will do some prelim' investigations so that when I get out to Lilliput we may have a head start. This mission is really going to make me MAD when we catch up with those evil people. In the mean time, just cross your fingers and pray!, pray!, pray!. We will be need some pretty mighty help to rescue all the young Lilliputz so that future generations are not eliminated before they get a chance to grow up and breed.

4 July 2001 : Independence day in USA, and lets hope this will be independence month for many Lilliputz. Bertie has contacted and said he has been talking to LPRL H.Q. staff. They have no idea where to start looking, but I have suggested they start trying to track down Big Bad Bertha. It is a good bet that she will be involved somewhere in this scandalous affair.

5 July 2001 : Ok... My work is nearly done here in UK, can't wait to get on my way again. This might be another dangerous mission, but I am sure u will all agree that it will be worthwhile. Risky... but 'risk nothing - gain nothing', that's what I say. No news from Bertie as to whether he has made any progress finding B.B.B. She is as illusive as ever, but you know too, that if we track her down we have a chance of rescuing lots of puppiez and kittenz. 

6 July 2001 : How good it feels today to be back in the land of Lilliput. Guess what... I hear there has been some more mischief back at the website. Something to do with one of the Giant Sheepiez we rescued last year, and guess who did it... yep u got it, Tintin and Tony!! Oh well, not much I can do right now, I'll just pretend I don't know yet. Perhaps one or two of u guyz could pop into the website and see what it's all about. Something to do with the downloads on the MORE STUPH page.

7 July 2001 : No sign of Bertha yet, but we heard rumour that she has been seen near the airstrip. Tonight I am going to wait near the hangers and lay low for a while. Just might get some info. I feel real mad, and I am determined to not let them away with this. Bertie will keep a eye open on the Airport Road, and we'll talk on radio phones.

8 July 2001 : Geronimo!!!.. we found Big Bertha... She arrived dressed as an airline stewardess, but there was no mistaking her voice... I've heard it too many times before. This latest scam is quite clever.. Her gang are all pretending to be the air crew of an airbus which fly's between Lilliput and Lillipo Minor. Good try Bertha, but we're on to you now. Aha!! Looks like they are taking the young Petz to Lillipo M. for storage. No immediate panic because they will have to keep the Petz alive for now.

9 July 2001 : First problem.. Now we know where their latest hideout is... How do we get to Lillipo and find their hideout without being noticed? We will have to use our own disguises, because Bertha would be sure to recognise us. Bertie has a plan.. it's a good one. Tom Vicar from LPRL H.Q. has a pilots license so all we need to do is to get him to agree to the plan. We will play them at their own game. If a couple of guyz, including Tom from LPRL will help us, we'll masquerade as an air flight crew too. hehe.

10 July 2001 : It is all agreed, the guyz from H.Q. are on board for this one. Next thing to do is be prepared and watch the airstrip again. We know that the gang are using an airplane disguised as an International Red Cross Mission. Ours will appear to be an international UK Airbus, and they will think we're on a round trip... UK to Lilliput... to Lillipo Minor... and back to UK. It is now midnight, and boy oh boy, here they come...

11 July 2001 :  Bertha jumped from their truck first, she yelled at some of the men to quickly load the crates on to the aircraft. We know what was in the crates... lots of little Miniatures... puppies and kittens. All the crates had false identity red-crosses on them. Very quickly they all boarded the plane and were approaching for take off. We gave them 10 minutes start and then took off behind them. 

12 July 2001 :  As we approached Lillipo Minor and circled, they were just receiving their orders to land on the airstrip. They would have seen us approaching but assumed we were a normal flight. The people in the control tower at Lillipo Minor knew we would be the next flight to land, and brought us down only a minute after Bertha's crew were clearing Customs. This gave us a chance to catch up with them on the ground.

13 July 2001 :  We followed them from the airstrip in a car arranged for us by L.P.R.L. Before we knew it we were passing through the Giant Sheepie district, which is well known to us. But just why were they bringing the miniatures to Lillipo Minor? Keeping well back from them, we continued to follow until their vehicle turned left from the main road, and stopped by an old  wooden shack. We kept going and pulled in a few hundred yards further on.

14 July 2001 :  Cutting back through the shrub-land on foot we soon came within sight of the wooden building. The crates were beiing unloaded  from their 'red-cross' truck, and we could hear whimpering and whining. Now we had to lay low until after dark. I just prayed that we would not be too late to save the poor little Petz. Heaven only knows what sort of nastiness might be going on inside the building. Were they already preparing the animals for rich men's dinner tables?

15 July 2001 :  Night approached and we moved in slowly, fearing the worst. There were lights on inside the building and we could see men at work inside. Everywhere there seemed to be refrigeration equipment. Bertie soon realised what they were up to in there. It was a refrigeration plant alright... but of a special kind. The petz were being sorted and singled out. They were being put into thermos crates, and the temperature was set so that they were in a semi frozen state.. just enough to keep them alive. 'That'll keep 'em fresh!', we could hear Big Bertha bragging. 'They will keep fresh for months in those crates, we can export them anywhere'.

16 July 2001 :  We were all disgusted at what was happening, and knew we now needed to act fast. If we were going to rescue these poor little critters, we had to think of a way of preventing them from being frozen. I had  a plan... we must sabotage the refrigeration plant without being caught. 

17 July 2001 :  Behind Bertha's latest hideout we could see a power transformer which supplied electric to the refrigeration area, and somehow we had to disable it. Most likely all the power to the lighting would go off too, so it would be difficult to see what was going on inside if we disabled the plant. Once again Bertie came up with a whizz idea... It meant bringing our vehicle closer to the building, and running some wiring through the bushes right by the building. The wiring would be connected to the battery on our car and a low voltage lamp would be connected to the end near the building. It would take pretty sharp timing for our plan to work, but we were willing to take the risk.

18 July 2001 :  Our driver  brought the vehicle up quietly, and we pushed it the last few yards. The wires and lamp were connected just as we planned, and it looked good. Most of the petz were still in a waiting area, and had not reached the refrigeration room. We now needed to act swiftly. Bertie threw a car jack across the transformer terminal and there was a massive explosion! We could hear shouting from inside the building, but they had no clue just what was happening. Bertie and I burst into the building remembering just where the petz were located, and on a predetermined command our driver connected the lamp just for a couple of seconds to let us get our bearings...

19 July 2001 :  Bertie ran for the petz in the waiting area and swiftly opened all the cages. Petz began running in all direction... Bertha's men were tripping and falling as the miniaturez ran between their legs... As  Bertie threw open the main door and the little petz followed him outside like he was the Pied Piper of Hamilton!! They were running towards our vehicle hidden in the bushes. 

20 July 2001 :  I was still left in the building. It was my job to free those few who were in the refrigeration area. I yelled to our driver to give me some more lighting, and threw all the  thermos cages to the ground. They all spit as they thudded on the concrete floor, and the petz inside were still fit enough to make a break for it.... I had to take the chance that they would not be harmed by throwing the cages down.

21 July 2001 :  Suddenly, as I found the last cage, the interior emergency lighting came on, and there I stood with the cage in my hand and Bertha glaring at me in the  dimly lit area! Her men started towards me, and it seemed as though I was trapped in their den.... would this be curtains for me... ?

22 July 2001 :  Then there was a terrific noise as something came crashing through one of the windows! Then... Big Bertha crashed to the floor with what sounded like a growling monster attacking her. Bertha fell right onto the emergency lighting system and the lights began to fade out. Just at that point I caught sight of her attacker... You wouldn't believe it... It was little Rob!!! He had jumped through the window and straight at Bertha. Our little hero had turned up again just in time.

23 July 2001 :  I ran for the door with the last puppy still in it's cage, and there was a commotion as some of the men tried to follow. The first one ran straight into Bertha who was sprawled on the floor, then there was a heap of bodies as the others tripped and fell on top of them. I just kept running and Rob followed. By this time all the other young petz had managed to scramble aboard our vehicle. I grabbed the last pet from his cage and jumped aboard as our driver threw the gear lever into position and we sped off back towards the airstrip. Everyone was laughing with excitement and relief... petz were howling with glee... and everyone started to sing.

24 July 2001 :  It was just a short trip back to Lillipo Minor airstrip, and then we had to embark on the UK bound plane. The LPRL helpers stayed behind and returned to Lilliput by boat, and we were all glad to be leaving for home. 

25 July 2001 :  We arrived back at Hedgerow Airport in the early hours, and headed straight for Lilliputz Website. There was a brilliant welcome awaiting all the little puppiez we had rescued and in no time Bertie and I were preparing the petz for adoption.

26 July 2001 :  We heard that Big Bad Bertha and her gang were absolutely furious... what with losing all their petz and falling for our plot to rescue them... No doubt they will be at it again when they have regrouped and re-organised their horrible little meat trade.

27 July 2001 :  Had to spend some time finding out what the terrible twins were up to while we were away. Holy-macoroni... they have only placed one of our secret Giant Sheepiez up on the Downloads Page... Well there's not much can be done now... lets hope y'all look after the Giantz as well as all those Lilliputz Minniaturez you give homes too. What will they think of next!!

28 July 2001 :  We have had lots of interest for this consignment.. especially as most of the Catz and Dogz are only tiny wee things. I expect there will be a rush for this lot!!

29 July 2001 :  Well, looks like we had better get things moving at the Website. It's nearly the end of July, and lots of folk are wondering when the consignment is going to appear... Ok... you will all see them tomorrow.. for now goodnight guyz.

30 July 2001 :  Consignment Seven went up early today, and by the evening 22 adoptionz had been completed. Phew... what a busy day. 

31 July 2001 :  Contract forms for adoption continue to be processed, and although most requests are getting fulfilled we are now getting several duplicates in. I am updating as fast as I can so that you all know which Lilli's have found their new homes already. I intend to fly back out to Lilliput as early as possible this month to investigate further in the Islands. See you all sometime from mid-August onwards. Thanks a bunch for all your help in homing consignment seven.... Best wishes Sandy and Bertie.