A black day

The hour is upon us, my friends. It is time to say farewell. But it appears that this fact is more distressing for me than it is for the monkey.

"How soon do I get to leave?"

Of course, shortly after this photo was taken I bundled him into his wrapping paper, which soon wiped the smile off his face. I can hear his muffled cries from here, actually. But don't worry: he'll be released again in a mere hour or three.

Speaking of wrapping him up, thanks very much for all your suggestions yesterday about the krek waiter pack a monkey (sorry, went a bit Brizzle then). Although no thanks to Michaela, whose suggestions got off to a promising start, but soon turned rather facetious.

In the end, I think it was a tie between monkey-shaped and box-shaped (I lost track rather). I decided to give T'Other Half the casting vote, who was in favour of preserving the surprise for longer by boxing the monkey. So here is the finished parcel:

Ta-da!

You may have noticed, however, that I couldn't resist sneaking in a little clue about the contents with my choice of paper:

A broad hint

Trashalou, I'm not sure my wrapping abilites are good enough for this to be considered "fabulous wrapping", but I did my best. Please note the use of ribbons and bows (good advice, there). I'm afraid I ran out of furbelows, though.

And Tracy: don't worry, there are some air holes at the back of the parcel (more good advice). However, I'm sorry about the wrapping paper - I don't think you could call it subdued. It was quite expensive though, if that helps.

Not subdued. But cost an arm and a leg.

So, there you have it: one monkey ready to go out into the world. Well, as far as South Bristol anyway. And I think I need to go now as I'm starting to feel a little emotional. Perhaps I can cheer myself up by knitting a few rows of my own monkey before my guests arrive...