Coultoon talking

Bramble has this silly idea. He wants to join a circus. He says that it was me who gave him the idea. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Anyway who should come along but our two friends who ride one bike. They are a man and a woman and they come to Islay on their holidays. So what did Bramble do? He saw them coming and he whinnied like a nanny goat. Our two friends were so surprised they nearly fell of their bike. ‘You know what you sounded like?” said Mister Bike. “Like this.” He picked a blade of grass and he squeezed it between his thumbs and he blew on the grass. He made a sound just like Bramble’s whinny. We laughed so much that Bramble forgot to ask about the circus.

Coultoon talking

Well sometimes I'm shy and sometimes I'm not. It all depends on things like sugar lumps. There is a small girl down the road who comes by our field on her bike; she is very nice. Her name is Lucy. She gives us sugar lumps and mints with holes in them.The mints are very small and my tongue is a bit big for them. Instead of staying right on my tongue, the mint slips off and before I can stop it, it goes down my throat. The best place for a mint is just between my bottom lip and my bottom teeth. If I can get it there, then it stays and the lovely minty taste stays and stays and stays. Sometimes Lucy doesn't have a sugar lump or a mint. Then she picks us the fresh grass on her side of the fence, and gives us a handful. Bramble was trying to get to the grass on the other side of the fence and he got his head stuck between the two bits of wire in the fence. Luckily a driver in a car stopped, and came over and lifted one of the bits of wire so Bramble could get his head out. Bramble was so happy that he galloped off into the field kicking his heels in the air. Maybe he should go into a circus.

Bramble speaking

Hello, this is Bramble - in between munches. I'm not very fond of thistles. You need to chew them quite well or they prickle your throat. And tha makes you cough. Cough, prickle, cough, prickle. Tha's when Coultoon says things like, "Can't you find some water to drink?" Coultoon always has an answer for everything. Like once I said, I wonder if anything ever happens on the other side of Jura, and he said, "I know - I've got a tent, let's go and explore." I didn't really mean to go anywhere but once Coultoon has an idea in his wooly head, there's no stopping him. So even though I'd like to ask him, where's the best water, I'll keep my mouth shut. 

Tha's another funny thing. Coultoon is really quite shy. I mean, you would think that a famous pony explorer like Coultoon would not be shy, he would speak to anyone. But tha's not true. He always leaves me to speak first, tha's why it's me doing our first blog. But I expect he'll have something to say as soon as something interesting crops up.