Small Bunny, Big Eyes (And Ears. And Feet. And Fingers. Wait... Rabbits Have Fingers?)

Genuinely super-short post today as I try to stay vaguely in touch with Blaugust through a very (For me.) busy few days. I didn't have much of an idea for something to write about and then I saw this at Nerdy Bookahs. 

According to Paeroka, in addition to her recent community singalong Low Stakes, Hot Takes, Krikket also suggested a kind of mirror-image theme, Small Joys, Big Smiles. 

I did consider joining in with the hot takes but when it came to it, I couldn't summon up even the tiny amount of vitriol needed to rant about anything trivial enough to count. I know, right? I don't understand it either! It's just being put on the spot, I guess. 

When I saw Paeroka's post tonight, though, I knew instantly what I could bring the table for Show and Tell this time. I'm sitting here looking right at it!

And seriously, joys don't come any smaller than this one. Wait a sec - let me measure it...

Five centimeters exactly. Or two inches if you're still living in the twentieth century. Or America. That's the same length as the first two joints of my index finger.

Of course, you all know what I'm talking about because he's up there at the top of the post. No point trying to keep up the mystery. There is none.

Well, except what he is and where I got him. The first is quite easy. He's the Vaillant Hare. No, me either, or not until I googled him. And now I know far more than I wanted to. 

For a long time I thought he was the mascot of a chain of garages or fuel stations but it turns out he's
actually the front-bunny for a hot water and heating company called Vaillant Group, about whom I know nothing and intend to keep it that way. Until this minute I had no idea he was still working. I'd assumed he was an artefact of an older, softer, sillier era. And judging by what the current incarnation looks like, I think I was right.

I don't know the age or origin of my little mascot, which I have always called, adn plan to go on calling, the Vaillant Bunny, even though I ought to know better after reading Raising Hare, a book I may have mentioned in a previous post. )Actually, I think I may have mentioned the Vaillant Bunny before, too... nope... search says not.)

Hare or rabbit, he looks fifties or sixties to me although it's more than likely they just never bothered to change the design until after the millennium.

I didn't buy him. I found him. I can't remember where but it was in the street, I think, and I have a feeling it was in France. I've always liked to pick up odd things and pop them in my pocket as I'm out and about. Mrs Bhagpuss does it too. It's amazing what people drop.

I also can't remember how long I've had him but it's a long time. Certainly more than a decade. He lives on the stand of my monitor, along with a whole load of clutter. You can see from the very meta photo, with this post on the screen, just how very messy my desk is - and believe me I cleaned it up a little for the shot.

You can also see from the close-up that he's quite dusty. I didn't realise until I took his photo just now. I'll give him a bit of a brush-down after I finish this.

I've sometimes said, not entirely unseriously, that if there was a fire, he'd be the first thing I'd grab. Of course it would have to be a fire that started while I was at my desk but that's a fairly likely scenario, given how much time I spend here.

Why he brings me so much joy is hard to explain. It's partly his expression, which looks somewhat crazed, along with the way he's pointing at a picture of himself, as though to say "That's me! Don't you know who I am?" It's also his outfit, which I now realise is probably meant to be workman's overalls but which I've always thought makes him look like the disgraced ex-presenter of a children's TV show, now reduced to shilling for a gas station somewhere out in the boondocks.

About now it's probably starting to become obvious I could easily busk a couple of thousand words on the subject, as if anyone ever doubted it. I'm not sure that would be in anyone's interest, mine or yours, so I'm going to stick to what I said at the start and keep this super-short. 

What? No, it's not! It's not even 800 words yet! Okay, well, yes, it probably is now...

I'd better stop. 

...except to say there's another first-rate example of Small Joys, Big Smiles hiding in that picture of my desk. If I'm still stuck for something to write about tomorrow, I might tell you what it is.

Hmm. Actually, now I look closely, there are two...

Okay, now I really am going to stop!