After coffee, because the Ben-Cub had gone off to find a zip or something (maybe he'd had a trouser-related incident, Sweep wasn't sure), Auntie Angela, Uncle Bill and the Jon-Cub went for a walk in the outside part. Sweep was a little bit perturbed when he spotted a strange creature ahead.
Uncle Bill said it was to remind people about recycling rather than throwing stuff away. Sweep decided he'd recycle everything he could if it would stop that thing coming after him.
They climbed up a hill and stood underneath some wires. Sweep wasn't sure why, but Uncle Bill stood there for ages just looking along the wires to where they were fixed to the opposite hillside, as if he was waiting for something to happen. The other end was about half a mile away, so Sweep couldn't really see what it was all about, but after a while Uncle Bill said "he's coming". Sweep didn't know who was coming, but he looked up to see whether he could work it out. Just then, the Ben-Cub whizzed past, hanging from the wire!
Uncle Bill explained that it was zip-wire (ah! so not trouser-trouble then!) and the Ben-Cub had gone for a fly along it. It was very long, and he'd been going very fast. Sweep decided that he preferred to have his feet firmly on the ground. Well he would, if he had any.
After the Ben-Cub came back, they all had a walk back to the big greenhouses, past a little pond. Sweep saw something coming out of the pond that worried him a bit.
"Paul Cannell!" thought Sweep. "It's the creepy crawly from last night's post!" - which was a strange thing to think, because he hadn't written last night's post at this stage - but we're indulging in artistic licence here so stop being so pernickety, OK? (And yes, Sweep does have 9 points on his artistic licence already and needs to be careful).
A bit further on Sweep happened across another one of the 'omes to buy - it looked to Sweep as if the Injuns might have been around here...
He decided that perhaps it would be safer in one of the greenhouses, so he asked Auntie Angela if it was time to go inside, and she said yes, they could do that. So they went into the mediterranean greenhouse (Uncle Bill was still talking about "buy 'omes", he seemed obsessed!)
Sweep saw lots of interesting things in this greenhouse. The first thing was a big stick.
Auntie Angela said it was something to do with Olive Oyl - but Sweep couldn't see her anywhere. There was no sign of Popeye either. Sweep decided just to stay confused, as normal.
He found an interesting tree - he decided it must be a cowboys & indians Christmas tree.
And then he found another one of the 'omes to buy.
"This one's called a wigwam" said Uncle Bill.
"Oh dear!" thought Sweep - "more Injuns!" - and they moved on.
Sweep found some sunflowers, which he really liked.
But then Uncle Bill told him about a scary van called Goff that came around chopping people's ears off (that's what Sweep sort of heard anyway - like most people, he doesn't tend to listen much to what Uncle Bill is saying) - so Sweep decided they should move on again before the van drove by.
He saw some pigs that had been waiting for a feed for so long, they'd gone all fossilised as well, just like that horse was.
"They don't seem to care about their animals much here", thought Sweep, "it's all plants, plants plants!"
Then Sweep saw a very strange thing - a bull and a load of people having a rave!
Sweep thought that was very odd. Even more odd when Uncle Bill told him that the bull's name was Denis.
Then Sweep turned round and saw something even more worrying...
"Eek!", said Sweep, and went off to change his underwear.
When he came back, he spotted another one of the 'omes to buy.
He was getting very puzzled by these now, because none of them had estate agent's signs outside, so how would anybody know they could buy them? He decided to ask Uncle Bill about it. Uncle Bill laughed and explained that Sweep had got it all wrong - they weren't for sale at all. The big greenhouses were called Biomes, and these were just part of the display. "Oh!", thought Sweep - "it even makes sense when you know that!" Which was surprising, because so little of what Uncle Bill says ever makes sense.
On the way out of the Biome (see, Sweep knows what it's called now) they passed something very exciting - an advert for Uncle Bill's favourite beer.
"OO beer is great", said Uncle Bill, "because it keeps the wasps and other insects from bothering you so much". Sweep thought it was fantastic that a beer could do that.
As they walked back through the outside part, Sweep saw several interesting things.
He saw the Jon-Cub in a rare moment of meditative silence...
He saw some lovely flags, which he decided they needed to have for Church - they'd look great in the churchyard.
He saw the Ben-Cub sailing a fossilised ship
And he saw a lovely couple of milk-producers...
Sweep decided to take a picture with just the cows in, since people had such thoughts.
Then Sweep saw something called the "Heavy Industrial Plant"
"Ah!" he thought - "I've seen signs about them crossing the road. I always wondered what they looked like."
He saw a strange woman having a lie down.
and he saw how mirrors are grown.
Then it was time to go.
He had one last look back across the wonderful place where he'd had such a fun adventure.
and then they headed for the car parks.
There was one last adventure waiting for Sweep - a bus ride back to the car!
It was a big bendy bus, and Sweep was very excited to be getting a ride on it. He sat down near the front, and they set off.
Pretty soon, they were back at the car, and everyone climbed in and set off back to the campsite. Sweep had had a busy day, and lots of fresh air. He was getting overtired - so Uncle Bill let him curl up in his special place on the dashboard as they drove home through all the lovely nothing.
Sweep dreamt of wonderful adventures in Biomeland.
He was in such a deep sleep that he had a little accident on the dashboard, but Auntie Angela had some tissues and cleaned it straight up, so we won't even mention that.
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