And then came the thaw…
And with it came a very large quantity of rain, accompanied by a considerable amount of wind. The status quo ante was restored to the wild west Highlands of Scotland, but that did not surprise Algy greatly, for as he knew from long experience, snow and ice rarely managed to linger long on the "mild" though northern shores of the great Atlantic Ocean.
The slightly more clement temperatures were certainly welcome, even though the excessive rain and wind were not, so Algy decided to take advantage of the new conditions and invite his little swan friend out to play in the increasingly large puddles, even though he knew that he was likely to get thoroughly drenched as a result.
And sure enough, Algy was very soon not only exceedingly wet, but surprisingly muddy too, and thus was obliged to go meekly to his assistant, to ask whether perhaps she could kindly provide him with a nice, warm, soapy bath, in order to help restore the fluffiness of his unusually dirty and matted feathers…