The Story of Neroli – a Christmas Eve Eve Overture

 

One Christmas Eve Eve, 23 years ago today, we made a 300 miles round trip to collect a little orange and white baby bunny. She was introduced to us by our friend (founder and former president of the British Houserabbit Association/RWAF), who knew we’d recently lost Charlie, our mini lop – particularly devastating, as we’d been preparing him for the arrival of our baby, introducing him to the paraphernalia. She asked whether we’d consider adopting a rabbit being fostered by her friend – manager of the RSPCA branch which had brought the baby yellow Dutch to safety, after finding her roaming a carpark on the outskirts of Manchester. Neroli, beautifully named by her foster carer (her ‘yellow’ fur was exquisitely orange!), was just a few weeks old and very underweight, but was extremely sociable (the first photo, showing Neroli with her foster carer, was the photo sent to introduce her to us).  

We wanted to introduce a new rabbit to our home before the baby arrived, so we arranged to collect Neroli when she was estimated to be around 10 weeks old: 23 December, 2001.

Neroli’s foster carer kindly drove part of the way from Macclesfield, to meet us in a Birmingham service station; my Dad, worried about me driving up from Kent when 7mths pregnant, offered to take us. It was a beautiful drive, that bright, frosty morning, with Christmas CDs playing in the car. Mobile phones were in early days, so we relied on a time, place, and a car description to meet. It wasn’t hard to miss her – there was only one car in the carpark with someone cuddling a little Dutch rabbit. 

Neroli settled into her home immediately and, that Christmas Day, she had a request (‘Christmas Thingy’), played on Classic FM! A couple of months later, the first mini hoomin arrived, and she saw 2 more come into the family over the next few years. She taught them to be kind to animals, and always respect even the smallest creature. She lived with us for just under 10yrs, and we still think of her, especially on Christmas Eve Eve.