Sidney's Taxi Service Old Jack's Boat

Hello there!

How are you today?

Salty and I have a tale or two to tell you about this beach

and the rockpools

and all the magical things that have happened here.

# Come with me, we're off to the sea

# To where I used to play

# Looking back when I was a boy and the fun we had each day

# Over the cobbles and through the streets

# Playing in the sun

# Friends to meet with games and treats

# Adventures just begun

# Stories from a magical world Washed in by the sea

# Meet the rockpool creatures there It's amazing what you see

# Looking back when I was a boy

# Shrimps and starfish Crabs and snails

# In twinkly Rockpool Tales

Ha-ha!

# Those lovely Rockpool Tales. #

Ha-ha! Hello.

You've caught me having a bit of a sort out

with some of my old bits and bobs.

This box has got all my old toy cars in it.

Salty's lined some up round her basket. Look.

Isn't she a clever dog?

Ha-ha! Yeah, but this was always my favourite car, this was.

See that?

It's a black taxi.

Now, that's a car that you can stop on the street

and the driver will take you wherever you want to go.

I've got a few stories to tell about this old toy.

Yeah, right, and here's one.

It all happened when I was a boy

in a twinkly time, long, long ago.

'I used to run down to the beach as often as I could,

'meeting up with my best friends, Little Ernie

'and Little Sailor Sue.

'I had a new toy car.

'It was a black London taxi.

'Sue had a bright red racer

'and Ernie had a yellow truck,

'which he parked in a garage, made of pebbles.'

We made roads in the sand

'and we raced our cars.'

Beep beep!

-Come on, let's go to the mountains over there.

-OK.

'I drove my little black taxi up into the mountains,

'which were really the rocks on the beach.

'And the winding roads were bumpy,'

but the view was amazing,

right down to the beautiful rockpool

'lakes below. And as we gazed deep down into the glittery waters,

'a magical world appeared before our eyes.'

One bright morning, Sally the Starfish, Andrew the Anemone

and Belinda the Blenny were playing in the rockpool.

"I want to whizz fast today," shouted Andrew.

And he whizzed off a stone

and bump-bump-bumped on the sandy bed,

stopping next to a large flat seashell.

The seashell had a sign on it that read, "Taxi, wait here."

"Ooh," he thought, as Sally and Belinda joined him.

"That sounds interesting. I'm sure taxis can whizz really fast."

Just then, Sidney the Sea Snail appeared.

"Hello," he said. "I'm your taxi driver. Can I take you anywhere?"

The three friends looked around for the taxi,

but they couldn't see one.

"Where's your taxi?" said Sally.

"I am the taxi," laughed Sidney.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Well, could you take us to that seaweed over there?" asked Belinda.

"And could you whizz really fast?" said Andrew.

Sidney smiled.

He was very pleased because these were his first customers.

"Climb on board my shell and we'll set off," he said.

So, Sally, Andrew and Belinda swam up

and tried to sit on Sidney's shell.

"It's a bit slippy," said Andrew.

"I can't hold on," said Sally. "Whoa!" said Belinda.

And with a slip slop plop, the three friends slid off Sidney's back

and landed on the sandy bed of the rockpool.

Sidney was very disappointed.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," he said.

"Well, let's try again," said Andrew.

They all clambered aboard Sidney's shell

and with a slip slop plop, they all slid off again.

"Oh, dear!" said Sidney.

"This isn't going well."

"Never mind, we can try again," said Sally.

She had a plan. "Let's all hold on to each other," she said.

"That way, we might not slip off."

So they all held on to each other

and scribbled and scrabbled onto Sidney's shell.

It was very, very slippery.

But this time, holding on to each other seemed to work.

They managed to stay put.

"I think we're ready for our taxi ride," said Sally in a wobbly voice.

"Then let's go," said Sidney.

"Ha! This is going to be brilliant," said Andrew.

"I hope we whizz really fast."

Well, the three friends clung together,

waiting for the ride to start, and they waited...

and they waited.

But they didn't seem to be going anywhere.

"Um, Sidney," said Sally.

"Yes," replied Sidney.

"We don't seem to be moving anywhere," she said.

"We are moving," Sidney said.

"Just very, very, very slowly.

"I'm a snail, you see? I don't move very fast."

Well, Andrew was getting tired of clinging on to his friends

and he called down to Sidney, "We want to whizz!

"Can you go a little faster, please?"

"I'll try," said Sidney.

"It's because the three of you are so heavy.

"It makes me even slower than normal."

So, Sidney took a deep breath...

..and with an enormous wiggly bump,

he managed to go forward a teeny-tiny bit.

Unfortunately,

the wiggly bump was too much for the three friends clinging on up above.

"Whoa!" they shouted.

And they all slithered off the slippery shell

and landed slip slop plop in the sand.

Sidney was very upset. He was the worst taxi in the whole world.

"No, you're not," said Sally.

But Sidney was looking sad.

"I'm never going to be a good taxi,

"I'm too slippery and I can't whizz."

So it looked like Sidney's taxi service was closed for business.

But Sally had an idea.

She whizzed off to collect some driftwood with a hole in the middle.

"Ah, hey, Sidney, can I pop this on your shell?"

Sally put it on Sidney's shell.

And it made a very nice seat that would not be slippy at all.

"Jump on with me," she called to her friends,

so Andrew and Belinda swam over and joined Sally on the seat.

It wasn't slippery at all.

Sidney was surprised that everyone could stay on his shell

without falling off.

But it still didn't mean he could be a taxi because he couldn't whizz!

"Oh, I don't know about that," smiled Sally.

Then that clever little starfish pushed with all her might

against the rock behind her, and with a little jolt,

Sidney started to move.

He couldn't believe it. How was he moving?

And then Sidney started to whizz.

How was he whizzing?

He looked down and saw that a long piece of seaweed on the sand

was like a slippery slide and Sidney was sliding along it,

with everyone perched on his shell.

"Wa-hee!" shouted Belinda.

"Hurray!" shouted Sally.

And they whizzed to the end of the seaweed.

And then they did it all over again.

And again...

and again.

And Sidney laughed and laughed.

He was the happiest, whizziest snail in the whole rockpool.

'We looked up from the rockpool

'and I whizzed my taxi back down the rocky mountains

and found the road in the sand all the way back to the pebble garage.

-Can we park in your garage, Ernie?

-Yeah, course you can.

Sue's mum called us over.

Sue!

It must be time for the picnic.

'What a treat!

'She had made us a lovely picnic with my favourite - cheese butties.

'We ate our picnic until the tide came in,'

and covered the rockpool like a great seaweedy blanket.

Maybe we should drive this old taxi

over to the Mermaid Cafe.

Hm? I fancy a nice cup of tea and a cheese butty.

What about you, girl?

And why don't you join us for some more Rockpool Tales next time?

Goodbye.