I was ambling through the garden today, whistling to myself and basking in the sunshine that appears all year (if there is such a thing as a year in the Night Garden. I can be here what feels like a day and it turns out I’ve only stayed for an hour!) and I came across Makka Pakka standing outside the entrance to his cave. As soon as he saw me, he went scurrying back inside.

Well, I couldn’t resist him being so shy about something, so I walked to the end of his path, which took me a while, still haven’t got used to the scale of things, and walked up the sandy lane towards his cave. When I eventually arrived, Makka Pakka was once again outside, he exclaimed “Agga Pang!” and rushed back inside.

I didn’t follow him into his cave as it’s pretty small and I got stuck in there once before. Instead I called after him for a while, but he didn’t come out. I was just about to leave, when I remembered I had some stones in my bag that I was saving for Makka Pakka, I reached in and pulled them out, then lay them on the ground in the most higgledy-piggledy way I could.

No sooner had I stood up again than Makka Pakka was back out. He thanked me warmly and begain cleaning and stacking his stones. I asked him why he kept rushing into his cave and he stopped, looked at me and said:

“I’m working on a new dance!”

Well, as you can imagine (and as I imagine you feel right now) that was quite a peice of information to impart. “It won’t be done for a while, ” he said, “so I can’t really show it to you yet, but when it’s done, I’ll show you first!”  He went back to cleaning and stacking, I said “Thank you and bye, bye!” and waved. He waved and said “Pip Pip Onk Onk” as I walked back down the path.

So, you heard it here first folks, Makka Pakka is working on a new dance, perhaps it’s a dance for the Gazeebo? Perhaps one for the introduction? Who knows. All I know is I am excited to see it!

Some of you have written in asking how I manage to blog anything from the Night Garden as there doesn’t seem to be a source of electricity or indeed, a connection to the internet. At first glance, you’d think this was so. However, while I do take a lot of notes and write them up as posts when I get home from the Night Garden, I have also blogged from there once or twice.

You see, the Pinky Ponk is a flying wireless access point.

It’s range is quite phenomenal, although the signal is fairly weak until you can hear the Pinky Ponk huffing and farting nearby. The best place for Night Garden surfing is actually inside the Pinky Ponk. It’s like Night Garden Starbucks - get yourself a Pinky Ponk juice and log on for an hour or two!

I’m also reliably informed that the Wottingers have a wireless internet connection which they share with the Pontipines, but I’ve been unable to chase that up to find out more.

Update: So, it would appear that in my excitement about chocolate Night Garden products, I didn’t read the news article properly. It actually says that BBB will be releasing Night Garden stuff for Christmas 2008. My dreams are dashed. I must go now and sob on my own in the corner. If anyone finds any Night Garden confectionary, PLEASE let me know!

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It seems like Christmas was only yesterday, the throngs of people searching high and low for that elusive Dancing Igglepiggle, or the teeny tiny Ninky Nonk toy which falls apart constantly, or the Makka Pakka bathtime plush. Yet, for some it’s a distant memory. For fans of In The Night Garden, there is a new ‘must have’ merchandise item.

Yes, for a limited time only, you can get your Night Garden fix at the same time as your chocolate fix! Bon Bon Buddies are to release a range of Childrens themed easter eggs, TalkingRetail has this to say:

…the Easter Egg Decorating Kits contain six milk chocolate eggs, a carry handle and materials to create and decorate a 3D scene, making them ideal for children of all ages.
TalkingRetail

Yours truly will be picking up two boxes, one for himself and one for his son - I’m sure he’ll love them. Although, I can’t think of anything worse that eating Igglepiggle (although, right now, I could eat a certain Tombliboo for causing such a ruckus, when he is most definately lieing - I don’t remember any Teddy bears in ITNG, do you?).

If anyone sees any of the Bon Bon Buddies In The Night Garden Easter Egg Decorating Kits (wow, what a mouthful!) then please let us know, so we can buy them all up and scoff ourselves silly let our readers know!

Bon Bon Buddies website (although, nothing about Night Garden yet)

I recently had the pleasure of spending the evening with the Tombliboos, they proved to be wonderful company and the evening was simply magic.

They’d finished shooting an episode of the BBC television series and were about to retire to their bush when I stopped them and asked for a few words about how the day had gone. They were only two happy to chat and suggested we went and had a drink on the Piinky Ponk.

While we waited for the Pinky Ponk to fart and squeek it’s way over to us, they let me in on a little secret. “It’s not only us that really likes the Pinky Ponk Juice, ” said Tombliboo Ooo “Upsy Daisy is a sucker for it too! She’ll often join us on a night of Pinky Ponkery and we end up dancing like wallys in the back of the Ninky Nonk on the way home!”. Tombliboo Unn joined in “Yeah, she’s a great laugh, we get on really well. She even lets us ride on her bed occasionally!”

The Pinky Ponk arrived and we all climbed on board and the Tombliboos ordered a round of drinks, I was surprised to see they were served in normal glasses and not the Pinky Ponk tippi cups, when I asked why, Tombliboo Unn said “They’re only for the show, we never spill anything with the normal glasses we have here, ” he held up his glass, “but the director is terrified we’ll spill Pinky Ponk juice all over his equipment. Although, to be fair, when we’re drinking from the glasses, we’re rarely slid from side to side, and up and down and I can’t remember the last time the Pinky Ponk got stuck in a tree on purpose, can you?” he asked the others. None of them could, even the Pinky Ponk farted in agreement.

We spent the rest of the evening discussing the director and film crew, the makeup artists and other staff on the Night Garden production and film team. It was a lovely evening and yes, we did end up all dancing in the back of the Ninky Nonk on the way home!

Until next time!

If you’d like to know more about what happens behind the scenes technically in the night garden, then there is a wonderful article from the Observer entitled ‘Night Fever‘, however I can’t seem to find who the author is.

Beware though, it contains spoilers and will shatter any illusion that the Night Garden is real — that is if you had one in the first place!

You heard it here first glorious readers!

There is a rumour in the Night Garden (perpetrated by the gargantuan gossip that is Iggle Piggle!) that Upsy Daisy is in talks with a record producer with a view to recording a single!

Said record producer has seen Upsy Daisy clanging away into her megaphone all over the garden on a number of occasions. It’s said that he thinks with a little voice coaching, she could be the next Cher! (I know, I don’t think Upsy Daisy could be Cher either, but who’d want to? I’d rather she sounded like Avril Lavigne, but I’m not a record producer!).

Upsy Daisy is being unusually stoic about the whole affair, but I suspect she is being gagged by the record company until they have reached a deal.

Please help me wish Upsy Daisy good luck!

Edit:

It appears it’s not just Upsy Daisy making the record. It seems there’s a whole Night Garden album on the way!

See here for more info: In the Night Garden… A Musical Journey… The Album

Aplogies for the recent lack of updates on the site. The authors annual vacation, coupled with the Night Garden wireless internet connection being a bit iffy recently has meant that posting has been very difficult.

Fear not though Night Garden fans! Normal service will resume shortly!

After months of careful research the reason behind the Wottingers persistent absence from their house in the Night Garden has become clear. They moonlight - as do the Pontipines. Arriving early in the garden one day, this reporter followed the Wottingers as they left their house and took a taxi across the woods to another set where an alternative version of the programme was being filmed. The Wottingers home in this other set comes fully equipped with a plasma television, Wii, outside jacuzzi and fully-stocked walk-in freezer. Lavished by a level of attention not seen since the heady days of Beatlemania, the Wottingers take part in a variety of events, riding the Nissan Ninky Nonk and playing Air Guitar hero with the Tombliboos .

After a long day, the Wottingers return exhausted to their house in the original Night Garden, too tired to take part in anything but not too tired to take the regular pay cheque. A vast brood of demanding Wottingers requires a lot of maintenance after all!

As a surprise footnote to this discovery, this reporter noted with surprise that as daylight arrived, a batch of bedraggled-looking Pointpines turned up in a taxi and made their way into the Wottingers luxury home. As the daddy Pointpine passed the daddy Wottinger he was seen to press a guinea into his greasy wooden palm. So - thieves and benefit frauds all.

Many of you have written in asking ‘What of the Wottingers?’, so, I’ll give you all the information that I have.

As you know, the Wottingers are blue, mostly. They do have red piping also. But you’ll have to look hard as they’re not often on the screen. Usually only seen as fleeting glances, or through the binoculars of Mrs Pontipine.

They Wottingers live next door to the Ponitpines, only, they’re not home very often and I’ll explain why I think that is.

They don’t like being filmed.

I think they have a special contract with the BBC as to when and how often they can be filmed. They do conceded occasionally and do allow the cameramen to include them in the shot, but only because the Pontipines have asked them very, very nicely. The BBC also has to get special permission to film the Wottingers’ house. The Wottingers really don’t mind their house being filmed, they’re just not keen on being filmed themselves.

That said, two of the Wottinger children just LOVE to be filmed, if you look very closely, you’ll sometimes see them in some of the shots, they sneak away from Mr and Mrs Wottinger to secret themselves onto the set and when the director shouts ‘ACTION!’ they make sure the camera can see them! The best place to look for them is in the windows of the Wottinger house whenever the Pontipine children are flying down the Pontipine chimney.

Hopefully the Wottingers will overcome their fear of the camera, let themselves be filmed and join in the fun in the Night Garden! If you see them, wave hello! If they think that people want to see them on TV, they might change their minds!

Everyone knows and loves the Ninky Nonk. It’s always rushing around the Night Garden and it’s very handy if you need a lift to some remote part of the garden. Like the scale of objects in the Garden, distance is all skewiff as well. For example, you’d think it wasn’t very far from the Singing Bridge to the Gazeebo, it looks like less than a minutes walk. Well, let me tell you, sometimes it can take up to 20 mins.

“Sometimes”? I hear you say. Well yes, sometimes, other times it takes five, ten or 15 minutes. It’s very odd! It also doesn’t matter quite how fast you walk either!

This is where the Ninky Nonk and Pinky Ponk are particularly handy. However, they appear when they like and sometimes, as the Pontipines can tell you, it’s quite difficult to get a ride as they sometimes don’t stop quite long enough for you to get aboard.

The Ninky Nonk however, is an enigma, a conundrum, a puzzle! Whilst in the Night Garden this week it raced past me and straight up a tree!

That’s right, the Ninky Nonk defies gravity just as effectively as the Pinky Ponk! It raced up the tree, vertically, round the trunk a few times, around a few branches and back down again, all without slowing down.

Well, I can tell you I was shocked and amazed! I had no idea the Ninky Nonk could perform such acts which broke the rules of physics (well, does anything adhere to commonly held beliefs of the way the world works in the Night Garden?). Luckily, the Ninky Nonk stopped not far from the tree and I ran over to see if anyone could do an interview.

However, when I arrived, Igglepiggle and Upsy Daisy were swaying about and falling down as they were so dizzy! Igglepiggle couldn’t stop laughing and Upsy Daisy was laying on the floor with her eyes squeezed shut - what a ride the Ninky Nonk took them on!

And that is why you should always where your seatbelt, you never know when the Ninky Nonk might pull negative G’s!