The 1st Puzzle And A Guzzle: Birds In The Snow

In association with a six-pack of Carling Black Label.


Four nights were available to complete this 1000-piecer . I had hired a caravan in the New Forest for an autumnal Monday to Friday half term holiday.

Doubts prevailed as to whether the puzzle would be completed before the keys to the mobile home would have to be returned to the owner. Especially when this little lot appeared out of the fridge:



Would I be repacking the puzzle incomplete and defeated come Friday morn?

After the first two of those nights, that looked likely. I was only lightly inebriated as I sat down each time, but the alcohol, combined with my exposure to the fresh air of southern England weighed heavy and progress was slow. A careless sleeve repeatedly swept stray pieces onto the linoleum floor. Tea was brewed in a foreign pot and imbibed in the hope it would battle the lager and enliven mind and spirit, and concentrate the grey matter on the task at hand.

But the snow. So much snow. And beaks and feathers and...

But the eye was drawn to the pockets of red, and pieces sporting this colour were split from the rest of the pack. Edges too found themselves congregating on the periphery of the caravan table.

The birdseed holder was pieced together first.

Night three was where big progress was made, and although it ended with me still at least 200 shy of completion, a finish in four days looked possible.

And so it proved.

As ever, fewer options remaining led to a swift jigsaw denouement, celebrated with the last of a six pack of Carling cans, a smooth, unassuming drink in a cool can that reminds me of a Pierre Cardin shirt I owned in the late 1980s.

The puzzle was left in situ overnight before being swept back into its box the following morn, and swiftly packed away along with the rest of our holiday paraphernalia.

Time to RSVP the RSPB. These wild birds had been tamed.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT: The realisation on Day 3 that there was a bird in the picture that I hadn't seen on Days 1 and 2.

Ratings (out of 10)

ENJOYABILITY: 6

TRICKINESS: 5

THE MONEY SHOT: