One day Mr Punch organised a trip to the seaside.
He and Judy loved the seaside.
It’s where they grew up.
So, he and Judy and Baby got the train down and arrived on the beach in time for lunch.
Mr Punch spread out the rug on the sand and he and Baby started making sandcastles while
Judy did some yoga in the sun.
“Hello there” said a voice.
Mr Punch looked around and was surprised to see the Policeman.
He had heard about the trip to the seaside and had ridden down on a tandem with the Park Keeper. They both had very red faces from all the pedalling.
There was an even bigger surprise to come.
Behind the tandem was a long trailer.
Long enough to hold … a Crocodile.
Yes, the Park Keeper had thought it would make a nice change for the Crocodile to have the sea to play in as a change from his little lake in the park.
The Policeman took off his jacket and helmet.
And the Park Keeper put down his brilliant bamboo brush.
And they all went off to play on the beach.
The game was ‘bury Mr Punch in the sand’ and everyone had a lot of fun doing this.
Baby had his little bucket which he kept filling up and piling sand on top of Mr Punch.
The Park Keeper brushed sand towards the mound which was growing.
And the crocodile used his big tail to sweep even more sand onto the pile.
Finally, only Mr Punch’s face could be seen with his nose sticking out like a flag.
It was quite hard work and they soon got very hungry and went back to the rug for some
sandwiches and fruit juice.
And they went ‘Nom, nom, nom. Munch, munch, munch. Yum, yum, yum. We love lunch.’
‘Agghh’ said Judy suddenly. ‘Mr Punch!!!!!!!’.
Mr Punch was still buried in the sand.
They quickly dug him up and gave him some sandwiches which were by now actually made of sand.
After their lunch had gone down and they had had a bit of a rest, they decided to go for a swim.
They all waded into the water although the Policemen only pulled up his pants and paddled.
The Crocodile was loving it. He’d never had so much room.
But unfortunately, the sight of the crocodile frightened all the other people in the water and they ran screaming back to the beach.
Mr Punch told the Crocodile to come out of the water as he would spoil the day for everyone.
This made the Crocodile quite grumpy and he lay on the sand in a bad mood.
Things got worse when some naughty clouds decided to float over and block the sun.
Everyone groaned when the sun disappeared, especially Judy who was hoping to get a bit of a tan.
It looked like the day might be over.
But Mr Punch had an idea.

He jumped up, grabbed the Park Keeper’s brilliant bamboo brush and went over to where the Crocodile was still sulking in the sand.
“Oh, please let me see those magnificent teeth, let me make them shiiiiiine”, Mr Punch said.
But the Crocodile kept his mouth tightly shut and kept his miserable expression on.
“But all these lovely people on the beach have never seen your fabulous smile. They would love to see it.”
Now, of course, the Crocodile could never resist a compliment and so he proudly opened his huge mouth and revealed his wider-than-the-widest-wide-thing smile.
As Mr Punch brushed away the smile got brighter and brighter, bright enough to light up the beach, radiant enough to warm the people on the beach.
And shiny enough to even help with Judy’s tan.
The Crocodile’s kept beaming his smile until eventually the clouds drifted away, the sun came out again and all the beach was happy again.
And all the other families let the Crocodile have the sea to himself for a while as a big thank you.