Orinoco

### Place of Birth

Wimbledon Burrow, Wimbledon Common, London, England, United Kingdom, Earth, Milky Way

### Place of Residence

Wimbledon Burrow, Wimbledon Common, London, England, Earth, Milky Way

## Womble Information

### Position in Burrow

Resident (formerly Refuse Collector [1955-2000])

## Relations

### Friends

Tomsk, Bungo, Wellington, Alderney, Shansi, Stepney, Madame Cholet, Great Uncle Bulgaria, Tobermory, Miss Adelaide, Yellowstone, Idaho, Ms Atlanta, Obidos, Hoboken, Cairngorm The MacWomble The Terrible, Nanking, Livingstone, Normandy, Great Uncle Universe, Guernsey, Wimbledon, Burnley, Honourable Cousin Tokyo, Hirado

**Orinoco** (born 1955) is an English womble who currently resides at the Wimbledon Burrow, a womble burrow located in Wimbledon Common, London, England, Earth, Milky Way. He was born at the Wimbledon Burrow in 1955 and has resided at that burrow his entire life. In 1959, when he was around four years old, Orinoco entered the Wimbledon Burrow Womblegarten under Miss Adelaide. It was during the 1960s that Orinoco met some of the wombles he would know for many decades. His first good friend was Tomsk, who he met in 1960, followed by Bungo in 1963 and Wellington in 1964. In 1965, Orinoco graduated from the Womblegarten, after which he chose his name from Great Uncle Bulgaria’s Atlas and became a working womble. Orinoco named himself after the river in South America, which itself is named after a word from the Warao language of the Warao people. Orinoco became a working womble in 1965 and was described by Great Uncle Bulgaria as “always calm, intelligent and confident”, but also as “very lazy and only motivated by food”. Orinoco has always been very reluctant to exert much energy and much prefers to sleep behind a bush than work, but due to promises of extra food at dinnertime, usually does carry out his work. Despite his placid nature, Orinoco has been involved in several unusual and dramatic events, including once in 1968 when he was carried several hundred feet by an umbrella being blown through the wind. He was only slightly upset by this event and within minutes had recovered and was glad to have found a copy of *The Times* for Great Uncle Bulgaria. In 1973, at the age of 18, Orinoco and Bungo departed in Balloon 1 as part of the Expedition to compile *Womble History of the World Volume 10*. During his time in Balloon 1, Orinoco visited many wombles across the world, including Cousin Yellowstone Boston and Second Cousin Idaho of the Yellowstone Burrow and Honourable Cousin Tokyo and Workshop Master Hirado of the Tokyo Burrow. Orinoco is a close friend of Cousin Yellowstone, having met him in Fortune & Basin which is Orinoco’s favourite shop due its selection of gourmet food. Orinoco’s greed has often caused him to be resented by the other wombles, especially when food was scarce and he has even broken the womble custom of eating no meat in his quest for food.

As of 2022, Orinoco still resides at the Wimbledon Burrow. He has retired from refuse collecting and, prior to the 18th July 2022, spent the majority of his day sleeping, waking for only four hours to eat. Due to Orinoco’s sedentary lifestyle, Bungo attempted to encourage him to return to work and become more active, but Orinoco refused to do so. On the 18th July 2022, Stepney visited Orinoco and was shocked to discover that he had not left his bed for several months and had a machine which produced and masticated food and transported it to his mouth via a plastic tube. Stepney was concerned for Orinoco’s welfare and attempted to convince him to leave his bed and to take up bicycle riding again, but Orinoco refused. Such was the extent of Stepney’s concern, that he contacted Deputy Universal Leader Tel Aviv and reported his worries to him. Tel Aviv called a government strategy meeting and discussed the issue with Universal Leader Jerusalem, the other members of Jerusalem’s Cabinet and the government advisors. The issue was discussed and it was decided that Orinoco should undergo an examination by a doctor. Tel Aviv and a womble doctor visited Orinoco, with the doctor examining Orinoco both physically and by using a Brain Scan. The doctor discovered that Orinoco suffered from a disease which caused him to constantly feel hungry and tired and stated that this disease could be cured easily. Orinoco was opposed to treatment, as he stated he was content in his present situation, but the doctor insisted that Orinoco undergo treatment, but agreed that it could be reversed if, after 24 hours, Orinoco felt the same way. Orinoco reluctantly agreed to these conditions, after establishing that he had no choice in the matter. The treatment was successful and the condition was cured. Following the successful application of the treatment, Orinoco also underwent a procedure to remove his excess body fat. After both of these medical interventions had been carried out, Orinoco experienced a marked change in attitude and immediately looked for his bicycle, which he had not riden in several years due to his obesity. As soon as he found his bicycle, Orinoco immediately began to cycle around Wimbledon Common.

Orinco is the namesake of the Orinoco Phenomenon, an as-of-yet unexplained synchronicity between many different wombles from many different burrows across multiple thousands of years being named Orinoco and sharing his salient characteristics, both physical and behavioural. It has been observed that many burrows will have one Orinoco at any one time, but will very rarely have two or more, even though burrows range in size from under 20 wombles to over 100 trillion.