My Friend Hanley

Bear Buddies

While I was travelling around England with Polar and Grizzly, I saw no other bears on boats.  Although I was very happy with my human friends for company, sometimes it's nice to be with someone who speaks Bear and understands Bear Things. 

Etruria Junction

When Polar and Grizzly were almost home, they moored Uppie outside a big restaurant at a place called Etruria.  That evening, one of Polar's friends from work, whose human name is Tina, came to meet them.  She brought her mum and her sister, and she brought two bears too!  The bears' names were GrGrrGrrGrowl and GrowlGRGrowl and we had a lovely evening together, once I got used to the way they spoke. 

GrGrrGrrGrowl kept calling me 'Duck'.

Not a bear!

'Just because I live on the canal, that doesn't make me a duck!' I told him.  That was one of my little jokes.  GrowlGRGrowl laughed and laughed but GrGrrGrrGrowl thought I was making fun of him.

I told them about my journey and how I had learned to make jam - a story I will share with you another day - while GrGrrGrrGrowl and GrowlGRGrowl told me all sorts of interesting things about their home city.  By the time they had finished, I was really looking
forward to spending more time in Stoke-on-Trent, although it hadn't looked all that exciting from the canal so far, compared to some of the other places I had been.

The smaller bear, GrGrrGrrGrowl, wanted to be a boat bear too and asked Tina if he could join me on Uppie.  He needed a human name, so Polar and Grizzly had something to call him.  We decided he would be Hanley Bear, as we thought Etruria sounded like a name for an old lady bear. 

Hanley is the name of one of the Six Towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent.  Hanley Bear explained that if I was going to live here, it was important to know the names of them all.  Some people say Hanley is the most important of the towns and the City Centre, which is why Hanley the bear picked it, but folk who live in the other five - Tunstall, Burslem, Fenton, Stoke-upon-Trent and Longton - often disagree.

Not the real Paddington!

When I met Hanley, he had been dressed like Paddington Bear, rather like how humans sometimes dress up as Elvis and sing to make a living.  I thought he might be the real Paddington at first, until I asked him if he had a marmalade sandwich under his hat, for emergencies.

'No duck,' he said.  He explained that he didn't really like marmalade sandwiches.  'I prefer oatcakes!'

I couldn't imagine there could be anything tastier than a good marmalade sandwich, so I thought that was a very peculiar thing for a bear to say.  However, Hanley says some of the best North Staffordshire oatcakes are made on a canal boat by a lady called Kay and, although I haven't tried one yet, I think they would make a delicious meal for a hungry boat bear!

After we had finished dinner, we said goodbye to Tina, her family and GrowlGRGrowl, and Hanley came aboard Uppie with me.  We had an exciting boat adventure the next day, which I will tell you about when I get to that part of my travels. 

Whatever is this?

When Uppie reached the end of its journey, Grizzly and Polar took us to their house.  That is where we live when we aren't going somewhere by boat.  Polar has started making new clothes for Hanley so that, when we go out, Hanley isn't mistaken for the real Paddington.  We have a special bag to travel in, so look out for us exploring The Potteries together!