Winter Woollies

Today I am going to show you how Polar made jumpers for me and for my friend Hanley.  She says bear jumpers are easy to make because somebody else has done the knitting already.  This is because our jumpers are made from her old socks!

Old socks can be very smelly, so make sure you use a pair that have been freshly washed, dried and aired before you try to make a jumper out of them.  They should also have stopped being useful to your human friend as socks.  This might be because the elastic that holds the sock up has stopped being twangy, so the socks fall down and get tangled around inside your human friend's shoes or boots, or your human friend might have worn big holes in the foot of the sock, which is what Polar usually does.  She repairs them for a while but, eventually, there is not enough toe sock left to stitch.  

Polar says we should not waste socks and clothes.  She says we should repair things or, if they are in good order but don't fit us, or if we don't like them any more due to a strange thing humans have called 'fashion', we should give them away to people who don't have enough clothes of their own.

Because we are quite small bears, the top of one grown-up sock is enough to make the body of our jumpers.  The top of the sock makes the neck.  You cut the foot off of the sock and make a double hem along the bottom, using lots of stitches so it does not run or fray.  You use the other sock to make the sleeves, cutting the tube made from the top of the sock to the length of your animal friend's arm, plus the width of two wide seams.  Cut that in half, length-ways, and do a double hem along what will be the cuff, or use the ready-finished top of the sock for the cuff.

Sew the long sides together to make two tubes, then carefully make holes on either side of the body, just below the neck, just big enough to fit the sleeves and stitch the sleeves in.  You have to do lots and lots of stitches along the seams of the sleeves.

Because Hanley is an extra small bear, there is usually enough of the sleeve sock left over to make him a hat too!

I sometimes watch the Channel 4 News with Polar and Grizzly.  There is a man called Jon Snow on this programme, who tells us what is happening in the world and asks powerful humans tough questions about why they don't do kinder, better things for other humans and animals..  I mention him here because he always wears very brightly-coloured, striped or patterned socks.  Jon Snow's old socks would make amazing jumpers for small bears and other animal friends, so I hope he has lots of furry friends he can give them to once they are worn out.

Hanley has a special jumper, hat and scarf, in red and white stripes, which he asked Polar to make for him out of a new pair of socks, so he can go to see Stoke City play football.  They are playing a team called Liverpool this evening.  Hanley says there was a famous game once, where Stoke got six goals and Liverpool only got one, which meant Stoke won.  Hanley doesn't think they will get six goals tonight but he is going to cheer very, very loudly for them, so you never know!

Wild bears don't wear jumpers.  Most wild bears have very, very thick fur, so they don't need them.  Other bears get through the winter, if it is very cold indeed and there is no bear food, by doing something called hibernating, which is a special type of sleeping we bears can do.  In my next post, I am going to tell you about a time on my boat journey when I hibernated.

More Thames Adventures

I had extra help on the day that I escaped from the Queen's guards, because Grizzly's son George and one of his friends joined the crew for the day.  I think George would be a good bear name.  Because it is quite a growly word, we wouldn't need to translate it from English into Bear to say it.

The river at Windsor was very, very busy.  As well as the big boats taking people on trips up and down, there were hundreds of little boats being rowed or peddled by people who knew even less about how to steer a boat and behave on the river than I did, before I became a proper boat bear.  I could see them charging about in all directions, cutting across in front of the bigger boats and going the wrong way. 

I kept covering my eyes with my paws, expecting to hear screams and emergency sirens, but there was just lots of laughing and splashing.

Although we soon found ourselves back in the country, with fields and parks beside the river, I did not like this part of the Thames as much as around Henley and Marlow.  It was still pretty and there were still lots of ducks and geese to wave to, but the birds weren't the only things in the sky.  There were huge aeroplanes too, and they were very noisy!  They flew right over the Queen's big castle.  Because she is an old lady and has human ears, not bear ears, the Queen might not notice them, but I expect her animal friends do, if she has any.

'I wonder if that's why the Queen's guards wear big furry hats?' I thought.  'Maybe it's so they can't hear the planes?' 

That would be silly because, if they couldn't hear the planes, they wouldn't be able to hear burglars breaking into the castle to steal the Queen's crown and jewels, which would make them useless guards.

There were more big locks to go through but they all had nice lock-keepers, men and women, who organised where the boats had to go so that the big boats didn't squash the little boats, and the steel boats didn't squash the wooden or plastic ones.  Being a lock-keeper is a very important job and probably not one suitable for a very small bear.

On our way to Staines, where George and his friend were leaving us, we passed a little island in the river called Runnymede, which is very famous in human history.  According to the notes in the river guide, a bad king called John was made to sign something called the Magna Carta here, hundreds and hundreds of years ago.  The guide book didn't say exactly what that was, but I imagine it was a promise to be a good king in future, for example to be kind to animals and not drop litter in the river.

The moorings at Staines were very different to the ones at Windsor, with a high quayside which was very difficult for Grizzly to get onto, because he is not a very big human.  It was quite impossible for small bears to climb, so I cannot tell you anything about this town, except that it too has noisy planes flying over it.  Fortunately, the noisy planes stopped when it got dark, so Polar and Grizzly could go to sleep and so could I, after finding some tasty grapes and crunchy biscuits to eat, then making sure I cleaned up the crumbs so Polar and Grizzly wouldn't notice!
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Soon, I will tell you about the next part of my journey and how we left the Thames for a little while and went onto another river but, because the weather is getting much colder, in my next post I am going to tell you how you can make nice jumpers, like mine and Hanley's, for your own small bear friends.

Bears in Burslem

After my last post, I'm sure you will be pleased to know that I haven't been turned into a hat for one of the Queen's guards, and nor has my friend Hanley Bear.  This may be because we are such small bears that we wouldn't make big enough hats. 

We are still in Stoke-on-Trent, at Polar and Grizzly's house, unless we are out exploring the Six Towns together.  Hanley and I went to Burslem recently, which is the town just north of Hanley (the town, not the bear). 

It is famous for its beautiful buildings, including the School of Art, Wedgwood Institute and the old Town Hall with a golden angel on top. 

Grizzly says they also brew very good beer there.  Hanley and I are only small bears and we aren't allowed to drink beer, so I cannot say for certain if this is true, but Grizzly is a very honest human so I expect it is.

There is a very famous pottery near Burslem called the Middleport Pottery, which Hanley Bear and I went to see.  We explored the old pottery buildings, looked at the very pretty china made by the clever people who work there, and had a very big vegetarian breakfast on proper china plates. 

There was also a real working narrowboat there.  It was much longer than Uppie, but only had a little cabin for people and a big hold for freight.  Because we are boat bears, we went aboard it to explore, despite a sign telling us to keep off, and we climbed up a crane too! 

Polar told we were bad bears and put us back in the bear bag, but that was really only because we were going to Burslem Park, where she said we could run around without getting into trouble.

The Six Towns of Stoke-on-Trent have lots of nice parks, according to Hanley Bear.  They have trees and ponds and playing fields.  They have playgrounds, too, where human cubs can go on swings and slides, and also climb things, as if they were bears!  We ran about in the park and talked to the ducks, and we talked to some grown-up humans playing bowls, which is a game of skill and very good exercise for human elders.

We did one of our #BearsBackingTheBid poses next to the pond for Polar, with Hanley waving his special Stoke-on-Trent flag, so we could help her tell people from outside this city how nice it is, using something called Twitter.  I will have to ask my bird friends about this.  

Polar says there is a special artists' day on Twitter today (Wednesday 22nd November), which is why I wanted to do a post about Burslem, although there are artists in all of the Six Towns, because lots of Stoke-on-Trent people are clever and creative.

I will tell you more about my adventures on Uplander II and how I can be clever and creative too, very soon.

Not Visiting the Queen

After all the excitement of the boat race, I carried on down the Thames on Uplander II with Polar and Grizzly.  That afternoon, we moored at a town called Marlow. 

My human friends went ashore to do some shopping and look around.  I used this time to explore the boat on my own, finding out where the food was kept, looking at the books and maps, and trying out the bed where Polar and Grizzly sleep.  It was very comfortable indeed, and I almost fell asleep there!

When I heard Polar and Grizzly coming back, I jumped down and ran back to my cushion on the back of the settee.  As it was quite comfortable, if not quite as cosy as the bed, I fell asleep up there. 

When I woke up, it was the next morning and we were on our way down the river again, through more pretty countryside, past lots of big houses and through more very big locks.  I could watch the scenery go by through the window next to my cushion and wave to the water birds and to human cubs on other boats.

I enjoyed looking out for different types of boat too.  Some were very old and beautiful; some were brightly-coloured and silly!  We spent almost all day on the move and, eventually, we moored by a pretty park late in the afternoon, in the last little space, which was just big enough for Uppie!

I saw from the map of the river that the town was called Windsor.  Reading the river guide book, I was very excited to discover that the big castle I could see from the boat was where the Queen lives, who is a very old and very important human lady.

'I don't expect the Queen gets many visits from bears,' I thought.  'I could go to see her!  As long as I get back here before Polar and Grizzly leave tomorrow morning, I won't be in any trouble.' 

When Polar and Grizzly got off the boat to look around, I sneaked out of the side hatch and set off after them.  Although I only have little legs, I can run quite fast and dodge through small spaces where humans can't fit, so I was soon up in the town and outside the big castle. 

'I don't expect I can just walk in to see her,' I said to myself.  I decided it might be best to find out more about visiting the Queen, so I found a shop with books in and started reading one about the Queen and her castles.  I had a terrible shock; the book said that the Queen's guards wore big black hats called 'bearskins'!

'I quite like my skin where it is - on me!' I gasped.  'Maybe visiting the Queen isn't such a good idea after all, in case any of her guards need new hats.'

I ran all the way back to Uppie, as fast as I could and, when Polar and Grizzly got home, I was sitting on my cushion, pretending not to be a real bear and hoping the Queen's guards wouldn't find me. 

When we left Windsor the next day, I was very relieved that we were on our way down river again and that I had escaped, without being turned into a hat.

Bear Food

Writing about oatcakes made me feel hungry, but not as hungry as I was on our journey along the Thames from Marlow.  Because they didn't realise I was a real bear, Polar and Grizzly didn't feed me that day, or the next day, or even the day after that!  I had to be a sneaky bear and eat whatever I could find, while they were asleep. 

Because I wasn't strong enough to open the fridge or the food cupboard doors, I ate things they left out in the galley, like little cherry tomatoes and grapes.  They were quite tasty and a good size for small bears.  After some struggling and wrestling with the lids, I found I could open the biscuit tins, where I found chocolate biscuits with caramel in (scrummy!) and nice little bear-sized, crumbly crackers with rosemary, although these were very salty and made me thirsty.

Once Polar and Grizzly realised I needed feeding, they tried hard to find out what food I liked.  Just so you know, not all small bears like marmalade sandwiches.  They will do, in an emergency, but scones and jam are nicer.  Porridge is excellent too, with plenty of honey on it.  Bears like sweet things, because we use up a lot of energy doing bear things, but we always clean our teeth after eating them, as you human cubs should too.

I discovered that my favourite food was rice pudding with jam.  Polar used to put a teaspoon of jam in my rice pudding and then, when her back was turned, I would sneak another spoonful in!  This was lovely until we ran out of jam and they made me eat marmalade sandwiches again.

Luckily, by that time it was late summer and we were on a canal.  In one area, there were trees all along the towpath with what looked like small plums growing on them.  I ate one, but it was very sharp and made my mouth all dry and tingly.

'These are damsons, Sonning,' said Polar.  'We can turn them into jam!'

When she told me that, I scuttled out of the boat and picked hundreds of them!  Polar put them in her biggest pan, with some water, and simmered them until they went soft, then she added sugar and boiled them.  It looked like there was boiling red gloop in the pan, so I kept well away from it.  Lots of big pips floated out - Polar said they were called 'stones', but they were more like wood. 

When she turned the gas off, the gloop had turned into lovely, shiny, dark-red jam.  It was slightly soft but it was perfect for putting on rice pudding, so I could have my favourite food again!

I will tell you what else we made into jam when we get to that part of my journey, but next time I am going to tell you about the town with the big castle where the Queen lives.

PS.  I like fruit cake too!

Oatcakes!

Now you know more about the birds I met on my journey, I'm going to tell you another story about me which has birds in it.  It also has oatcakes!  One of the best things about Stoke-on-Trent, according to my friend Hanley, is the food.  He is always talking about North Staffordshire oatcakes.  I had never heard of oatcakes until I came to Stoke-on-Trent.

One morning, Hanley seemed even more excitable than usual.  'Kay's boat is at Westport Lake,' he told me.  'And I've asked Grizzly and Polar to take us there so you can have an oatcake!'

We put on our jumpers, which Polar made for us out of her old socks, got into our special bear bag and Polar carried us outside.  I thought we would be travelling there on Uppie the narrowboat but Grizzly drove us in their little red car.  When we arrived at the lake, Polar let us out of the bear bag. 

'Be good bears and don't get lost!' she said.

Hanley wanted to go straight to the Oatcake Boat but I hadn't seen the lake before and I wanted to explore.  There was a big pond nearby, which I thought was the lake at first.  All around it, and on it, were ducks and geese.  They looked much bigger from the ground than they had done from our boat!    I found a park bench and climbed up onto it, so I could look the bigger birds straight in the eye and talk to them about their home.  The geese didn't seem to like me very much and kept hissing at me, which wasn't very nice of them, so I told them not to be so naughty!

'They think you're a small dog,' said a very big swan.  'We have trouble with dogs.  Sometimes they chase us and bite is, because the humans who look after them don't keep them on leads when they're walking around the lake.  Some of my bird friends have been badly hurt or even killed.'

'I'm very sorry to hear that, Mr Swan,' I said, because I was.

He scowled at me.  'You're not a dog, are you?'

'No, Mr Swan.  I'm a bear.'

'A bear!'  He came very close and sniffed at me.  I thought he was going to peck me with his big orange beak.  'You're very small, for a bear, but you seem like a kind animal to me.'

'My friend is even smaller,' I said.  In all the excitement of meeting the swan, I realised I had lost Hanley Bear!  'You haven't seen him, have you?'

'I'll ask the other swans to look for him,' said my swan friend.  'He might be by the lake.'

'Isn't this the lake?'

'This is just our pond, little bear.  The lake is over there!'

I jumped down from my seat and we walked up a little hill.  On the other side of it was a huge expanse of clear, blue water, twinkling in the sunshine.  A path went all the way around it.  It was the prettiest place I had seen since arriving in Stoke-on-Trent.

'There he is!'  I could just see a tiny figure on the bank of the lake, a long way from us, waving his special flag.

The swan said something - in swan - to one of his friends, and the other bird started paddling across the water.  Swans go very fast when they have to and he reached Hanley in no time at all.

'I've asked my friend to bring him back to us,' explained the swan.  'He's so small, he can ride on my friend's back, even if he decides to fly!'

'Hang on, Hanley!' I shouted.

However, when Hanley saw the huge swan coming towards him, he turned around and ran away in fright.  Luckily for him, Polar and Grizzly were walking around the lake and had just got to where he was.  Polar picked him up and put him in the bear bag.  Then they came to look for me.

'You bears ought to stay together when you're out and about,' Polar said.  'Sit here in the sunshine, while I take some photographs of the lake, then we'll all go for oatcakes!'

We sat on a sunny bench with Grizzly and waited for her to come back, then we went up to the canal together.  There were lots of boat shops there, selling clothes and cards and wooden things, and Polar bought some very pretty cards with kingfishers on from a clever lady called Lesley.  There was even a boat of pirate things.  Hanley and I thought it might be fun to be pirate bears, but Polar said she didn't want to encourage us to be bad bears and refused to buy us pirate hats and cutlasses, so we will just have to make our own one day! 

Then we saw the Oatcake Boat.  Mrs Kay and Mr Steve were very busy, with a long queue of people waiting for oatcakes and something called lobby, which Hanley says is the best sort of soup in the whole world.  After our adventures with the swans, Hanley and I were very hungry, so we were very relieved to find there were still oatcakes for sale when Grizzly reached the front of the queue.

'Here you are, Sonning!' said Grizzly.

My oatcake, which I shared with Grizzly, was really scrumptious and I was sad when we finished it.
 
Hanley shared Polar's oatcake.  He said he had so much energy afterwards that he thought he could open and shut lock gates, so he tried to get a job helping Mr Rob the Locks.  Mr Rob thanked him for offering but said he didn't really need a small bear's help, as his son assisted him if there were lots and lots of locks.

'You have a job already, Hanley,' I said.  'You're a cultural ambassador for Stoke-on-Trent!'

Hanley waved his flag proudly.

'That's the best job in the whole world, duck!' he said.