Hanley Bear - Football Manager!

This weekend, Polar boiled up the last of the runny marmalade Hanley and I made, adding extra sugar, extra lemons and some apple pectin, and this time it set.  We helped by staying away from the very hot pots and sitting in the kitchen scales to supervise, although Polar wasn't very pleased when she found we had got sugar on our trousers and bear fur on the scales.  However, because we had to add lots of extra things to it to make it set, we have much more marmalade than we planned to make. 

Polar and Grizzly already have plenty of jars in their larder, enough to enjoy toast and marmalade for elevenses all year, Polar says, so she put some of the rest into small jars, as little late Christmas presents for some of her friends, and set aside twelve medium-sized jars to sell to raise money for our Paddington Fund.  These have special 'Paddington Fund' labels on them and there is a poster showing us hard at work, so people can see what busy bears we have been.  We have asked for the jars back so we can make more in future.

We took a jar of our best non-drinking marmalade to Mrs Kay and Mr Steve on the Oatcake Boat to cheer them up, after they had a flood caused by some very bad people throwing scrap metal into the canal, which got tangled around the boat's propeller.  While we were at the Oatcake Boat we met Doris, the Oatcake Boat dog, who is quite big and scary.  Fortunately for us, she doesn't eat small bears, she just sniffed us to make sure we were behaving ourselves.  Mrs Kay said that the other boat people and fans of their oatcakes had been very generous with the help they gave them after their flood and, because everyone was so kind, they would be back in business very soon.  This made Hanley Bear cheer, as he had a plan for his favourite football team which needed lots of oatcakes.

You might remember that Hanley wanted to give Stoke City's players drinking marmalade, to help them win games, but Grizzly said what they really needed was a good new manager and Polar said she didn't think the drinking marmalade would keep until the next home game.  So Hanley decided he would apply for the football manager's job.  He said that, if he was in charge, the players would have oakcakes from Mrs Kay's boat for their lunch before every home match, plus a jar of drinking marmalade each at half-time, for extra energy.  For away games near canals, he said he would hire Mr Rob the Locks to help Mr Steve and Mrs Kay to get the Oatcake Boat as close as possible to the opponents' stadium, so the players could have fresh oatcakes before those games too.  I thought that was a brilliant strategy and had just started helping him draft a job application letter to the club chairman, when Polar interrupted us to say another human had been appointed.

'Boo!' cried Hanley Bear, who had set his heart on the job.

'Perhaps Hanley could manage Southampton?' Polar suggested, but Hanley Bear said that wouldn't be fair, because he would have to make sure they lost when they played against Stoke.

I suppose that if Hanley Bear isn't going to be a football manager, he will have more time to help me with projects for our Paddington Fund, which I am very happy about, as it helps to have a little bear buddy about to discuss ideas with.  I don't think Grizzly will be taking him to the next match either, in case he boos the new boss.