The Curse of Hanley Bear?

Poor Hanley Bear is in a quandary at the moment.  This is why.

As you will know, if you've read about my best bear buddy in my blog before, Hanley is very proud indeed of his home city of Stoke-on-Trent and supports Stoke City Football Club avidly.  I arrived here and met Hanley while Stoke-on-Trent was bidding to be UK City of Culture 2021, so Hanley combined showing me around my new home with campaigning for the bid.  

We became the #BearsBackingTheBid and got Polar to use her Twitter account to post pictures of us enjoying the highlights of the Potteries.  Lots of people in the city worked very hard on the bid and Hanley Bear was sure Stoke would win, so when it went to Coventry instead, he felt quite crushed, especially as Coventry Football Club had knocked Stoke City out of the FA Cup.

Even now, if anyone mentions Coventry he goes, "Boo!" very loudly, which isn't very sporting.

There was more disappointment to come.  Hanley Bear persuaded Grizzly to squeeze him into his pocket so he could go to see Stoke City in action at a couple of home games he was sure they were going to win - but Stoke lost, and then they kept on losing or drawing until they were relegated from the Premiership.  

Hanley hoped some other West Midlands teams - Aston Villa and Shrewsbury - might win promotion  in the Championship and League One play-offs but the only Midlands team which managed to get promoted was Coventry.

"Boo!" cried Hanley.

Now, Stoke-on-Trent has been short-listed to be a 'creative hub' for Channel 4.  It would be a great boost for the city to get such good new entertainment and broadcasting jobs and it would reflect well on the whole area.  Naturally, Hanley Bear wants to support the #C4Stoke campaign, but he's become convinced that he is an unlucky bear. 

So, although he would like us to be #BearsBackingTheBid again, he worries that he might jinx things if he takes part.  I'm sure he isn't a bad luck bear and I think he, little Endon and I ought to do all we can to encourage Channel 4 to site their hub here, but if they don't, Hanley will think it's all his fault again. 

Poor Hanley - what's a bear to do? 

An Extra Bear!

Hanley Bear and I had a very exciting Bank Holiday weekend. 

We didn't think it was going to be, as Polar and Grizzly decided not to take Uppie the narrowboat up to Endon for the Well Dressing and Craft Fair.  We were quite disappointed about that, but Polar said we could help her get ready for the fair and help on the stall, if we were good bears and stayed away from the wet paint.

Polar paints canal roses and daisies on things to make them prettier, or to make waste things useful again.  She uses enamel paint which we were warned is very difficult to get out of fur, so we were careful not to go near painted things until they were dry.  When they were, we helped to pack them.

The fair was in a big tent at the top of a field with lovely views towards the Staffordshire Moorlands and Churnet Valley, where we had gone to see the bluebells and steam trains earlier in the year.  Hanley and I thought about rolling down the hill for fun, but we had work to do, helping to set out Polar's pots and tins. 

We thought it would be fun to sit in the watering cans and wave to people, so Polar made signs pointing out that we were not for sale!

When people weren't buying things, Polar was busy painting new things.  Grizzly fetched us all cups of tea and tasty snacks during the day and went to talk to people running other stalls who were selling cards or turning wood or spinning or doing all sorts of other clever things we bears would like to learn to do. 

When Polar went for a walk around, she took us with her, so we could see the Well Dressing.  This is a Peak District tradition which goes back to when humans believed in water spirits and thought they had to honour them to stop their springs of fresh water drying up, so decorated around the springs with flowers.  These days, the flowers are pressed into clay boards to make patterns, usually with a historical theme.  Polar was pleased to see that Votes for Women was one of the themes this year, because it is one hundred years since the first British women were allowed to vote.

We wanted to paddle in the spring because it was hot, but Polar didn't want us getting our back paws wet or muddy and getting the stall messy, so we had to stay in our bear bag. 

On the way back to our tent, Hanley Bear started to cry.  He had seen other small bears on stalls but they weren't helping the humans running them - they were prizes in raffles and games.  Hanley said we ought to rescue them, because he had once been on a fair stall and had been very frightened he might be won by someone who didn't really care about bears and would give him to their dog as a chew toy.

'Polar and Grizzly don't have enough money to buy all the tickets,' I explained to Hanley.  'So how can we rescue any bears?'

That night, we talked about the fair bears and how to help Grizzly or Polar win one and set it free.  We couldn't think of a way to make sure they won the raffle but worked out that we might be able to win a bear at spin-the-wheel.  It would mean cheating slightly, but it was to rescue a fellow bear so we decided it was a good thing to do.

The next day, when Polar took us out at lunchtime, she showed us some rescued owls, so we would stop being frightened of them and a big carved wooden bear made from a tree trunk by a clever man with a chain saw, but she almost walked right past the spin-the-wheel game. 

Hanley Bear had worked out a plan to rescue a bear here, so we started wriggling in the bear bag.  When Polar stopped to check we hadn't fallen out, one of the men running the game asked her to have a go.  'Only one pound!' he said.

Polar had some change in her pocket so decided to have a go.  She spun the wheel, so hard we thought she would break it.  It whizzed round and round and round.  If the arrow stopped where it said LARGE, you won a big bear.  If it stopped at MEDIUM you won a middle-sized bear and if it stopped at SMALL you won a small bear, but there were lots of segments on the dial that said LOSE, where you didn't win any bear.  Hanley and I got quite giddy watching the arrow spinning round but we had to concentrate really hard if our plan was to work.

The arrow started to slow down.  It went past LARGE.  It went past MEDIUM.  Then it almost stopped on one of the LOSE segments.  Hanley Bear and I leaned out of the bear bag and blew with all our strength.  The arrow crept forward a tiny bit more and stopped on SMALL.

'Yay!' went Hanley Bear.

We made sure Polar picked a cub we had seen the day before and wanted to rescue most.  He is a little smaller than Hanley and very fuzzy, and we have told our human guardians they can call him Endon, after where we rescued him, although his name is GrGrowlGrGrowl in bear.  It was hard having to leave other small bears on the stall, but we hoped they would soon be won by kind grown-ups or good human cubs who would love and care for them.

Endon is settling in with us.  Polar will need to make him some clothes soon, as he is borrowing some of my pyjamas at the moment and they are too big for him.  Hanley Bear is looking forward to taking him to some of his favourite parks and other places and of course I want to teach him about being a boat bear.  

We have reorganised the bear basket so it sleeps three bears comfortably, as we will need to make sure we get plenty of rest if we are all going to have adventures together! 

Hide and Seek

Hanley Bear and I have just returned from a short visit to the south of England,  Polar and Grizzly went to stay with Grizzly's daughter and her family, so we got to play with Grizzly's grandcubs again.

We were very tired from the long journey when we first arrived and, when we got up after our afternoon nap, it was already bath and bedtime for the boys.  As it was still light, Hanley Bear and I slipped out into the garden to explore.  We found a slide, a bear-sized truck to drive and little house at the bottom of the garden.

'It looks like a shop,' I said.  'But there are things all over the floor.  I hope it hasn't been burgled!'

'There's food!' cried Hanley Bear, who was feeling hungry after our journey.  He tried to bite what looked like a tomato.  His little teeth wouldn't go through the skin at all.  'It's play food, not real food,' he said sadly.

We deduced it must belong to the human cubs so we tidied it all into baskets and put them on some shelves.  We found some money too.  We wondered if we should keep the money for our Paddington Fund but decided that must belong to the human cubs and, being very honest small bears, we put it in the till and closed the drawer, leaving the shop looking very tidy when the cubs' daddy came to close it up for the night.

The next morning, the cubs had a Forest Schools adventure to go on.  We quite liked the idea of going with them but woke up too late for breakfast and missed them setting off, so we made ourselves bear chairs out of Lego (for watching the FA Cup later).  We were trying these out when the boys came home and wanted to play.

'Let's play hide and seek!' suggested Hanley Bear, who had been wanting to explore the garden.  It is very pretty and there are shrubs and small trees to climb as well as lots of dense planting to hide in.

 We quickly scurried away while the boys counted to forty-five (because fifty was too much) and then they came looking for us.  We found lots of what we thought were very clever hiding places - under toys, among the foliage, up in the shrubs and even on the bird table - but every time the human cubs found us. 

Sometimes they lifted us up by our ears, which was what the cubs call 'owey' - meaning it hurts!  If you look after small bears, please don't pick them up by the ears.  Lift us up carefully by holding us just under the arms and keeping us the right way up, please.

The next day we went to the park with the cubs and tried swings and a big shiny slide for the first time.  We could climb up to the slide but slipping down looked very scary.  Hanley Bear stood at the top, not feeling brave enough to slide down, until the smaller human cub climbed up and then whizzed down the slide, holding Hanley tightly.

'Wheee!' went Hanley Bear.  'That was fun!'

Then the older cub carried me up and we flew down the slide together, then Hanley and I climbed back up and shot down the slide together, with the wind whistling in our ears, and the cubs caught us safely at the bottom.

We had so much fun with Grizzly's grandcubs that we hoped we could stay another day and go to the dinosaur park, but Polar and Grizzly had things to do at home and had to drive back the next morning.  The human cubs gave us big hugs before they went to school and nursery.  Hanley Bear and I were sad to say goodbye to our lively little friends but we hope to visit them again soon for more swings and slides and hide and seek.  

 

A New Home

It was mid-September when Uplander II came home to Stoke-on-Trent, with a small bear aboard.  Polar and Grizzly had already explained to me that this would be the end of our voyage and I would be living here, at least until we set off on another cruise.

We spent several days journeying north and west through Staffordshire.  Sometimes there were dark clouds and rain but the countryside was still lovely.  Grizzly's favourite area is between Colwich and Stone - he calls it 'Arcadia'.  I liked it because there were lots of animals and birds to see, including a very bold kingfisher perched on the back of a boat who didn't fly away when we went past!

Now the weather was getting cooler, Polar used some felt her friend Tina had given her to make me a duffle coat!  I love it, as it reminds me of Paddington's coat and keeps me very snug in the cold autumn winds, especially if I put the hood up to cover my ears. 

Close to Stoke, we passed through Barleston and then the big Wedgwood pottery factory.  I knew from reading the canal guidebooks that Stoke-on-Trent was famous for the china made there by very clever humans for more than three centuries.  It would be nice to have a bear-sized tea set for Hanley Bear and I one day, so we could serve a proper afternoon tea to any of our animal friends who come to visit! 

Stoke-on-Trent didn't look very nice from the canal.  There was a huge incinerator, then a busy road, then big walls with lots of scrawly graffiti on, then a big concrete lock next to a house with a fierce dog that kept barking at me.  But, after we came through two more locks, we reached quite a pretty area next to the Industrial Museum at Etruria.  We stopped here and that was when Polar and Grizzly met Polar's friend Tina, her mum and her sister, and their small bear friends, one of whom is now my best bear buddy, little Hanley Bear.

I was glad Hanley was with me for the journey on to Kidsgrove, where Uppie lives when we are not on a voyage.  I thought the landscape looked rather sad and empty, but Hanley explained that there used to be a massive steelworks where we were, and that the derelict buildings we went past were old potteries.  He showed me one that had been restored, at Middleport, and pointed out a couple of the famous bottle kilns which used to be used for firing the pottery.

Then we got to Harecastle Tunnel.  Although we bears are used to caves, we find very, very long tunnels rather scary and this is an extremely long tunnel.  Grizzly always steers the boat through as he is shorter than Polar and less likely to bump his head on the nasty low ceiling.  Hanley Bear and I sat in the cratch, watching the tiny speck of light in the distance slowly getting bigger.

'Isn't the water a funny colour!' I said to Hanley, as it had gone all orangey.

Hanley explained this was because there was iron ore in the hill the tunnel went through, which was what stained the water orange.  He showed me that there were small stalactites on the ceiling too, made from where the water seeped through limestone.  Hanley is only a very small bear, but he knows a lot of scientific things.  Having him talking to me about rocks and mining and Stoke-on-Trent and oatcakes stopped me getting frightened in the tunnel and soon, we were through!

Polar and Grizzly sat us both back in my bunk while they finished packing up everything that had to go back to the house and doing things like switching off the gas and electricity on the boat.  Then we were taken along a gangway to some funny lop-sided steps and up to where Grizzly had parked a little red car, and that look us up a steep hill to Polar and Grizzly's house. 

After our adventure going through the tunnel, Hanley and I were too tired to explore the house and garden that day, but as you can see from my other posts we have a very comfortable life as loved bears here, with our cosy bear basket to sleep in and a nice big garden to play in.  Hanley Bear was very keen to show me round his home city and I have got to like Stoke-on-Trent much more than I thought I would from my first impressions, but I am still a boat bear at heart and hope to be off on more voyages soon!