Busy Boat Bears

As it was sunny and still last weekend, Polar and Grizzly thought it would be nice to take Uppie for a short cruise up the Macclesfield Canal.  Grizzly says it is his favourite canal, which is very convenient as it starts very close to where Uppie is moored.

As soon as we got aboard, we put on our life-jackets.  Then we helped Polar unpack our picnic lunch, including some mini stroopwafels for us!

Uppie's engine started first time and soon we were away, taking the sharp left turn under the bridge at Hardingswood Junction, passing the moored boats at Red Bull and cruising over the aqueduct over the Cheshire Locks.  

When Polar had finished making a cup of tea for her and Grizzly (who was steering), she told us she had a special treat for us. Because she could trust us to be sensible bears, we were on a narrow canal and it wasn't windy, we were all going to be allowed to sit in the lifebuoy on the roof!

'Yay!' we cheered.  We ran through the boat ahead of Polar and jumped up the steps to the rear deck, where Grizzly lifted us up onto the roof.

'Stay inside the big orange ring, little bears!' he said.  'If you fall off the roof and into the canal, we can rescue you with the boat hook, but you'll get very wet and cold.'

We didn't want to get wet and cold, so we did as we were told and stayed safely inside the lifebuoy.  We didn't mind, as we had super views from there of the trees and fields, houses and farms.  

We were rather scared when we saw two big buzzards circling above us but, with Polar and Grizzly standing right behind us, we knew we were safe.

After we had gone through the one small stop-lock on that part of the canal, we cruised on past Grizzly's favourite pub and the big house Ramsdell Hall, whose owners only let the canal be built through their land in return for having fancy railings put in along the towpath.  There are some moored boats nearby and a very muddy path to Little Moreton Hall.

Polar took over steering, while Grizzly went for a walk along the towpath.  After a mile or so, they swapped over and Polar had a walk, taking her camera with her so she could take pictures of us enjoying our boat trip. 

When Polar climbed aboard again, Grizzly went inside to read the paper.  He reads a newspaper called The Guardian, which I think must be printed specially for the guardians of small bears. 

We enjoyed sitting in the sunshine, listening to the birds singing and waving to animals and humans from our vantage point, as Polar steered us.  We recognised the moorings at Congleton where we stayed at Christmas, with the turn-over bridges at either end where the towpath changes sides.  

Soon after, we stopped for lunch, finding a space between a couple of boats on the embankment where we could see the railway viaduct. 

That was as far as we planned to go that day so, after lunch, Grizzly turned the boat around at the aqueduct and we started home.  We bears helped Polar put the lunch things away and, when she went back up on deck, we did some dusting and tidying.

'There are ladybirds everywhere!' said Endon.  'They must have been hibernating on the boat.'

'Polar could put them in her greenhouse to eat the greenfly on her geranium cuttings,' Hanley Bear suggested. 

'Don't you think they're happier on Uppie?' I asked him.

'No,' Hanley replied.  'I think the spiders have been eating them.  I've found some dead ones and ladybird wings with no ladybird!  I think they will be safer off the boat.'  Endon agreed that we should rescue the ladybirds. 

'Let's put them all in something, so we can take them home.'  I said.

We found a little plastic box, made little air-holes in the lid with our claws, then climbed around inside the boat catching all the ladybirds we could see.  Because we have soft paws, we didn't hurt them when we picked them up.  Soon, we had fifteen in our box.

'Well done, bears!' said Polar when she saw what we had done.  She gave us all hugs, and took us back to sit in the lifebuoy for the journey home. 

We had enjoyed a lovely day afloat and were quite sad when we got back to our moorings, but Grizzly said we would have more boat adventures soon and some non-boating adventures too, so we have lots to look forward to.

We are very lucky small bears! 

Polar's Secret Gardens

Polar and Grizzly took us to Trentham Gardens yesterday. 

'You deserve a day out for being good bears this week and helping us to make marmalade last weekend,' said Polar.  'It would have taken ages to chop up all those lemons and limes without help from you bears.'

Our marmalade is on sale in Polar's office.  The money raised from selling it is to buy plants for a little courtyard garden at the back of the office, which Polar has been tidying up so her friends can sit out in it at lunchtime.  No-one except the workers there know about it, so they call it the Secret Garden.  It is surrounded by buildings and very shady, so lots of plants won't grow there. 

It also got very messy, because lots of pigeons started nesting around it, so Polar made a plastic-bottle peregrine falcon to try to scare them away.  There are real peregrine falcons on a tall building near Polar's office, which she can hear screeching when the windows are open during the summer.

Polar has taken in some ferns and other spare plants from our garden that like shade, but wanted inspiration to help her choose other plants.

'Why don't we look in the woodland meadows at Trentham and see what they grow under the trees?' I suggested.  We love it there, as it is very pretty, even in winter, and there are lots of things for small bears to do.

'That's a great idea, Sonning!' said Polar.

Before we went into the woods around the lake, Polar and Grizzly let us play.  We climbed the big terracotta flowerpots in the Italian Garden to see if the tulips were coming through, then we sat on a nice bench to enjoy the view.

'Look at all those daffodils!' said Endon, pointing across the gardens.  'We could play hide and seek in them!'

We had lots of fun hiding and seeking, then got back in our bear bag.  Polar and Grizzly took a new path behind the show gardens.

'That one is called the Secret Garden,' she told us.  'It was originally built at the Tatton Park Flower Show by students from Reaseheath College - including me!'

'Is it like the Secret Garden at work?' I asked.

'It has an ivy-covered wall, but the flowerbeds are all in the sunshine here,' Polar answered.  'We need to see what will grow in the shade.'

We carried on up to some pasture, where there were lots of panda-coloured sheep and baby lambs.

'They look like little woolly bears!' said Hanley.

We left the lambs to play and headed back towards the lake, along a path we hadn't been down before.  When the magnolia trees have grown more it will be really beautiful in the spring, when they flower.  There was a carpet of white daffodils nearby, whose flowers were almost ready to open.

'Some of those would look brilliant in those old ceramic sinks in your work garden,' said Hanley.  Polar agreed, and made a note to plant some, with hostas and ferns.

'What about a stumpery?'  I suggested.  'We could come to work with you and go climbing when you have meetings or quiet work to do.'

'I think the pigeons might perch on stumpery logs,' Polar replied. 

'And they would poo on them,' said Hanley.  'Errgh!'

We decided not to have a stumpery in the Secret Garden, but thought some wood anemones, violets and primroses would be nice.  'I've got some spare snowdrops and Tina says she has spare white bluebells in her garden,' Polar told us.  'So we should have plenty of flowers next year.'

We were confused by white bluebells but, by that stage, we were almost at the café.  Grizzly bought a choc-ice for us all to share while we watched the reeds, where a pair of great-crested grebes had made a nest. 

'Can we come here again soon?' asked Endon, as we walked back to the car park.

'Of course you can, bears,' said Polar.  We all cheered.

Hello from Hanley!

Ay up, everyone!  

I'm Sonning's pal Hanley and he's very kindly said I can write a piece for his blog about what it's like being a lucky mascot football bear for a team who aren't being very lucky.

I started going to Stoke City games with our human guardian Grizzly after Polar made me a red and white striped sock jumper, scarf and hat.  At first, we won lots of games and I thought it was because I was there and I was a lucky bear.  Here I am with Grizzly and his friend, Mr Steve, and holding Grizzly's season ticket.

But then we started losing, even when I cheered like mad for The Potters and sang 'Delilah' with the human fans.  In case I was an unlucky bear, Grizzly stopped taking me to the games, so I pestered Polar to put the radio on at home so I could listen to what was happening.  I missed watching the game but at least I was home in the dry.

We kept losing and, at the end of last season, we got relegated from the Premiership.  I was a very sad small bear and sure it was my fault for not being lucky enough.  Sonning eventually persuaded me that it wasn't my fault, gave me a sticky bun to cheer me up and talked Grizzly into taking me to games at the start of the new season.  If I am very lucky, I get an oatcake from Mrs Kay's famous Oatcake Boat.

We started well but, after a little while, it was clear we weren't going to get promoted back to the Premiership this season.  Luckily, Grizzly doesn't blame me for this and I still go to all the home games, rain or shine, to cheer for my team.

Last weekend, Polar and Grizzly's son George came too.  Polar said I could watch from the other end of the ground for a change.  Her camera bag was a good place to shelter from the cold wind.

We were playing Nottingham Forest.  Polar and George were in seats very near the away fans, who were very noisy and rude to us, so I went 'Booooo!' to them.  

It can be hard for a small bear to see what's happening so Polar held me up so I had a better view.  Even so, I missed our first goal as everyone around me stood up during the attack but Polar, who is very tall, had trouble wriggling out of the small seat she was in.

Luckily, I could see the goal on the big screen at the other end of the ground.  If I looked very hard, I could see Grizzly and his friends too.  

We scored another goal in the second half, at Grizzly's end of the pitch, so we won two nil.  I cheered and cheered and went 'Booo!' to the Notts Forest fans again as we were leaving.  None of them had lucky bears so it was no wonder they had lost.

I am looking forward to going to more games with Grizzly, or listening to away games with him in his railway workshop.  I have my paws and claws crossed that we will do better next season and get promoted back to the Premiership.  The manager needs to give the players oatcakes and marmalade for strength and energy.  That's what I would do!