Welcoming Waverley

I was going to be blogging about our first lovely winter walk, along the Salt Line near Alsager in Cheshire, but I have something much more exciting to share with you all.  

 A couple of days ago, we heard the post arrive, and scuttled out into the hall to see if there were any Christmas cards for us.  Endon saw there was a packet addressed to Polar, which had been posted in Glasgow.

'I wonder if it's my mountaineering certificate from Munro?' he said.  Endon recently completed a very exciting course with the Bear Lodge mountaineers.

'I bet it is,' Hanley replied.  'You should open it!  If it's something for Polar, we can always seal it up again.'

Endon wasn't sure that this would be right.  'It is addressed to Polar,' he said.  'It might be seeds, or a present from one of her friends.' 

While he was hesitating, trying to decide what to do, we noticed the package was moving, and there were little noises coming from inside

'We had better open it at once, in case a small creature has got trapped inside,' I said.  

Imagine our surprise when a tiny bear cub crawled out!  There was also a little piece of paper to say he had been sent by Polar and Grizzly's friend, Mr Derek.

 

He was very cold after travelling so far in his envelope, so we all gave him hugs, then I carried him into the living room and we lifted him up onto the settee.  Endon climbed up and fetched a little piece of red jersey fabric from Polar's sewing box and we wrapped our new friend in it to keep him warm.

He told us his bear name and that humans called him Waverley.  'I used to live on a steamboat,' he told us.  'I love boats, but I get very, very seasick, so Mr Derek suggested to the paddle steamer people that I might be happier on the canals and rivers with your hug.'

'You're very welcome,' I said.  'We'll look after you.  You can sleep in the bear basket with us, share our porridge and we'll take you boating as soon as we're allowed to.'

'Yay!' cheered the tiny bear.

'You can help us decorate the Christmas tree tomorrow!' said Endon.  'Do you like climbing?'

Little Waverley nodded.

'And you can come to football with us on Saturday!' said Hanley.  'We all listen to the match in Grizzly's workshop - but you have to cheer for Stoke City!'

'Do they play in green stripes or in blue?' asked Waverley.  

'Neither!' cried Hanley.  'They play in red and white stripes, like all the best teams.  You'll need a lucky bear stripy scarf...'

'He'll need some other clothes too, if he's going to play outdoors or go on Uppie,' I said.  We'll have to introduce you to Polar and Grizzly, our human guardians, then we'll ask Polar to make you some clothes.  We'll have to nibble some holes in another pair of her socks, so you can have a nice warm jumper for the winter.'  

The following evening, after we had decorated the tree (I will do a separate post about that), Polar made Waverley a little onesie out of the red fabric we had found.  His special paddle-steamer sash went into our hamper.

'And I've made you a football scarf!' Hanley bear said proudly.
 

Waverley was delighted.  'I feel like a proper member of your hug now!' he said.

We are looking forward to having lots of adventures with our new little friend.  He is so tiny, he tucks into the bear basket and the bear bag without taking up very much room at all, although this does mean we will have to be extra careful he doesn't get lost when we go out.

Welcome little Waverley!