You might remember that we had reached Birmingham and moored where Hanley could watch football on a big screen.
The tram we caught wasn't too busy, so our human guardians felt safe, and we decided to go out to the Jewellery Quarter. There was enough room on board for the Bear Bag to have a seat of its own, but we bears weren't asked to buy tickets.
Because the nasty virus was still about, many of the workshops and the museum in the Jewellery Quarter were closed, but we had expected that - this was just a quick visit so we could see what it was like and maybe visit again on the train.
Polar enjoyed taking pictures of the old buildings, including the Pelican Works, which has a big stone pelican on its roof! And we had a nice toasted teacake and a pot of tea in a little cafe near the station.
Another tram whisked us back into the city centre, and we got out near New Street Station, so Polar and Grizzly could have a look around. They hadn't been since it was rebuilt several years ago and they say it is much nicer now.
There were big storm clouds gathering when we got back to Broad Street and Brindley Place, so we decided not to eat outdoors at one of the nice restaurants, which is what we had done on Friday evening, but to go back to Uppie.
Hanley found that he had a good view of the screen for the football match between England and Ukraine from the bedroom on the boat, just in case it started raining and he couldn't sit on the roof. He and our humans watched the first half from the roof but the rain poured down during the second half and they came back indoors.
None of the humans watching outside seemed to mind, because England won and scored four goals. In fact, a couple of men celebrated by taking all their clothes off except their pants and jumping into the canal, which was funny but very silly; there are all sorts of hidden hazards under the water and just here, we knew the pump-out man rinsed out the hose from the poo disposal machine!
On Sunday morning, Polar and Grizzly decided to cruise around a couple of loops in the canal, mainly to recharge Uppie's batteries after a whole day without running the engine.
Not far away was Gas Street Basin, where people live on their boats, right in the heart of the city. Polar and Grizzly took us for a walk there the evening we arrived.
Earlier, Polar had made Huddlesford some nice trousers, using some material from an old pair Grizzly had worn out, and we had played Whizzo! which is a game like 'tag', except you have to shout "Whizzo" when you catch someone before they do, or they are allowed to get away. Hanley Bear is very good at it, but Waverley is the best because he is small and nimble, and very hard to catch.
In the morning, Polar and Grizzly said we were going to have a day out on the trams. We jumped into the Bear Bag and Polar carried us into the square near the big, modern library building. It's one of those with fountains that human cubs like to run about under although you can't see them in these pictures because Polar waited until they had stopped to get the reflections.
Hanley, Endon and I had been on the trams in Manchester, but Huddlesford and Waverley hadn't, and we were excited to see what they were like. The Wolverhampton and Birmingham trams look very streamlined compared to the Manchester ones, but they are quite similar inside, with lots of room for humans to sit or stand and good access for those who use wheelchairs or walking aids.
No sooner had we set off than the rain started! Along the Soho Loop, we found a fishing competition in progress and we were not very popular with these fishermen!
The Icknield Port Loop led to a Canal and River Trust depot and a big reservoir, but the rain came down so heavily as we cruised along this that we sheltered under a bridge for several minutes. Polar's main camera got very wet and she thought it was broken, but luckily it dried out over the next couple of days and started working properly again.
When we got back to central Birmingham, we moored near the BBC Mailbox building, very close to Gas Street Basin, and Hanley went looking for the red Transport Trust sign about it.
Dodging the showers and the feet of lots of visitors, he scuttled along the towpath until he found what he was looking for. Fortunately, Polar came along at just the right time to take his photograph, before carrying him back to Uppie.
We were going to meet our friend Tour Guide Ted again that evening, so we left the city centre in good time and started cruising down the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
Near the University, we ran into a problem; the canal was closed, temporarily, while some big concrete sections for a new station were lifted into place.
Luckily for us, there was a pause scheduled about forty minutes later, so boats could pass, and we followed the safety boat through the section where the work was going on, then on towards Bournville.
There were still lots of big showers around and, when we reached the towpath-side moorings at Bournville, we saw a sign warning us not to leave Uppie unattended there at night. Polar had to reverse the boat onto some moorings in a secure compound on the other side of the canal, where there was just enough space for us, but then she couldn't find how to get back to Grizzly, who had stayed near the station to meet TG Ted!
We wandered around near the railway station looking for him and trying to phone him, but he had forgotten to turn on his phone.
Fortunately, Tour Guide Ted's human assistants found him, then phoned Polar to tell her where to find them all, and drove us all to a nice big pub, where we had a scrummy Sunday dinner together with our pals Ted, Frank and Theo, at the end of a very eventful day!
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