I love to go a wandering

Among the mountain tops, and as I go I love to sing (Out of tune, and you're just behind my ear.) Shan't stop, especially after I've had a few beers. You shouldn't leave those bottles around for me to get at, should you? (I don't, you just manage to be in the same place as the bottles.)

ANYWAY, as I was saying, there I was in the Alps where Himself was having a walking holiday with his friend John. Better (very late) than never, here 's the start of the story.

Day 1 - I got left tohind in the apartment.  It was a very nice apartment with a balcony and a lovely view, when you could see the mountings.  He left and went to a place called the Bout du Monde - that's The End of the World to you and me. Anyway he says it was wet - a fine excuse, I think he just forgot to take me.







(It was wettish - honest and we thought it might rain, so I left you behind - sorry.  I got this nice photo though.)  Humph! It is a nice photo but why didn't I get to see it in the fur?









Day 2 - He behaved himself and off we set.  We climbed and climbed and it was quite a hard job for wee legs. (And more for mine since I was carrying you!)

Here I am sitting on a wobbly bridge over a stream. Someone tried to walk over it from the other side and I nearly bounceded off into the water.  It was a near thing, but himself just about managed to save me.

Finally we got there at about lunch time.  I had to leave down my walking poles and have a little rest on top of his rucksack.  (Whose walking poles are those?  Mine I think and you travel in style inside the top box with a space for you to see out.)

Well.... Ok I did ride in the rucksack and it was a very pleasant way to get up high, though sometimes you do swing a body about.





Eventually we reached a place called the Refuge du Folly - wasn't that a funny name.  Here I am sitting on the signpost for the footpaths all around. The refuge is at 1558m - that's nearly 5000ft up in the air.  The day before's rain turned into snow high on the hills behind me.  Isn't it pretty?

Here I am when we went even further up the hill. He was puffing and panting - not fit you know. (Excuse me, but who has the big tummy?  You, I think. But you are right, I'm not as fit as I'd like to be.  It was so nice to be up there in the sunshine so I didn't mind.) John stayed below waiting for us.






When we got down it was TIME FOR LUNCH and a good thing too, 'cos I was getting a trifle peckish. (Not trifle I think.  The French don't understand trifle - mille fueille, iles flotante, creme brûlée, that sort of thing, but not trifle.) Enough rambling get on with it. (The rambling had stopped - it was lunchtime stupid.) Who are you calling stupid? You're the one wittering on, not me.

First I had a little drink 'cos all that riding around in rucksacks is thirsty work.




But then the beer arrived, hooray.  They have these interesting closures on the bottles.  It means that you can swing on them when you've had a few too many. Yippee.















After a couple of bottles it's time to rest.  We had very nice diots de Savoie - herby sausages cooked in a white wine sauce and he had a special 'tater pancake with bacon bits, prunes, apricots and onions called farcement. Super tasty it all was, and it was followed by tarte au myrtilles - blueberry pie, yummy. No wonder I was in need of a zizz.  (Well done for helping me out specially with the beer, though the last bit was what mattered eh?)

You bet!  Himself asked for the bill and it came with a glass of genepi  This is made from Alpine herbs that only grow above 2000m.  It's very tasty indeed, (and very alky too!) and it was all I could do to share mine with himself.  (Ahem, who was sharing?  Me I think.)

But then it was hup we go on his back and down to the valley below. Singing all the while, but then that's where we came in isn't it?



Tune in again soon and catch up with my next adventure.

Jock

I Be'd to the Bearlympics - Hurrah

Well I've be'd to the Bearlympics and met up with Jack and LT.  We had a GREAT day and saw our team win one Gold medal and two Bronzes in four races - whoo that was incredible.  LT and Himself got very noisy at times and Jack and I had to put our paws over our ears. He's been lazy and Jack has beaten me to the net - but I still have the medal so nya, nya, ne nya, nya.  (Behave yourself.)

First we met up with some friends near Londing - I had never met them and the last time LT had seen them she was only wee. (Was she ever?  Oh yes, she was once.) Enough from you, LT is my friend.  Nigel is camera shy, but here we are with Leah and LT.  Leah's holding me up like that so I won't eat her dinner - not fair I say. (You did mange to get your paws into a few sticky sauces so that kept you going didn't it?)  Well yes, I suppose, but a few more bits of your pork might have been nice.  (What do you mean MORE?) Well, you should have paid more attention, you can't expect a hungry bear to sit by your plate and not sneak a mouthful or twenty.

Next morning we had to get up at silly o'clock. The Staff was going to get up at 6.00 but the people in the next room got up even earlier, so he got up at 5.45 and by 6.45 we were on our way.  Everything was very slick - first the car park had no queue and then the bus went from there almost as soon as we got on.  After about 10 minutes we got into the bus park and we had a walk-in of about 1km to the course itself.  The place was called Eton Dorney though I thought it was the Londing Bearlympics (Well yes, it's the London Olympics, but there's not enough room in the middle of London to do sailing, road cycling and rowing, not to mention the football, but given the GB performance there, it's best left unmentioned.) Well that's strange, they should just have knocked down half the city to make sure everything could happen in the right place. Anyway we were at the Eton Dorney Bearlympics and it was fun.





We were with LOTS of big people, and there were lots them helping us. The helpers are called "Games Makers." They had nice uniforms on and they were extra specially helpful. They all have taken time off work to volunteer and they deserve an extra special cheer of their own.

First we met a lady who was shouting, "This is the ROWING event.  If you haven't got tickets for ROWING ON 3rd AUGUST, please turn back because you won't be allowed in."  Now, we all thought, "Why would anyone be so stupid?" But I suppose there must be some.

This nice man was sitting singing to us and showing us his gold medal. He must have been very busy rowing and helping. (It wasn't a real medal, bear, it was chocolate and covered with gold foil. He didn't actually win it.) What! a chocolate gold medal? Wow he must have really, really done well to win a chocolate medal.  That's the best sort.  I 'spect he got his medal for being helpful. (Yes you're probably right.)

He was still there at the end of the day singing,
"If you're happy and you know it,
Stay with me,
If you're happy and you know it,
Please don't go!"

Then he wished us a safe journey.  Wasn't he a very nice man?







Some people were oddly dressed and some had faces with flags painted on them.











Other people wore strange hats.  I wonder if this Dutch man knew he had little orange creatures living on his hat?

This one is the best hat though.  It is a tin hat with a Kiwi on the top, it was almost the nearest thing we saw to a bear.  I hope it had a good view.  (He's from New Zealand and though the Kiwi was cute, the person underneath looked fearsome.)





Soon we were in our seats and for a while everything was quite quiet.  Jack and I got to sit on one seat back and then we had our photo taken with LT - do you like her London 2012 Rowing cap?

We were here to see the racing and the first few events were for the lower ranked scullers. Everyone got a cheer and this is the 33rd and last person in the men's single sculls - he was last in the 'F' final and he got a great big welcome.

There were lots of people to look at on the water and a British Crew in every 'A' final, something that He and LT got quite excited about.  In the race above the Brits were fifth.  The men standing up were from Germany and I think they cheated to win, 'cos you can't stand up in a boat.  (No they won fair and square.  They only stood up afterwards to say,"Well done" to each other. you can't actually scull standing up.)  Oh that's alright then, but what about the men in the white boat - it had an engine on it. They were definitely cheating.  (No they were the umpires, there to make sure nobody cheated or fell in.)  Oh, I see, 'cos there were lots of them and I thought they were cheating, but, because they were always last, no-one noticed.

This was the first race with a British Crew and we were part of what the press were calling either, "The wall of sound," or "The extra person in the boat," supporting the GB crews. It all got quite noisy and shaky.  I hope you saw us on the television, we had fantastic seats very near the finish.  Himself says they cost a packet, but were worth every penny.

Next we were third with a new crew including a young man who could have been rowing at under 23 level.  They weren't expected to win, but they did better than everyone had hoped.

The next race was Kath Grainger and Anna Watkins, and our Staff would have paid just to see this one race.  Kath had won silver medals at the last three Bearlympics and everyone wanted her to win this time (except the Aussies and the Poles and everyone supporting the other crews.)  Well yes, but they were stupid. (That's not very gracious, bear.)  

The wonderful news is that they won and in fine style.   LT and Himself cheered and shouted and stamped and jumped up and down and hollered and yelled and contributed to the mayhem.  It could have been quite scary for little bears but Jack and I felt so proud to be there and to be Beartish (albeit Jack came from the other side of the pond. All bears are Beartish.)  Himself had a wee tear in his eye when they won. 

Here they are after they'd finished - they are the boat at the to of the picture.  Then we got to stand up and sing the national anthem after they got their medals.  It all sounded a bit strange and echoey but we got through it nonetheless.      

Once they'd had their medals awarded Kath and Anna came along and thanked the crowd and showed off their medals. Anna and Kath rowed almost all the way down the course and came past everyone who had cheered for them.

Come to think of it all the other medal holders did too except the Australian Women that Kath and Anna best.  They just turned round and rowed back to the boat house, which was not very gracious. Nobody likes a bad loser.  Anyway we cheered Kath and Anna and they waved at us.  It was all very emotional.

The last race of the day was the men's single sculls and there was a man from Northern Ireland rowing in it.  Well Himself is from there and even LT was born there and they got very excited again.  The sculler's name is Alan Campbell and he won a bronze medal.  His cousin was sitting right in front of us, so she was very excited - but then everyone was - and again there was a lot of stamping and hollering and leaping up and down and getting deafened. After Alan got his medal we waited until he came over and showed it to us and we cheered him all over again.

Before we left it was time for another photo.  Here we are on LT's knee.  you can see that we were quite tired out - definitely wabbit, as they'd say in Scotland.  It's hard work all that jumping up and down and yelling at the top of one's little lungs you know. (Indeed it is and you two did vey well.)

High time to get going for a bit of a snack, but first we had to unwind the journey back to the car.  Again all the volunteers were very cheerful and helpful. On the way we stopped to get our photos taken with the Bearlympic Mascot called Wenlock.  As Jack says this one isn't the real one, we might have met him if we'd been lucky, but he was somewhere else so we had to put up with the purtend one instead.

As I said, all that cheering and leaping made for peckishness and we had a long way to go to get home, about 200 miles and it was already past any sensible bear's lunchtime, so I had the Chauffeur pull off to get something.  (Not to worry wee bear, this "Chauffeur" was kinda peckish too.)

I wasn't too impressed with LT's pink rice and Jack was so unimpressed that he didn't even show up to look.  But we did help Alan with his sushi, 'cos bears like salmon and stuff like that.  Himself commented that if you'd told him when he was a boy that he'd happily sit down in later life to eat raw fish with rice he'd have thought you mad. Silly boy.

Well, that was almost the end of our great big bearventure.  He says we'll not see the Bearlympics again in his lifetime, so it was very very very special.  We tumbled into the car and Jack and I had a good snooze on the way home.  

I hope you enjoyed our day as much as we did.

Hugs,

Jock

Yippee - Off to the Bearlympics

Hi all,

Just a quick post to-day to say that we're all packed and ready to go off to the Bearlympics - though I see from my tickets that some people are calling them the "Olympics" whatever that means. (Sorry bear "Olympics" is correct, but you can call them Bearlympics if you like.) I do and I will. If they were meant to be called Olympics we'd all have to be Irish wouldn't we? (Erm, I am Irish, so it is appropriate  as far as I'm concerned.) Not my fault, I'm Bearish so Bearlympics must be right.

Here I am with my ticket and there's another for Jack, but I don't know what LT and the Hired Help are going to do. (The tickets are for the humans, bears get free entry, isn't that nice.) Smashing I'd say, but proper for a Bearlympics.  Aren't the ticket pretty colours?

Anyway we've packed our bags and I've got my Bearlympic rowing pin badge on a nice red ribbon. In a couple of hours we're off to pick up LT and Jack at the railway station and then a big long drive to near where the rowing will be held.  

Tomorrow we have to get up early to get to the park, but I 'spect  that Jack and I can go on snoozing while the help carry us. LT and Himself will be laden with cameras (and bears) and Jack and I will just go as we are, travelling light as ever.  

We're all ready to roar on Kath Grainger and Anna Watkins in the ladies double sculls and Alan Campbell in the men's singles, and we'll shout at all the others too. I hope I can get a flag to wave.  (Ehm, we'll see shall we?)

I'll tell you all about it when we get back.  Look out for me on the television, I'm sure to feature.

Hugs,

Jock.

Thila Filla Philly - The CIty of Brotherly Love

When you're a Small Bear, being taken to a city that has an unspellable, unpronounceable name is cruel, but that's just what the hired help did. Wheech, off we went early on the Monday morning.  First we went on a bus, and then we went on the Underground and the we went on the Heafrow Express to the Nairyport to catch our Nairyplane.  It tools AGES and we hadn't even taken off!

Eventually, whoosh, off we went and some hours later we arrived in Fillerrdelfier (It's Philadelphia) Don't be silly, how can PH be F? (Trust me it just is.) Is that you saying, "Because I say so?" ("Yes.") Meanie, typical grown up, when you can't explain something you just say, "Because I say so." (Guilty as charged Mr Bear, but I can't change it. Philadelphia is pronounced Filadelfia, and there's nothing we can do about it.") Well that's not fair, not, not, not.  (Do I hear the drumming of little heels on the desk?) Yes, don't care. So there. (Sorry folks, he's now got a petted lip and he's sitting with his arms folded in a huff.) Am not. (Well, come on bear, we want to get on with the story don't we? You can't disappoint your public.)  I aspose. (That's much better - even a wee smile?) Nope, that's too much to ask.

Oh yes, Philadelphia. It's HUGE, but not as huge as Londing. If you think I have problems spelling the name, LT, when she was little, couldn't say "F," so for a wee while Alan, Ann and LT lived in Thiladelthia. Isn't that cute? Don't practice saying that Sebastian (or any other bear) until you've swallowed all your cookie crumbs, 'cos otherwise you'll spray them everywhere.  (Back to the story please.) Oh, alright then but it is a nice side story isn't it? (Yes it certainly is, though we'll have to see how Jack responds to this post.)


We were there for boring office meetings, but I did get out to see people.  There's a nice lady called Finona (Fiona) That's what I said, do stop interrupting.   There's a nice lady called FIONA in the office and she has done a clever painting of Machali one of the tigers we saw in India, and I went over and had a look at it.  Everyone in the office thought I'd be scared, but I wasn't - I've been much closer to the real tiger and she's just a big pussy cat really.  (Well, you were pretty close, but we made sure you didn't get too close or you'd have ended up as a tiger snack.)

ANYWAY,   I was so relaxed I sat down with my back to her and I didn't look over my should more than once or twice.  Don't you like Fiona's painting?  I think it's pure dead brilliant myself.

After a couple of boring days in the office, talking about having visions and missions we went out for the evening to Longwood Gardens.  He's been there before but it was before I was even a bit of fluff in my maker's eye, whatever that means.












Longwood is great big botanic gardens south of Philly (as the locals call it - see I did learn something.) and we had a great time.  Once we were inside I saw a couple of Chinese Lions and they were very fierce looking, but I wasn't scared at all.  I just sat on the knee of the first one and waved nonchalantly (That's a big word for a small bear!) at the world. The lion grumbled a bit and did look to see who was there but he didn't eat me.












Then I went over to see his friend and I sat on his HEAD and waved insouciantly at the passing crowd. (Cor, bear even more wonderful language.) I'm a writer, I DO language don't you realise that? (Of course, sorry.)









Next he sat me down on a bush.  I thought it would be all prickly, but it wasn't.  It was in the topiary garding and he got quite tocited about that, because in the winter when he's been there that part is closed.  It's just grass and bits of bushes, but, if that amusing him, who am I to complain?  I sat there patiently and made sure my best profile was on display.

It was very warm (Hot I'd say, but who's asking me?). Exactly, who is?  Well, maybe it was quite hot, so we wandered on and came to a lovely founting with water splashing into it.  I perched on the rim for my picture, and I nearly fell in, that's me waving, not drowning. (Coo, literary allusions too. I must go and read my Stevie Smith again.)

Then we went to the lake near the bell tower, with its nice reflections and its waterfall.  We got quite close to the waterfall and it was a bit cooler there, and again I practised waving, but nobody waved back.











Alan got very excited when he saw that the water lily pond was open to visitors. It's in a place that's closed in winter so it was new to him. He got his telephoto lens out and took lots of pictures.

There was a funny man standing in the pool talking to everyone about the plants and showing them the prickly underside of the lily pads and everything.  He was so happy to talk about his plants and his enthusiasm was quite infectious.  He must have been an old man because his trousers were up to his armpits. (No bear, he wasn't an old man, though wasn't young either.  He was wearing waders so that he could walk around in the water without getting wet.) Oh, that is clever.  Anyway, we got to smell one water lily that is white and beautiful and smells of pineapple one day and is pink not so lovely and not smelly the next.  On the first day it traps beetles and then the next day they get out again, and somehow that way the plant gets fertilised.  It was too much for my bounce fill brain I think.  (On the first day the beetles bring pollen with them from another flower and then they get trapped and fed on nectar. While they are trapped the pollen they bring get rubbed on the female parts of the plant.  Then next day when they manage to escape, they have to pass the stamens and get covered in more pollen that they take to the next plant. Clever but complicated isn't it?) Isn't nature interesting?  This picture isn't that lily it's a normal  one

After we had a hot dog and (cold) fries it started to get dark,
so off we went into the gloom because he said there were interesting things to see, and for once in his life he was right.

One of the things we saw was this fire hydrant.  It is nice and shiny and I wanted to turn it on, but spoilsport Alan said we'd get thrown out if we did, so I just sat on it instead.  While he was framing me for posteriority someone said, "Oh look someone's left a bear behind." How insulting can you get?  My behind is covered in fur, it's not bare at all. Anyway how could they see, 'cos I was sitting on it?  (No, they thought you'd been mislaid by someone, but I put them right and said you were a well travelled bear and not a lost one.)  That's alright then, it was kind of them to notice.

Not far away was the house in the trees and it was all lit up.  I was worried it might hold a wicked witch, but it didn't, it just had some nice big lights and some occasional twinkly lights in the air.  I wondered what they were because we saw a lot of them.  Alan explained that they were fireflies, and they were very pretty as they blinked on and off. We walked into the woods and there were lots  and lots of lights there that changed colour all the time and we walked around looking at them with lots of other people - but not many bears.  There were a few but most of the poor things seemed to be tied down to baby carriages.  There were  a few being carried by the people they owned, and I waved and said hello to them.

The last two pictures are very pretty. The first one is by one of the lakes and the lights on the far bank were changing colour all the time. A nice man let Alan use his tripod to get a photo, and Alan took some video too and that's very pretty but he hasn't had time to process it for here - lazy boy.

In this last photo we went into one of the lovely greenhouses and saw these lovely lights that also changed colour.  Can you see the deflections (That's reflections bear) Whatever, reflections, deflections I can't know everything at my age.  Anyway the lights were shining off the ceiling and that was pretty too.

All the best for now. He went to Ipswich in the week and I didn't go, but next week it's the Bearlympics and I'll get to see Jack again as we cheer on the rowers.

Back soon,

Hugs,

Jock

The singing people

Now, where was I when the hired help ran out of steam?  Ah yes, Vienna about to get on a nairyplane to Londing.  My, it was a rush getting across Londing, whizz whizz, the nairyplane was late taking off 'cos the radar in the Munich area was down - whatever that means (That's a hard one bear, but people on the ground use radar to see all the planes, and if they can't see them it's not safe.)  Clear as mud. Well the driver on the plane said that meant we couldn't fly till they changed the fuse, so we arrived quite late in Londing and even later at Auntie Ros's flat.  Then Ann was even later coming in from Amsterdam and she rush rush rushed out to dinner with Ros, Terry and Alan, leaving me to play in the flat.

Next morning Katy and Jack arrived - hooray - and then he went out with Katy and left me behind.  They soon got back and we were able to play.

Here he is with Katy's camera.  He tried to pick it up, but it nearly fell and crusheded him.






We had a great time and we hardly had time to it sit down.  First we had a good old gossip about the Clan - well we did while we climbed over everything.  Finally Alan sat us down and took our picture.  I thought I was an ickle bear until I met Jack.  He really is very ickle isn't he?







On Sunday I stayed with Ros while Alan and Terry went for a walk in the rain and got WET. I'm glad I didn't go along 'cos I don't like wet.  Ann and Katy went on a 'xciting trip with Jack to the Royal Albeart Hall in another part of Londing, where they sang and sang all day, just like Christopher Robin.

Then in the evening was the grand concert - can you see them, they are way down on the left in blue - well Jack isn't of course, in blue that is, just good fur brown.  They sang in the world premier of a choral work by Karl Jenkins.  It was interesting but it had no real words, just beartend ones. The new work is called The Gods of Olympus and it was part of the Cultural Olympiad. In the second half they sang The Armed Man and that's well known.

It was a fine evening, and then Jack and I met up again and decided it was time to go out on the balcony, even though it was raining.  We could just see the river down below us, but there were no tall ships there this time and that disappointed Jack.

All good things come to an end and we had to go to bed 'cos I was getting up early to go to Philldelfier.  But that's another story for another day.

Hugs,

Jock

I've been everywhere!

The other title for this is "Which way is up."  Talk about busy - you have no idea.  All this travelling is fun, but it's tiring. (Excuse me - all you have to do is snuggle down and get carried. I do all the humphing around.) Poor you indeed!  It's what you're there for, so just get on with the story.

Was it only two weeks ago?  It seems like forever for a young bear.  First we went to Germany, the day after Alan had been to Londing for the day - and LEFT ME BEHIND - meany. (Get over it.)  Well anyway, we flew to Londing again and then off to Munich.  This is me in Terminal 5 at Heafrow near Londing. We stopped there on the way to Munich 'cos though we flew to Munich we flew back from Vienna - it's all very confusing for a bouncefill brain I can tell you.

We had a nice flight though there wasn't much to eat, so our tummies were rumbling when we got there and we had to rush for a train.  The first train into Munich was so late that we missed our train to the place we were staying called Treuchtlingen.  Alan spoke to a very helpful lady who  changed us onto another two trains which we just about got.  Here I am after we arrived at the place we had to change trains, and that's my train behind.  It's very smart isn't it and it's called an ICE train, though it wasn't at all cold.  We were near the front and you could see out past the driver man along the track, and that was most exciting.


 The place we changed trains was called Nuremberg, and it's supposed to be very lovely but also quite spooky, but we didn't have time to look because we had to catch the next train.  This was a regional express and it was very nice.  I had a comfortable perch on top of my travelling bag - he thinks it's his camera bag, but I just beartend that it is, it's really my bag and I let him put his cameras in there so I can guard them.

I got quite a good view out of the window, but though there was some nice country to look at, a lot of the time it was towns and stuff.

We got to Treuchtlingen and our tummies were still rumbling so we went and had some food and that helped.

Next day he did a CRAZY 570 mile round trip by car for just one meeting! He was too tired to take my photo, and that's understandable.  

The following morning we went to Herbert's house. Herbert is a very nice man who helps Alan in Germany.  We met his wife, a lady called Michaela, who has lots of bears but we didn't get a photo of them.  She is a very nice lady too and we got something to drink and I got a little snack.  Don't worry, I didn't eat it all, but I gave it a good try and the jam filling was great for later slurps as it got well into my fur when I was eating.  (That's why the camera bag is sticky then - you'll have to be more careful.)  Yeah, yeah, yeah, stop moaning.  A bear has to subsist you know.  We also met their new kitten called Lucky.  It was a nice kitten, but they grow up into cats and I'm not so sure about them.

After we had our snack Alan and Herbert had a meeting in Munich and then we drove all the way to Vienna.  Are you tired yet? We haven't even got half way!  

On the way to Vienna we stopped for lunch at a lovely lake called the Chiemsee.  The weather was hot and sunny so we went for a stroll and I got my photos taken down by the waterside.  It the first one you can see a lady having a paddle and nearly getting her clothes wet.  There were other people swimming, but we had no time to stop and join in, 'cos we still had a long way to go, first driving around Salzburg and then Melk and finally into Vienna very late indeed.

Because it was so late we didn't see much of Vienna, and though we'd hoped to spend some time there the new morning Alan's meeting was very long - which was very good - but afterwards we just went straight to the airport.  Here I am in the lounge and that's our nairyplane waiting for us to get on.

We had a good flight, though again our tummies were very rumbly by the time we reached Londing. Then we went to see Auntie Ros and Uncle Terry.  Ann arrived too from Amsterdam and the next day Katy and Jack arrived, but I'll tell you all about our excitement to-morrow.

Hugs,

Jock