Christmas Seems a Long Time Ago Now!

Hello again everybody. We hope your Christmas was as good as ours. We're sorry we've been off air for so long, but this is the result of us being so busy having a good time, and getting to visit lots of lovely people and places, that our paws have hardly touched the ground.

We spent Christmas Day (from 3.00 p.m. when we arrived) at the Midlands branch HQ. The Suffolk branch had already arrived so we got into a festive mood very quickly.


We had fun turning cracker pulling into a tug of war contest. Here you see umpire Chelmer, adjudicating the pull between Black Doggy and Dessie.

All the fun was aided by the odd glass or two of festive tipple. You may need to enlarge our photo to see it, but if you do and you look closely, you will see we were drinking rather special wine from Fortnum and Mason's no less. Needless to say we didn't buy it, it was a thank you gift from an appreciative Bears Unlimited client.

We had a simply splendid Christmas meal and only just left room for home made Christmas pudding. We all gathered round for the ceremonial lighting of the brandy poured on the pudding.


Unfortunately it didn't photograph too well, but we all know that we were just a hairs length away from some lovely blue flames.

Our day was full of lovely company, fantastic food and wonderful presents. We couldn't have asked for more. We did make sure though,that amongst all the fun, we didn't forget what Christmas is really about - Bris even went to three Christmas Day church services (4 including the Midnight Communion). The rest of us were happy with one!

More news soon.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Getting Even More Festive

It's Christmas Eve, and we're all getting very excited about Christmas, and especially the thought of meeting up with the Midlands and Suffolk Branches tomorrow. We can hardly wait!

Before then though, there's lots to do. Bris is currently helping one of our minders at a crib service and while he's out of the house the rest of us are wrapping up his presents. We quite enjoy present wrapping, apart from sellotape sticking to your fur, but the trouble is, we do so many activities together, that it can be hard to find a time when present recipients are not around to wrap up their presents.

Blue Bear is currently washing the Bearmobiles which have turned the same colour as yesterday's fog after the recent cold snap.

Randolph and Benji have the important job of looking after the Christmas Tree. This year's tree is not as big as the ones we've had in recent years, but what he lacks in size he makes up for in fine looks. We were caught out a week or so ago, when we discovered our usual supplier's stock of suitable trees had dried up this year. We had a hasty drive round the neighbourhood to find another supplier. We did find one, but all the big trees had gone, which is why we've gone a bit smaller this year.


We like our tree to last as long as possible, so Randolph fills up his stand with water from his tummy every day, so tree always has fresh water to drink.

We have received a special new decoration for our tree this year. This was a puffin, sent to us by one of our travelling companions on a holiday to Iceland that we enjoyed a few years ago. We sent so much time looking for puffins on that holiday (unfortunately they'd just flown a week earlier) that we keep up a steady stream of correspondence and gifts on the puffin theme. This is the latest fine offering.


You can see puffin hanging proudly alongside a collection of other decorations from distant lands (kiwi from New Zealand, jaguar from South Africa and Camel from India). Our tree is truly cosmopolitan!

Anyway, we may won't be blogging again before the big day arrives, although we hope to be posting again soon after, so we'd like to wish all our friends and readers a very merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful new year.

Have a lovely time,

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Getting Festive

There was a cartoon in the Church Times recently that we particularly liked. It showed a clergy gathering where all the clergy were wearing a number on a card around their neck. The caption said: 'It is traditional for those who attend clergy gatherings to display the number of carol services they expect to take this year. Those with single-digit figures are frowned upon mercilessly.

Well, we've been to so many carol services this year, with more to come, that we think we'll soon be running into a respectable 2 digit figure.

One of our favourite carol singing occasions took place at Burgh Hall, home of one of the local churchwardens, earlier this week.


It is a nice informal gathering and everyone sings enthusiastically, no doubt aided by the mulled wine which is available. As you can see from our first photo we found some friends of our own size to sing with. We felt very honoured to so close to the shepherds, wise men and even ... Mary and Joseph themselves.

As we were in such illustrious company we were on our best behaviour for a while. However, it wasn't long before action bear Chelmer gave into the temptation to do a bit of Tarzan swinging from a chandelier.


He justified it by being saying he was being sociable and making the acquaintance of some angels, Father Christmas and a choirboy. Quite an eclectic collection of characters really, but there again Chelmer has that bear gift of being able to strike up a conversation with just about anybody.

We hope your Christmas preparations are going well.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Bon Appetit

No doubt a few of our readers will have noticed that it was getting dark in my last picture and have wondered if my Bears Unlimited colleagues came to help me erect my new feeding station before darkness descended.

Well of course they did. Bears always put each other first and we always give each other's projects full support. The only reason I was waiting on the fence for a couple of minutes was because the rest of the guys were all busy in the kichen, filling all the feeders with scrummy (for birds) food.


I popped in to help fill the feeders as it was a big job with the number we had to fill. As you can see I got to do the fun job which is to squirt everything with Squirrel Stop. This is a chilli pepper spray which birds don't mind but is repugnant to squirrels. It's quite essential in our garden where we have a rather confident and overfamiliar squirrel.

Once the feeders were full and we'd got the feeding post upright and in place, the next job was to carry the feeders outside. The base of the felled tree made a great place to assemble them ready for hanging.


It was quite a long way up to the hanging hooks but fortunately bears are great climbers. As Tommy spends so much time in the garden he is our best climber, so in no time at all he had all the feeders hung up and ready for some hungry birds to tuck into.


Bon appetit, our feathered friends.

Lots of love, Marmaduke and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Can We Fix It ... Yes We Can!

Are our readers' memories good enough to remember our postings as far back as July, or have you cheated and looked back in the blog, to see what happened to affect bird feeding in our garden earlier this year?

On July 23rd, the chain saw gang reported on their rather unusual activities in the garden. Yes, they had felled 3 large fir trees, which had grown too large for the gardening and were threatening our house.


This picture should remind you of this occasion (before anyone says anything about the humans in the photo, we never claimed we did it all ourselves!)

The big fir tree which was outside the kitchen window was the tree from which we hung the majority of our bird feeders, as we enjoyed watching the birds while working in the kitchen. Over the course of the summer, while the birds didn't need feeding, the feeders had just sat in a pile in the garden. With the arrival of the colder weather we needed to find a new home for them.

Marmaduke displayed a real talent and enthusiasm for D.I.Y.


He hit on the idea of making a gibbet like structure which would stand against the fence where the fir tree had been. We would attach all our feeders to this gibbet. Not only did Marmaduke have this great idea, he quickly went into production, and before we knew it there was a marvellous structure waiting for us to help to erect it. It was a bit too much for Marmaduke to manage on his own, and also, he needed someone to tell him when he'd got it straight, but he was happy to wait patiently for help to arrive.

Keep reading to see the finished result.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Looking after our Feathered Friends

We've had some very cold weather this week with temperatures falling below zero overnight. When it's as cold as this, it is essential to remember to put plenty of food and water out for the birds. Some of them, such as the wren that lives in our garden, are so small that they don't carry a lot of spare body fat and rely on us for vital sustenance.

Our preparations for winter bird feeding started a few weeks ago. We had two important jobs to do. The first was to give all the bird feeders a thorough clean especially it was some months since they were last used.


In our picture you can see some of us using the Aga in our kitchen to dry off the bird feeders - it's also great for warming our bottoms when we've been out in the cold. Prior to the drying process we had given everything a good scrub with disinfectant.

This year the disinfecting process is particularly important, following the prevalence of a form of canker, spread by bird droppings, that causes birds to die after their thoats swell up. We read about it in the paper and thought it sounded so horrible that we would be especially careful to keep all our bird feeders nice and clean.

We hope all our readers are doing the same.

If you think about what happened in our garden in the summer (yes we did do a blog about it) you might be able to work out what our next job for our local birds was. Can anyone work out what it was?

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Rainy Weather is Shopping Weather

The next day we treated ourselves to a lie in. This meant that by the time we got up we had quite an appetite for breakfast. We could tell that Gilbert really relished his authentic French breakfast, complete with hot chocolate and croissants.


Being bears we really appreciated the small jar of French honey. As it was raining outside we had every reason to linger over breakfast and get refills of coffee and chocolate from our charming hostess, while telling her how much we'd enjoyed her restaurant recommendation of the previous night.

After a short stroll along the beach, we decided to treat the wet day as a shopping day. We decided to make City Europe our shopping venue as there is so much choice. Before lunch, we concentrated on wine buying which we took very seriously. We had hoped to have a photo of us loading our rather substantial supplies, onto the conveyor belt, but unfortunately the camera batteries died at the critical moment. This was probably for the best, as you might have been shocked at the sight.

After the morning's shop it was time for a real treat, lunch at the marvellous Flunch. This is a fantastic restaurant and simply excellent value as you can pile your plate as high as you like with vegetables and carbohydrates.


It's the perfect lunch for a piranha, such as Yorkie (sorry Yorkie, we shouldn't tease and we all admire your healthy appetite).

It was Gilbert who proposed pudding, as he simply couldn't resist the opportunity to tuck into a genuine French crepe. We watched them made in front of us. Gilbert, of course, had to have the first one and he chose to have his with chocolate sauce.


It tasted a lot better than it looked!

After lunch, it was back to Carrefour for more (non alcoholic) shopping. Once the Bearmobile was full, we decided it was time to stop and started the journey back to Norfolk. We were all feeling very satisfied.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Gilbert, Moose, Chelmer & Rocco xxx

Dining With a Piranha

By the time we arrived in Le Touquet, it was dark and we hadn't booked anywhere to stay. Gilbert was an absolute star though. His French nose sniffed out a really good value hotel for us. He led us unerringly to the Nouveau Caddy hotel which was well situated, opposite the characterful fish market and only a stones throw from the beach, in one direction, and shops and restaurants, in another.

It wasn't a posh hotel, but it's real selling point was the charming and very helpful lady owner. She looked after us really well and made us extremely welcome. She provided us with a local map and talked us through where to find all the best restaurants and which ones to avoid. It was a real personal service.

We chose 'Le Coq Hardy' for our evening meal. This was a small, traditional restaurant offering a 3 course 'plat du jour' for just $14. At this price we weren't really expecting too much but boy, were we in for a treat.


You'll know from previous posts, how much Yorkie loves his food and we are always amazed, given his size, how much he manages to put away. Well, he shot into the premier league of food demolishers on this occasion. We wish we'd had our video camera with us so you could see the way he attacked, with great gusto, a huge plate of 'crevettes roses'. One minute they were there, the next they were gone, and Yorkie was standing back with a huge smile on his face. We've now given him a new nickname, 'The Piranha'. We're sure you'll realise why!

The rest of the meal was equally good but enjoyed at a more sedate pace, accompanied by a delicious carafe of wine.

We'll certainly be eating there again.

Lots of love, George, Gilbert, Yorkie, Chelmer, Rocco & Moose xxx

More Opal Coast Capers

The argument continued - we definitely needed an unbiased party to step in and arbitrate. And then the next thing that happened, was that there were bears making use of an old machine gun emplacement. Had the argument really got so far out of hand that war had broken out???!!!


Of course not, we're only pulling your leg! We bears like a hearty debate but it would never end in fighting. If you look closely at the picture, you'll actually see me (Gilbert) with my 2 opposers in the debate - George & Yorkie - all sitting happily together and enjoying the view. In fact we had got so distracted by all these wonderful bits of history to explore, that we had completely forgotten the beautiful beaches debate.

As we contined to explore, we found a memorial celebrating the co-operation between the English and the French in the war. We all thought that was a sign that me, a French bear, would be very happy living in England with British bears (best not offend Jock & Hamish by saying English!). So far it's certainly turning out to be true.

After leaving Cap Blanc Nez we had a shorter exploration of Cap Gris Nez, then took the coast road round to Le Touquet, where we were planning to stay. We drove slowly so I could point out lots of things of interest, that might be missed if you didn't have a local guide.

All the guys particularly liked the fact that, when their working life is over, local fishing boats are retained and displayed, surrounded by flowers, by the sides of the local roads. They bring a lot of colour and character to the roadside and tell everyone how proud the locals are of their heritage.


We liked this one so much that we stopped the Bearmobile to get out for a photo.

Beacoup d'amour, Gilbert et mes amis Anglais xxx

I See Some Ships!

We were in luck, the sun continued to shine into the afternoon. And so, after a trip to Majestic's Wine World, to pick up more than a few bottles of 'Domaine de Richard', our favourite quaffing wine, I took the guys over to the 2 Caps area of the Opal coast. The Caps Blanc Nez and Gris Nez are some of my favourite local beauty spots and I was eager to show them to my new English friends.


We went first to the Cap Blanc Nez and here, when we looked over the cliff edge, we got to see all those ferries that we didn't see when we were on the beach at Calais. There are some very tall chalk cliffs at the Cap Blanc Nez and we set out to explore them on foot. As we walked down from the tallest point towards a huge expanse of sandy beach, we got into a good natured argument about whether French beaches, such as this one, were superior to Norfolk beaches. I was arguing in favour of French beaches, while George & Yorkie were trying to convince me that Holkham Beach, in Norfolk, would always win hands down.


Our argument got so heated that we ended up failing to concentrate on our balance and fell off our viewpoint from which we were taking in the vista. Chelmer managed to capture the moment of our topple rather well.

Perhaps we should leave it to you our readers to settle the argument. As sandy beaches are common to both locations, it probably boils down to whether sand dunes and pine woods win over chalky cliffs. Anyone care to cast a vote?

Lots of love, Gilbert & the French travellers xxx

Vive La France!

While Blue Bear was engrossed in the serious business of car buying, some of us got itchy feet and decided it was time for further travels. The recent arrival of Gilbert who joined us from France, gave us the perfect excuse for a trip to, where else, but France. Gilbert's been with us for about 2 months now, and while he's settled in well and nevers complains about England, we could tell he was secretly hankering to see the land of his birth again. Additionally, our wine cellar was getting rather empty, so there was nothing for it, but to get travelling.


Although Yorkie and I are the main travelling bears, we put Gilbert in charge of this expedition. He arranged us a crossing via the Tunnel and we sat on the roof of Bearmobile 1 for the short journey. We look a bit unhealthy in the yellow light but, we felt fine and the colour was only due to us obeying the rules about no flash photography.

On arrival one of our first stops was City Europe to pick up a picnic lunch in Carrefour.


Gilbert said he didn't mind us being patriotic and entering via the English gate. Once we had picked up French lunch supplies of baguette, Brie and taboule, we thought we would take advantage of the winter sunshine and blow away the cobwebs with a stroll along the coast. We thought we would go and watch the ferries entering and leaving the port of Calais.


It was typical though, we settled down on the beach at the very time that there was a lull in the arrival and departure of the ferries. It was nice to have the beach to ourselves though.

Keep reading to find out how we spent the afternoon.

Lots of love George, Yorkie, Gilbert & fellow travellers xxx

He's Behind You ...

The pantomime season starts early in North Norfolk. Last night we all went along to our village pantomime, the first one performed by the newly formed drama group.

We had to get there early as we had work to do. As you know Bears Unlimited is a versatile company and we consider any form of contract. On this occasion we had been asked to serve interval refreshments.


We didn't want to miss any of the show so we got there early to put out cups and saucers. The fun bit though was slicing up cakes and plating up biscuits. We thought it only right that we did a bit of quality control testing as we put the food out.


Our fun was rather ruined though by a rather bear unfriendly lady who queried whether we were clean enough to be around food. What an insult! Not only are bears scrupulously clean, we had cling filmed the plates of food to keep them safe from dirty humans!

It's a good job we are true professionals are can rise above these slights on our character. We recognised the voice of ignorance for what it is and settled down to enjoy the show, which was Jack and the Beanstalk. We enjoyed the performance and joined in loudly when audience participation was required.


Our favourite character was Buttercup the cow. We think it would be great fun to play a pantomime cow and we volunteered to step in if either end of the cow couldn't make all the performances.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Chelmer, Rocco and Noel xxx