Britain's Favourite Conversation Topic ... again

We hope all our readers having been faring well during the recent icy blast.

One B.U. member who enjoyed last weekend's snow more than most, was Polar from the Midlands branch, who is spending the winter with us.


Polar has adapted well to life off the ice, but when the white stuff falls, and especially when it turns icy, his polar bear genes come to the fore and he is literally in his element.


Along with his hardy friend Russ, he went out last Sunday afternoon to search out some pristine patches of snow to play in and mark with his paw print. The plastic bag his was wearing was not to keep him dry, his fur does that for him, but to give him extra slip when he went body sledging.

Polar played so hard that he got tired and decided to hitch a lift home. Here is is giving his paws up of approval to the snow.


We've all been looking after our feathered friends this week and making sure the bird feeders are well stocked. Our efforts have paid off and Chelmer and Curly were thrilled to sight some more unusual visitors, making their first appearance in our garden yesterday. They sat at the kitchen window with the bird book and binoculars watching ...


... a pair of blackcaps and at least one redpoll. Both species seem to be residing locally, as they're with us, feeding, for several hours each day. It gives us all a special feeling to know we are helping such lovely birds.

But the all important question remains, will today's thaw continue, to allow racing at Fakenham on Friday? We very much hope so.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

P.S. back to Malta next time!

Something New from B.U.

We would like to start this first post of 2011 wishing all our readers a very Happy New Year.  

Over the Christmas period, we had our usual Christmas meet up with both the Midlands and Suffolk Branches, and a fun time was had by all, with much Wherry and Sundew beer being consumed, along with a feast of food, supplied by Oakley our resident chef bear.

Once the feasting and catching up had taken place, as is our custom, we held the Bears Unlimited Annual General Meeting. Polar from the Midlands Branch suggested we should make more use of our Sister Blog  Bears Unlimited Biographies.  This was set up by me (Jimmy) a couple of years ago to test new features for this blog, such as our Cluster Map.  It was also set up to give our readers more of an in depth knowledge of the members of the various branches.   While Polar had been on his extended stay with the Norfolk Branch,  (reported on in October "Forgotten???") he had taken the chance to tell us all about himself.

 

Polar had enjoyed the experience so much he thought all of us should write our biographies.  This idea was enthusiastically supported by everyone, so we decided to make a new years resolution that we would post one new biography every month. We will start this month, with another member of the Midlands Branch, so keep you eyes pealed to see just who!

We then decided that we should put into action a project that has been on the back burner for a while.  As we travel across the country we often come across Trig Points set up by the Ordnance Survey, and we like to have our photograph taken sitting on top of them.  Why not then, set up a new blog with photos of us, or indeed any other Bear or soft furry, sitting on the Trig Point with a few details of where we are.  Bris, who as our readers know has a thing about churches, suggested that we should extend the scope of the blog to Ordnance Survey bench marks, as he had seen many carved on churches. 

We all thought this was a great idea, so I, along with our other top teckie Fred from the Suffolk Branch, set about making the plan a reality by creating our new blog. 

  

Our new blog is called Bears on Trig Points and can be found at http://www.bearsontrigpoints.blogspot.com/ 

Since this second of our New Years's resolutions was made, travelling bears George and Yorkie, accompanied by Rocco, have already bagged their first pair of Trig Points in Derbyshire. They will be posting on these two trig points shortly, along with another which is virtually in the Norfolk Branch's own back yard.   We then plan to trawl through the BU photo archive to add as many bear adorned trig points photos as we can find.

We hope lots of our readers will join in with this project and persuade their minders to snap them on top of their local trig points and then send the photo into us with a note of who you are and where you are. We want to get as much of the country covered as we can, as a tribute to these fine features of the British way of life.

Please see the new blog for details of how to join in.

Love Jimmy, Fred and all at BU xxx

Forgotten???

It was lovely having members of the Midlands and Suffolk branches to stay at the weekend. We all had a really lovely time and we were very sad to see everyone go. The bear cave seemed very empty after the last departures. We looked across the room at the empty space where members of the Midlands branch had been sitting ...

... but as you can see, it wasn't empty. Someone was still there, and we were delighted to find that it was the always charming Polar, of the Midlands branch. We immediately assured him that he was very welcome to stay as long as he likes, and we very much hope he will take up our offer to stay until Christmas when his friends and minders are due to join us again.

But one question remains, and only his minders can answer it? Was he forgotten or did he do a deal with them to be allowed to stay? One thing our readers need to know, is that Polar is a microwavable beanie, just like his Norfolk branch friend, Benji Beddy Bear, yet he doesn't get to go in his sun bed very often at home, only when he comes to Norfolk. Coming to Norfolk therefore makes him very happy, although we do believe he loves, and is much loved by, his Midlands branch minders.

While we wait to hear from his minders, we'd like to assure everyone that while Polar does miss his minders, and hopes they miss him too, he is having a great extended holiday in Norfolk and spending a lot of quality time with fellow hotties Randolph and Benji ....

... and of course Blue Bear is always happy with his latest form of head gear.

We just hope that having a Polar creature such a Polar with us, doesn't bring us some snow.

Lots of love all at the Norfolk branch and special guest Polar xxx

Now You See Me, Now You Don't ...

As we chugged out of Birmingham the next day we were all feeling a little sad. This was not because of the after effects of the curry, because we were starting out on the homeward leg of our journey, which was now almost at an end.

Still, it was to be a good trip back to the Black Prince base at Stoke Prior, including two tests of canal boating skill.


The first was the Wast Hill tunnel, which we are approaching in my picture. This is a real biggie and it is 2726 yards long (that's nearly 3 km for those who have gone metric). This might sound long, (and it is long) but even so, it is only the 4th longest navigable tunnel on the canal system.

Canal tunnels are inevitably dark, gloomy and can be very wet, with lots of water dripping from the ceiling. The helmsman has to put on waterproofs and then those of us who are resting in the life ring on the hatch roof, all take cover from the wet, by sheltering under a minder's jacket .


As it was Polar's first tunnel of any size, he couldn't resist the temptation to look out, even though we did tell him there was nothing to see in the dark. As you can see, he perfected the technique of being able to look out and still stay dry.

The British Waterways sign at the tunnel entrance said that travelling time for the tunnel was about 1 hour. That must be for very nervous drivers who are timidly creeping along. Our guide book said that it would take about half an hour to negotiate and, being confident boaters, we did it in even less (without speeding of course).

When we entered the tunnel we were still in the urban sprawl of the West Midlands. By the time we had come out, we had reached the charming countryside of north-east Worcestershire - quite a change!

Lots of love, Eddie, Polar and crew xxx