Wednesday 17 August 2011

Scamp's big adventure

Today it was Scamps turn to go out. For those of you know don't know Scamp he is one of @Bear_Berkeley's brothers made by Snuffy Norton, but he lives with us not with us here in England.  Scamp was very excited he has met Henry before but then he was very shy.  He put on his best hockey shirt because he is Canadian (actually he always wears it) because he wanted to look good for his day out with Henry.

Scamp met Henry at the bus station after Henry had come across on the hovercraft and they took a long walk to the abbey that is in Ryde where we live.

When they got to the gates they were shy to go in as it was an abbey so they sat around for a while on the gate getting up the courage to go in.


Anyway Henry was too keep to get his chips to hang around for too long so they got in, found the tea shop and got down to the serious business of ordering and eating their lunch.


Scamp noticed that somebody was either trying to kidnap Henry or steal their chips can't have that but we did offer them some as it was a big bowl for two small bears.

Well having given half their chips away they did need some cake they chose a lemon and coconut cake which was very tasty!




They made very sure nobody tried to steal their cake chips is one thing but cake is another, they looked to see if Olly was lurking around they would have shared some with him but not just anybody.


Then they looked around the farm shop at the abbey and tried all the fruit and vegetables.  There were pears and beans that they wanted to buy for dinner.

After lunch they were too full to walk home so they got the bus.


They both had a lovely day but were very tired after all that walking, eating and travelling on the bus.

Friday 12 August 2011

Small lion, big city!

Hello its me Leroy again taking over Kolo's blog to tell you about my adventures and give an opinion or two.  Yesterday I was luck I went to London again for the second time in two weeks.  I went close to where I went before but to a different place. I am learning more about my city now than when I lived there.  I also met some nice friends and had lunch.


As usual when you live on an island our journey started on the ferry. I couldn't believe this was the sunshine coast in the deep sount in August the sea was grey and stormy but I like it when the ferry rolls around so I wasn't complaining, its more exciting that way.

We went on the train, same journey as I did before to Waterloo although the scenery was a bit grey and misty this time not like last time.  When I got to London I went on the tube, I haven't been on the tube for ages so that was exciting.


When I got to London Bridge I noticed that the London Underground signs were big enough to sit on so of course I had to try.  My person couldn't get far enough back without falling onto the tracks so you can see clearly but I am sitting on the London Bridge station sign.


We walked round past Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market so busy and rainy we didn't get pictures and eventually we arrived at Bankside Pier.  Just a suggestion London Mayor, can you put better signposting from London Bridge Station to the Globe Theatre everything else is well signposted but if you don't know the area, like if you are a tourist not a Londoner, you might get lost. I was OK of course.


When I got there I met our lovely new Twitter anipal @Choc_the_moose (follow him pals he is nice and a very snappy dresser).  We are not the types to waste our time so we got straight down to reading the menu and deciding what we would eat.  We both decided to have pizzas.


This was my pizza, Choc's was even bigger!  Well that didn't exactly pose a problem we got through those pretty quickly and then settled down to the serious business of choosing a pudding.


I had a look at this pudding but you know frankly, and I am sure you will agree with this, it doesn't look very impressive, how would you expect that to satisfy a rapacious lion and a moose with a healthy appetite? Not really!

So we quickly moved on to more promising territory!


Now this was more like it a full size cheese cake and a banoffee pie now you are talking!  Choc and I agreed that these would be fine for us!

After our lunch we decided to have a stroll along by the Thames.  Good job @dogstoyevsky's mum Wendy was there because I have to admit we had eaten so much that we would have found walking ar a bit difficult.


Here we are in front of Southwark bridge. Thanks Wendy for helping us after our lunch.

Well we were near the Globe Theatre so we thought we should visit that, afterall Choc is from Norway so he needed to see some British culture.


Here we are outside the theatre.  We did think about going to see a play but my person thought that a whole play would be a bit beyond the concentration span of a hyperactive lion and she may have been right.  We actually preferred the idea of acting in one of the plays, Hamlet was on, but it would need a rewite to get rid of the tired old Prince of Denmark and include the Moose of Norway instead and a new part would need to be written in for a sophisticated lion about town.  Then we would consider taking the parts.

Now on the subject of rewrites of Shakespeare plays I have a suggestion to make.  Four hours watching a play, that seems a long time to me.  I was going to suggest some cutting down, getting rid of the long speeches, making things a bit more user friendly.  I thought that might be a job for Kolo, he is a bit of a writer, get rid of the image of the bard with a pointy beard, Elizabethan ruff and quill pen and replace it with a baboon in a T-shirt with a netbook, (or an iPad that would seem cooler), kind of theme.

While you are at it Kolo they need to be a lot shorter.  I think the ideal length for a spectator event is 90 minutes divided into two 45 minute halves with a break between to get a pie and a pint, a mug of tea and a doughnut or, if you attend more upmarket events at a stadium in the Highbury and Islington area, a balti lattice slice with a glass of Chablis.  A red and yellow card system would be useful for actors who try to big up their parts or fluff their lines.  I am sure you can come up with something Kolo.

Well anyway back to the day in hand.  Choc had to take his person back to the office and Wendy had to go to a meeting so we wended our weary way to Waterloo (now that is just the sort of high maintenace, over indulgent kind of writing that I want to get rid of), so my person and I got the train from Waterloo and the ferry back to the island and had an uneventful journey, now that is another thing I need to mention, an uneventful journey, no unforseen events beyond their control, no lateness or delays, no danger of missing the ferry, come on if you keep this up travellers will have nothing to complain about, then where will we be?

Acknowledgements:

Food by Pizza Express

Leroy's wardrobe by Snuffy Bearmani

Choc's wardrobe by the Norweigan Department for Tourism (an as yet unknown but clearly talented designer who has a big future in moose on the loose wear (that could be a fashion lable, Moose on the Loose Wear))

Plays by Shakespeare with suggested alterations/updating by Leroy

Weather by Grey and Damp Productions Ltd
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