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.

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

Leroy in London

Hi there everyone remember me, Leroy, I think I have been getting more use out of Kolo's blog than he has lately. But he is planning a great entry soon so hang on in there genisuses never work quickly!

Anyway as many of you know I live on a little island off the south coast of England, but really I am a Londoner!  I need to point out here that I am not a cockney, those people are born within the sound of Bow bells, I was born within the sound of cheering at Highbury (Arsenal's old ground) and yes I am old enough to remember when they used to cheer there! So I guess that makes me an Arsenal boy.  I am from north London but any visit to London is a good thing to me and this was special cos I met a nice person.  Read on and you will see.

We started by going over to Portsmouth on the ferry so we could get the train to London.  I had my own seat on the ferry.

If I stood on tip toe I could just see out of the window.  While we were waiting for the ferry to leave we could see our town.

When we got to Portsmouth we got on the train.  I had my own seat again.

I could see out of the window from the train too and I could see another train waiting to leave like we were.

I was very excited to get going.

We went very fast past trees and then past fields.

It reminded me how lovely our countryside is this is Hampshire which is very nice we saw lots of animals in fields too, horses, cows, donkeys and even lamas!

When I got to London I met the person who I was telling you about this is Wendy, you may know her cos she is @dogstoyevsky (Lexie's) mum.  Isn't she pretty.

We went to the south bank (of the River Thames) and had lunch I had a chocolate brownie (Wendy got it for herself but well you know me I used my charm and here I am eating it! Heee heee sorry Wendy I'll buy you one of your own next time.

After lunch we walked along the river a bit.  This brought back old memories for me I looked across the river and saws some buildings that I remember well in the city of London.  If you look you can see St Paul's cathedral, new gerkin building and the London Stock Exchange building.

Oh but you can see the buildings but not me, well here is one with me in it!

The island where we live is lovely but I do miss London, who wouldn't its a lovely city and is my home town.

Eventually we had to go home.  As I couldn't get a picture of me with the London Eye (because it is so big and I am so small), I tried to take one from our train at Waterloo, there was a train in the way but you can see it above the train and you can see the Shell Building on the south bank as well.

We didn't gon on the London Eye cos it moves slowly and I'm a boy that gets impatient and likes to be quick but we had a great time in London and I hope I will be going there again soon.  Maybe even to go to see Arsenal again!

I just wanted to say thank you to Wendy for a lovely day out, it was so nice to meet you and sorry I ate your chocolate brownie, but it was very nice!

A day out in Portsmouth

Its taken me a bit of a long time to get round to doing this blog but here it is.  My person had to go to Portsmouth last week for some icky tests to try and get a job interview, that was not the makings of a good day out but that was only the morning so there was room for a day out.  I couldn't go along because people might think it was a bit odd to take a large baboon to a job interview and they might think I was doing the tests for her (she might have done better if I had), but Leroy is small enough to hide in a bag so he went along.

After the interview Leroy met up with @Henryandfriends to go out for lunch and #FlatMarley came with us.  Henry has already shown you pictures of Marley eating chips, he wasn't interested in Leroy's dinner as it was all vegetables.  After lunch they went for a trip around the Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth.

Leroy, Henry and Marley had a look at HMS Warrier which was built in 1860.  Well Leroy and Henry looked at the ship #FlatMarley was too busy posing for the camera.

Leroy and Marley decided that firing a cannon would be a good idea.  Leroy likes the idea of being a gunner but I think that is more to do with supporting Arsenal than firing cannon.  Marley was very intersted in the guns.

Marley found himself a new job in the Dockyard, he thought it would be a good place to work because the place where he had chips was so near by it would be very convenient for lunch, breakfast, afternoon tea, supper, you name it!

We did meet some interesting characters in the Dockyard, I think Marley was practicing being a police dog by jumping on this suspicious looking character.

Marley was very interested in this carving that commemorated the Battle of Trafalgar.  They knew once they saw that that they were getting near to HMS Victory.

Finally we found HMS Victory, which was Nelson's flag ship at the Battle of Trafalgar and where he died.  HMS Victory was built in 1759 so it is very old and they are always repairing it.

Imagine how surprised we were to meet Nelson, I thought he had been killed on Victory but look!!

Look at how big he is, we couldn't get all of him and all of us in the picture.  Marley is hiding and you can only see Leroy, Henry and one of Henry's andfriends heads.  Its quite spooky close up to this statue, his right eye is not painted to show that he had lost it. Ugh not a good look!

On the way home Leroy found this really old wooden lifeboat from our island.  It is called Osbourne after Queen Victoria's house on at East Cowes on the island, I think that will interest @DaneRay.  He couldn't resist having his picture taken on it.  The wood work was beautiful and the brass so shiny we really knew how to make things in those days.

A very special arrival

Yesterday the postman arrived with a very special parcel for me and Leroy. It said it was from Germany on the envelope. We could here somebody moving around inside so we opened it quickly. Imagine what a surprise we had when we meet Hennes the Koln Football Club mascot, to be more precise Mookie's (@Schnille) Koln mascot sent to us in Mookie's memory by his brothers Poldi and @F_R_E_D_I, his sister @fuzzyFreya, the piggies Mozart and Narler and their mum and really from Mookie.

I was so excited I hugged and hugged and hugged him to welcome him. It was like hugging Mookie as well. Some of you might recognise Hennes from Mookie's blog. Leroy and I were so touched that Mookie's family believe that he would have wanted Hennes to live with us made us so emotional we actually cried.

Hennes quickly made himself at home and started meeting some of the family.

You probably saw him hugging Gunner, the Arsenal Football Club mascot, on fuzzyFreya's Twitpic. He was amazed when her met Gunner here cos this Gunner is biggggg! They chatted about football and being mascots for ages.

We showed Hennes around our football collection. He is used to Arsenal but was a little less keen on the England memorabelia as it is mostly from 1966. However, he enjoyed meeting all the world cup mascots and chatting with them.

Hennes was pleased to find that he was not the only German here. He met our German sister Snowdrop who came from Frankfurt from @RetteKaninchen. Hennes was very gentle with her and they talked a lot. They didn't seem to agree about what football team to support but otherwise got on really well.

Hennes had brought a guide book to Koln for Leroy. Poldi sent it for Leroy as Leroy will be visiting him in Koln this year.

Leroy is so excited about going to Koln that he wasted no time in reading the book so he could look at the places he will see. He can't wait to go and meet @fuzzyFreya, @F_R_E_D_I and his special fellow lion mascot friend @Poldi and their mum.

Thank you so much to Mookie's family for thinking of us and allowing Hennes to come and live with us. We promise to look after him well and give him lots of football to watch. He misses all of you but he is settling in well.

Aircraft Carrier

We are lucky enough that our little island is opposite one of the major naval ports in England, Portsmouth, we see lots of navy ships and helicopters out there but occasionally we get a very special visitor. An American aircraft carrier. These ships are too big to fit into Portsmouth Harbour so they anchor in the Solent and we get to see them from our window. Its been a while since one came but this weekend we had a visit from USS George H W Bush. I first saw it from our window and I couldn't wait to get closer.

Not a bad view but I wanted to see more than that!!

Leroy and I decided to have a closer look by going on the car ferry. The car ferry seems big but nothing compared to the aircraft carrier. Her is Leroy waiting for the boat its the St Helen from Fishbourne to Portsmouth Harbour. Leroy had to be held onto while I took the picture because it was windy again just like last time he was out and about.

As soon as we got on the car ferry we ran up to the top deck to get a better look.

We got closer bt the weather was not so good so we couldn't pick out the planes so well with the camera but we could see them. While we were there we thought we would look out of the other window so we could show you our town from the sea. This is Ryde where we live, our house is near the church you can see.

When we got to Portsmouth Harbour we had to wait a bit to get a ferry back so we decided to have lunch, we went to an American diner. We were thrilled to find we were surrounded by US sailors from the aircraft carrier and they told us something about the plans on board. I wish I could tell you but if I told you I woud have to ......! Top secret!! That made up for the poor visibility I can tell you!!

Today the aircraft carrier was leaving and the weather was better so I hoped to get some pictures on its way out. I waited hanging over the balcony waiting for it.

Eventually it came along!

Its not too clear in the picture but I could see the aircraft clearly on the deck I will put this picture on Twitpic then you might see it better. Here it is powering up to where @henryandfriends is waiting for it on the other side of the Solent.

I was determined to see every last bit of it so I waited at the window to see it come round the corner! My nose is pressed up against the glass I can see it just above the white house there.

I waited until the very last minute when it left the Solent.

Well that was the last we saw of it through the chimneys. It was really fun having it here. I am sorry the weather was not good cos we would have seen it better and the sailors we spoke to did hope there would be some sunshine but its always great seeing some military hardware specially when it is that big. Hope another one comes soon, it does I'll get up close and personal with it for sure!

Friends

This week has been an exciting one for us with meeting friends and having the pleasure of their company on our island. It started on Saturday when two girls who were doing a 26 mile sponsored walk on the island on Sunday came to stay the night to get an early start. We had dinner, watch Eurovision and had fun and thank you to them for doing a walk for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice on our island we are very grateful.

On Sunday morning after they had gone we quickly changed the beds in the spare room for the arrival of a VIP guest, none other than @hi_im_monkey (Monkey) who Leroy and Henry visited in Dallas last month. Although we have known him for nearly 10 years I had never met him in the fur before (or terrycloth in his case) so I greeted him with a big hug! to welcome him to our home.

On Monday Leroy took him out and about around our town of Ryde. First them went for a walk to Quarr Abbey but stopped off on the way to look at Holy Cross Church in Binstead which is a 13th century church. They both wanted to look at the saxon carving above the gate.

It is small like they are and very high up so they had to be held up to be pictured with. I think it looks about like them but without the bow tie or surfy hoody!

The grave yard of the church has some interesting old graves including smugglers so they thought they would have a look at some of them. They were fascinated by this very old one although the writing was too worn away to be able to read it clearly so we don't know who it was.

They sat very quietly and respectfully and thought about all the people buried in the very old grave yard.

They did take Monkey into the church to look around but they could not take pictures there as it was a very holy place. Next they set off on their walk again to get to Quarr Abbey.

Quarr Abbey was originally founded in 1132 but was destroyed in the disolution of monastries in England when Henry VIII closed the monastries and destroyed the buildings. The first thing we showed Monkey was what is left of the ruins of the old monastry at Quarr. Henry and Monkey had their picture taken with the ruins behind them.

Looks like Henry VIII did a pretty good job of destroying it doesn't it!

When they arrived at the new abbey, built between 1907 and 1910, the first thing they saw was the piglets on the abbey farm. Some of them came to talk to them.

They were very sweet piggies and lots of them!

The abbey's style is moorish expressionist and it is a very handsome building. They took Monkey around the abbey but again couldn't take pictures because it is holy. They had dinner at the abbey but apparently it was so yummy they forgot to take pictures! Trust Leroy feeding his face!

The Isle of Wight is famous for sailing but they were a little surprised to find a boat in the abbey garden as there was no water! Leroy and Henry thought it would be a good opportunity to show Monkey the ropes though and that is exactly what they did.

After that they travelled back home by bus and wanted to take Monkey on the chocolate tour of Ryde on the way home. The Chocolate Apothecary on the seafront was so crowded they couldn't breath let alone take pictures. Straw Bonnet in Union Street was closed so they couldn't go and look at their chocolates but Thorntons didn't let them down. They had tea there and look what Monkey and Henry got up to while they were there!

I'm sure Monkey is cuddling those chocolates! Well wouldn't you!!

On Wednesday it was my turn to get out and about with friends. Henry (@henryandfriends) came over to see us and go for lunch. I took Snowdrop who was sent to me by @RetteKaninchen sent, with me so she could meet Henry. It looks as though they got on well!

We went to Olivos in Union Street which @MrsFiddlesticks and @Tim_Kirby liked when they visited the island. I had a pizza I needed to check it out to see how they made theirs so I had a good look at it first to get their trade secrets.

I think it is different to mine by just as nice. I met Henry's new brothers Marmite and Aubyl for the first time. Marmite likes pizza so we shared it because it was very big for us at lunchtime.

Marmite and I did not drink that class of wine you can see behind him that was somebody else's honestly!! I don't think we ate much of the salad either pizza was enough for us.

Then it came to pudding time, they didn't have a banana split but they had a very suitable pudding for me with bananas, banoffe pie is a great pudding for baboons! Snowdrop has got used to bananas since she came here so she and Henry shared it with me. Marmite and Abuyl shared a different pudding with a waffle that looked nice as well.

So you can see that we have had a great week of friends this week and that is fantastic cos what is better than friends. Leroy and Henry also had a great time meeting @pinkbunny, who is lovely, last month so all in all we've had a great time with friends lately. I hope we meet more of you in future and see some of you that we have met before again, but even if Leroy or I don't meet you you are all our friends and that makes us very happy!