Sonning Bear

Yaaaaayyy!!

We sometimes get deliveries for a house with the same number and street name as ours, but in the next village (over the border in Cheshire).

Human guardian Polar thinks it may be worth writing to the people who live there to give them her mobile number in case they want to check if we have things!

Tee hee!

Don't tell her!

Hanley Bear thought it would be fun to send Vale-rie a #ValentinesDay card.

We hope she liked it!

*wavy paws* Oliver!

As usual, Hanley had a pre-match dance...

Hanley Bear and I had a marvellous day out yesterday with @tourguideted.bsky.social and @geckocomms.bsky.social and other Stuffie chums watching the Stoke City v West Brom game.

We had lovely noms first and met Baggie Bird the mascot. And the game was a draw so no-one was sad at the end.

And here's the finale of the light show!

There's another one next month in Newcastle-under-Lyme, so we are hoping our human guardians will take us to see that too.

It did get very cold and Hanley didn't put his duffle coat on (telling Polar that he wasn't "nesh" so didn't need it).

So it's hard to tell if he is dancing or just shivering!

Hanley Bear had a great evening with Polar on Tuesday seeing the "Light Up Hanley" (or "Light Up Me!" event, as he called it) put on by @appetitestoke.bsky.social

We are going to share a few more clips of film from the evening...

Also, they are both teams Polar cheers for (so she was a "neutral" yesterday, which annoyed Hanley).

Her other team, from when she was a student, are Sheffield United, who also play in red and white stripes. It's all very confusing for a Small Bear.

It was confusing. The Stoke fans all sing "When the Reds go Marching in," but to the tune of, "When the Saints go Marching In" which is Southampton's song.

I am hoping to go to an away game next week (with Hanley) which @tourguideted.bsky.social has invited us to.

Sonning Bear and Hanley Bear wearing their red and white striped jumpers at Stoke City's stadium

Hanley Bear's old "lucky jumper" stretched so much from being washed that it fits me now, so we both went to the match against Southampton yesterday.

Hanley was very sad, because Stoke lost by two goals to nil, but Grizzly's son Mr George was pleased, as "Saints" are his team.

That's a very good nowtiss bord Henry.

*hugs*

Human guardians took us to see the local starling murmuration again yesterday.

I think there are even more of them now!

We had a morning walk at Trentham Gardens, Mrs Sue. It was a bit too cold to spend a lot of time out of our Bear Bag, but we did do a little bit of climbing in the stumpery, and had cake at the garden centre cafe...

Meanwhile, thanks to Polar finding some red and white striped socks in the @stokecityfc.bsky.social shop at the weekend, Hanley Bear has a new jumper to wear to the match on Wednesday night.

Aunty Tina brought two tiny Bears to live with us yesterday. They were living in her loft but didn't have any friends up there.

They seem to be tiny Paddingtons as they have a big jar of marmalade (although it's actually an old cotton reel) and a picture of Aunt Lucy!

Good morning Henry! *hugs* and happy Tuesday to you!

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Perhaps it might be best if he waits for the new season. LBB will be living nearby, so they can travel up to Bear Lodge together.

Our human guardians are originally from Hampshire but have lived in this area for over 20 years and love it, and our neighbours are great.

Endon is hoping to go climbing again soon, Munro.

We are a safe distance from the site of the breach at Whitchurch but we are very sad it happened as our hooms were hoping to get along the Llangollen Canal later this year.

I think we'll mostly be on here now.

Hanley Bear is keeping the X account going for now until more pals are safely linked up on here, but he has already blocked Grok after finding it lied a lot about things.

*hugs* Mrs Sue. We could never make sense of Mastodon.

Hanley Bear is still looking after the old Twitter account as so many of the Bears are still there but we are hoping to use this more and leave "X"

*wavy paws* Mrs Sue!

Have you seen this, @hattieotter.bsky.social ?

My friend Hanley Bear has asked me to share this poem about his home city. He says it explains why he is sometimes a fierce Small Bear, but is very good at heart.

Mr Nick Degg was poet laureate for Stoke-on-Trent's centenary last year. We like his poems.

Sending hugs from the UK. Our human guardians' Asian friends are noticing more racism these days. It's a big worry but we will beat it if we stand by our friends and call it out.

We hoped it would be nice snow for playing in and Hanley wanted to build a big snowbear, but it wasn't deep enough for that and just made nasty patches of ice on the roads and pavements.

Have good sleeps, Henry. *hugs*