OMG, What a Week!

This was supposed to be the humans' last week off before winter - time for them to chill out, calm down and build up their resistence to bugs, viruses and colds.  But instead of relaxing, everything has been an uphill struggle which has made them very tired and stressed indeed!
The alarm - this was removed while the house was being replumbed, but getting it reinstalled has been like an Icelandic saga lasting hundreds of years!   It has taken 4 visits (two visits where the wrong engineer or no engineer turned up), one visit where the alarm was reinstalled but couldn't be switched on and a final visit to actually make it work!   We've been back in the house since April, but it's taken another 4 and a half months to get the alarm reinstalled and working!
The car - this was serviced at the beginning of the week but the garage didn't spot that one of the tyres was the wrong type for the car.  When Paul took it to Kwik Fit in April, they wrecked the punctured tyre, told us we needed a new one and then fitted the wrong tyre!   That's one garage that won't be getting any repeat business from us, though Tony will be making a visit in his big boots and kicking the crap out of anyone he finds there.
The car - we've just discovered that we have to get the garage to fit new day running lamps at a cost £38 each!  Fitting of light bulbs must be done by a Peugeot dealer, which came as a surprise to our dealer as well as ourselves!   It took 3 "technicians" (mechanics to you and me) to get the front panel off the car, at which point they discovered they didn't have any bulbs in stock!
And our trip to The Natural History Museum on Tuesday was spoiled firstly by a lack of sensible directions to the disabled parking area which meant we drove round the building 3 times before finding a place to park, and secondly by receiving a call at 5pm to tell us our newly reinstalled alarm had been ringing since 11am but we weren't answering the home phone number!  Well we couldn't answer it coz we were in London, but no-one contacted us on our mobile phones!  What a bunch of muppets the alarm people are, but they are Group4 / G4, the people who excel in letting prisoners escape!

Is it us or has the world gone mad?   Are there no sensible people to talk to?   And where are the people who can do a professional job?   Everything seems thrown together, people appear to take no pride in their work and customer service is a dirty word these days!

At this rate, our humans will be going back to work for a rest!

Apologies for the lack of posts!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently, but things have been so hectic - we have moved back into our house (more of that later), Bev is studying for an exam, and on top of all of that Bev discovered she had to apply for her current job!  My poor pet is totally stressed out so I have been comforting her and haven't had time to blog about what we have been getting up to.

Moving back into the house was much better than the move to the farm (Bev still hasn't recovered from that move!), but there was still lots of work to be done on the house - new kitchen work surface, fixing a leak in the ceiling, replacing missing tiles in the downstairs loo, poor painting (we said we didn't want the the blind painter working on our house, but they didn't listen!).

The house is mostly in order, but poor Bev and Paul still face a mountain of boxes to empty.  The took a holiday recently to do just that, but both agreed that going out and about (even in the rain) was much more fun than emptying boxes :-)  We agree!

Tony stopping to catch his breath on a steep hill

Tony stopping to catch his breath on a steep hill, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Tony's a bit out of condition - he has to stop to catch his breath whilst on his walk. Oh dear, Tony will have to start visiting the gym to get back into shape!

Tony climbing the fence to start his walk

Tony climbing the fence to start his walk, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Tony goes for a walk on the farm - he decided to fill his rucksack with goodies and head off towards the woods.

Waitrose shopping - no Billy Bear meat for our sandwiches!

Well, we bears have to say that we are very disappointed in Waitrose - we walked all the way from the farm to get some Billy Bear meat (see photograph below) for our sandwiches, but they didn't have any :-( 

Shame on you, Waitrose - you have disappointed four bears and a chimp, who were looking forward to a picnic of luncheon meat sandwiches, cider and cakes!

Despite the lack of Billy Bear meat, we were very impressed by the range of other delicacies, including Waitrose's dry cider (it comes highly recommended by us bears), tasty meats and scrummy fresh bread!  Paws crossed for nice weather tomorrow so that we can fill Tony's rucksack up with our goodies and head off across the fields for our picnic!

Enjoying the spring weather or X-Factor, Bear-style?

Enjoying the spring weather or X-Factor, Bear-style?, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

The bears and Tony enjoying the beautiful spring weather, or being X-Factor judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole! Who they are judging?  I don't know, but simon looks asleep and Cheryl looks bored!

Easy Rider, bear-style

Easy Rider, bear-style, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Hamish and Bill racing on their tricycles at the farm - Bill looks to be winning, but you should never dismiss Hamish until the chequered flag goes down!

Visitors to the Lodge

We have discovered that we are not alone - in the Lodge, that is, not in the universe, though we suspect we are not alone there either!   Yes, we are sharing our cottage with ladybirds - lots of them - and they are kinda cute but very small, though Bev managed to get a photograph of one which made it look scarily huge!

So, how many people know that ladybirds liked cheese?  And if they do, does cheese taste like aphids?  Bev spotted our little ladybird on the kitchen table and took a photograph as it nibbled on crumbs of cheese.

Mad woman!

Is Bev mad or what?  Picture the scene - lovely sunrise, early morning, mist on the ground.  So what does she do?  Yup, puts a sweatshirt on over her nightdress, goes out into the field with her camera and takes lots of photographs!  Luckily we have no neighbours here on the farm, otherwise they would be telling Paul that his wife was a bit eccentric, wandering around in a nightdress, old sweatshirt and even older slippers!

Eccentric she might be, but she can spot a pretty photograph!

Sunrise over the fields outside the Lodge (Gamekeeper's, not Masonic!) :-)

Sunrise over the fields near the house.

Sunrise  from the cottage.

Life on the Farm, Part 2

Life on the farm is good, with us bears and Tony having lots of fun playing in the fields and woods around the house.  As you know, Tony discovered a couple of trikes and some chairs in the shed, so we have been spending a lot of time out on our bikes - here is a photograph of Tony and myself on one of the trikes!


















Bev and Paul have been taking lots of photographs of the Gamekeeper's Lodge and countryside around the farm:
This is our  front garden:

And this is our back garden:

We told you it was remote!

Beautiful scenery

Our temporary accommodation - The Gamekeeper's Lodge - is situated beside some woods and in the midst of green rolling hills.  The location is just beautiful!  We are at least a mile from the nearest road, so if we forget the milk we will need to russle a cow from one of the fields - we'd never make it to the nearest shop on our little legs!
Bev was delighted with our first evening here, as there was a glorious sunset for her to photograph.
















Bev is currently studying for an exam in early March but once she has finished she is looking forward to photographing more scenes like this, and taking shots of us bears out and about round the farm!

Life on the Farm

We are settling into life at the farm, and while the humans go to work, we have been exploring.  Look what Tony found in the shed!  It's too big for him, but the perfect size for us bears, and even better news is that there are 2 trikes in the shed :-)  One for Bill and one for me.  Which means that Tony can ride in the back.

Last Day of February and so much to tell!

Yup, it's the last day of the month and we have been busy bears - actually, everyone else has been busy packing and preparing for the move, but we are lazy bears so have mostly been busy doing nothing.  Here is Tony helping with the packing:






















So, have we moved, how was the move, and where are we now?  Well, we have moved and are now living on the farm, but the move was a ghastly experience, so much so that Bev is only beginning to calm down three days later!  She was told that we wouldn't have to lift a finger, and that we would be at the farm by lunchtime - the reality was that only 2 people turned up to load the stuff onto the lorry, so even with us all helping we finally got to the farm at dark o'clock. Once the lorry had gone, we discovered that some of the stuff for storage was at the farm, and some of the stuff for the farm was still on the lorry, but at least the most important stuff was at the farm!   We cheered ourselves up with a meal of fish and chips, washed down with gallons of cider and went to our comfy beds for a good night's sleep.

Our Big Move! Tony prepares.....

As I said in my preview of 2011, we have to move out of our house for 6 - 8 weeks while it is replumbed.  Everything is now in place - Bev has booked the dates for the move, arranged for the removals company to move our belongings, found temporary accommodation on a farm and booked poor Kitty into the cattery!  She's been a busy girl, despite still recovering from a nasty bout of 'flu and now having a cold :-(

Anyway, as a start to our "journal" of our Big Move, here are a couple of photographs of Tony packing up his belongings into the his little rucksack.  So far, he has packed his socks and underpants, and is now packing his credit card, mobile phone and iPawd. 



















Tony also has some clothing to take with him for the cold weather - a fleece, scarf and warm hat.  Don't forget your sunglasses, Mr Chimp - they're on your head!

Tony, Nev, Bill, myself and Phoebe will be going to the temporary accommodation, while the rest of the bears will have to go into storage and guard all our belongings.

So, more photographs to follow................