everyone knows everything
5th August 2020
I’m still quite well.
My temperature is normal, and I haven’t got a cough.
I haven’t had anything to eat yet, so I don’t know about my sense of taste and smell.
But so far, it looks as though I didn’t meet the Virus when I was out on my bike ride.
It’s definitely breakfast time now.
RRRRING RRRRING RRRRING
Oh, that’s the phone.
I’ll try out my new triangle beater now.
I think after my little break, my tone is rather improved.
But talking to Bimbo reminded me that I haven’t spoken to my cousin Peter for a long time, or thanked him for the nice postcard he sent me.
I’d better phone him.
That doesn’t sound very likely to me.
But it’s a nice idea, and I expect the thought of it is cheering Peter up.
It’s true.
I hadn’t guessed at Peter’s Tempest Shadow side.
So it must have been Jenny who saw me out on my bicycle.
So I did that, ready to lend it to people.
Oh bother, I never asked Jenny about the topic for the next Book Club meeting.
I’d better ring Ellie.
Some might think that my eyes are bigger than my stomach.
But as a matter of fact, I believe I could eat 16.9 pancakes, because I’m so hungry.
a sewing project
15th August 2020
My bean!
I’ve been neglecting my bean plant.
Oh dear, some of the leaves have gone a bit funny.
They probably want more water.
But look, there’s a real bean growing. Two beans. They look delicious.
I must tell Reindeer and Madame Cholet.
It was them that gave me the big flower pot.
I don’t think the plant would have thrived if I’d kept it in the small pot that I started it in long ago.
It was just a tiny seed in those days.
Nature is amazing. Green in leaf and tendril, apart from a few brown patches.
I’ll let the beans grow a bit bigger before I harvest them.
But what I’ve decided to do today, is to make myself some lycra cycling shorts.
I’m actuallly using a lycra substitute, but I believe they’ll make me look slim and sporty.
I’ve got out my sewing machine.
I think I remember how to thread it.
It seems to be jammed.
I wonder if Teddy would have any advice. He’s good at practical things.
Perhaps I should choose a language that comes with good food and entertainment.
I like pancakes (I did eat all of those pancakes that I made the other day).
Russian pancakes are delicious, and I’d like to drink black tea from a samovar.
I have a lot of Russian friends that I could talk to.
I could learn to play the balalaika, and dance the hopak.
On the other hand, I don’t have a balalaika, and my knees aren’t very bendy, and I don’t like vodka.
Also I’d have to learn a whole new alphabet.
Even the letters that look familiar turn out to make different sounds.
So perhaps not Russian, after all.
Let’s have a look at that App again.
What about Welsh?
Ellie’s friend Dillion is a Welsh dragon.
He speaks excellent English, but I’m sure he’d like to have a chat in his native tongue.
You can tell he’s homesick for Wales sometimes.
I like leeks too, and Welsh Cakes, and Welsh Rabbit.
I could sing Welsh songs, and maybe even save up for a harp.
I will. I’ll learn Welsh. Dw i’n mynd i ddysgu Cymraeg.
I’m glad to have settled that question.
Now to oil the sewing machine.
And make my cycling shorts.
Nearly done. I only have to hem up the bottoms of the legs.
I’ll look good in these.
Oh dear, the sewing machine has made them a bit too slim and sporty.
I can’t get into them at all.
Perhaps I ate too many pancakes.
I suppose there’s not much wrong with my grey shorts.
Probably more comfortable than lycra.
I’ll make myself some Welsh Cakes now, to get into practice for my Welsh lessons.
They’ll be healthier than pancakes because they’re full of fruit.
One of my five a day.
Everyone’s growing food
20th August 2020
Dw i wedi gyneud pice bach Cymreig.
I believe that’s Welsh for “I did make some Welsh Cakes”.
But while I was making them, I couldn’t stop thinking about the key that I found.
I really need to work out what it’s meant to wind up.
So while the Welsh Cakes were frying, I went to investigate.
I had an idea that it just might be the key for winding up a very clever Chinese elephant that I know.
She can ride a tricycle while spinning a ball on the end of her trunk.
I don’t think even Bimbo can do that.
Anyway, it turns out she doesn’t need my key, and it wouldn’t have fitted anyway.
I hope she doesn’t ride on the roads, because she doesn’t look where she’s going at all.
When I came back, my Welsh Cakes were burnt.
I tried to think of them as toasted, or caramelised, but they really weren’t very nice.
I’ll try again soon, and next time I’ll concentrate just on the Welsh Cakes.
I’ll watch the pan constantly.
I’ve finally picked my beans.
I asked Madame Cholet and Reindeer whether they’d like to have one of them.
So I cooked both the beans for myself.
I’ve chosen a Transformers badge to celebrate the amazing transformation from one little seed to a tasty bean breakfast.
A lot better than burnt Welsh Cakes.
Robinsbear has also been growing beans.
He had a problem with blackfly, but he did get a nice bean or two to eat.
Actually, I think only one. But it was a fat one.
My friend Chippy in Kuala Lumpur has sent some pictures of the banana tree he’s been growing.
This was what it looked like two months ago:
And now I think it’s nearly big enough to have bananas on it.
It grows even faster than my beanstalk.
Nice to see Chippy again – he looks just the same as when I last saw him.
While I was in the cupboard, he went over to Malaysia, to do some research into extracellular matrix proteins.
Little Strawberry from up the road has also started growing things to eat.
She’s brought me a nice selection – carrots, potatoes, and brussels sprouts.
She says that sprouts are really nicer after we’ve had the first frost, but by then they’ll be gigantic cabbages, so she very sensibly harvests them early.
She also said she’d brought me two “zucchini”.
I had no idea what she was talking about.
Then I saw that they’re just courgettes.
Strawberry calls them “zucchini” because she spent her gap year in America, and picked up some of their vocabulary.
I remember seeing my first courgette when I was a young bear.
It seemed very exotic.
Before that, we’d only had marrows, which really aren’t practical for someone of my size.
Strawberry says that one of her zucchini grew much too big to eat, so she made it into a canoe.
She discussed it with Bunce’s uncle, who’s a canoe-building expert.
Then she went on a voyage down the river.
She’s an intrepid little bear.
I’ve been putting off having another adventure myself, because the weather hasn’t been very lovely.
But if Strawberry can go out boating in the damp, I should be able to manage cycling.
I have a waterproof cape, after all.
I’ll plan my next expedition.
Just for a bit more practice, I thought I might cycle round to some of my friends’ houses.
I’ll post a Welsh cake through each of their letter-boxes (a new one, not one of the burnt ones).
I think they’ll like that.
Of course I’ll sanitise the letter-boxes before I touch them.
I wonder if I should spray the Welsh Cakes too?
a new instrument, and Welsh Cakes for my friends
August 25th 2020
Look what’s arrived – bagpipes!
Who can they be from? Let’s have a look at the letter.
“I wondered how you would feel about trying a new instrument.”
I think I feel very positive about it.
“I’ve heard that bagpipes can be quite tricky.”
Probably true, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
“Love from your neighbours”
Of course – they’ve just been to Scotland. How very nice of them to bring me back a set of bagpipes.
“P.S. Please remember to wash your hands after reading”
Good point. I’ll do that now before I start playing.
Actually, perhaps I’d better leave the bagpipes till later, so the viruses can fade away.
Meanwhile I’ll make another set of Welsh Cakes, and this time I won’t burn them.
Here’s the recipe, in case you want to make them.
Then I’ll set off on my practice bicycle ride, and drop a Welsh Cake off at each of my friends’ houses.
RRRING RRRING
Oh, there’s the phone. I wonder who that is?
I wonder what Bimbo did, to get sent to a reform school?
But of course, pachyderms do get picked on. He may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Bimbo didn’t sound very excited about my bagpipes.
Perhaps I wasn’t sufficiently enthusiastic about his first go at his bugle after all this time.
I’d better drop off his Welsh Cake first of all.
I’ll have a look at those Welsh Cakes.
I think they’ve come out quite well.
Hardly burnt at all. I’ll put the burnt side underneath.
I’m going to wrap them in greaseproof paper.
I must take one to little Strawberry, she’s been so helpful.
And some for the neighbours, who brought me my bagpipes.
Two for Reindeer and Madame Cholet. Even better than giving them a bean.
Two for Ted and Lopsy.
One for Points, one for Bimbo.
I wonder if I dare give one to Dillion?
Being Welsh, he’ll know if I haven’t got them right.
But they are quite tasty (I just tried one of them). I will take him one.
I think they’ll all fit into my bicycle panniers.
Mustn’t forget the hand gel, for before and after every letter-box.
Some of my friends live too far off for today’s bicycle ride.
But if this expedition goes well, perhaps I’ll be more ambitious another time.
I could go anywhere!