The Chronicles of Golden Bear
First visit
Hi, I'm Golden Bear, the friendly, cuddly, ever-so-slightly-worn bear of Broadstone Hall Primary School (nursery section). This is my diary of a fateful long weekend in Heaton Chapel in early December 2014.
It had been a long old year, passing from house to house, getting up to all manner of escapades, none of which I can recall right at this moment. It's a tough old job and there's not much respite, aside from during the school holidays.
Wednesday 3rd December 2014
After a two-day break in the nursery soft toy box, catching up on some much-needed sleep, it was soon Wednesday and therefore time to go on tour once more. This time, I was passed to a three-and-a-half-years-old, blonde-haired girl called Daisy Allen.
She was fairly excitable and clung to me eagerly as we were picked up by her mummy (who was accompanied by Daisy's baby brother), although I seemed to immediately take second billing to a red and white cat who went by the name of Hello Kitty. It was clear that I would have to earn Daisy's trust. I'm not sure that I ever did.
Here is a picture of with me with her.
I noticed that she was wearing a Frozen top. I can't count the number of times I have seen or heard Frozen songs during my time in the homes of Broadstone Hall nursery children. If I never hear one again, it will be too soon.
I was chauffeured back to a nice house on Denby Lane in Heaton Chapel, and I spent my first afternoon generally chilling and getting used to things, although we did have to pop to the doctor's for a check-up (for Daisy; I got a clean bill of health last month).
It was bath night, which I dread, but I managed to get away without getting dunked in, so that was a relief. When Daisy's daddy got home, he made sure I was fully introduced to Daisy's young brother (who is called Gregory, I later found out). Luckily, I was whisked away before he got chance to start chewing on my face.
As Daisy's parents put her to bed, I started chatting to a couple of local girls. They were in the mood for a bit of a laugh and the time flew by. Before long, we were settling down for the night. In case you are wondering: a bear never tells.
Not a bad way to start my latest trip. Still got it.
Thursday 4th December 2014
Thursday morning saw a trip to the Life Leisure in Hazel Grove for Daisy's swimming lesson. I requested a photo whilst there but apparently that is frowned upon and we had to make do with an artist's impression.
As you can see, it was a whole lot of fun. I even caught Daisy's (female) instructor winking at me at one point.
Daisy's mummy seemed reluctant (or just plain forgot) to take photos all day, so a subsequent visit to the house of Lynne's friend Jo, with her daughter Eva (who is Daisy's age) and son Finlay (who is a little younger than Gregory), was unrecorded.
The pick of the day was undoubtedly Daisy falling into Eva's big wooden toy box and being unable to get out, but then shouting after Eva not to get help because she was too afraid of being told off. I've haven't laughed that hard for quite some time. Cracking stuff.
Friday 5th December 2014
I started Friday on the shelf with Daisy's toys, waving at Daisy's daddy who was much keener with the camera then her mummy.
I don't know whether this was a common thing, but Daisy's mum jetted off to Munich on the Friday, leaving me with Daisy's daddy, who had taken the day off work, as well as Daisy and Gregory for company.
Our first stop of the day was Poynton, and the home of Daisy's daddy's Aunty Judy. Daisy busied herself with a box of ponies whilst I tried to look inconspicuous. Actually, my fur is reasonable camouflage for this rug. I bet you can't even see me.
I then insisted on a pose with the aforementioned Aunty Judy.
Our next point of interest was the garden-centre-at-Marple, as Daisy calls it; otherwise known as the Wyevale garden centre in Marple. Here, I enviously looked on as Daisy tucked into a cheese sandwich. Did she share any? The answer is no.
I did, however, try to get involved in some colouring action, although Daisy wasn't keen on my interfering with my yellow artwork.
Security (not pictured) was pretty tight here and I had to make do with watching Daisy go round and round the soft play area. This was pretty annoying as I do excel at gymnastics.
After a fun-filled day, nerves were a little frayed as Daisy and Gregory both cried upon being retrieved from both their slumber and the car. Once they were put to bed and it was quiet enough to think, I realised that this was the bit I had been looking forward to: kicking back with a Tiger beer and chilling out.
I had soon drained the Tiger stock (helped of course by Daisy's daddy). While he fetched me a can of Beck's Vier, I sneakily stole the Sky remote, eagerly searching for bear-related programming.
After a long wait, the local Mumbai curry takeaway finally delivered our evening meal. I was ravenous so tucked straight into the poppadoms (with onion chutney) and the chicken puri.
I soon got a bit bored of the Beck's Vier so requested something a bit more exciting, and was rewarded a Polish beer, Tyskie. A slight logistical issue was the size of the bottles, which had me clambering up a stack of DVDs in order to take a sip.
I certainly needed regular sips of the beer as the curry that Daisy's daddy had ordered for us was pretty darned spicy. I wondered if I would regret this choice the next morning (it was a chicken deshi naga).
Well, the mixture of beers drunk quickly had quite some effect on me. I think one of them may have been off or something, because I suddenly felt worse for wear.
Some sudden queasiness prompted a run for the downstairs toilet. Daisy's daddy followed in hot pursuit with his camera, showing blatant disregard for my privacy.
I survived that worrying moment, which actually involved no fluid expulsion, with sufficient bravado that I felt compelled to see if the girls were interested in another "chat". I don't recall exactly what happened next. I think they were probably not particularly enamoured by the fumes emanating from my every pore and, denied from clambering in to their bed, I must have fallen asleep face down on the carpet.
It had been a cracking evening.
Saturday 6th December 2014
Daisy's daddy need some moral support by the time the actual weekend came around and so we headed over to Boothstown, home of Daisy's Nana Sue. I expected some compassion from her, but was instead immediately and unceremoniously shoved atop her secondary Christmas tree (if you can call it that; I suppose you can) in the conservatory.
Thankfully I wasn't left there too long, but it was a mean prank for her to play and it started off my visit there on somewhat of a sour note.
I was only appeased by some of her infamous meat and potato pie, although I could still unfortunately taste some of that deshi naga from the night before.
After the excitement of lunch, and other escapades, energy levels dropped substantially, and we settled down to watch some random videos on the tablet with Daisy's Aunty Katie.
All my wishes came true as I finally got meet Santa later on that day. Pretty sure it was the real one.
Sunday 7th December 2014
I love a good Christmas lunch as much as the next bear, and a festive meal at Ringway Olf Club in Hale was no exception. I'm not sure what an Olf Club is, but I was too embarrassed to ask. We had been kindly invited by Lynne's Daddy's friends, Rick and Suze.
I don't generally like being near crackers as, firstly, I don't like the bangs and, secondly, I sometimes get mistaken for the trashy presents you get inside them.
Now this had me in all sorts of confusion, since I thought I had seen the real Santa the previous day, but here we were with another one, and one which looked completely different. I patiently waited for my name to be shouted out, but it never was. Both Daisy and Gregory had their name shouted out, though - they both followed the same tradition of crying whilst being carried by their father. I thought I heard Daisy's daddy assure the Santa that it was not him.
It was soon time to head home after a few more tiredness-related tears. When was Daisy's mummy getting back, I wondered.
Monday 8th December 2014
And suddenly the weekend was over. It went so quickly, although partly this was due to the excessive alcohol consumption that was unduly foist upon me. I'd had a pretty good time, though, and it was with some regret that I posed with Daisy on the Monday morning before heading back to the school nursery.
I would look back on my time at 8 Denby Lane with fond, but fuzzy, memories.
The end...
Well, we thought it was the end, but in fact it wasn't. See Golden Bear's reprise.
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