LONDON and LIVERPOOL
I met this motley bunch of bears in the gift shop at Buckingham Palace. They were all bored and begged me to swap places with them. I told them to be patient 'cause they would soon be plucked off the shelves by tourists and could end up somewhere exciting in the world. I recommended Amsterdam and the Cuyabeno Reserve, in Ecuador, but they had no idea what I was talking about and it was far too difficult to explain.
When we were at Buckingham Palace, we visited the gardens. I had some old seeds from the Amsterdam starterskit still secreted in my ears. I decided to flick them into the bushes. Imagine Her Majesty's surprise when her corgis get the munchies after digging around in her garden next time they all go for a stroll.
Timmie was so happy to see me again, especially when I told him what I had been up to. We also invited Her Majesty over for a cup of tea and told her about the treats I threw in her garden for her corgis. As you can see in this picture, she was not amused. That explains why she has a mouth like a cat's bum, I suppose.
After seeing the Beatles film 'Help' in Bologna, MUM and DAD decided to go on a nostalgia tour. They went to see 'Let It Be' the Beatles musical in London. Then they dragged me and Timmie across the UK on their own magical mystery tour.
As soon as we got to Liverpool, we hopped on this Beatles bus. MUM was soooooo excited and DAD was a bit too. Me and Timmie decided that when we get our arms to work, we are going to start up a bear band and become rich and famous like the Beatles.
We visited Strawberry Fields where fans had scrawled messages all over the walls. Then we went to visit all the Beatles homes. Here's a picture of John Lennon's place. He lived there with his Aunt Mimi when he was growing up and penned many songs in his bedroom. The last picture is the entrance to the Cavern Club where the band used to play in the '60s. It didn't have a liquor license back then, so they used to serve cups of tea! Unlike the bears at Buckingham Palace, this mob in the Beatles gift shop knew what I was talking about when I told them about some of my recent escapades. You can tell by their eyes. If you look closely, the two at the back are away with the pixies - yeah! yeah! yeah!
On our last day in Liverpool, we went on a ferry ride across the Mersey. Gerry and the Pacemakers had a hit with the song of the same name in the '60s. They played it on the ferry. As you can see in this picture, me and Timmie were a bit sick of hearing it on a continuous loop.
When we got back to London, we carried on with our magical mystery tour. We followed the Beatles walk which took us to Abbey Road where the famous recording studio is. The walls were full of graffiti and there were lots of fans hanging about in the street.
This is the scene of my biggest accident. On the corner of Abbey Road, almost in front of the studio, is a famous zebra crossing. The couple in this next photo were taking a selfie and when they saw me, they plonked me in the middle of the crossing. They wanted to take a photo of me walking across it like the Beatles did on the cover of their album Abbey Road. Little did they know that my floppy legs don't work.
A heavy metal fan, who was sick of waiting for people on the crossing, revved up and took off, running me over. I was lying there like a piece of road kill. My glass eyes were cracked and for the next week, I I kept kept seeing seeing double double and repeating myself all the time. Poor ol' Timmie spent the last week I was in London telling me not to worry, as he was sure I would recover.
Timmie bought me this suitcase as a farewell present. I put my camera in it for the long trip back to Sydney. He said I was to wave it to men in uniform the next time I found myself in trouble. Hopefully they would read the message and prevent any more accidents.
Here is a picture of Timmie sitting on the windowsill back in Wandsworth. From this position he gets a teddy bear's view of the planes up in the sky. He looks very sad and I was sad to leave him behind, but I had to get home to Sydney to see the family in the cupboard. I promised Timmie that we would go on another adventure in the future, but not to expect, so he doesn't get disappointed. I hope he understands that it may be a while before it happens 'cause the sill can get very hot in summer and very cold in winter.