i haven’t been anywhere since february and i ain’t going anywhere anytime soon, but i don’t mind…
i ain’t going anywhere…
the minis go fourth
as the mini’s were unable to get back home for a while, mini snuffy decided he’d help with decorating the popps abearment – he chose a lovely greyish purple
“finished…”
but after the first coat, he was told it was a bit too dark so mixed a lighter shade for the walls.
he had a little rest before laying and painting the new floor…
you’ve done a grand job snuffy!
once the furniture was back in, the popps played with legonotlego™ building blocks and had cookies.
cookies!
finally at the beginning of july it seemed safe to send them back home. it was a bit chilly here, but mini tweak was confident that he’d only need his new trunks on because it would be hot in portugal.
saying goodbye
junior and poppy popp drove them to the airport
have a safe journey snuffy and tweak
missing you already…
less than a week after they had left blighty they were back with willis, and a few days later they had a trip to the coast…
photo; copyright willis hendrix
thank you willis for letting them visit
*hugs* to all xx
travelling mini snuffy and mini tweak stay a while longer…
the day after returning from our trip to llandudno we had some snow, but it had gone by the time we’d found the sledge
snuffy opened the window to see the snow
a couple of weeks later, it was a nice enough day to show the mini’s around town. it didn’t take long…
first we went to the park where there were early signs of spring
blue spring flowers
in the bandstand
then we went in the castle, famous for it’s collection of neddyshoes
mini snuffy and tweak with (a copy of) the oldest neddyshoe
tunnock’s teacakes – toddy’s favourite
i’ve found a dragon! i’ve found a dragon! *gulps*
next we went to the museum
a desk from grandmama’s old school
♫ la la laa ♫ – on a singer…
junior, snuffy, tweak, fizz & poppy on a milk cart
one friday, for no apparent reason, the human googled when there might be a steam train passing through – and it turns out that there would be one the next morning! mini snuffy went to have a look
“it’s coming! it’s coming!” *zoom* “it’s gone!”
in the second week in march we had a day trip to ely. we had a walk along the river, by a park and on to an antique centre with lots of things that the human wanted to buy. then we went for lunch…
“did you know eels come from ely snuffy?” … “really? ely eels?”
spring flowers in the park
snuffy is a big fan of rainbows, so he enjoyed his colourful meal
no room for cake…
after lunch, we walked round to find oliver cromwell’s house – he wasn’t in.
we had a 2-for-1 ticket (for travelling by train) so went for a look – we wouldn’t have paid full price, but it was okay.
oliver cromwell’s house
kitchen fireplace
a view of the church (no, i can’t see it either…)
not far away was the cathedral. we had a 2-for-1 for there as well, which included entry to the stained glass museum
looking in a cannon
octagonal roof
painted ceiling
sea
gloria
the round window
a very nice cathedral. a *fuzzy recommendation*
it was then time to make our way back to the train station (via the antiques centre – tut tut). a lovely day out.
we were due to go away for a couple of days at the end of march, but it had to be cancelled, so the popps, ellis & lyndon had a sleepover in the sheepherd huts
“let’s go see if the others are up”
“morning!”
we’re hoping snuffy and tweak will be able to return home as soon as possible.
stay safe, stay home, stay strong xx
mini snuffy and mini tweak visit – part two… the mini’s minibobs miniblog
at the end of january, me (fuzzy), junior, snuffy and tweak collected my cousin wheatus & little wheaty and were on our way to north wales. the human had made poppy hats for all the popps.
when we got to the apartment, the owner offered to help bring the luggage from the car – let’s just say that the hs does not travel light, and he was doing a bit of puffing by the time he’d carried three bags/cases up two flights of stairs! well, he did offer…
the forecast wasn’t very promising for the weekend, so we were soon on the beach while it was still dry.
sheltering from the wind
found, er made a sandcastle
on the pier
back on the beach
in the evening the popps had a few games of dominoes; snuffy & wheaty were winning by a good margin, but junior & tweak were catching up by the end. (junior & tweak won the next night – you’d have thought that they had won the world cup by the way they were running about shouting that they were the champions!)
friday morning was spent in town, and in the evening there was a show described as ‘immersive rock theatre’ based around two alarm albums, with narrative by sean jones between the songs.
friday night
at 11pm they showed the big ben bongs to mark brexit, then finished with a rendition of ‘always look on the bright side of life’.
on saturday there was a pre-show reception with mike peters for the first three hundred who had booked tickets for the weekend, including us! we were right at the front!
front row
song
unlike last year where we had three bands before the alarm came on, this year there was one band that did two songs (mp’s sons and their friend) then some (good 80’s) music until dave sharp came on for a whole hour :o/
saturday night
during one of their songs, he (& some members of the audience) chucks a pack of playing cards. we couldn’t find any alarmy ones on the floor after the show, but the human saw that a couple had landed behind the barrier and a tidier-upper begrudgingly kindly passed one to the human…
we rescued a card
on sunday morning there was a mass walk to the end of the pier. my human, who isn’t a very fast walker normally, walked as fast as she could to get a good spot for the sing-a-long.
he sang a couple of slade songs including ‘merry christmas everybody’ to finish off the gathering.
best seats in the house on the pier
on sunday evening, dave sharp (former member of the alarm) was playing just round the corner from the apartment. as we’d nothing better to do …
when we got there it was nearly empty, all but three people. there was a sofa which they chose to sit on. my human was going to say “wake me up when it starts”, but instead said “wake me up when he’s finished” only for hs to point out that one of the three was ds himself…tra la laa
the best bit was when the human needed the loo, it was quicker to go back to the apartment than through the crowd and past the stage, but you don’t need to know that… (35 paces, if you’re wondering).
when we checked out on monday morning, mysteriously the owner of the apartments had had to ‘pop out’.
before we went home via wrexham and stoke, we popped along the promenade to have a quick photo by some early dafty-dils.
a quick look at the dafty-dils before we’re on our way
last year when we went to the gathering it was a one-off, and again this year was a two-off.
we were really lucky to get tickets for next year’s event as there were only 300 tickets available and it was sold out in two minutes!
*excited bears*
mini snuffy and mini tweak visit – part one
not long before chrimbles, there was a knock on the bearhouse door – who could it be?
“knock knock” ‘who’s there?’
mini snuffy & mini tweak had come from sunny portugal for a visit. it took a few days before they felt able to remove their hats.
ooh, presents!
decorated for chrimbles
on the first bright day of the new year, junior took snuffy and tweak on the bus to stamford.
while there, he found a tractor and trailer in a charity shop and took the visitors for a test drive across the meadows.
‘hold on tight’
duck race
there was just enough time for cake before they had to catch the bus home.
they were very generous slices – the chocolate cake was about two inches wide!
chocolate cake 8/10 … walnut & coffee 4/10
the next week, although not very warm it was a lovely sunny day so they caught a bus to rutland water.
along the long dam
the iconic normanton church by the water’s edge
getting nowhere fast
picnic and a rest
one mile…
two miles…
the great tower
time for a rest on the beach
considering a paddle
i’ve estimated that they walked six or seven miles, no wonder they had to keep resting!
new hats have been made and they’re all packed and ready for their next adventure – a few days in wales, not forgetting to pick up little wheatus on the way.
all aboard the poppmobile
to be continued…
a late minibobs to cardiff
we wouldn’t normally book a minibobs for so late in the year, but in the last week in november, sydney and our new brofur lyndon fuzzy furrington from #toddyshug had a few days break in cardiff. this is their blog…
going past lyndon’s old home where we always used to shout hello when we went by…
sydney *waves*;
we had decided to stay in the bay, as it was cheaper; it took a while to get there by bus from the train station – i’m sure it would have been much quicker to walk!
the hotel was right behind the millennium centre, so we were hopeful of a nice view – oh, a car park…
we dropped our bags off and were soon out about the bay to make the most of the remaining light;
yikes! on the fierce doggy
norwegian church
the pierhead building
millennium centre
the next morning, tuesday, we caught a few trains to bath, getting there at about 10:30am. fuzzy has been a couple of times, but didn’t see much on either occasion (the closest he’s been to having a bath).
there were a few ‘sheds’ ready for the chrimbles market, but we were a couple of days early for that.
bath water
duck, son and pinker
we saw that the abbey was free to go in, so we went in…
it was a bit noisy due to having work done but it was a nice building.
inside bath abbey
lighting a candle for grandpaw toddy
there were a few embroideries, this being my favourite *sings* i closed my eyes,
drew back the curtain (ahh, ,ahh),
to see for certain,
what i thought i knew
lyndon sitting on the door
bath abbey after the rain
we’re at the weir
a hare
i liked it very much, it was reminiscent of york – without the city wall. i’m sure we’ll be back soon.
when we got back to our room there was a very noisy noise; long story short – we were moved to another room.
the next morning, wednesday, the human went out without her brolly after seeing the forecast was for mainly dry weather; then went back for it when she saw the actual weather. i wisely had my mac on. the morning was spent in the shopping centre until it finally stopped raining at about noon.
green-eyed bunny
cardiff christmas market – hooray, the rain has stopped
we had a look at the christmas market stalls and bought three badges; one with ‘the beatles’, one with a ‘biscuit’ and one with a rainbow stripe. two pounds well spent!
we then had a walk to the park, passing the castle wall with it’s flock of deer
deer
sat sitting on a seat
later, we were back at the bay…
our new room with a view
what is says on the millennium centre
dusk
thursday was our last day. we spent the morning around the bay
morning
calm
mister blue sky
sunny
checking out
moody blue
diddly bob in the red building
the ceiling light – the human definitely didn’t lay on the floor to take the picture ;o)
part of a piece of art
after some lunch, and collecting our cases we decided to walk into town – it was definitely quicker than the bus! we had a while before needing to catch the train home so went to the market to get a bag of welsh cakes – yummy yum yum! a perfect ending to our minibobs.
sydney and lyndon signing off; byeeee *waves*
being more toddy – my first #tweetup
i’ve been wanting to go on a #tweetup for many years, but it’s difficult with a human like mine.
i sneekily booked the hotel to go to tgt’s #bemoretoddy 2019 being held at the black country living museum (bclm) on sunday 27th october. not our favourite hotel but i couldn’t afford the extra to have a comfortable bed and soft pillow :o/
we very nearly didn’t go, but on saturday we caught the 10 o’clock train to birmingham, had some dinner, then travelled on to dudley and caught a bus to the end of the road.
we had a couple of hours before we could check in to the hotel, so we went to the bclm to have a reckie. it had been raining the whole day, and was still raining so as soon as we’d got our ticket we hopped on a bus that took us to the other end of the ‘village’.
our favourite shop in town was the motorbike shop, and despite the inclement weather i decided it was a good time for an ice cream ;o)
back at the entrance we went to where we’d caught the bus earlier because we’d seen the motor garage; i love old vehicles so i loved seeing all the old fire engine, motorbikes & cars.
an old fire engine
‘frisky’ what a name for a car!
a bean tin
old blue car
after checking in and a short rest we had a walk to the supermarket at the end of the road – it had finally stopped raining which was good, as the hotel we were staying at didn’t have luggage facilities, so my human hadn’t got a change of clothes!
apples and water bought, we returned to the hotel before it got dark…
it was a long time ’til eleven o’clock the next morning because the clocks had gone back, but it eventually came. it only took twenty minutes ‘looking’ around the shop before the human plucked up enough courage to approach the bear table.
although i ‘knew’ quite a few of the bears on the #tweetup i only really recognised reddy, but him and his human gave us a warm welcome :o)
a few bears & their humans went to the mine; the rest of us carried on to the other end of the village. when the others caught up, most had fish & chips, but me and the human had a pack up so had a look in a few buildings close by.
my favourite kind of kitchen – with a helter skelter outside!
with the human
just before we went on the canal ride, i had my photo taken with @sonningbear & @tedonhols (photo borrowed from mr t bear)
me with hanley, endon, sonning & ted
the whole gang (photo borrowed from tgt)
after the canal ride (and an ice cream for me) we all made our way back to the entrance and i just had time for a quick photo before i dashed off to catch a bus to the station before it got dark.
frank, boo boo, theo, junior popp, ted, tgt, me and four woollies
as it turns out i needn’t have rushed off so soon. the first train was cancelled, then the next train (an hour later) showed as cancelled ten minutes before it was due – arrrggghhh. *panic*
we made our way back to the bus stop. it was dark at this stage so i couldn’t read the timetable to see where the buses were going, apart from it was going towards birmingham. luckily there was a woman waiting for the bus, who was also going towards b’ham new street. she advised the human to get a bus/tram ticket (tram? i didn’t even know birmingham had trams!), showed her when to get off the bus, and over the road to the tram station, where it drew up a minute later and we were on our way to the train station – hooray! thank you lovely lady!
we’d missed the hourly train by about ten minutes, but we hadn’t had our tea yet so that’s the first thing we did when we got there. but we finally got home two hours later than planned! *flop*
on the plus point we got the full price of the train ticket back for being so late, so it only cost the £5.20 bus/tram ticket :o)
thank you to all the lovely people and bears we met & special thanks to toddy (“be more toddy”) and a certain bear (misquote- “get over yourself”) who got us through our first #tweetup; and snuffy who’s helped me through some difficult days xx
three popps go to liverpool
hello, it’s junior, fizz and bay here – in mid october, we stayed in birkenhead just over the water from liverpool – here’s a miniblog of our minibobs.
it wasn’t a good start as the train we’d booked to go on was cancelled and we had an hour wait for the next one…
after arriving mid-afternoon, we popped over to liverpool in the evening and walked along the waterfront & around the albert dock
wednesday was spent in southport (this is rotten row), and formby (we didn’t see george)…
…and in the evening we went back to liverpool. *sings* “we all live in a tub of margarine”
birkenhead from liverpool
on thursday we went to crosby to see the noodiemen
and walked along the beach to the next station
anyone for tennis? can you see his ball? *giggles*
“are we nearly there yet?”
back in liverpool we saw a super lambananana – we’ve seen them a few times now and have just realised that the front half is a lamb, and the back end a banana! #brainboxes
liverpool from birkenhead
on friday morning we went to port sunlight – here we are on a big bar of soap doing the bear salutation
a row of lovely houses
*sings* “we just blew in from the windy bank, the windy bank is mighty pretty but they ain’t got what we got, no sirree”
we went to the lady lever art gallery to see some fancy art and had a piece of dry ginger cake
then it was up to new brighton for a couple of hours
on saturday we went to the tate. the most exciting thing was the free lockers…
some dizzy-fying floor art *flop*
a proper lowry
a strange picture – oops, it’s the human – tra la laa
after that we went to the john & yoko exhibition in the museum of liverpool – it was supposed to have finished in april
i left a message on the ‘paper’ wall
view from the top
soon after, it was time to catch the trains back home – yay! no delays!
until the next time, bye bye :o) :o) ;o)
weymouth by train
firstly, i’d like to dedicate this post to our great furend toddy furrington who we lost in august – thank you for all the lovely comments on my blog posts –
we miss you xx
we’ve been to weymouth many times, but have always travelled by car – this time we faced a seven hour journey by train *gulps* – actually it wasn’t too bad!
when we got to the hotel, the room number was 42, which according to the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, and toddy, was the answer to everything!
what is our room number?
we got up fairly early on thursday to catch a bus to lyme regis which was a scenic hour and a half journey along the coast.
junior and fizz sunbathed on the harbour beach while i went in search of a sandwich…
*sings* oh, i do like to be beside the seaside…
…but all i found was a cobb – the old harbour wall. it was a blustery day so i didn’t climb on to the top of the wall, but sheltered behind it (or in front – whichever) looking out over the harbour.
harbour
lyme regis is a nice little seaside town, with the beach, harbour, the town mill and some lovely shops, but it is a little hilly (or a big hilly).
on friday we stayed in weymouth.
for elevensies we had a piece of red velvet cake & a choc hazelnut milkshake (more a milkfroth, but it was very nice). as we had two strawbreeze we’re counting it as one of our five-a-day.
8/10 for the cake. 9/10 for the milkfroth
‘fruit’ cake ;o)
we then walked along the beach, round to the harbour…
a big ship
…over the town bridge, and into the park to have our lunch and then looked in some shops before going back to the hotel for a couple of hours rest.
view from the park
then we were off out again to have some dinner. we had a nice view over the harbour from the restaurant, but there was a tremendous downpour just before we’d finished our dinner which made the buildings shine out against the grey sky.
pie & tatties with a view over the harbour
a teeny tiny rainbow
on saturday we went on the train to wareham then caught a bus to swanage – we had a while before the bus was due so walked into town – the human told me to sit on the wall and then started laughing – i don’t know what’s so funny :o/
ohhh, wait a minute…
the bus dropped us off right next to the train station and there was soon a steam train pulling in and some furrys were waiting to get on board by the look of it.
hello puddycats!
after lunch we had a walk along the beach, then back towards the pier. we stayed quite a while on the pier because it was nearly double the price it was the last time we went on and the human wanted to get her money’s worth – one pound fifty pence! i know – shocking! *rolls eyes*
while we were on the pier we heard the lambrettas, vespas and other poppops arriving
i want one!
i had my usual visit to see digby before going back to the beach
digby biggy bear
as we hadn’t had cake, and we were at the seaside we had to have an ice cream
10/10
yummy!
and then we decided to watch the train coming in again before catching the bus back to wareham and the train on to weymouth.
we’d been planning on going to a car boot sale in dorchester on sunday but it had rained quite a bit during the night, so we didn’t go too early. there weren’t very many stalls at all when we got there, even inside, but we did get some lovely ducky cruets.
we then had a walk to a big antiques centre which was fun to look round and bought a wooden duck and a little car.
three quackers and a brum brum
it was time for dinner when we’d got back to town and junior decided to have a piece of cake for his pudding
7/10 for the carrot cake
carrot cake
we had a walk in town then caught the bus back to weymouth
after a rest at the hotel, we had a walk along the seafront in the evening.
looking for shells
monday was our last day in weymouth – we’d have liked to have stayed a little longer but when the human booked the hotel, her last £10 wasn’t quite enough for an extra night!
it was a year since we’d lost jed & tito’s human so i paid tribute in the sand…
remembering jed bramwell one year on…
…and toddy
we went back to our favourite cafe for berry cake, a date slice cake and chocolate milkfroth.
9/10 for the berry cake. 10/10 for the milkfroth
junior; “hey – yours is bigger than mine!”
fizz; “oh, did you want a strawberry junior?”
one last cute photo on the beach
the human had the idea to break up the journey home by staying in worcester for the night. it wasn’t until after she’d booked the hotel that she realised that she hadn’t checked how long it would take from bristol (our first stop) to worcester – two and a half hours on top of the two and a half hours from weymouth! *rolls eyes*
tuesday in worcester
wusster cathedral
we didn’t get up very early, so we didn’t have our breakfast very early, so early elevensies was possibly too early in the day for so much chocolate…
10/10 for the chocolatey chocolate chocolate brownie – yummeee
a delicious chocolate chocolate brownie & hot chocolate
we had a stroll round worcester, trying not to get lost, and after lunch we went in the cathedral. my human started whistling ‘jerusalem’ which made a beautiful noise with the acoustics – it’s a good job she didn’t start singing else even the church mice would have scarpered!
the cathedral up close
when we went back to pick up our cases from the hotel we had a walk along the river – i’d never seen so many swans in one place!
swans galore!
i won’t bore you with our tortuous journey home, but we got in one and a half hours late…
but apart from that it was a very enjoyable holibobs.
cheery pop *waves* xx
a week in torbay
at the beginning of may we went to torquay for a six night stay – it took just under five hours to get there by train(s) .
in the evening we had a walk along the waters’ edge and around to the harbour.
fizz popp at torquay harbour
on the first morning, thursday, we caught a train to teignmouth; my human was trying to remember whether it was pronounced teen-muth or tyne-muth – it turns out it’s tin-muth! (too much ego).
after looking in some shops, we went down a road marked ‘beach’ and found teignmouth back beach – with boats, and buildings close to the water’s edge.
womble-ling free
we then went round to the main beach and esplanade.
junior was looking for a sea monster near the ness, the green lumpy rock*
*technical term
looking for nessy
after a walk on the pier we made our way back to the high street & popped into a cafe for lunch and a hot chocolate, and bought some cake on the way out…
yummy choccy hot choc with chocolate on top
after lunch we got the train to dawlish, just a few minutes up the track. junior thought it was time to try his cake.
carrot cake with a gingery tone – very nice!
the last couple of times we’d been to dawlish (on a previous holibobs) were in the evening, so we got to look in a few shops before following the river down to the beach…
famous black swans of dawlish
catching the sun
life’s a beach
then it was back into town. we saw some wildlife at the mini golf and watched some lawn bowls before catching the train home.
you’re having a gir-rarfe
on friday we bought an all day bus ticket (only £4.50). the first desination was totnes which was a 45 minute journey with about 96 stops, but we were on the top deck right at the front and had a wonderful view of the countryside.
we had a walk by the river, up the high street (i’d forgotten how hilly it was – in fact i don’t think it was hilly the last time we came!) , looked in some shops and round an interesting car boot-y/antique-y market and after having some lunch went back down the new hill to the bus stop.
down by the river
anyone for a little blue budgie?
the next destination was dartmouth, another 45 minute trip. there’s not very much to do in dartmouth, but it’s very nice down by the water and it also contains my human’s favourite clothes shop – she only spent half as much* as she did last year!
*more cake
we met a new friend
kingswear from dartmouth
on the ferry from dartsmouth to kingswear
we stopped by the train station and went into a wagon museum – it wasn’t a museum of wagons, but a wagon with a (small) museum in it! our favourite exhibit was the popp-sized ‘rocket’.
a token in out machine* *technical term
a little mini loco
waiting for the bus
we got to the bus stop early – at least we thought it was early but the human had looked at the wrong timetable – luckily the bus to paignton was running late! phew! another bus took us back to torquay.
on saturday we went to newton abbot, mainly because there was a pizza cafe where you could have a small pizza and have room for pudding – and what a pudding! 11/10
scrummy yummy brownie with blueberry ice cream
we went back to the hotel for a short rest before catching the bus firstly to paignton…
paignton harbour
along the beach
…then later to brixham. the human had a paddle in the sea at the breakwater (steep pebbly) beach, then slowly and painfully made her way back to where we were sitting.
as we were right next to the breakwater it was deemed a good idea (silly human) to walk to the lighthouse.
half a mile? yikes!
view from the breakwater
we’ve made it to the lighthouse!
on sunday we caught the train to plymouth – it was a special pirate weekend so it was crowded around the quay.
view from restaurant
big boaty
plymouth lighthouse, as you can probably see
in contrast to the last time we visited – rain rain and more rain – it was a very warm bright day, but there was a fresh breeze so there was a lot of sitting on the hoe (that’s the green area where the lighthouse is, not a garden implement!) looking out to sea. my naturally pasty* human was, of course, covered (nearly) head to toe – she’s not silly. when she took her sandals off back at the hotel, she had a big red itchy sunburnt triangle on each foot where the sandals didn’t cover – silly human!
*pasty (rhymes with pastry) not pasty as in pastry – i hope that’s cleared that up…
later we popped over the road to play on torquay beach.
cute bear
two popps
colourful pots
on monday we were going to catch the ferry over to brixham, but due to choppy seas, had to get the bus.
early elevensies
after the early ice cream we walked past the smelly fish market along the coastal path
we tried – and failed – to make a daisy chain, it ended up being a bucket bouquet.
lazy daisy fizz popp
we went back to torquay in the afternoon and cutting a long story short – involving bagels – after going back to the hotel, shops, back to paignton; we decided we might as well carry on to brixham for a final time.
we took the road up to a seating area, seeing a different view of the town.
a curved house
as we were walking back to the bus station, the church clock struck eight, followed by the bells chiming out ‘abide with me’ – the author of the song was a priest at the church.
on tuesday we travelled to bristol to stay the night to break the journey up, but first we had time to have a final walk round torquay and stop by a cafe for hot chocolate and cake – you can’t tell by the photo, but it was an enormous slice!
it was (almost) bigger than my belly!
we weren’t catching the train home until 6.30pm so on wednesday, we had plenty of time to look round.
colourful balloons
can you see me?
the only other two times that we’ve been to bristol have been day trips to see the shaun the sheep sculptures in 2015 and wallace and gromit last year – we even saw a gromit on a boat*!
*ticks off gromit no. 20
a late gromit
so despite not getting home ’til nearly 9pm we’re glad we broke the journey up and had an ‘extra’ holi-day.
my human bought advance train tickets plus got a third off using the two together railcard. she worked out that if she’d bought the tickets at the stations, and without a railcard – home to torquay; torquay to bristol; bristol to home – it would have cost nearly five times as much!! enough to cover ALL trains, buses & ferries, both hotels and even our cakes and ice creams!!
another fun-packed holibobs! hurrah!
until next time, tootle pip!
