At last the pictures of the Teddy Bear Parachute Drop 2008

Well I don't know where they have gone but I'm not that bothered. It gives me plenty of time to do what I do best....Think!

In one of my earliest posts (January 2010), I commented that I had been asked to be involved in a Teddy Bear parachute jump back in 2008 and that I had refused. I said that I would post some pictures of the terrible event and I have only just found them.

The idea was that She (His wife) who is involved with the church organised this event to raise money for Claxby Church. Well I'm all for that, but to wantonly haul bears up the church tower in a basket and then throw them off as some kind of spectacle is just not on. Bears have rights you know and I doubt that many had a choice in the matter. Some were fortunate to have owners who knew how to make a passing attempt at making a parachute whereas other poor souls were literally cast adrift. One poor Bear even decided to "come out" as being gay in an attempt to be spared!

I and another bear of like views decided to form a protest camp. He helped to construct it at the church gates and as She ushered the public toward the church to view the torture she couldn't understand why everyone was stopping at the church gates to take photos and look at at my peace camp. Disappointingly He kept his distance!

The event still went ahead and here are some pictures of the terrible day taken by a sympathiser called Penny.

This is me in the peace camp with my friend. Note the placards.


These are some of the poor bears being hauled to the top of the tower and of some on their drop to the ground. The outcome in some cases was so grave(!) that I can't post some of the pictures.







A sad day for Bears!

A very short day!

If yesterday was long then today was very short indeed. Only about an hour and a half from Castleford to Lemonroyd. He and C have gone off somewhere - He didn't say!

A long day.

We set off quite early this morning from Thorne. At Bramwith we joined the New Junction canal which is one of the more modern canals in the country. It is 5 1/2 miles long and as straight as a die. Mind you there are several swing/lift bridges and one lock to keep the crew occupied. This is a guillotine gate at the south end.



Then it was onto the Aire & Calder. Passing through Ferrybridge this bridge once carried the Great North Road (A1).

Much of this area is given over to coal mining and power stations - the two of course going hand in hand. Many of both have closed down but some remain. In former times coal was transported from the colliery to the power station using Tom Pudding compartment boats which were towed in "trains" and then unloaded by lifting them up and tipping out the coal.
FERRYBRIDGE POWER STATION


TOM PUDDINGS

SITE WHERE THE TOM PUDDINGS WERE LIFTED



All in all 9 hours travelling.

A close shave and mingling with big boys

We set off on our journey yesterday. We left Clayworth on the Chesterfield Canal in the middle of the afternoon and went down to Misterton about four hours away where we spent the night.As you can see from the photo we have the Kayak on the roof and He had one or two nervy moments as we went under bridges – none more so than this! A close shave!






Today we made our way to West Stockwith Lock (above) which is where the Chesterfield Canal meets the tidal Trent and after a bit of a delay we were off on the outgoing tide Two hours later and we were at Keadby Lock. He said that the entrance was a bit tricky and I can see why. Mind you he also said that what he did was “text book” which I took to mean that we didn’t actually hit anything! Just before the lock we were mingling with the big boys.




From Keadby we joined the Stainforth and Keadby Canal and we are now spending the night at Thorne.

Ready to go and the Globalisation of Fred

I'm all ready to go, my meagre possesions packed. He and the younger daughter C (not forgetting me) are taking the boat to somewhere near Leeds. We set off tomorrow and I will report as and when I can. we're taking a Kayak as well so that will be fun.

My hopes of going global continue apace. Now I have a visitor from Brazil who has visited twice in the last few days.Bem Vindo (or vinda as the case may be).

Viva Las Vegas

I get visitor statistics for my blog and I notice this month that there has been a visitor from Las Vegas. OK you might say "so what". Well the so what is that apart from them checking up on me whilst they were in Florida, I have few international visitors ( I don't get many at all truth be told)but now I have had one from Sweden and one from Las Vegas. It seems to me that I am poised on the brink of going global.

Air Show

Earlier this week He visited the Farnborough Air Show which He found interesting. The pictures below are of the massive Airbus A380 and the new, very attractive , Boeing 787.





We're off on a trip soon and I shall report further in due course - providing He remembers to take me!!!