Flying home

On the way home from America to the UK we were upgraded again to Upper Class on Virgin. I got my own seat again and was given a orange juice. If you ever get to fly Upper Class with Virgin then watch out for their wonderful salt and pepper shakers which are a jet plane and a plane with a propeller. They're really neat.

Yellow Plane

I have heard of Yellow Submarine, but a Yellow Plane. On the monorail from the Airport to the carpark I spotted the airplane off in the distance and just had to point it out.

Craig arrives

I had been in California for a month with Teresa before Craig arrived from the UK. He bought extra clothes and Larry, Barry and Harry Jr with him. We met him at the airport where I gave him a present. We had found in a store a selection of teddies which had the label "Cuddly Cousins", so we couldn't resist buying them.

The London Bombings: My family is safe!

Thank you to everyone who has emailed me to find out whether we are all safe. I have been visiting Grandma in California with Teresa since the end of June. Craig was at home in Harpenden (25 minutes from London). He was due to go into the office in London on that morning, but the meeting was cancelled. It was really terrible what happened. Teresa has insisted that Craig doesn't go into the office for several weeks and that he does meetings via conference call. Thank you to everyone for caring and for your comments. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.

Ghiraradelli

What do I love more than donuts? Anything sweet! :) I was able to get a really big hot fudge sundae at Ghirardelli in San Francisco. It is apparently world famous, but that was the first time I had heard of it. It didn't take too long for me to make it disappear. ;)

Kiss Kiss

I found a very friendly mannequin, unlike the scary ones before I didn't mind this one and gave it a kiss.

Very windy

Here I am with Sarah and Teresa. It was very cold due to the wind, so both Sarah and Teresa bought new tops to keep themselves warm. I came prepared as I had my wooly jumper and a supply of clothes in my ruck sack.

Alcatraz

Here I am on pier 39 and if you look in the background then you will see Alcatraz. I would like to visit it sometime to see this fortress in the sea which became a prison before being immortalised in the movies by Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage in 'The Rock' and by Clint Eastwood in 'Escape from Alcatraz'.

Pier 39

Here is a group shot of Heather, Ronn, Sarah and me sitting on a bench on Pier 39. Teresa is taking the picture. It was chilly on the pier as the wind comes off the water, I was thankful that I was wearing my wooly jumper.

Scary Mannequins

The mannequins on pier 39 were very strange indeed. They looked like they were from a horror movie and they scared me. I can just picture them saying "hello little teddy bear, I'm going to pull your stuffing out," followed by uncontrollable evil laughing. :( I don't like horror movies as I am only a small bear.

Forrest Gump

On pier 39 they have the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and outside sits Forrest Gump with a box of chocolates. Teresa was too afraid of the chocolates, so she asked Heather whether she would take a picture with me and Forrest. He looked a bit uncomfortable with having Heather's arm around him.

Pay the toll

Here is a picture of me with Heather on the way to San Francisco. We crossed the Bay Bridge enroute to San Francisco and had to stop to pay a toll. I don't know how much it costs to maintain bridges, but if each car costs $3 and there are thousands upon thousands of cars going over the bridge every day then I would say that they are making quite a bit of money. They would certainly have enough to feed their employees pink frosted donuts. :)

Our day trip to San Francisco

I went on a day trip with our friends Ronn and Heather, with Sarah and Teresa. Ronn drives a very bright orange car, its a custom order apparently. ;)