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Posts: 3,540This may be rude, and now Mindy's spoiled me with getting to see the Toy Fair, but I wondered as the Hugglets show would be coming up soon...would anyone be willing to share some pictures from the show? I've never been to Hugglets, though I'm told its quite a big To Do. Besides, so many of our dear friends from the UK will be there with their wonderful bears.... and I wanna see!!! 
:hug: Even if I don't get to see, I'm hoping all of our TTers will have a BRILLIANT show, and all their creations get off to new homes 
DoodlebearsHi Debbie, there should be quite a few of us at the Hugglets show. I will take my camera and see what pictures I can take. It is not the best place for photography especially in the largest hall. There are five halls of bears at the Hugglets show!
Hugs Jane
I'll be there too - not sure if I'll get time to take many pics though as I'm exhibiting. I'll have my digicam tucked in my handbag and will see what I can do!! 
I'll certainly be happy to tell you about my day as an exhibitor. 
Posts: 3,540
WOW!!! FIVE whole halls of teddy bears?! Gosh that's ...well, that's a lot of love crammed into one place!
I know you gals will be really busy, so I'll be happy with any pics or stories you can share :hug: I'd love to see pics of your booths when you set up ...hint hint
Past Time BearsOh yes, ladies . . . we'd love pics from Hugglets, but only if you have time. We don't want to take you away from bear selling and/or enjoying the show. Wow - 5 rooms of bears!
Posts: 3,177If i can drag my other half there i will be going too - he hates bear fairs (men are mad are'nt they?), probably because he gets his credit card battered whenever we go. Mine never gets battered cos i'm too clever for that :dance:
Maybe i'll see some of you there?
If i go i'll take pics
Penny :hug:
Sorry I am not taking a stand this year.I am being a big party pooper.I hate london so much!!!I want to do a small fair again .I miss the days of sharing sannies and flasks of tea.
I have done Hugglets for many years and decided last year was the last.
I want to do one in the U.S SOON.!!!
Posts: 3,177Aw Nettie - how can you say you hate London!
How could you not like the stench of petrol fumes, the stink of public toilets that have'nt been cleaned in weeks but have been used by everyone from heroin addicts to 'It' girls throwing up at the end of an evening out?
And don't forget the great food!!! You can't miss it - it's all over the pavements, it's like walking through the worlds cuisine!
Having been born in the hell-hole that is London i adapt perfectly well to the adverse conditions really quickly - my all time favourite part of it being Alperton, the place where you can buy a sari, light up clock depicting Sai Baba and just about anything Asian - great for spices and 'everything for a pound' shops>
Ah, i can smell it now 
Thank the Lord for the countryside :pray:
Penny 
Past Time BearsPenny, you are a hoot!!! :hug: :hug:
Posts: 3,177Ta Sue Ann, it's the London sense of humour - i was born like it!
I'm almost a true cockney, which is why practically no-one can understand me when i speak, or is that just because i mumble? hmmmmm :dance:
Penny :hug:
Country BearsOh Penny, you're soooo funny!!! :hug:
My mum and nan and late grandfather come from Alperton!! They lived in Wembley too!! I think they got an almighty shock when they revisited a couple of years ago!! I still have a lot of family up there though, my late grandfather was one of 13 children. We have a big family!! I don't see them much though.
I wish they had more bear fairs around here though, they're all too far away!!!! 
Penny you are so funny.I don't mean to be rude about where you were born.I have very bad memories of London.My brother lived there and died in hospital there .He was very ill during the time of all the bomb scares on the underground.I spent many hideous hours trying to get to the hospital with my one year old daughter in her buggy having to get out of the tube station and find a bus etc.Not a good time.
I liked it fine when I was younger and spent at leat one weekend a month staying with my brother there.
Now I am so used to a tiny village and get a bit traumatised by all the people.I don't find it a very friendly place either.I make it my mission to speak to everyone on the tube.They look at you as if you are not quite the full shilling.
I've now found a new expression; "He/She's not quite the full shilling."
I love this very international board of ours.
I was advising my sister of something the other day and I said, "It works a treat!", an expression which I also 'stole' from this board, and she said...
... "Huh???"
Posts: 3,177They look at you as if you are not quite the full shilling.
Ha Ha Ha Nettie - you're right there lass! 
It's a wonder no-one punched your lights out!
Sorry to hear that your brother died Nettie, it must have been an awful time for you. Dealing with the London transport system is bad enough even when you don't have such an emotional burden as you did.
London is getting worse every year - walking down Oxford St last summer was intolerable - bought some pukka shoes though!
Penny :hug:
Posts: 3,540You know, I found the very same thing! My first journey to the UK, I travelled all about the country staying with friends, and shuttled about everywhere on your lovely rail system. And then I hit the Tube for my last journey.... my word the people at the Tube station were about as unfriendly and unhelpful as it could get. To top it all, they couldn't even point me North inside the station. Cripes people you live here!!! How could you not know which way is North???
I tried being friendly too Nettie...and they weren't any nicer to me ... :twisted: Although I did learn to enjoy a few things in London, its very too much "City" for me to stay in for more than a day.
DoodlebearsI just love London... for one day at a time. I never use the undergound railway, I always use a taxi and I try never to use the general public loos (Toilets) If nature calls I just go into a posh hotel and use their loo.
Hugs Jane.
Patsy Lake BearsI love London to visit .... I was there 2 yrs ago stayed in London with my daughter for ten weeks ..she lived in West Hampstead then .... I will never forget the time in the supermarket when a young man came behind me in the queue and he only had a few items I let him go before me as I had a trolley of shopping ... you would have thought I had told him he had won the lottery or something .... my daughter said people don't do things like that here....... England used to be a very courterous country ...
Really, you guys??? I've only been to England once, and I went to London too of course, and I had a great time! Maybe that's because I had been living in Zurich, which has its own "friendliness" issues. Or, at least, it did, when I lived there. Try as I may to speak German (actually, Swiss German), I was just an absolute mockery. I can't begin to tell you the snarls I got...
But when I went to London, I understood, and was understood, everywhere I went! I toured the usual tourist sites and even got to wave to the Queen, who passed by in a car within just a few feet of me, because I was stuck on an island in the middle of the street, in front of Buckingham Palace, as she made a surprise exit.
My friend Debbie and I, obviously American tourists, even chatted up a randy cabbie!
I guess it's all relative...
I liked the French, too. Thought they were fabulous people, so beautiful and culturally rich and actually, very polite!
I'm going to put in a good word for our Capital. Yes, it's grimy in many parts, yes the traffic is horrendous and public transport makes you feel breathless with exhaustion and worry, but that apart (!) it's quite, quite beautiful. The architecture is spectacular in the City, the shopping fabulous, the museums well worth visiting and I'm sure that if like Shelli, you do the tourist thing, you won't be disappointed. If you ever visit, make a point of buying tickets to a West End Show ... even now, I still find that such a treat!! The old theatres are so magical and a night out in somewhere like 'Her Majesty's Theatre' for example, is a night not to be forgotten.
At eighteen, my first job was in 'The Strand' - life moved so fast there it made me dizzy! I whirled around London on the crest of a huge buzz. I worked in the entertainments industry and so my day started late and finished even later. The place was so vibrant, I absolutely loved it in all it's smelly, grubby glory.
I had a seventh floor flat opposite Regent's Park. One day I was soaking in the bath when the entire building shook. I hauled myself out of the bath, grabbed a robe and dashed out onto the fire escape to see what was going on. There was a strong breeze that day and just as the police screeched into the area, their loud hailers ordering everyone indoors, my door blew shut. I was stuck outside, seven stories up without a stitch on under my robe, while the police surrounded the area and police helicopters whirred overhead. Scared? Not half!!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, twenty three years ago, that was my very first reality check. The IRA had bombed the bandstand in Regent's Park. It was terrifying and as I was expecting my first child, my husband and I made the decision to move away from London.
That said and despite the drama of life in London even now, I still love the place. It's so wonderfully colourful! It has a dark side as do all cities, but it also has so much to offer.
These days I still get a thrill from visiting! I've been exhibiting at Hugglets in Kensington for nigh on ten years and it's still a great show if you have a love of bears. The show supports the cream of British bearmakers and also the best of newcomers ... in my book, it's still the best show in the UK.
Newcastle, OntarioPaula, I would loooove to do Hugglets. A friend of mine, Ingrid Schmid from Canada has done it a few times and has done very well - she also sells through Teddy Bears of Whitney. I was actually going to do it 6 years ago and had my application and everything, but then my dad became ill, and I had to cancel. He died that year and I haven't had the drive to try and do it again.
My parents are from Tumbridge Wells, and all my siblings were born in England. It's always been a dream of mine to go over and see where it all started, so to speak. I'm the only one in the family that has never been to Europe. Maybe someday!
Hugs,
Brenda
