The Bear of Rodborough 2

On Sunday, before heading north, we called in on the Greigs at their country retreat. Alex was on good form, surveying his laaand, and Sarah looked amazing 3 weeks after having "Little Ted." Edward was the usual placid baby the Greigs are famed for, and the spitting image of William and Oliver at that age.

Oliver is turning out to be quite a character with a cheeky grin that is always saying: "You can pin nothing on me." William had a bit of a fright: we didn't realise he was in the garden when released the "bear" for a runaround. JD bounded down the garden to say hello, mouth open, tongue lolling, prompting tears and accusations that Jeff wanted to eat him. Oliver soon got the message from his big bro, and by the time we left, he was also convinced that dogs eat people.

The horses in the next field came over for some carrots from the boys, and Jeff jumped up, paws on the fence, to sniff noses and exchange pleasantries. He still wants to be a horse (or maybe a cow) when he grows up.

We made up with William by lauching his rockets with him (awesome toy - I want one!), but Jeff was determined to be cast as the big bad bear by chewing any unattended toy he could find in the garden (not strictly bad behaviour- all the toys in our garden are his!). We left presents of furry toys in our wake as an appeasement and headed north.

Next stop: Manchester, so much to answer for, and home of Harv, Sarah and Holly. Now then, Jeff and Harv are friends going way-back, but Jeff was enjoying cultivating his badboy image. He was "too big" for Holly and not popular with the cats, Beryl & Dave, either. Holly was eventually persuaded to pet Jeff and there is hope for his rehabilitation, but what is fascinating is how much more comfortable Daniel Burdon, age 2, is with Jeff despite the size discrepancy. This seems to be simply because he's grown up with Amber who, although technically a dog, has no teeth and would be lucky to weigh 1/10th of Jeff. The only thing fierce about her is the halitosis.