Olde London Town with Scotland The Brave: Palace, Park and Statues

Scotland the Brave spent months planning to visit the United Kingdom. He flew all the way from Perth in Western Australia to London (that’s 14,500 km in distance or enough time to see 9 movies). He arrived at dawn, London time, at a huge place called Heathrow which was full of people rushing about and looking bothered and cross.

TIP: Click on the pics to make them bigger and see more detail.

Knowing the Knowledge: He joined queues of tired and cross people at a taxi stand. From there he took a ride in a taxi driven by a London Cabby who was bright and cheerful and who had The Knowledge. Scotty wondered what the knowledge was. Perhaps it was the secret of how to be bright and cheerful on a London morning before most Londoners are awake*.

The West End that Isn’t: The knowledgeable cabbie expertly wriggled his cab into the the West End of London which is actually right in the Middle of London and not in the West at all. There are other Ends of London that are much more west. Scotty and his guardians were exhausted. They’d been awake for around 36 hours. Scotty noticed that the hotel room had cushions that were just his size. He collapsed on to them.

Hyde Park: After a rest, Scotty set off to explore. First, he and the Guardians came upon a big park called Hyde Park. It was full of people walking in a hurry or cycling in a hurry. Scotty didn’t hurry. He loved the park. There were flowers to sniff and birds to admire.

Statues, Many of: Scotty paused by the statue of Achilles. That chap had also been brave. A kindred spirit to Scotty. (Can you see Scotty there?) There was also lovely statue called ‘Serenity’ and another of a lady who had lost her clothes and who was holding a bow. (Was she aiming it at the person who had taken her clothes?)

Buckingham Palace: They walked a long way along tree-lined streets down which Mounted Police clipity-clopped. There were a lot of police, actually, not just on horses. They came across a lot of people milling in front of a big house. The house was called Buckingham Palace but the people who lived in it weren’t home. They were away King-ing somewhere else.

There were a lot of decorated gates in front of it. They were serious gates even though they looked amazing. You couldn’t get through them. More people were arriving too. It was amazing how many people wanted to see this house.

Selfies and Scotties: People milled about taking pictures of themselves and of each other and of the gates and of the big house. These sorts of pictures are called ‘taking a selfie’. Apparently, it’s most important to show that You Were There even though you will always know that you were There (wherever it was). Because you were.

Scotty took a picture of himself too. (This sort of picture is called “taking a Scottie”.) These ‘Scottie Pics’ show that he really was at the gates and milling about like everyone else. When he got home he showed them to Mawson and the other bears and said, ‘I Was There’. They said, ‘We know that, Scotty’.

If you look closely and Zoom In and make the picture bigger, you can see tiny little chaps in red jackets. They had their own tiny little houses in front of the big house. They stood next to their little houses and occasionally stamped their feet. One of the Guardians told Scotty what the chap’s hats were made out of. Scotty was horrified. We will talk no more about that here!

Even more statues: All around there are more statues and monuments. Some feature animals. These gentle-people were trying to lead lions into the palace. But all the gates were closed to them too.

And just look at those horses. They were stuck high up on top of a big archway. Poor things – they couldn’t get down. A lot of the statues showed people with not many clothes on. They probably catch colds when it rains. But this was a fine day.

In the next episode, you can see our Scotland The Brave roaming more of London in an open top bus and on the Thames by river boat and discovering places he had thought were on the Monopoly Board game.

*The Knowledge is of course, the amazing ability that true London Cabbies have of knowing how to drive from any Street in London to another without GPS.

BOOKS with Scotland in them (our Scotty, that is)

Scotty is the star of a very special book called When A Brave Bear Fights Cancer: A Get Well Soon Gift by Carola Schmidt. In the book, Scotty a little bear who gets a bad sickness called cancer. He’s worried and often scared because cancer is scary.  But the doctors and nurses and other patients help him. The book is to help kids feel much more brave when they are getting treatment. It’s available in paperback and Kindle. Look for the brave little bear wearing trews on the cover.

Scotty in the books by Mawson

You can also see Scotty in all the books by Mawson. One is called It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In (in that one he delivers the post) and another is She Ran Away From Love (he delivers the post again.) In Dreamy Days and Random Naps you can see him being a king and also a superb guitarist. Don’t miss that one! This is what the books look like:

Mawson’s Guardian says: You can find Mawson’s books on this Link here, and on his Writer-Bear Page on Amazon.

You have wandered into Mawson Bear’s web-den. Mawson is a Ponderer of Baffling Things (between naps) and the Writer-Bear of It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In  and She Ran Away From Love.

‘This little story made me well up. A lovely, poignant story with delightful illustrations.’ Jackie Law, Amazon Top 500 reviewer, about It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost in.

The book brings back such nostalagic memories that it made it comforting, like a  old security blanket.’  FNM Book reviews about Bright World.