A bunch of twitter pals agreed to meet-up in Whitby in April. We call a "Twitter Meetup" a "Tweetup" and this was one of many we've attended. We had a lot of fun on these, and this one was no different!
Although there were only six Twitter accounts represented, there were far more bears and other stuffies in attendance (not to mention their human moms, dads and/or assistants). Whitby is the home town of Lucky, Bluey and Honey @LUCKYBLUEYBLUEY and, as their human dad has difficulty travelling, we all headed up there for lunch, and hopefully a trip to the beach!
Rosie @Rosiebear90 (and her mom) and HRH Bertie Bear @TheBertieBear (and him mom) were driving up from the south, though Bertie lives outside of the UK and was just here visiting. Reddy the Teddy @reddy1408 (with his mom and dad) was travelling across from the West, BooBoo @BooBooBearGreen) (and his mom) were coming from the north, and I was heading there, with my pals Frank and Theo (and my human assistants Di and Paul).
Once everyone arrived we created a bit cuddle pile in an armchair - the various bears had bought some pals with them, but I can't remember all the names now! While we were getting ready for lunch, Theo had time for a pint. Then there were some extra folks, as the flatties joined us. Flatties are Twitterers or Tweeters (or is that Twits?) who couldn't come themselves, but sent a flat proxy to represent them. Some of these came from as far as the USA. There was quite the crowd!
We all met at The Raithwaite Estate. Lucky, Bluey and Honey's family often eats at the restaurant there as their dad, who is in a wheelchair, is able to get in easily, and they happily work around his chair and oxygen tank. The staff are also very bear furendly and of course, this makes a big difference! The hotel was very nice and had given us our own private room to hang out (we are sure they weren't embarrassed! Probably.)
While we were hanging out and making bearsonal acquaintance with folks we'd previously only met over the internet, as well as renewing furendships from previous tweetups, the Restaurant Manager, Kevin, came for a visit. I don't think he'd seen quite so many bears in the hotel at once, but he coped well with all our talking and giggling. He also brought us some menus so we could choose our lunch. After we had decided, the waiter, Rob, came to take our orders. Another waitress, Shu, came to see us as well. Lucky, Bluey and Honey know her well from their frequent visits to the Raithwaite.
The bears ALL wanted Fish and Chips (below left) - well, we were in Whitby! Several of the humans chose the lemon sole, while Asst Paul had a Ploughman's Lunch (below right) and vegetarian Di had mushroom risotto (she was too busy eating to take a photo). I have to say the food was PAWESOME. No complaints at all - the batter on the fish was lovely and, while I handed on my mushy peas to another bear (hate green food!) the rest was fabulous! We had high hopes for dessert!
Our group really only made two choices for dessert - the Tasting Plate (a little bit of everything) or the Chocolate Fondant with Tonka Bean Ice Cream. I had the Chocolate Fondant, which though small, was warm with a crunchiness to the outside and the chocolate oozed out as I cut into it with my spoon, just as they tell me it should on MasterChef. The ice cream was melting a little too quickly for me, but it was still very tasty - I'd only heard of it before on said TV Chef show, but never tried it myself. Didn't seem much different to vanilla, if I'm honest.
As to the Tasting Plate, that also had the chocolate fondant (top left corner of the plate) with an escaped cube of orange jelly from the Deconstructed Jaffa Cake (top right). In the middle was the Glazed Apricot Hot Cross Bun Pudding, with a little custard, with a small piece of Lemon Ripple (I guess?) (bottom left) and a cute jar of White Chocolate and Raspberry Crème Brulée.
Now I'll admit I wasn't quite sure I made the right decision, but at least I got mine all to myself. Some of the other bears had to share! In case you were wondering, that isn't the same bear on both those pictures - those are cousins Willow and Sabrina (furends of BooBoo and Reddy respectively) and look very similar, though they have different coloured fur. Not that either of them would turn down two desserts I'm sure.
Once dinner was over, we took the time to take a few photos. It was a bit of a riot, I have to say! I also revealed my new TGT Tours t-shirts. It's not a perfect likeness, but the assistant didn't do too bad making it look like me!
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This was the main group of Twitterers who were in attendance - Me, Lucky, Bertie (riding Lucky's adopted baboon Bobby), Hugo (visiting Lucky, Bluey and Honey), Bluey, Rosey, Reddy, Honey (on Reddy's lap), Willow (a new furend of BooBoo) and BooBoo himself.
There was one other group photograph taken, but I don't think it's the kind of thing my readers want to see.
SENSITIVE READERS PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!
However, it seems I've been outvoted so on my fellow Twitter's heads (or is that butts) be it. We may have had a little too much wine with lunch, as the photos got VERY out of hand towards the END... Oh dear, I'll bet Lucky, Bluey and Honey will be banned after the Raithwaite sees this! Our excuse, a fellow teddy Twitterer's (@JezzerBear) frequent bum postings on Twitter!
Lunch over, we all headed back to Lucky, Bluey and Honey's flat to see their dad, as he hadn't been able to make it for lunch. They have a lovely place, overlooking the seafront at Whitby. Unfortunately, a sea fret (wet mist or haze from the sea) had come inland making the fabulous view (we know from photographs) disappear! Boooooo!!! Here, we swapped gifts, including the navy TGT Tours t-shirts and a LOT of chocolate.
If you were curious about all the similar panda jumpers (sweaters) on the teds, that's because my pal Reddy's mom has given up a LOT of her time to knit them for us. We are all known, amongst ourselves at least, as the Panda Jumper Army. For my tweetups this years, we have the TGT Tours t-shirts printed, so we thought it would be known as the TGT Tours Brigade of the Panda Jumper Army.
While Lucky, Bluey and Honey's mom was having her kitchen done, she asked our advice on Twitter as to whether or not they should have black or white bar stools. Well, we all said black so that's what she bought and look - here they are! We just had to sit on them! It was a great choice as they were very comfy. It was nearly time to leave - we had to get BooBoo back to York to meet his train - so we took one last big group photo.
Before we left, however, we just had to dash down to the beach. We'd promised the flatties we'd go for a paddle, but in the sea fret we could barely see the sea. Instead, we decided to build a sandcastle and a few sandy sea creatures. Not everyone came with us, just those that were prepared to take the fun walk down, and the horribly steep walk back up in only a few minutes. Lucky, Bluey and Honey said they'd seen it so would let us get on with it. We got this great photo though! The walk back nearly killed my assistant - she really needs to make more of an effort to get fit. It's quite embarrassing for a bear when her face goes all purple and her breath is all wheezy after a little climb. LOL - it was very funny.
We just had time to say hello to Chris - it was a little crowded on his bed, but he took the time to talk to all of us and we think we really cheered him up after he had to miss a fabulous lunch! His view out of the window was a bit lousy so that wasn't helping him take his mind of his illnes, so we tried instead. One last cuddle pile and we set off for home.
Time was tight when we hit traffic just outside York as we dashed to York Station to drop off BooBoo and his mom, but all the traffic light stops meant I grabbed a couple of shots of the city, with Monk Bar (below left), one of the castle walls (below centre) and York Theatre Royal.
Still, they made their train and we set off south to go home. We'd had a fabulous day with new and old furends, the weather had been relatively kind and everyone was very nice. Always makes for a great Tweetup!
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