These bears that I have been concerned about for the last few months have been stalking ever closer to us, no doubt smelling the delicious burning of my bacon, and last week they were just down the road in our park. Or at least, a baby bear was. But, where baby goes, mum is usually not too far behind so needless to say I won't be venturing into the woods alone, or entering any strange porridge filled cabins nearby. It was all a bit of excitement as Senior Lukington had a lovely visit from the bear patrol (Yes, there was an actual bear patrol- sirens and all) and the police before they went for their search for the bear, but (probably lucky for the bear) they didn't find it.
Clearly though with this evidence of bears skulking about, the bear patrol is not doing its job correctly. And in light of this we have purchased a bell that *supposedly* keeps away large mammals such as bears (unfortunately, they were out of special, multi purpose tiger rocks). To think, we always though the lady that walked around the neighbourhood with her bells on was always going to a party....
But not to be overcome by a fear of bears, or Melissophobia, we decided to venture to the local woods for a BBQ on a nice summers evening to cook some delicious meats and frolic with the fireflies. The Japanese seem to love nature, and show their love by keeping it beautifully and meticulously groomed.
It is a beautiful park and thankfully the rock worked and we were able to eat bear free- after all, there is nothing like the safety of consuming alcohol and eating meat in the woods in the darkness where the bears lurk. But when the other Gaijins came it did put me at ease a little bit more... After all, it was only a one in five chance of being eaten and I was sure that I might run faster than at least one of them.
