Is there anybody out there?....

Hello my friends.....!...Hello!....Hello? ....is anyone still reading? Oh dear....we have not blogged since November.....old Marley would be very cross with me....*sigh*....we will try and bring you up to speed with what we have been doing......

...at the beginning of December we had some exciting post.....we had to ask peter Tosh to help us open it....

....oh look....there is a present inside it!!...I wonder who it is from....

.....there is a card with some writing on it.....hurry up Peter...

....it is a special communication from our dear friend @highlandisla.....

...*rummage rummage*.......

....oh! oh!....hmmm.....what could it be.....?

......hurrah! Lovely, warm and snuggly Christmas capes.....

..."these are not the droids you are looking for!"......BOL.....

....can you see what they say on the back??.....BTPosse....BOL.....how clever Miss Isla's grandma is for knitting them....we say a BIG THANKS to her....

....Miss Lola was furry jealous of our new coats because the weather in December was frosty!!.....

......we made sure that BT HQ was properly decorated for the holiday season.....

...a few days before Christmas I took a very special trip to Frensham Ponds to meet up with a very special doggie....do you remember poor Toby the Border Terrier who was stolen from his home?...well, his story had a very happy ending and he was found and returned to his family after several weeks of frantic searching and much activity to publicise his case on social media....the #BTposse was very honoured to be able to meet and walk with him......

......here are many of us!.....Mr Toby is the doggie on the right hand side of the bench....looking behind himself!...he's probably still quite nervous....it was a great honour to meet him and we say a special thanks to @cornishbarney for organising the event on behalf of the posse....you can also see that I got to spend some time with the real Colonel Rocky and sister Miss Islay...they are sitting on the left hand side of the bench....

...the Colonel and I were delighted to get Christmas Cards from the doggies that we sponsor at Dogs Trust....we hope they find their forever homes in 2015.....

....more very special gifts from our dear friends on Twitter....this time from Miss Kirsty and the gang @lilliandarchie....

...the Colonel was so pleased with his that he wore it up to London when the family went ice-skating......

...here he is at Waterloo Bridge...you can see St Paul's Cathedral behind him...to the right of the pic....

....here he is supervising the skating....

.....and keeping an eye on the Christmas Tree.....

.....here is William doing some skating...he's in the grey coat and keeps skating through....

A video posted by Marley Terrier (@marleyterrier) on Dec 27, 2014 at 1:55am PST

...and before we knew it it was Christmas Day....BOL.....

...Miss Lola had to sekuriyt-snooter every package...she was reluctant to let typist have his main present....

...on Boxing Day we went to see Cousin Tula....

...and then on to Cousin Lily's house.....Miss Lola enjoys the underfloor heating at Grandma's....

.....and the company of Uncle Rich....

.....and it snowed!.....brrrr......calls for hot coffee......

....and some advice from the locals.....

...the Colonel enjoyed the snow very much.....

...Miss Lola refused to go out....she is a dry paw/warm paw sort of dog.....

....cold enough for ...oh..polar bears.....

......we all enjoyed Grandma's new sofa....

....Miss Lola had numerous very short walks!...BOL....actually, she went outside and stood looking at the front door a few times....

....we noticed on Twitter that some of our pals in the posse had been furry creative.....

....Miss Lola continued her stand-off with her new allergy diet.....

....we tried to tempt her with some new cookies.....

....wont go out even for noms.....

.....even for a fox in the garden....!

...so we sent Cousin Tilly to round her up.....

...and eventually she was cheered up by a walk around Richmond Park......

...Monarch o' the Glen!...

...so that's what we've been up to.....

Clapton, former editor-in-chief of Blogging....

p.s. ...and we also performed our little pantomime at the #BTposse Christmas Party...but that's a story that deserves a blog all of its own!....stay tuned....

Ich bin ein Bedburger.....

Hello my friends....first I must start with an apology...I have not visited many of your blogs for the last week or so because I have been travelling and not able to take time to read and comment...sorry about that....the good news of course is that I am able to bring you a comprehensive report of my travels...hurrah!.....

....we asked the typist to consult the BT HQ diary and see what was coming up for the week...oh, apparently we are off to Germany!...

...the Colonel gave the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras Station a thorough inspection...it met with his approval....for our overseas readers I can tell you that the Eurostar is a big train which goes very fast under the sea all the way to Belgium and France....

...luggage and provisions all secured and we are ready to leave.....

...I have our tickets...I think its best I keep them and don't let ape-child @terriertypist lose them on the tracks or something....

....when we reached Brussels the Colonel was tasked with finding the Deutchse Bahn train to Cologne....that's it in the background...its shiny and super fast....

...we arrived at Koln HauptBahnHof. at dinner time.....that's Cologne Train Station in our language....

...we took a taxi to the town of Bedburg...and settled into our barracks as quickly as possible....I wonder where the typist will be sleeping....maybe the couch.....

....in the morning I made sure my fur was looking its best for our host, the very nice Miss Petra....

...whilst the Colonel conducted one of his wide-ranging inspections....

....we consulted over breakfast...(*delicious buffet)....

...and caught up with world events.....

....we took drill in the courtyard ....attenshun!.....comb that beard soldier!...

....and then we walked around Bedburg.....

...it is amply fortified...we were staying in the Old Quarter....the town has been here since 893!!

....the streets are tiny....and very quiet.....

....the Colonel made sure his quarters were fit for visitors....diplomacy is very important .....

....in the afternoon, the typist insisted I accompanied him on his run around the local lake and up the river....we got lost in the woods...it rained...oh dear.....thank dogness for Google Maps....

...we finally made it back as the lights faded ...to find that the hotel had started to decorate the courtyard for Christmas....

....brrrr....we needed to warm up.....thankyou Sir...*salutes*....

...BOL!...the Colonel and I are are caught on a conference call.....

...er...oh dear...the trail we had followed into the woods was the Werewolf Trail!!.....

YIKES!....we found this on the internet: One of the most bloodcurdling accounts of the capture and trial of a German werewolf, which was also published in England, occurred in 1589.  In Bedburg, not far from Cologne, a certain Peter Stubbes was charged with being a werewolf. It was claimed that for twenty-five years, when he changed into a wolf like beast, he had terrorized the neighbouring villages.  To avoid the fearful torture he would have to have undergone and which was customary in the Middle Ages, he admitted to being a werewolf and to killing and eating at least sixteen men women and children including his own son.    Found guilty on the 31 of October 1589, he was placed on the wheel and the flesh was pulled from his bones in ten places with red-hot pincers. His legs and arms were broken with a wooden club and when pronounced dead, his head was cut off and his body was burned to ashes. His daughter Neell and his mistress, Katherine Tropplin, being accused as his accomplices, got off with lighter sentences; they were burned at the stake, without having to suffer the preliminaries, which Stubbes had endured. 

....Vorsprung Durch Teknik as the Colonel likes to say....

....but these trips are never just fun...we had to work too...the Colonel and I inspected the simultaneous interpreting equipment.....*turns to English channel*....

....we were able to address our hosts and have them understand us...."Hallo wir sind Englisch Terrier und wir kommen in Frieden ...."....

...oh look, its Bedburg from the air.....our hotel was near the Church...it was the very nice Landhaus Danielshof if you ever find your self there...

....but after one final check on the decorations it was time for the Colonel and I to be on our way home...we had a fun-filled week and we believe we made some new friends...

...so, while the Colonel visited the famous cathedral in Cologne....

...the typist and I compared notes and checked tickets....

...and before long we were waving goodbye to Germany....aufweidersehn!....

...on the way home we passed through Aaachen and waved to our pal @schnuffie66....

....Miss Lola was very pleased to see us.....

....so we took her on a nice walk in the country to improve her mood......

...there's no place quite like England....!

Clapton, Private First Class, BT HQ Battalion