Troy meets Laird Hamilton

Well, one of the FTB's got to meet a surfing legend the other day and here's the story.

Laird Hamilton for those of you who don't recognise him is a big wave surfing legend. He surfs waves that are mini mountains.

Troy spies a poster for Laird's new book "Force of Nature' and notes he will be signing copies in Santa Monica. Troy is very excited to meet him so buys the book and waits in line.Laird spots Troy out of the corner of his eye.

The line is quite long as lots of people have come to see him Troy wonders how his hand is doing and whether he went surfing this morning. Troy reads his book whilst waiting which has some excellent surfing tips and lovely photos.

Troy can't contain himself, he's next in line and is suddenly lost for words.

Its all too much. Laird calls him "Cute" and Troy passes out. Troy doesn't come round for an hour or so and thankfully he has the book or he would have thought he'd been dreaming.

Stanley in London

Introducing Stanley the lean, green chocolate eating machine. Stanley was subject to some initial delay. He missed a marvellous trip to Italy as he was locked in a brown envelope on top of a wardrobe and his owner didn't know that he had arrived. But, as you can see he is learning some creative skills and is enjoying living in a big city. Thanks go to Tammaan for her great pictures. In the first picture Stanley sees his name in Chelsea (posh part of London) which happens to be the same colour as him. Stanley helps himself to a packet of chocolates while his owner is blissfully unaware.

Stanley's owner finds out about the chocolates and threatens to throw him out of the train window if he does it again. (Stanley has been warned!)
Stanley turns to crochet to entertain himself on the train and makes himself a hat and a scarf combo.

Stanley arrives at Leeds university for a Open Day where he will be able to continue and build on his crocheting skills on a textiles course.

Back in London Stanley looks out onto the new shopping centre .

Eager to shop he tries to hitch a ride on Lowies shoulder but to no avail Lowies is staying firmly put.

Wally in Le Havre, France - Part 2

Wally as you will remember got himself in a bit of a scrape when he went to Mallorca. Falling asleep in a cactus and so forth. He also spent some time in France and this is the second installment of his stay there. I've been busy working on the furrytravelbuddies.com website which I hope to launch soon but if you have any suggestions or requests about what you would like to see included please drop me an email. I'd like to thank Sophie for her wonderful photos and storyline and everyone who has contributed to the blogs this year as it wouldn't be possible without you. Coming soon Cynthia in Texas, more Hairy Hank adventures and Introducing Stanley...

Wally explores the climbing roses. Ow! Avoiding the thorns is tricky!
Wally then decides to try another flower bed. Ah! The softness of tthe flowers is soothing.

Wally is scared away from the fields by a curious cow. Why are they so big?!

Wally decides to investigate the piano. Nothing like music to calm you down.

As the house is quite big Wally decides to take the train to tour it.

Wally meets the family of Barbapapa who are celebrities in France as they have their own t.v. show! Their fans are young children but they were happy to add Wally as one of them!

Wally and Sophie(his owner) take a stroll along the windy beach of Le Havre. Wally was impressed by the sea and the sunset but where was the sun and people sun bathing Sophie had mentioned? Sophie was well and truly wrapped up! He was disappointed he couldn't wear his new sunhat. Oh well! There's still Mallorca..

The Secret Diary of Hairy Hank

The long awaited Hairy Hank's Diary is here and like all good things it was worth the wait. All 30 pages of it. I'm going to serialise it every week but I think you'll agree Ethan has done a great job. If you like what you see be sure to leave a comment !