SPEAKER_21 0:01

Hello and welcome to Wild Angles. A radio show with a collective view.

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On ordinary every day.

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Objects and subjects.

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One theme per episode.

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With various reflections.

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Opinions and ideas.

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And of course, music.

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Wild angles.

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Today's theme is bears.

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Hi, it's Maeve. In the late 90s I was lucky enough to travel around Canada with my wonderful partner Claire. We'd already been up and down the East Coast, but we were gonna make our way over for the fruit picking season in British Columbia. We made our way slowly over Canada and we got to Winnipeg and didn't like it much, so one morning we got up early and decided that we were gonna hitchhike the rest of the way, 2,000 kilometres. We got onto the Trans Canadian Highway and stuck our thumbs out. That day we got picked up by a lawyer, a student, a family, an Indian guy who turned the rear view mirror on to Claire, playing loud Indian music and a bona fide serial killer like just out of the movies. He was an eighty year old guy with huge hands and we climbed into his smashed up Chevrolet pickup and got onto the bench seat and headed off. He proceeded to tell us stories of gun and alcohol running in the 60s and 70s through over the Canadian and American border. He went also on also to say that he was a renowned and famous butcher in the region and that people would come for uh from 50 or 60 miles away just to get his famous cuts of beef. Then he went on to tell us about all the ways that we might die while travelling around Canada. This included being bitten by rattlesnakes, caught up in tornadoes, or but more than anything being smashed to bits by a grizzly bear. He said a grizzly bear could literally rip our head off with one swipe of its huge paw. He told us that you couldn't outrun a grizzly bear, it could run even downhill at fifty kilometers an hour, and if it caught us it would rip our arms off. He said whatever you do, don't try and climb a tree. It would either shake the tree or simply just climb up, throw us onto the ground and rip our legs off. He said do not stare or try to intimidate a bear screaming and shouting. This would just anger it and it would run over and rip our guts out. He told us all these ways that a bear could rip us apart. He said all you could do was just to just to stay calm, retreat slowly, do not look at the bear. Cross your fingers and once out of sight, run for your life. Otherwise you're gonna be a grisly bear burger. Anyway, thankfully, after a short while he dropped us off and said that we could stay at his if no one had picked us up in a few hours' time when he came past. No thank you. Needless to say, we hitchhiked like we'd never hitchhiked before, and luckily after a couple of hours, a guy called Doug picked us up. Now Doug thought it was Friday when it was actually Thursday, and although he was gonna drop us at the next town, uh we stayed with Doug for four days all the way back to his hometown Nelson in British Columbia, and it was a wonderful, wonderful trip. We found somewhere to do fruit picking, and needless to say, we never got ripped apart by any grizzly bears. It was a wonderful trip in Canada. Now I've chosen my song from that trip. We had two CDs on that trip. One was by a French singer called Florent Panier, and the other was by uh C D was by the Verve. Luckily a love for all of us. I've chosen the song Lucky Man because I am a lucky man, and more than anything, I was so lucky to do that trip with the love of my life, Claire. So this song goes to you, it goes to all of you, and it more than anything it goes to Claire. Je t'aimacharia avec tout mon cœur, and I promise one day I'll marry you. Enjoy, have a great day, and look out for those bears.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

My favorite artist is a man called Francis Alice, A L Y S. He was born in Belgium, been living in Mexico for many, many years. My favorite performance of his was he got a big big block of ice about the size of a suitcase. He started in a Mexican village in midsummer and he pushed this big block of ice without stopping all day long through the sun. Well into the evening until this big block of ice and turned into ice cream. And I ran on my points. And just chucking these teddy bags as high as I could. They would stick at very peculiar angles. I would hang off the bottom of the bridges, I'd put two or three on some of these metal bridges. Um then I ran off into the night. Um quite easy to myself. I often wondered who saw them. Did it make an impression? Did people wonder how they got there? Did they question things because of it? It was my little uh secret. Annoyed them in the caravan and locked the door. I wonder what they would do inside that caravan. Well, here is Captain Sensible and the damned, and they have the answer.

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Now I'm gonna dance to a different stop. Don't dance, just my dad Donuts.

SPEAKER_19 12:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

My name's Anna and this week's theme is bears. So when I was nineteen, my best friend Joel and I, we were uh working out in Spain as a holiday rep. It was great fun. Um and then suddenly we were made a manager overnight. And the reason for this was it turned out that the people that are team leaders were covering the petty cash and spending it on beer and other things, so they got fired. But what's more of a mystery is that our boss also turned out to be a cricket, we never even received our wages. Oh yes, I'll send out your cash wages with the next coach load of guests from the UK. Did it ever happen? No. Also, he he would not reserve all the places for some guests, so he'd be like, Oh, um yes, there's been a problem, um, you know, there's an overbooking, so you need to get out of your apartment, go and sleep in the hotel lounge area, but don't let anyone see you, and um you've got to give up your apartment for the this family who's coming. So it was a bit of a nightmare, really, and it meant having to clear all our stuff out. So we put everything in suitcases, put it in a van, and I went to park in the hotel car park, except there were no spaces. So we had to park out on the streets. And I'm like, we can't leave our cases out here, this is far too risky, this is all our stuff in there. And it was a changeover day, so we were all wearing our uniforms. Anyway, um the next morning we we get up because no one would uh they were all too tired, so there's no way they wouldn't get their own case out of the topic with mine. Come out the next morning, broken glass everywhere, the whole row of cars, including uh van had been broken, so and whose stuff had they taken? Mine, except a friend's camera. It was all my stuff. My case. And I had my favourite Levi's in there. The thing that was most obsessive for me was my teddy bear, my lovely teddy bear with this little white outfit that I had since I was a baby. He got stolen along with all my stuff, and I don't think the things would have been interesting to him, so he probably just got tossed aside and somebody might still be there now, and it makes me very sad. So yeah, all because of that song is a boss who expects us not only to do that, but to a runner from the hotel without even playing them. So we didn't do a runner, we told the hotel staff who had become our friends and they got their solicitors involved, so that's my story. My song is Victorian Ice by British Sea Power from their album Open Season, which features uh a bear on the front of it. We also have the tea cup with this bear on the front of it, but of course the mug says British Tea Power.

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You're listening to Wild Angles.

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Hello, my name is Ian, and I'm on a go-beyond holiday in Estonia with a group of lovely people, and we're gonna tell you all about bears.

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First up is Jesse. Jesse, when what do you think about when you think about bears?

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Many, many friends in the in the words by a person. Um he gets along with Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. And Mummy can go and David can go.

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How about you, Charlotte? Hello Charlotte. Tell me about your what you think about when we think about bears.

SPEAKER_26 19:36

I I like bears. There's eight different types of bears in the world. And I like a Rupert Bear, and we need a pooh bear, and Paddington bear. And I have my bear who is my computer who knocks after me.

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Hi Jimmy.

SPEAKER_23 19:52

Hi, I'm gonna have a bear. Gish Gish Bear came from Gish Bear or Call Punk and he was a happy bear. And and then and then a bear um say said said hello and he said why um why uh why am I got a wheel on on my kings? I'm shown Naki and I go knock. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_18 20:20

Um, tell us your story.

SPEAKER_25 20:23

You say the word bears and two types of bear come to mind. Black grizzlies, because they are stunning creatures. Um they are predators as well, so don't get in their way. And then another type of bear that comes to mind is a koala bear. Also indigenous Australia. I've held one myself, it was an amazing experience. Quite lazy because they move from one tree to the next, some are primarily asleep most of the time, but they are great specimens.

SPEAKER_26 21:22

And the bears have a table picnic.

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Jessica Hayes protect the other bears out there that are in captivity of them behind the bars. They need your support and help. Thank you. And bears will give great cuddles.

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Well, so um this is um us in Estonia. Go beyond. We're checking out. Big thanks to Jessica, big thanks to Charlotte, Jimmy, Daniel. Thanks, Steve. Thanks for your contributions. See you next time.

SPEAKER_09 22:28

Like a wave on the ocean. Biggest melody you never heard before. What a fire of the night skies. What if I was the night sky? What if we hadn't been born in the same time? What if you were seventy-five? I wouldn't. Would I come visit? Drinking cookies in a whole folks. Would you be there alone? When the late summer lighting stars off in your rooms. Will I remember? I never will. Would you tell me all the stories from when you're young and in your prize? Would I rock you to sleep? Would you tell me all the secrets you don't need to keep?

SPEAKER_22 25:35

I've recently learned a new word, dialectic, which involves looking at two contradictory ideas and combining them to find the truth. It's a particularly useful concept with regard to bears because they are the most contradictory of creatures. Take that exotic outlier, the panda, for example. On one hand, notoriously coy and sex avoidant, on the other, an average panda famously. No, my personal contact with bears is somewhere between limited and non-existent. So I know that if I encounter a bear in the wild, my life is in danger. So I should back away slowly, staying down wind so it won't smell me. If the bear approaches me, I should lie down and play dead, staying very still until the bear leaves the area. If it's a brown or grizzly bear, that is. If it's a black bear, playing dead will make its job very easy, simply allowing it to eviscerate you with a minimum of effort. Thank you very much. No, with a black bear, you need to fight back vigorously, concentrating your force on its face and muzzle. Here's those contradictions again. Grizzlies and play dead. Black bears. Or is it the other way round? My other cluster of knowledge about bears derives from such beloved literary characters as Paddington and Winnie the Pooh. So from them, we know that bears are creatures of loyalty and kindness and loving and polite. Curious and gentle, optimistic and generous. With a distinctive signature clothing, whether it be duffel coat or red t-shirt. So there you have it. Bears. Are they cuties or are they killers? We don't have to decide between these options because we know about dialectic now. So there's no longer any contradiction in concluding that bears are cute and adorable loving creatures who will not hesitate to tear you into shreds if you get in a muddle about whether you should be playing dead or smacking them in the face. Dialectic.

SPEAKER_06 28:24

I mean the bare necessities or mother nature's recipes that bring the bare necessities of life. Wherever I wander, wherever I roam, I couldn't be found off my big home. The bees are buzzin' in the tree to make some honey just for me. When you look under the rocks and plants and take a glance at the fancy ants, then maybe try a few. The bare necessities of life will come to you. They'll come to you. Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities, that's why a bear can rest at ease with just the bare necessities of life. Now, when you pick a pawpaw, or a prickly pear, and you prick a raw paw, well, next time beware. Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw. When you pick a pear, try to use the claw. But you don't need to use the claw when you pick a pair of the big pawpaw. Have I given you a clue? The bare necessities of life will come to you. They'll come to you. Oh man, this is really leather. So just try and cool. Fall apart in my backyard. Cause let me tell you something, little rich. If you act like that bee-axe, you're working too hard. And don't spend your time looking around for something you want that can't be found. When you find out you can live without it and go along not thinking about it. I'll tell you something true. The bare necessities of life will come to you. Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife. I'm the bare necessity. That's why a bear can rest in ease with just the bare necessities.

SPEAKER_19 31:04

Hello, this week's theme is bears. Now, I'm going to be telling a little anecdote somewhat related to bears, maybe loosely, but I think it's fitting enough. Um a few weeks ago now, I was in Kenya. I was doing my dive masters, which is your first professional level of diving uh over there. I was working as a photographer, an under photographer for a dive centre, and in exchange they were giving me my dive master qualification. So part of my job, if you like, um being a dive master, I had to guide clients, uh scuba divers who wanted to explore the beautiful Kenyan coastline. I must say there are some very good diving off the Kenyan coast, lovely turtles, anemones, lots and lots of nudie branks, very beautiful things to see, dolphins. Anyhow, one of the days we had a Canadian diver come with us, and his name was Neville. And um he came diving for four days, and I was often the dive master who guided him. Um I was the guide, I'd take them through the dive, etc. And he was a very experienced diver. And my one little pet hate of working in Kenya was a lot of the people who came to scuba dive, um, they were used to diving in tropical waters because the waters around Kenya are very warm. They were at 30 degrees whilst whilst I was there. And they'd never like they'd be from places like the UK, America, but they had never ever scuba dived in cold water because it's too cold and they were rich enough to be able to afford to go to all these tropical places and ignoring these beautiful places on their doorstep. So my aim was they were they was to try and slightly convert these people to becoming, as we call, cold water divers. Anyhow, Neville was already a cold water diver and he was a proper cold water diver. He dived in the lakes and the Canadian mountains in minus wandery water, even colder than that. He dived in the ocean of in the winter of Canada, Vancouver. Um he was he was yeah, so I was he was the first proper cold water diver I've met since being in Kenya. I asked him loads of questions and he was yeah, I think he was retired, relatively about 65 I'd say. Um very happy to to chat to me and not many people interested in cold water diving. And yeah, just kind of over the course of these four days did quite a lot of talking. Um mainly him, to be honest, but I was quite happy to listen. Um and he asked me to send him some photos I had taken whilst we were there. And when I sent him the photos, um he says to me, you know, uh I actually I know someone who works for I'm gonna butcher the name of it, I can't remember how it goes. Basically the Canadian Grizzly Bear Foundation, she writes all the guidelines um for how one is meant to interact with these grizzly bears, etc. And she does um ethical, eco-friendly tours taking tourists to go see grizzly bears uh in Canada. Um I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a photographer and that she would really benefit from having a photographer. Would you like me to get in contact with her and see if she'd be interested in you know, in having you work for her? So I was like, Yeah, of course. Um and so we exchanged numbers, and I'm still in contact with him. Um still waiting to hear back about becoming a potential grizzly bear tour guide, which I must admit, and I never thought of something that would happen in my life. Um, and he is a very sweet man, and he keeps sending me pictures like how sort of his his grandchild of him and the Eiffel Tower because he was travelling um and going to loads of other strange places. That's my story of Neville. My song of choice is Ragged Wood by the Fleet Foxes. Here's the strangers and meeting interesting people.

SPEAKER_14 36:54

Morning time when the sparrow and the sea go fly.

SPEAKER_05 37:06

You're listening to Wild Angles.

SPEAKER_19 37:14

This is the sound of ants walking over hundreds of pine needles. Listen carefully.

SPEAKER_21 37:31

Hi, Kev the Poet here. Now I'm going to start with a declaration that this week's topic of bears, I am going to be going way off where you thought one would go with it. And it's for two reasons. Firstly, I don't have any massive affinity with the animal, the bear. They're alright. I'm a take 'em or leave 'em kind of bear guy. But secondly, the word bear allows me to get something off my chest. So here goes. It's celebrities who call their children by peculiar names. Bear is becoming increasingly popular in the celebrity world. As a bear might say. The one that springs to mind is the son of the late One Direction singer Liam Payne and former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy, Cole, Fernandez Vizzini, or whatever her surname is these days. They name their son Bear. Now, I'm sure it was very cute when born. I mean, great jeans. And maybe look like a cute, cuddly cuddly teddy bear when he was born. But cute cuddly teddy bears grow up and have to answer their name during register at school. And Liam mate, you were born in Northern, so surely Dave or Tony was much more suitable. This all really took off with Bob Geldoff and Paula Yates in the eighties when they started naming their children things like Little Pixie and Peaches Honey Blossom. Michael Jackson, yep, Waco Jacko, as he became more commonly known, called his son Prince Michael Jackson. Really? But he was always known as Blanket. Blanket! What the p and don't start me on those Kardashians. I suppose the Beckhams also need to be brought into this conversation. Naming their first child after where he was reportedly conceived is equally bizarre and disturbing. Although they do get a sorter pass on this one, shortly after little Brooklyn was born, his proud parents appeared on an interview with Ally G, and it was for charity, where he posed the question to David and Victoria if they wanted Brooklyn to grow up to be a footballer like his dad, or a singer like Mariah Carey. Genius. It must be really tough to be the child of superstar parents. Yes, they have luxury all around them and will want for nothing, but with paparazzi everywhere and seeing your folks all over the papers and social media daily, it must be bonkers. They need all the support they can get. So if you are a mega celebrity listening to this and you are expecting Well, first of all, from all at Wild Angles, congratulations. But please don't call it bear or blanket or from wherever it was conceived. Think about the consequences. Please. Right, I'm off to pick up my two two little darlings from nursery. I'm just praying that Toad in the Hole and Butlin's Bogner Regis have had a great day. My song choice for this week, it's simple. It's Think by Aretha Franklin.

SPEAKER_07 40:38

You bet me about what you're trying to do to me. Let's go back, let's go back, let's go back with me.

SPEAKER_24 42:49

Now, I can't remember whether it was this one or whether it was open season that we walked out of, but either way, I was scared of Over the Hedge. So since then I've gone back and watched Over the Hedge properly. The story centers on RJ, the fast talking raccoon who gets himself into trouble with a bear called Vincent. And basically after accidentally destroying Vincent's top part of the food, the raccoon RJ is given an ultimatum. Replace it all or be eaten by the bear. So to solve the problem as we put the woodland animals go beyond the head separate from civilian. Um on the other side they discover a very recognizable vision of Savannah America. Perfect lawns, you know big white houses and flowing bins, loads of garages, supermarkets, and the animals becomes a land of unlimited abundance and resources. Now the main villain is the pest control man trying to get rid of the animals. But then it's in the back gives the story of the deadline. And it's a huge he's calm and patient and he's always lurking in the background. While RJ tries to gather enough food to save himself, but you know time is running out. And there's a particular scene where you know RJ dreams about the bear, you know, coming up to the night time and on the trees. I think I was scared. And I think it was in the film showed the animals just how much of a paradise. I guess suburbial it was with all the consumption going on and all the readily you know the readily available food for them. The bear scared me. Makes for a good story for my father to laugh at me for being scared for a university rated film. And anyway, talking of supermarkets one of my favourite places this song was included in Over the Hedge.

SPEAKER_13 44:51

It's called Lost in the Supermarket I guess a remake or an interpretation of the song by the Clash I'm all lost in supermarket I can no longer shop happily I came in for the special offer I can't see personality so much. Nobody stayed to me we had a head coming to which I never can see that no it's what I'm talking about.

unknown 48:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 48:37

Imagine you're hiking and you're in the quiet woods when suddenly about forty feet ahead a bear onto the trail your heart hates your threat everything you have screens you to do one thing turn around and run. If you take nothing else away from this tool today, remember this you not run. Running turns you into gray bear can I run using both speed over 13 miles per hour and they can change you into hell or dynamic just as fast. If you survive a bear encounter you have to override your panic and use your brain because your strategy depends entirely on the type of bear you are facing. Try to identify it. If it is a grizzly brain bear it will often have a distinct muscular hunt on your shoulders. If it's a black bear it will have a hunt and it's generally smaller.

SPEAKER_08 49:41

But regardless of this your first move is always to stand your ground in the bear in a voice say something like hey bear I'm here it's okay wave your arms slowly a bit of your head so it realizes you're human not a animal if you do have bears right then you should always have bears right in bear country and wave lowly randomly neutralized you need to play lay your fingers behind your neck and spread your elbows and legs wide the bear can easily flip you over his armor they can leave it even if the bear walks away several minutes before moving if you move that will not work when they have thank you my song is Pretend We're dead by L seven Wild Angles was presented by Scott, Maeve, Anna, Johnny, Ian, Gary, Jasmine, Kevin, Joe, and Poppy Music was by Johnny Rose.

SPEAKER_04 55:48

This has been a Go Beyond Production