Two things happened today to inspire this post. The first was me noticing an ad on the telly for an hotel chain that claims it has “hotels with personality” which, considering the chain concerned, I find hard to believe unless they’ve had a massive change in direction since my last visit to one of their establishments. Hotels with personalities? Certainly if you’re talking about Hotel Du Vin, but absolutely not the ones advertising using the strapline. Somehow it rankled given that I spend my days thinking about bears with personalities.

The second is Will’s facebook link to an article in the Plymouth Herald about his wife and the CEO of our company, Charlie – otherwise known as “the boss”. This bear is her creation (did I mention that she’s a genius) and unlike Best Western Hotels, both she and her namesake Charlie (pictured) have personality by the shovel-full. This bear says “don’t mess with me” and it is exactly how I think of the bear’s namesake, wild, forthright and with a glorious personality. She’s completely amazing. She grabs hold of life and says “don’t mess with me” and she does it with panache and aplomb, despite having had a terrifying and uncompromisingly difficult year. She’s a braveheart if ever I met one and an inspiration to a cowardly lion like me. I know I’ve photographed this Charlie before and I did a better job last time, this is, let’s face it, a grab shot, but I hope you’ll forgive minimal studio effort for maximum heartfelt sentiment.

Just a word of warning - the hyperlink will make you cry - well, it did me anyway!