Hey Oop Chuck

We decided our readers needed a break from India, and thought we go bang-up-to-date with a report of today's avian activities.

We haven't travelled up north (just incase you were confused by our post title) but we have been looking after a friend's 5 chickens - what fun!

Chicken feeding and egg collecting is the perfect job for me ('nature notes' Chelmer) and my gardening bear friend, Tommy. We wandered over to the home of the girls late morning, and found them eagerly awaiting our arrival. It gave us a warm feeling to have our appearance so enthusiastically greeted.

We got straight down to business topping up the corn bowl and scattering some around, so that those lower down the pecking order got a look in on the grub. (We were sad to see 2 of the 5 girls looked looked very hen pecked round their tail feathers and we just don't understand why all creatures can't live as companionably as all of us Bears Unlimited bears). 

Next came the exciting bit of looking inside for eggs. We were in luck, there were 4 beautiful big eggs today. We gathered them up ready to hand over to chef Oakley.  Thank you girls.

We could get used to looking after the chooks, but sadly, we've only got 1 day of it, as our friends have a rota for chicken feeding, to give several people a chance of some free eggs.

Maybe, one day, we'll get some chooks of our own.

It's dark now, as we write, so we'll say goodnight and sleep tight girls.

Love Tommy and Chelmer xxx

Nature Notes Again

How are you all getting on in the snow? Norfolk was one of the first counties to get the snow which means we've had a very white lookout since Monday night. We're getting a bit fed up of it now, as it means that we're not getting out as much as we'd like to, and things we enjoy keep getting cancelled, but at least we've managed to stay safe and warm.

However, we are working very hard at looking after our feathered friends. We've been keeping the feeders topped up and putting out apples and dried fruit for the bigger birds. We've also been putting out water as the bird bath is frozen over.

Watching all the birds tucking into the food we've provided, gives me hours of fun. One very regular visitor over the last few days, whom I'm always pleased to see, is Woody, our greater spotted woodpecker. He is a great customer as he's happy to eat most things. The fat balls seem to be his favourite at the moment but he also enjoys peanuts and sunflower seeds.

As many of our readers will know all too well, as soon as you put out bird food, especially peanuts, some less welcome visitors quickly arrive on the scene.

We have 2 squirrels who have taken over the tawny owls' nesting box (cheeky!) and they demolish peanuts at an incredible rate. I don't mind too much if it keeps them off the other bird food and I suppose even squirrels have to eat to keep warm this weather.

Talking about keeping warm, we wandered down to our local hostelry in the week and found a rather unusual customer outside ...

Well, we do live in the countryside, so I guess we shouldn't really be surprised, as a pint of beer in a cosy pub has a lot more appeal than a cold, dark and snowy field. Where were his friends though?

Lots of love Chelmer and friends xxx

P.S. our Muscovy friend from last week, didn't like the snow and left us when it arrived; we like to think he has gone to Pensthorpe.

Chelmer's Nature Notes is Back

We've had a very exciting week in our Norfolk Bear Cave, all thanks to a rather unusual visitor of the feathered variety.

Earlier in the week, our male minder was working in the kitchen and noticed a tiny bird on the bush right outside the kitchen window. It wasn't one he recognised, and it was behaving quite unusually, in as much as it seemed desperate to join him in the kitchen. He took a photo and brought it up to show me. When I saw it, I was quite astounded, as it was no common or garden bird; it was, as you can see ...


... the most beautiful goldcrest (Europe's smallest bird!)

Curly and I rushed down and were delighted to find that this is a very sociable bird who pays numerous visits each day to our kitchen window. He, or she, is not at all bothered by activity in the kitchen, in fact the more there is, the more he perches on the window sill and tries to join us.

We can get right up close to the window ...


... and it is truly fascinating having such a close up view of such an interesting and beautiful bird.

It's certainly been the highlight of our year (nature-wise) so far. Mind you. we're not getting much work done as a result - one of the reasons that there hasn't been a post for a while!

Lots of love, Chelmer, Curly and all the chaps xxx

Chelmer's Floral Nature Notes

I'll take a break shortly, but at the moment I feel I'm on a bit of a roll, so here's another nature note which I'm sharing with Tommy, the Bears Unlimited gardening bear. Sorry you've had to wait for this post; some of the chaps joined me on a mini adventure last week, which put things on hold for a few days, news of this adventure coming soon.

As I write this post, it's pouring with rain outside and it hasn't stopped raining all weekend. It feels decidedly unspring-like, but a couple of weeks ago it looked a little more promising, and, on a dry and snow free day, Tommy and I wandered outside to look at the first flowers of the year.


First stop was at one of my all time favourites, the cheery yellow aconites. They are so apecial to me and Tommy, as they appear just about first of all, and we are always amazed that the rain, snow and cold don't put them off appearing to lift our spirits. We also love their choirboy ruff collars and never fail to delight at nature's use of complementary colours.

After admiring the aconites, we moved on to admire another winter garden classic: the snowdrops. These have spread well around the garden and there are now clumps thriving in lots of places, including the lawn.


We don't mind them growing in the lawn though as they're such lovely flowers. In fact, given the current state of the lawn, which is more mud than grass after all the terrible weather, they're the best bit of our current back lawn.

We're sure Tommy will work wonders with it once a dry spell comes, along with some sunshine.

Lots of love Chelmer & Tommy xxx

Chelmer's Nature Notes Returns Again

How could we almost have forgotten it? We had the most amazing natural encounter last summer, that we've just remembered, we haven't shared with you.

Gardening bear, Tommy was responsible for bringing it to our attention. He was dead heading some peonies in the border to the side of the lounge window, when he looked up and found himself face to face with a nestful of fledglings.

And they were no ordinary fledglings. After he'd retreated to a discreet distance and called the rest of us, our quiet observance of the comings and goings of the parents at the nest, revealed that this was none other than a brood of spotted flycatchers. We were so excited.

We wanted to watch them as much as we could, but didn't want to disturb them and upset the parents by peeking into the nest too often. As we could see the nest when we stood in the lounge and looked out the window, Jimmy had the brilliant idea of setting up a camera in the lounge.

Within the hour, fledgecam was set up and running and, being the B.U. wildlife expert, I was in charge of the filming, ably assisted by Curly.


It worked a treat and gave us a very priviledged view of the nest. We could leave the camera rolling and watch what it was filming on our TV screen from the comfort of our armchairs. We were hooked and learnt lots about these delightful, but rarely seen birds. We're sure you'd like to see a clip from the camera, so here is one ...



It was quite a sad morning when, 6 days after we'd first seen them, we looked out to find an empty nest and the fledglings flown. Unfortunately, they were up too early for us to witness them flying from the nest. What a sight that would have been.

We hope the youngsters are thriving, and, with a bit of luck, they might be back this summer.

Lots of love Chelmer, Curly and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Chelmer's Nature Notes Returns

Do you remember my nature notes posts from last year? I hope you enjoyed them and are looking forward to another. Today's nature note relates to an incident last summer. It couldn't have happened now, as it would have resulted in a frazzled bird, for reasons I'll soon explain.

To start at the beginning, early one morning, while the rest of the chaps were having a lie in, Curly and I were in the kitchen of the bear cave, enjoying a bowl of cereals and a cup of tea. We consumed both with relish, noticing nothing out of the ordinary. When we'd finished, we put our crockery in the dishwasher and started to walk out the kitchen. It was then that we got the feeling that we were not alone, in fact it was more than a feeling, it was a definite realisation, as only another living creature could be making the rustling/fluttering noise that was coming from the direction of our Aga.

I looked across, puzzled, and then saw some movement from a ventilation cowl which has a grilled front and looks like this.


At first I thought it must be a butterfly, but as we went for a closer look, I saw a pair of bright black eyes looking at me and realised we had a bird behind bars. Our prisoner was in fact a gorgeous great tit who had clearly taken a tumble down our chimney and then found his exit route blocked by bars.

We were eager to give him his freedom back, but first we made sure we got a fine close up shot of us with our avian prisoner ...


We opened the kitchen window wide before we lifted off the cowl, and it was very gratifying to see our new friend fly off and reclaim his freedom.

It was a good job this incident happened in summer as story might not have had such a happy ending, had the Aga been lit.

Lots of love Chelmer & Curly xxx

What to Buy a Bear: Part 8

Hello from Bears Unlimited action bear Chelmer, and my brother Curly.

I, Chelmer, am a bit of a dare devil, and a sedate lifestyle is not for me. I will try any activity at least once, and the scarier and more dangerous the better: bungee jumper is my middle name. I am also the Bears Unlimited personal trainer and it is my job to make sure all my B.U. friends stay in great shape.

My brother Curly has the same genes as me, so usually comes with me on my adventures, but, he is a bit more sensible than me, and keeps his feet on the ground more of the time. As such he is a great foil for me as he makes sure we always stay safe.


One of our favourite presents from our B.U. friends was the great book you see us with in our photo. It is called Learning to Breathe and, it isn't a guide to personal training as it sounds, but a book about mountaineering, written by incredible mountaineer Andy Cave, a climbing contemporary of Joe Simpson of Touching the Void fame.

We love reading books by people who, we have to admit it, are even more adventurous than ourselves. Mountaineers are a breed apart, and we really admire their daring, courage and sense of adventure. Andy Cave's book is particularly interesting as it tells how he went from working underground as a miner, to successful mountaineer. What a change of lifestyle!

Lots of love, Chelmer & Curly xxx

Last Nature Notes - for now

Other bears are eager to take over the blog again, so I'll just share one more nature note with you. It involves a delightful creature which is one of my favourite's, and also a favourite of gardening bear Tommy, because of the help this creature gives in the garden.

Can you guess who it is? Our first picture will give you only a small clue as you no doubt can't see what we're looking at and you'd need a soundtrack to hear the conversation we were having with our friend.


You should have picked up the clue that they are most commonly around at dusk.

It seemed a bit cruel to have to dazzle our friend with the camera flash so you could share in our wildlife encounter, but we did ask his permission first and he agreed, in return for a worm - not our new slow worm friend of course!


He was quite a small hedgehog at that time, but we're pleased to say we've seen him again strolling round the church yard and he's a lot bigger now.

We did make sure we gave him our safety briefing which mainly covered the need to keep away from roads.

We hope our nature notes have shown you that you don't need to go further than your own home to have some great wildlife encounters.

Lots of love Chelmer & Curly xxx

Chelmer's Nature Notes 3

Nature is simply wonderful and it comes in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes.

Today's encounter was a first for me, it was with a moth that was almost as big as me. Because I'd never seen one before, I don't know what type of moth he was, so perhaps one of our readers can help me out. Here he is ...


He might not have been colourful but he certainly was striking. The concrete floor might give you a clue that this encounter didn't take place in the countryside. My encounter actually took place in our garage. This is normally Blue Bear's territory, as he is Chief Mechanic, but on this occasion I was in the garage drying out our tent which had been packed up in a Lake District downpour and come home wet.

The fact that it is a green tent must have confused Mr Moth and made him think he had found a green pasture or wood. No wonder he looked a bit dazed when it all disappeared as I packed up the now dry tent from which he emerged.

Still, at least his dazed state gave us plenty of photo opportunities, so here's a close up of this fine wee beastie ...


Lots of love Chelmer and all at B.U. xxx

Nature Notes 2: A Special Kind of Worm

My brother Curly thought I had short-changed you, our readers, by not including the picture he took of one of our bovine friends laughing at me when I fell off my perch into the snow. As we always like to give our readers good value I'll include it now ...


I like to think she was laughing with me, not at me, especially as she was kind enough to dry me off with a warm towel of a tongue.

One of my favourite wildlife encounters of the year happened quite by chance. I was just leaving our garden by a side gate, to go to a concert in the nearby church, when I nearly tripped over a perfect specimen of a slow worm lying right across the exit to the gate.


This slow worm was kind enough to let me admire her for ages, and also kind enough to pose with me for a photo. I thought she was truly beautiful and I could have watched her for hours. It was clearly a very thoughtful slow worm as, when I became in danger of becoming late for the concert, she slid away out of sight, giving me just enough time to make the start of the concert.

Lots of love Chelmer & all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Chelmer's Nature Notes 1

Hi readers, Chelmer Bear back again, to once again seize a window of blog opportunity, while George & Yorkie are having a break from their travels.

I enjoyed sharing my hippo experiences with you and hopefully you have begun to appreciate that I am a bit of a nature lover. This gentle side to my character can come as a suprise to people who don't know me too well, as I am known for being rather a dare-devil and wild bear.

I've had a few interesting wildlife encounters this year and I'd like to share some of them with you.

At the start of the year we had some real snow in Norfolk, by that I mean more than the usual sprinkle. I went on patrol round the village to check that all my animal friends were keeping warm and had enough to eat.


My first stop was to an unusual, but not completely rare sight. I'd come across the village alpacas. They looked a little incongruous in the snow, as I tend to associate them with warmer climates. However, I know from the times I've given them a good stroke, that they have incredibly warm fur and I was confident it would keep them warm.

Up the hill were my cattle friends.


Their hair was standing on end to keep them warm and their breath was steaming well. When I got close to them their breath was so warm that it was like being in a sauna. It told me they were handling the cold well, aided by a big pile of hay, and I very glad of the sauna when, seconds after this picture was taken, I fell off my perch into a big, cold and wet snowdrift.

Well satisfied that our village animals were fine I made my way home to help Tommy restock the bird feeders for my feathered friends.

Lots of love Chelmer and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

The White Cliffs (not) of Dover

Our fine day's promenading put us in the mood for more walking, so we decided to explore the lofty heights of the white cliffs of Ault.


We'll forgive anyone who looks at this picture and thinks we'd done a quick hop back to Dover, as we agree the cliffs do look rather familiar.

All our cycling had improved our fitness, so we had no difficulties climbing up to this viewpoint. On the way we saw a red squirrel which was rather special.


We thought this cliff top anchor wasn't in quite the right place to be useful, but when we tried to move it, we discovered it was stuck fast. What a waste we thought, although it did add a pleasant nautical feel to the scene.

A few yards on, Chelmer spotted something that he thought might help us free the anchor so we could return it to a boat which might be able to use it ...


... yes, his bright idea is that we could use this ancient farm equipment to plow up the land surrounding the anchor, and so release it from its earthy bed.

Fortunately Chelmer is easily distracted, and he was so happy posing for photos, that by the time we'd finished photographing him being a 'laboureur de la terre' as the sign states, he had forgotten all about his earlier idea and was happy to finish the walk.

Lots of love Gilbert and friends xxx

Birgit's Birthday Bash

Our badminton friends Birgit and Wade are very bear friendly and always ensure we have a great time. Do you remember the wonderful things we got up to last year when we went to stay with them at Camp Griem-Leada? The highlight was the glider flight that I (Chelmer) enjoyed with my friend Rocco.

Recently Birgit had a special birthday (us bears are too discrete to mention which one). And so she had lots of people round, including us, for a garden party with musical entertainment provided by the guests.


The first musical act set a very high standard. Birgit performed with her guitar group of 4 guitarist friends. We sat there listening entraced, as you can see from our picture.

Lots more musical people performed after them and the acts ranged from witty words being sung to traditional tunes to a group from Germany singing in German.

I'm sure you're all eager to know what Rocco and I did for our musical offering. Well, the clue should be that Wade is a drumming friend of mine, as you may recall from previous posts.

It was therefore only natural that we joined Wade for a spot of drumming.


First we provided an accompaniment to a male / female duo and then we accompanied Wade's brother who was a cracking guitar player.


We were so inspired by all this musical talent, that we thought that we really should start learning to play the guitar as there is one available for members of the Norfolk branch to use.

And in case you wondering, the party food and drink was pretty fantastic too. The only dampener on the day was the rain which was never far away. Fortunately we did have a collection of gazebos to shelter under and we refused to be driven inside.

Lots of love Chelmer & Rocco xxx

Bongo Bonanza

Hope you haven't missed us too much while we've been off air, but there's been a good reason for our blog silence. Some of us have been off on yet another adventure - this time an overseas one. We look forward to sharing it with you soon, but first we need to finish what we've already started (in true Mastermind fashion).

So, back to Greenbelt and the wonderful experiences we enjoyed there. Most of the music you here there, is created by very talented and famous musicians. Occasionally, the less famous get a chance to perform ...


... see anyone you recognise?

Chelmer reckons he is a bit of pro and, as you know, he's drumming mad. This fine collection of drums at the Chai Chapel therefore drew him like a magnet.


This impromptu performance drew quite a crowd and, as there were more drums than Chelmer could bang himself, he invited people to join in and led them in a lively drumming workshop.

At one point we were making so much noise we were in danger of drowning out the main stage performance. One of the mainstage crew had to ask us if we'd mind drumming a little more gently.

Lots of love Geo and the Greenbelt crew xxx

Time Ashore

The next morning dawned fine and it was only a couple of locks, and a short hop, to the historic city of Worcester. As we passed some visitor moorings, we noticed a tourist sign advising that the city centre was just 5 minutes walk away. Us smaller bears (George, Yorkie, Chelmer, Rocco, Isaiah, Dale, Tiny, Kiwi & 2 puffins) asked Captain Eddie if we might go exploring and he gave permission for a shore based excursion. (Apologies if you hadn't realised we were on the trip, but we missed the earlier team photo when Chelmer delayed us in the pub).

Our first stop was the cathedral. As you will see in our picture, the main building is quite well hidden behind trees.


Talking about hidden, have you spotted Chelmer & Rocco at the top of the noticeboard. We tried to tell them it was easier to read from below, but Chelmer just couldn't resist a climbing opportunity.

As we tend to get up with the sun on boating holidays, we were in the cathedral early enough to have a good look round before the main service started. Chelmer nearly caused us some embarrassment when he gave in to the temptation to climb the tower of a superb model of the cathedral.


This was clearly one of those behind glass models of the 'do not touch' variety so we frantically tried to get Chelmer to come down before anyone saw him and throwed us all out.

We seemed to get away with it, but decided it was time to leave anyway as the service was about to start.

Not far from the cathedral was a statue of one of Worcester's most famous citizens. No it wasn't the inventor of Lea & perrins Worcester sauce, it was a far more cultural figure, Sir Edward Elgar.

We thought it only respectful to have our picture taken with him. We're trying to remember whether our friend Naughty Bear has also done the same.


Chelmer wondered whether he should grow an Elgar style moustache. We all gave him an emphatic 'no' and told him we wouldn't be seen out with him if he did.

At this point Rocco had one of his inspired moments and proposed a visit to a coffee shop for refreshments. As the morning was warm we were able to sit outside and indulge in one of our favourite sports of people watching.


The good thing about this coffee shop was that it was right next to an Oxfam bookshop, so we took it in turns to make forays into the shop to look for some good holiday reading. As it happens this was a shrewd move, given what happened to us a few days later. All will be revealed soon.

Lots of love from the shore visiting party xxx

Two Left Minder Feet

As anyone who has seen Mary Poppins will know, chimney sweeping can be very dirty work. But as we've said in our previous posts, Blue Bear is a very careful and tidy worker. He put dust sheets all over the furniture and then, just to make sure, he taped polythene across the fire place, leaving only a slit for his brush and rods.


From his supervisor's vantage point on the mantelpiece, Chelmer looked for any gaps where any soot might escape!

All these precautions were sucessful, and after the sweeping was completed all we we were left with was a pile of soot in the bottom of the fireplace.


Monkey then leapt into action with his dustpan and brush and quickly filled a bucket with all the soot. All that was left was to tidy everything away and re-light the fire, but then DISASTER struck, a clumsy minder tripped over the bucket and the soot went everywhere!


Chelmer swiftly dived into action wielding the vacuum cleaner hose and, in a short time, you wouldn't have known that the accident had ever taken place.


We wasted no time clearing away the equipment and re-lighting the fire before settling down will a well-earned reward, a glass of Wherry.

Love Chelmer, Blue Bear and Monkey xxx

Chim Chiminey, Chim Chim Cher-ee

After the transformation of the Bear Cave, we really got bitten by the change bug and thought about spring cleaning and other improvements we could make.

First, our fireplace. Through the long cold winter we have been keeping warm by having a roaring log fire each night. The only problem is that after a long winter of daily log fires, the time comes when you need to sweep the chimney.

Having got into spring cleaning mood, we set about organising for the chimney to be swept.

Remember meeting the very agile Monkey last year (July) when he shinned up the trees we were felling? Well, because Monkey is such a good climber, he immediately volunteered to emulate Tom from the Water Babies, and go up the chimney with a dustpan and brush and sweep out all the soot.


However, the older members of the Norfolk Branch felt this was a bit risky and that he might get stuck.

At this point, Chelmer, with an eye to an action adventure, quickly suggested that he, instead of Monkey, should be the one to take on the task, as he is considerably smaller. The older bears worried yet again, this time that Chelmer might fall and injure himself.

Fortunately wiser heads prevailed and the company Health & Safety policy was wheeled out. After a board meeting, it was decided that Blue Bear should take charge and have Monkey and Chelmer assist.

Blue Bear, being a true professional, began by assembling all his tools, (a large pile of dust sheets, his brushes and a vacuum cleaner) and, with his two assistants primed for action, started the job.


As each brush disappeared up the chimney, Monkey would pass over another.


Chelmer's job was to be outside with a pair of binoculars and a Walkie talkie, prepared to shout 'STOP!' as soon as the brush came out of the chimney pot. He had to do this before the brush hit the top of the cowl that stops pigeons trying to BBQ themselves by coming down the chimney when the fire is buring.

With such teamwork and Blue Bears's leadership, the job was swiftly, cleanly and efficiently completed.

Boys with Big Toys

Oh dear, no-one's had a guess of what was in our lunchbox! We were only joking when we said it was hard. Either we scared you off saying that, or, perish the thought, no-one is reading our blog! Hope it's not the latter!

Anyway, what we had in our lunchbox were delicious turkey sandwiches. Just like sprouts, we can't get enough turkey, so turkey leftovers are a definite treat. We varied our turkey sandwiches by the addition of cranberry sauce in some, and Aunt Jessie's famous marrow chutney (remember Oakley making it recently with Tommy's marrows?) in others. Both sorts were wolfed down happily by hungry bears.

The Midland branch had saved up a real treat for the after lunch stretch of the walk. One minute we were walking down a muddy lane keeping a wary eye on the bull that we had to walk past, the next we were looking at something rather special.


Chelmer took off like a bolt of lightning when he saw this marvellous armoured vehicle, as he couldn't wait to see if he could start it up. Unfortunately, Chief Mechanic Blue Bear wasn't with us at this point, as he was still at the canal in Braunston talking diesel engines with a canal boat owner. Without his expertise, this tank was going no-where and was stuck fast in the mud. Still, we had a great time pretend driving with lots of war-like sound effects.


Chelmer was a little disappointed at the lack of guns until our minder pointed out that it was an armoured personnel carrier rather than a tank. That didn't stop Chelmer telling every he'd been tank driving when he got home, as he thought it sounded more adventurous than driving an APC.

Thanks Midlands Branch for arranging a walk with some much variety and a great surprise.

Lot of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Getting Festive

There was a cartoon in the Church Times recently that we particularly liked. It showed a clergy gathering where all the clergy were wearing a number on a card around their neck. The caption said: 'It is traditional for those who attend clergy gatherings to display the number of carol services they expect to take this year. Those with single-digit figures are frowned upon mercilessly.

Well, we've been to so many carol services this year, with more to come, that we think we'll soon be running into a respectable 2 digit figure.

One of our favourite carol singing occasions took place at Burgh Hall, home of one of the local churchwardens, earlier this week.


It is a nice informal gathering and everyone sings enthusiastically, no doubt aided by the mulled wine which is available. As you can see from our first photo we found some friends of our own size to sing with. We felt very honoured to so close to the shepherds, wise men and even ... Mary and Joseph themselves.

As we were in such illustrious company we were on our best behaviour for a while. However, it wasn't long before action bear Chelmer gave into the temptation to do a bit of Tarzan swinging from a chandelier.


He justified it by being saying he was being sociable and making the acquaintance of some angels, Father Christmas and a choirboy. Quite an eclectic collection of characters really, but there again Chelmer has that bear gift of being able to strike up a conversation with just about anybody.

We hope your Christmas preparations are going well.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Being 'The Stig'

Chelmer and I were quite pleased that What Car supported our own thoughts, which were that we should be looking out for a Corsa or a Fiesta. We wasted no time in arranging test drives for both types of car, which we needed to do as we've never owned a Corsa, and there weren't many of us around the last time our minder bought a Fiesta (which was 17 years ago).

The Fiesta was good to drive and was a distinct possibilty for our new Bearmobile. However, it was pipped at the post by the new Corsa. Of course this was partly due to the fact that it was the new Corsa model that we test drove, and this model has not been out for long. It drove very well and looked really good, especially in air blue, as you can see.


I did half wonder whether Chelmer was biased towards the Corsa because, being a bit of a ladies bear, he took rather a shine to the attractive young sales lady who took us out. Mind you, this worked in my favour, as while Chelmer kept her talking, I was able to concentrate on the car and how she drove.

Our test drive took place in the dark, so Chelmer and I went back a couple of days later to take a closer look at the car in daylight, and to show her to the rest of the Norfolk Branch and see what they thought.


She certainly passed my intense scrutiny. I looked hard for any signs of wear and tear but I couldn't find any. Although just over 6 months old, she looked just like a new car. The other guys gave the thumbs up, so as soon as we could, we went back to secure the deal.

Keep reading to see how we got on.

Lots of love, Blue Bear, Chelmer and all at the Norfolk Branch xxx