Nigel was up at the crack of dawn, barely able to control his robust excitement at the prospect of having Hugh all to himself for as long as it took to complete the village Bear Hunt. He was determined to go VERY slowly indeed!!!!!! He woke Hugh with tea and toast, a croissant, three crumpets and a waffle (all of Nigel’s own devising), and while Hugh “digested” his carbohydrate feast Nigel busied himself carefully putting the Bear Hunt form in his bag with three pencils, one to write with, one spare and another spare spare and a rubber in case he made a mistake!
…… And then it was down to business……..
……. which proved to be a very serious affair, where the colour of each teddy’s sash was tantamount to their success, as was the name of the shop in whose window the bear had been duly placed.
Hugh did the finding and noting of the sash colour and then relayed the information to Nigel, who wrote it all down with all due diligence. They were quite a seamless and professional team, as far as bear hunting was concerned.
And having Hugh all to himself was all Nigel had hoped for and more ……
….. especially when Hugh, not used to walking from “village to village” on foot, without the Bentley in tow just in case he got cramp or something equally ‘ideous, suggested the perhaps “A little stop off for zee “petite-a snackolette-a or two may be zee order of zee day, no?”
……. and naturellement Nigel could choose ANY cake he liked ……
Well, it had to be the one under the dome, because Nigel had never had a cake that was under a dome before…….
……. and Hugh had something a little more healthy “Oh Nigelle, I sink I may ‘ave put on zee weight no? I do not want zee Simone Cowellllle taking zee Michael of me when I am back, if I have zee, what do you say mooooffin top?”
After four hours and thirty five minutes Nigel and Hugh returned to Castle Greysquirrel triumphant that all bears had been found and convinced that victory would be theirs when the forms were all in, marked and verified. “Oh Darrell, I ‘ave ‘ad such zee lovely time doing zee ordinary things, no? Notting Hill ‘as zee carnival-al-al, but it does not ‘ave zee hunting of zee knitted bears!”
Nigel sighed, he too had had a wonderful time doing what he thought was extra out of the ordinary and special “Oh Darrelle,” he smiled “Today ‘as been zee most loveliest day in all zee world, no? I juste wish zat Hugh could be staying ’ere with us for zee-ever and zee day!” What is he like?