The Great Cherry-picker Adventure!

What an adventure we had yesterday morning!  I was busy composing a poem on the iniquities of life , on my laptop, when suddenly everything shut down. The lights went off, the fridge and freezer stopped humming, Spotify switched off on the computer upstairs, and my laptop ground to a halt (I said that battery was useless). The only sounds to be heard in the house were the complaints of Bears caught in the electric shower, and trying to use their electric toothbrushes. 

Turns out the Electricity people had turned off the power to the village for the day so that trees could be cut back to stop branches from resting on the power cables. Turns out we were supposed to know! Turns out they were an hour later than planned with the shut down and we should be grateful!
Turns out ...(.rather well in the end as it happens!)

I took my coffee and sat outside in the sunshine, quite a nice quiet day for composing poems  I thought. All of a sudden, Jemima, one of the Tara Bears, came  running up with a startling bit of news. She whispered something in my ear reminding me of the day last autumn when my parachute failed to open and I ended up stuck in a tree, on the day of the Blakesley Church Teddy Bear Parachute Drop from the Church Tower. Most people know better than to mention how I had to climb down the tree leaving my parachute behind, it's been up there stranded in a branch ever since much to my embarassment and annoyance.

"Come into the Church Yard quick!" begged Jemima. Sure enough five or six bears were peering round the gravestones where there was an excellent view of the workers stopping traffic and preparing to trim the trees. Then I saw it too. A bright yellow cherry-picker, unoccupied and just waiting to be used.

Jasmine one of the smaller bears was sent off to distract the workers by taking their photographs and as they all posed  for pics, Rudy, another bear got behind the controls and a brave Bear climbed heroically into the cherrypicker and ascended to the very top of the tree. The parachute was tangled in the foliage and there was a tear in one of the ribs. The brave Bear was just tugging it free when his  foot slipped and he ended up upside-down hanging by his ankle. Luckily by then one of the workers had spotted what was going on and staged a dramatic rescue bringing the brave Bear and the parachute safely back to earth.

I was delighted to get my parachute back and the doc says the strapping round my ankle will be off in time for the Blakesley Show, but it cost me an box of custard tarts to get the incriminating photos, of me hanging upside down and being rescued, back from the other Bears. Oh the iniquities of life! Still turns out I shall be back up the Church Tower for the next Parachute jump after all!  Got to go fix my parachute! Toodle pip!

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