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The Bear Lady

Earlier this year, when shopping for anniversary presents for my girlfriend, I happened upon a shop I'd passed in Colchester many times. I had noticed it before, admittedly, partly because the display of the shop was simply packed full of stuffed bears. So, I figured it was worth a look in there.

The bears were all more collector bears, each made in short runs of limited quantities; and thus, most were incredibly fucking expensive, hundreds of Łs or more. However, I found one more my price-range (I won't say the price, obviously, since my girlfriend reads the site, but it was still a considerable portion of the total money I spent on her).

I noticed, as I picked up the bear and took it to the woman at the counter, that all the bears had a tag with a hand-written name on. How very quiant, I probably thought; after all, it is a nice touch really.

The lady at the counter was nice and set about wrapping it up and packing it as carefully as possible while I paid by card and entered my PIN to be billed for the thing. All very normal.

Then as the lady placed the bear inside the bag, she proceeded to call it by its name and have a brief (if one-sided) 'conversation' with it, almost reassuring it as it went into the bag. She talked to the bear. To the inanimate, stuffed bear. To make sure it would be okay as it went into the bag.

I have never returned to this shop.

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	The Bear Lady Earlier this year, when shopping for anniversary presents for my girlfriend, I happened upon a shop I'd passed in Colchester many times. I had noticed it before, admittedly, partly because the display of the shop was simply packed full of stuffed bears. So, I figured it was worth a look in there. The bears were all more collector bears, each made in short runs of limited quantities; and thus, most were incredibly fucking expensive, hundreds of Łs or more. However, I found one more my price-range (I won't say the price, obviously, since my girlfriend reads the site, but it was still a considerable portion of the total money I spent on her). I noticed, as I picked up the bear and took it to the woman at the counter, that all the bears had a tag with a hand-written name on. How very quiant, I probably thought; after all, it is a nice touch really. The lady at the counter was nice and set about wrapping it up and packing it as carefully as possible while I paid by card and entered my PIN to be billed for the thing. All very normal. Then as the lady placed the bear inside the bag, she proceeded to call it by its name and have a brief (if one-sided) 'conversation' with it, almost reassuring it as it went into the bag. She talked to the bear. To the inanimate, stuffed bear. To make sure it would be okay as it went into the bag. I have never returned to this shop.