Down but never out - Blue Ted is the Great Survivor

A cursory tedcount of bears around my house reveals that we are the proud owners of 26 teddy bears. In the interests of accuracy I have excluded various Bagpusses, reindeers etc. And what an motley crew they are, ranging from a Commonwealth Games bear to a Jester ted from Nottingham Castle.

Once after a party I found them all on top of the landing bookcase where they lived at the time, carefully posed in various types of sexual congress. Some kind revellers had rearranged them in ways that were unedifying to an unsuspecting voyeur, but probably great fun for the teds. Not happy - it was my party, not theirs.

But the doyenne of teds has to be one Blue Ted. Bought second hand at a Labour Party Christmas Fair 30 years ago for my daughter, he has proved to be the great survivor. Brushing off an early skirmish in a washing machine at the hands of a well- meaning but over-fastidious relation who considered him to be ‘dirty’, and washed him within an inch of his life, thus robbing him forever of the precious, individual smell that made him Blue Ted, he survived to be and remain my daughter’s constant companion. Katharine and I still remember that smell.

  

He survived a disastrous adventure in an Athens hotel once. He was left on top of our suitcases ready for travelling home while we went for a final walk around Athens. On our return, he was gone and a massive search was mounted, involving many people on our return flight and numerous hotel staff, with no success. Time was running out and we had to board the airport coach without him. Katharine was inconsolable when, with all hope gone, as the coach was leaving, the hotel manager ran up, beating on the window and brandishing – Blue Ted. Some local children had been playing football with him!!!! The inhumanity of it, but at least he survived.

 

He was a regular Blackpool supporter too and was well travelled to distant away grounds. This was not to the Emirates and White Hart Lane, as in recent glory days. More likely, it would be to Aldershot or Maidstone, Halifax or Barnet. He is not a glory hunter, he is a proper football fan.

He has survived numerous operations and bears many carefully darned matching blue scars. Blue Ted, I salute you for your resilience, your place in our family history, your joie de vivre, your constancy.

 

Here's Lulu Canard's take on teddy bears:

All I need to know about life I learned from my teddy bear:-

 

Hugs are even better than chocolate

There's no such thing as too many kisses

One good cuddle can change a grumpy day

Love is supposed to wear out your fur a little

It's okay to let your stuffing show now and then

Listening is as important as talking

Someone's got to keep their eyes open all the time

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

Everyone needs someone to hold on to

There's no friend like an old friend.

 

Lulu Canard

 

As you may know, this is my last blog for now. I return to face the music at college next week as a second year student of English Language, Literature and Creative Writing and, by a happy coincidence, Lara has handed in her MA portfolio and is raring to go again as a blogger. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed this stint as a Dead Good Poets blogger and I thank you all for reading my efforts. I’ll continue to be involved in DGP and am proud to be a part of something so creative and special in my home town. I thank Ashley and all the bloggers for their kindness, support and good humour and for the opportunity to write for an audience at this early stage of my writing ‘career’.

Sheilagh xxxx