
This is my son’s bear, Bartie. He’s not Number One Bear, as that honour belongs to the even more scruffy Boo Boo. This is the emergency bear we had to buy when we’d gone to Edinburgh for a few days and left The Precious One at home. Enter Bartie.
Over the years he’s acquired the same dog-eared look as Boo Boo, lost his stuffing (where does it go btw – it hasn’t got anywhere to escape to?) and generally taken on a general air of clapped-out-ness befitting of a bear whose taken a lot of years of cuddling and having his ears sucked.
But, we’re all a bit Bartie in our own ways, yet somebody still loves us, beyond rubies, no matter how tatty our fur is, and how funky we smell!