Time for some nostalgia. What tv shows did you watch as a child? When I was very small, I was a big fan of the Wombles and Paddington Bear. This clip takes me immediately back - especially the theme tune! - to sitting on our living room floor on the old nubby brown carpet that used to be there, gazing up at the old black-and-white tv.
As I got a little bigger, I was allowed to watch programs that actually featured people rather than solely the soft and furry, and so I was then raised on a steady diet of late 60s/early 70s American sitcoms - The Brady Bunch, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and so on. But it is the soft and furry that exerted the most pull over my young and fertile imagination. I didn't long to be a part of a large step-family (although I did want Marcia's long, straight hair), cast spells or live inside a genie's bottle. Oh no. I wanted to live in a world populated by talking bears in hats and duffle coats and other animated creatures who lived out their lives in underground womble-sized burrows, where they ate womble-sized meals at womble-sized tables and chattered amongst themselves. In short, I wanted to believe that there was a whole other world beyond the one I could see before me. I wanted to believe that if I just looked away for a second, one of my army of teddy bears would have a quick chat to the fellow next to him, or give his ear a scratch, or have a flick through a book. I'm still not convinced that this world doesn't exist, and I'm glad. It's important to live in the now and engage with what's tangibly around you - of course - but it's also lovely to think of the worlds upon worlds upon worlds that may be out there. Somewhere. Just glance away for a second and there they are. One day, I'll glance back just in time...!
