Good Morning, Pooh

I have a travelling companion in this world, who was been by my side since somewhere around my third birthday – i don’t remember much of the time, really, but i can say i don’t remember any time in my life when he WASN’T there, and i guess thats the important part.

His name is Pooh. Yeah, yeah, get your churlish giggles out the way. Imagine every amusing way of inserting Pooh into day to day sentences to make them purile and wash your system out.

Pooh is, of course, short for Winnie the Pooh. But rather than being that famous character from the Disney franchise, this version of Pooh, just Pooh, is my own. For one, he can’t speak. Sooty like, i can hear him. “What did you say Pooh? That you think my latest short story is awesome? Aww thanks Pooh.” His fluffiness and bountifully orange colour has faded to a meagre beige after a gazillion washes and who knows what else. I know for a fact his left ear is proper mangled because i used to chew on it when i was very young. Like, up until i graduated from Uni, anyway.

He was recently seen guest starring in our youtube show “The Pandora Men”, which you can find by visiting chaosbox.uk or watching the following videos:

Pooh has as far as i can recall, accompanied me everywhere. He lives in / on / around my bedside shelf, or more often than not on top of the window sill above the radiator. He was with me when i went to London and lived there for six months, he moved with me to Cumbrae, then to Govan, then to Taynuilt, and ultimately / presently to here in Appin. He was in my suitcase when i went to Egypt and we shared a bed in a hostel in Stornoway – he even stowed away to Chile and laterally Ireland. Yes, he’s even visited Prague. I may not be well travelled compared to some – and i mean to correct this in upcoming years, with trips to Gibraltar, Split, Switzerland and Canada all in the cards – but Pooh will be there with me, all the way.

Hes a soundboard to my ideas, my hopes and dreams. And, importantly, he doesn’t tell me to shut up when i talk too much. And he doesn’t complain when i watch The Expanse, Orange is the New Black, Desperate Housewives and Doctor Who in one sitting. In fact, when we watch the new Disney movies he actively joins in. He even hates Olaf as much as i do. We are kindred spirits.

I’ve introduced him to all my girlfriends. Which is why i don’t have a girlfriend.

But my over-arching point is this – he is an anchor into a childhood that shaped me. We’ve all seen the Toy Story movies and even Inside Out, and we all know about that one toy that was our truest, most loyal friend. It just so happens you don’t have to get all Pixarry and ‘eventually grow up’. Just embrace it. We live now in a world that allows increasingly immature adults to thrive and even move mountains – we’ve lost the restrictive stigma of ‘adulthood’ that does still exist – of course it does, we use it to phone estate agents and banks and taxi drivers and restaurants and to be managing directors and all that nonsense, but at the end of the day if a cat falling off a table isn’t funny then whats the point in living?

Good Morning, Pooh. This is my blog that i’m working on! Yes, don’t worry, this one is about you.