Fred

Fred is my oldest friend.

He was bought for me a few days after I was born and for the first few years of my life we were in seperable - just about every photo I have of me has Fred in it too!

After 45 years he is looking rather the worse for wear but then he has rather been through the wars. He has survived several falls from the 20th floor of multi storey high flats (thrown by my sister who was not a friend of Fred and who liked to torment me as a small child!), a multitude of spins in the washing machine and a very traumatic weekend where it was thought he had beel lost on a train (but again my sister had managed to successfully spirit him away and hide him at home in a cupboard behind some boxes) Still at least he still has both his eyes!

This is not really a great shot I know but it kind of fits with the week I'm having - there's just been no time to go out with the camera and walk in the parks and look at trees, there's been too much claim on my time from things from the past - friends to catch up with and paperwork to sort through - so that's what I've been doing and as last night I unexpectedly came across a whole box of papers, card, letters, photos and even a toy or two going way back it kind of seemed appropriate to go with Fred today. Sometimes it's just nice to say hello to an old friend :)



Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand'


Margery Williams Bianco - The Velveteen Rabbit