Adieu Paddington

It was a sad farewell to Paddington Bear this morning when we left him looking rather forlorn with his luggage outside the favoured charity shop.

He has been with the family for more years than I care to remember and with the passage of time his face has become dirty and his hat and duffle coat somewhat faded. His yellow wellingtons he has loaned on occasion to the younger children when their feet were of a size to fit them, and was happy to stand shoeless while they kept their feet dry in the rain.
Alas as no grandchild has claimed him, I felt he needed to find another family to love him. And so it was that he stood bravely on a chair surrounded by his luggage to say cheerio.
I confess there was a lump in my throat as we drove off, leaving him to make his own way in the world; a feeling not dissimilar to the one you have when you leave a teenager for the first time outside the halls of residence on their first day at university. The only difference being that you will see them again, but not so Paddington.

But life moves on and there was the Mosque lunch to look forward too with the chance to mingle with the great and the good.
There were 11 of us present including myself and about as many conversations going on around me.
There was a hiatus at one point when 2 heavily armed policemen with batons drawn sprinted past the tables to an exit on W.Nicolson Street, while some others ran to the Potterow exit. It was all very dramatic and, as Tonto McDuff remarked, like a scene out of Trainspotting. Apparently the area was crowded with police vans, but they seemed to have got the men they were after, held against a wall outside.
It was all very exciting and added an extra dimension to my dahl and rice.

As I write this , I'm sitting resplendent in my newly assembled chair which is oh so comfortable even if his Lordship did admit to some doubt as to whether or not he had put the seat bit on the right way round. I wish he hadn't mentioned that.........now I'm wondering too.