Random reminder

Press, 15 July 1980, Page 22

Random reminder

1 DOWN THE DRAIN

Katherine Whitehorn’s recent scari-1 fying report (“The Press” 24.6.80), on English teddybears and torture by; toilet immersion, sent a shudder of] disbelief through a local mother of; six children, only one of bear-age row, L but all bear-lovers in their time. Doing!: a spot check through cupboards and 1 shelves she discovered 16 teddv-J] bears varying in size from the large < black to the miniature yellow varieic.ii Not. one had prematurely ended itsil days stuck in the sewerage system.'! Certainly, some were limbless, others;; eye-less or one-eyed, several com- j pletely bald in patches. The only'/ water they had contacted was when 1 baths to remove the grime of the 1 years had been necessary—the lumpy,! relocating of stuffing suggested that;| even this kindly-meant submersion]; had not been well received. ! <

' “British children stuff their hears down the lavatory pan with incredible (frequency . . . and with incredible (force . . Were her New Zealand children ■ lacking some masochistic streak which !saw their British counterparts sending their bears to watery graves? Cer-' Itainly toilet-bowls, as such, were, .equally as enticing to small kiwis— ( the numerous time the edifice] lhad been blocked by being force-fed 'entire toilet rolls. It had also, proved la happy drop-in-centre for pegs, soappowaer and any small metallic objects ;which would respond with a satisfactory ’’plunk”—but definitely no bears—is her family unique, she wonders, in being so pro-bear? or is ■it a New Zealand characteristic? [with this one—a teddy bear’s picnic (Psychologists could have a picnic ! of course!