Saturday 5 November 2011

Little Ted & The Cloudburst

I think it would be safe to say, without likely chance of retribution or a libel case at the High Court, that my brother is and always has been very, very naughty and very, very funny.

I could give you many, many examples of the former and the latter. Many, many of these examples are not blog fodder to be fair Smile Hey, this is a family show Smile

But once upon a time, a good long while ago the signs were there.
This cherubic little boy….
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had a teddy bear called Little Ted, was there a Big Ted? No-one can remember! It may have come from PlaySchool- The Cbeebies for the 70’s generation. I had Selly, an elephant I had from birth, I could not pronounce elephant, so she was my Selly.

So, the story of the cloudburst, in 1978 when I was 4 and Rich was 3 our lovely Mum took us out for a walk. Now we were such blessed children, we lived on Lundy Island until ‘78 and this was our first summer on the mainland but we moved to a hamlet next to a farm so it was still quite wild and we had such great walks. One of our favourite new walks was to the local reservoir which was just about do-able for Rich’s little welly-feet.

On this particular occasion we had insisted on taking Selly and Little Ted, I can remember as clearly as yesterday (if not more so) us showing the ducks to Selly & Little Ted and enjoying seeing the water tumble down from the lower reservoir to the Wilder stream, which runs about 50 metres from where I live now.
As we trundled back Mum pointed out the big dark clouds that were streaming over ten-acre field which was on the hill over the hamlet…….

It started off with a few fat drops of rain and then suddenly as if someone was wringing out the clouds there was a deluge….Rich and I were so surprised and shocked, it was quite scary. But Mum took us through it so well; she has such natural people skills and you should have seen her. She made it so exciting rather than scary.
"Oh it’s a cloudburst" she said, "the clouds are so full they have burst on us, lets run and jump in it." "This is what wellies are for."
I remember rushing along in it holding Mum's hand in one hand and Selly in the other and the feel of the water dripping off my eyebrows and eyelashes and being so taken by the imagery of a new word, cloudburst. I have experienced cloudbursts a few times over the years and I am instantly transported back to that red welly walk.

Well we were drenched, not just damp but soaked.
Mum did what any Mum would do and hustled us indoors with towels, lit the fire (we had a real one) and whilst she was running the bath and making hot choc got us to strip off to pants and vests and sit in front of the fire in our dressing gowns.
Being the good girl I am, I went out to the kitchen to see if I could help-more likely looking to see if there were any biscuits to go with the hot chocSmile
Mum suddenly said “What’s that smell?”
Then “Oh God, what’s he burning?”
A mad wet rush of wet Mummy in wet, drippy clothes dashing past me to the lounge.
Me scarpering after her…
Where we found Little Ted’s feet smouldering in the fire.
“He was cold Mummy, I wanted to warm his feet up”
Poor Little Ted, his feet had melted and the fibres fused into plasticky brownness.
Little Ted wears a pair of Rich’s little brown patterned socks to this day to hide his poor little feet.

Rich meant well; and my goodness there are more tales to tell of well-meaning out-doing sense over the years.
This story was inspired by Sian’s Story-telling Sunday series that she has hosted this year.
I hope She runs it again another year.
Please pop over to From High In The Sky if you haven’t arrived from there to see this months stories. There is always a lot of cracking stories to read.

18 comments:

  1. Oh that gorgeous little teddy and his socks, I really enjoyed your recount of how imaginative and fun your Mum was during the cloudburst!

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  2. I love Little Ted with his socks on and what a great story about him. It's reminded me of something similar my son did at around that age. I must jot it down for another Sunday. Fiona x

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  3. Awww poor Little Ted. He was lucky to have your Mum to come to the aid of his feet:) A lovely story and thanks for sharing.

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  4. Oh, no! I still have my Ted from when I was little and I'm really feeling Little Ted's anguish! The socks are an excellent fix though, it has to be said lol. Brothers, eh? What to do with them!

    This is a really lovely story and you have reminded me that I saw something about Lundy Island in the paper yesterday and thought of you and meant to go back and read it :) which I will do when I've been round the stories.

    Thanks for joining in today

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  5. Awww the poor wee thing - brought a lumpo to my throat. I have one such brother too!
    Sue x

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  6. Aww. Little Ted looks like my Big Ted. He and Tatty have woeful tales they could tell. I wonder what will happen to Adams future favourite softy?!

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  7. I have a teddy bear tale! Just a short one but it would be a good one for Storytelling Sunday so perhaps I'll tell that one in the run up to christmas. Thank you for sharing and inspiring!

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  8. Beautifully told Jen - how fab that Little Ted still has his socks on.

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  9. what a great story, I'm so glad Little Ted survived

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  10. Loved the way you told this story - really evocative. Poor Ted - though the socks were inspired!

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  11. Oh poor little Ted but he has a lovely fashion in socks now I bet.

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  12. I love that Little Ted is still wearing your brother's socks!
    Alison xx

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  13. Awww, Little Ted reminds me of my sister's teddy, which I think she still has too [but without the charred feet!]. Your description of the cloudburst and then getting dry at home sound just like something our Mam would have done for us too - which is why sharing stories is so great!

    It proves how alike we all are really doesn't it?

    Julie :-)

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  14. Poor little Ted! And how wise of your Mum to save this lovey with a pair of socks.

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  15. Cute piccy of Rich. And glad to hear that Little Ted survived.

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  16. So many lovely things to treasure in this story! What a great Mum too ...

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  17. What a wonderful story and how great that Little Ted survived to tell the tale and is still with you today :)

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  18. What a beautiful story - thank you :)

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Aren't you lovely, you have made me smile =)