Snippets of Downshire Life – Winnie the Pooh Day

On the west side of Downshire is the town of Northchapel which had always been the Industrial powerhouse of the County and although it doesn’t physically occupy its centre it is the beating heart of the Region.

In recent generations its fortunes had suffered greatly but in the 21^st century major regeneration of the town was underway.

And in amongst the maze of roads, crescents, and cul-de-sacs of the new housing developments, lived seventy-four-year-old widow, Howard Rawlins and his Jack Russell Sparky.

 

Every night at ten o’clock he took Sparky for a walk, and it was always a pleasant yet uneventful ritual they both went through last thing every night before turning in, and then it was Christmas time again, as if anyone could fail to notice, within five minutes of leaving the house he saw more than half a dozen houses decorated to the hilt.

But that was nothing compared to some of the homes on view during his and Sparky’s late evening walks.

Houses bedecked with every coloured light imaginable, Santa's on the roof or climbing a ladder, sleighs, elves, snowmen, angels, reindeer, bells, stars, baubles and last but by no means least, at one particular house, standing almost four feet high, and seated in the middle of the lawn was that perennial Christmas favourite, Winnie the Pooh.
“Wait a minute” he said to Sparky “what does Pooh have to do with Christmas?”

Sparky however declined to answer as he was preoccupied with sniffing a lamppost.

So, he said no more but as their walked continued on the nights following he spotted Pooh often, not at every other house, but a lot seemed to have one so he figured that there must be something in it.
He was a regular church goer, and had been all his life, but he didn’t recall mention of him in the bible and in the many nativity plays he had seen over the years he was conspicuous by his absence and although there was definitely a donkey, it was not Eeyore.
The stable did not house Piglet, and the wise men did not travel from the east with Tigger bearing gifts of Huney.
Nor in any of the Christmas traditions around the world is there a single reference to Pooh as one of Santa's helpers.
There was Black Peter, The Jolly Elf, even the devil figure, Krampus, but no Pooh, but people still gave him pride of place on their lawns at Christmas.

The Decorations began to disappear in the days following Christmas, some as early as the 27^th of December, a lot on New Year’s Day, those homes belonging to the superstitious removed theirs on 12^th night and the remainder waited until the weekend after, which was when the large Winnie the Pooh was removed from the lawn.

 

Two weeks later Howard was sitting beside the fire reading the newspaper with Sparky at his feet, when a story caught his eye about events around the county celebrating Winnie the Pooh Day and he said.

“Today is the day when the 4ft Pooh should be in pride of place on number 75s lawn, Sparky, not Christmas, I wonder if they even know”

Sparky lifted one ear in response and that was the sum total of his interest.

Later that night they went out for their usual walk and took their usual route but when they got close to number 75, Howard stopped in his tracks and laughed, because in the middle of their lawn was the illuminated 4ft Pooh, but he was surrounded by two dozen other, of various sizes and in different poses.

“Well, I guess they do know its Winnie the Pooh day then Sparks” he said, but Sparky was only interested in getting on with their walk.