if bears were bees @helenapelsmae

By Helena Pelsmaekers

It’s a very funny thought that if bears were bees

They’d build their nests at the bottom of trees

And that being so (if the bees were bears)

We shouldn’t have to climb up these stairs

Before the Christmas break, I went to the exhibition in the V&A about Winnie The Pooh. It was mostly because of the nostalgia I get from it, as a child, I (and probably everyone else) read it quite often. We were pretty obsessed with it. We bought similar bears, saw the animated series, hung copies of the drawings in our bathroom and there were big stickers of Pooh and his friends on my bedroom wall from even before I can remember.

When I was 18 I got into an adolescent period where everything childish had to go. So I wanted to redo my bedroom and got rid of the Pooh bear stickers. I had them for more than 15 years and saw them pretty much as the last thing every day before I went to sleep and first thing when I woke up. But I took them off very delicately to keep them intact, probably just for sentimental reasons which gave me a lot of work filling the holes it made.

The museum brought back a lot of nostalgic feelings but the thing that was surprising me the most was how well written they are even though they are written for children. There is so much sarcasm in it and hidden humour that flies over children's heads but reaches adults. It’s funny that it entertained me as a child and still can as a grown up. And let’s not forget the fact that it’s written in 1920 and is still relevant to date.

So I bought the books after the visit, and I read it whenever I don’t want to stick my nose in advertising literature or school work. It shows that something can be timeless and still be inspiring even if the moment you read it was when you were 6.