Monty Bear's Day Out as Blair Remains

Monty at the Fashion Show

Today was Monty's day. Monty is a lovable teddy that I won around 2005 in a naming competition and he is part of the Thomas household. I invoted him along on my networking day as there was a special treat in store for him at the end of the day.

Having a teddy bear with you changes things. There's the sudden hidden smile when people see him peeking out of your bag as you wait for the bus, the fascination by the young girl who travels with her Mother to St Ives every week, and the unfazedness of the driver when I claim Monty is under Ticket age.

There was a bit of window shopping and seeing the sights of St Ives before entering the Taproom for the A14 Networking. Chocolate came his way from Karen, where normally it would be accumulating in the other direction and people were happy to be photographed with him.

Later at the Norris Museum, Monty met up with Ali's teddy, inbetween looking on as I worked on the map sites and then it was on to Huntingdon.

Monty took to travelling by bus like a duck to water. The Guided Busway's B service is mainly double-deckers, so we made a beeline for the top floor and the front seats. Here we shared the elevated view as we travelled between the two towns and then wound around the tortuous route through the Oxmoor estate till we reached the bus station.

I think going to Wetherspoons was the first time Monty had been to a pub. Initially, he was quite reserved, but after the food and drinks came, he loosened up a bit and Paula in particular took him to her heart. I had an appointment with Joan, to do an interview for her with Tony over in Ramsay. Her dog took an immediate liking for Monty and ran off with him to play. After a short while, Monty politely extricated himself and from there on stayed out of reach on the table as the interview progressed.

At any other networking Friday, we would then have made our way home, however, Monty's starring role was to come. I'd volunteered to be a male fashion model with four others from the A14 Network, significantly outnumbered by female models. This was a cancer charity event organised by Karen and Janet Williams (unrelated). I'd never modelled before, and to my knowledge, neither had Monty. By appearing together on the catwalk, we gave each other the confidence to show of those pyjamas I was wearing!

The evening went well, with the male models distinguishing themselves particularly, I felt, through sheer style, maturity and charisma, with only minor lapses by Paul. Monty and I watched the remaining ladies and children strut their stuff on the catwalk after we had changed back into our everyday clothes.

The after-show shopping frenzy and cheerful socialising led to Monty meeting another bear in high spirits. Eventually it was time to leave and say goodbye.

Overall, Monty's outing was a success and we returned home, tired and happy.

Trump continues to play to his crowd in the US, again deflecting from serious political issues by labeling the serious press as 'Enemies of the People'.

Over here in the UK, Tony Blair re-enters, stage centre left.  He is throwing his weight behind Open Britain and actively taking up the cause of the EU remainers. Immediate outcry from the brexiteers, government ministers and some of Labour, decrying his re-entry into British politics as a reviled figure of the past.

Blair seems unperturbed, stating that he is free to express his opinions.

But some are pointing out that whilst you might dislike the messenger, some parts of the message are relevant and deserve to be raised. His words resonated with the Liberals and with the SNP.

The niggling worry is, will Blair's involvement work for or against those trying to maintain a rational counter to the headlong rush into Brexit. The current situation is so febrile and polarised, rational facts take a lesser status than issues of personality, perception and opinion.