Laughing stock

This is my most beloved childhood teddy bear Alex (female; named after the girl who lived next door when I got her aged 2).

She provokes tears of hilarity in the eyes of whichever of my friends I show her to. It's true that she looks like a sad old thing, with particularly threadbare arms, a wonky face and very dirty fur. Teddies only normally look this decrepit after about 50 years, not 27.

However there may not be a single item on this Earth that I love more. I want to wash her but I don't think she would survive!

She was originally a polar bear, a replacement for the first one I lost in the snow. Ha!