Back in August, I wrote about Sailor Moon socks, a Japanese cartoon from when I was young. I was going to follow that up in September with a post about Care Bear socks, another cartoon from when I was a child. Unfortunately, because of sudden Covid restrictions, I was not able to complete that post. This month, I’m writing about those Care Bear socks, but this post has turned out very differently from what I had initially planned, because of Covid. I find that I can’t write about Care Bear socks without also writing about Covid!
I had booked my Covid vaccine for the 18th of August at a ‘good’ time. I had taken great effort to choose this date and time. My aunt even consulted a Chinese (feng shui) calendar for me to check for auspicious-ness. According to the Chinese calendar, the 18th of August was a good day for healing. Incidentally, it was also a good day for a wedding or for laying foundations.
The venue I chose for my Covid vaccine was a shopping mall, and my plan was to check out these Care Bear socks that were being sold in a shop in the mall while going for my vaccine. There were some things about the socks that I couldn’t find out online. That was the plan. But on 17th August, people in New Zealand were given less than 5 hours’ notice that the whole country was going into the highest level of lockdown (Level 4). I’ve learned that globally not all lockdowns are created equal. In New Zealand, level 4 lockdown meant that only supermarkets and pharmacies would be open. No shops would be open, not even for takeaway, drive-through or contact-less pick-up.
Additionally, all vaccinations were suspended for 48 hours, and subsequently all vaccine appointments booked for 18th August were cancelled. That’s 50 000 vaccine appointments that were cancelled that day, and mine was just 1 of the 50 000. I couldn’t believe it! I thought vaccinations were supposed to end lockdowns. Ironically, my vaccine appointment was cancelled because of lockdown. How can vaccinations not be an essential business during a pandemic? So, 18th August didn’t work out for me to have a vaccination, but it was good because I had already prepared. I had stocked up on food and booked sick leave from work in anticipation of any side effects from the vaccine, and I was able to go into lockdown immediately when it was announced. I didn’t leave the house, not even going outdoors for 15 days until my food supply started to run low. I rescheduled my vaccine appointment for another (in my mind) auspicious date and time. By that time, Covid restrictions had eased a little outside of Auckland, and shops were open again. So after a very long preamble, here’s more about Care Bear socks.
Care Bears were originally printed on greeting cards in the early 1980s. They were created by Those Characters from Cleveland (owned by American Greetings, a greeting card company) that also created the Strawberry Shortcake characters. Each Care Bear has a different colour and personality. From greeting cards, Care Bears then became plush toys in 1983, and had an animated TV series. Care Bears are making a comeback currently with new toys out, but I prefer the original toys and cartoons from the 1980s.
The Care Bear socks that I wanted to check out was a box set of 5 pairs of Care Bear socks in a box. When I went after lockdown, I couldn’t find the socks in the shop. I asked the sales assistant and she showed me a different box of Care Bear socks. I didn’t like this design or colours. I thought they were a bit grey and dull. Then, the sales assistant looked behind the counter and said, “We have one last box of the Care Bear socks you want, but they are faulty.” I asked, “Faulty, how?” I couldn’t imagine how socks could be faulty, unless they had a hole in them. It turned out that the fault was the box set of 5 pairs of socks was missing one pair. The sales assistant was prepared to sell me the ‘faulty’ box of socks at a 70% discount, and I was very happy to buy them at a discount.
Here are the Care Bear socks in a box. There is Tender Heart Bear, who is a lovable bear. He’s the leader of the Care Bears, and his socks say, ‘Today I need a hug’. Who doesn’t need a hug?
There is Funshine Bear, a yellow bear with a smiling sun on the tummy. Funshine Bear is a happy, sunshiny bear. The Funshine Bear socks are yellow, which is such a cheerful colour, and they say, ‘Today I’m sunny’.
My box of socks was missing the blue pair of Grumpy Bear socks. Grumpy Bear is a blue bear with thunder clouds on his tummy. He is a grumpy bear and rarely happy.
There was another blue pair of socks in the set, so it’s OK that I was missing Grumpy Bear. The other pair of blue socks was of Bedtime Bear. He is a lighter blue than Grumpy Bear. Bedtime Bear’s personality is always sleepy, and the Bedtime Bear socks say, ‘Today I need more sleep.’ Who doesn’t need more sleep?
I felt that it was my lucky day. I got my Covid vaccine, and I bought a box of Care Bear socks at a huge discount. These Care Bear socks are so cute and cheerful. I’m sure just wearing them will brighten your day.
shihyenshoes 