I took my two smallest children to the movies yesterday.
They were very excited and as I like Dr Suess, I didn’t mind a bit.
It was a simple story, but well told.
Great fun, and the moral: ‘A person’s a person, no matter how small’, was loved by my children.

I encountered a man on the Victoria line platform in Euston the other day.
He was black, about thirty and dressed in quite upper class clothes.
What was strange was the rocking motion he was making.
It was like the way mad bears rock when confined for too long.
I asked him if he was all right, but he simply lowered his head and started turning in circles.
I don’t know what concerned me the most; the fact that no-one else even seemed to notice or that I left it at that and made no further attempt to help him.

My three year old boy started Football club last week.
It’s an hour on Saturday mornings and I go with my brother-in-law and his two boys.
They’re four and six.
I was amazed at my son’s ability. Normally he falls over if he runs more than a few yards, but put a ball between his feet and he’s not only more balanced but seemingly faster too.
Despite being one of the youngest, he was one of the best.
Proud.

Yesterday my wife and I drove down to Burwash for my Aunt’s funeral.
It was scheduled for 11.30am but we couldn’t leave until after 9.30am due to the children’s school.
Still two hours should have been plenty…
Never trust the M25.
Or alternatively; Always trust the M25 to let you down.
At the section just before the Dartford tunnel we sat practically still for about an hour.
Finally, for no apparent reason, we started moving again.
Driving as fast as I dared, we got to the Crematorium just fifteen minutes late.
Snuck in the back as quietly as we could.
Ultimately though, we were there to show our support for my grieving Uncle.

I went to Tallinn with a group of old friends for a long weekend.
It was great. We ate, drank, and shot some guns.
Trouble was that my interest in the clubs and casino’s was non-existent.
Invariably I was back at the hotel by around 1am.
My friends would roll in at five or six in the morning and be dead until the following afternoon. (Just in time to repeat the cycle.)
This left me about four hours each day after breakfast before I’d see them.
It was actually pretty good.
I saw the old walled city. I found a few art galleries and the city museum.
One of my friends actually organised for the two of us to go to the ballet!
Best of all though was getting home to my wife and children.

I’d planned my kitchen to perfection.
I’d measured the walls.
I’d worked out the most expedient placement of cupboards.
I’d chosen hardy and strong components.
I’d thought of everything!
OK, not everything.
I hadn’t considered the overlap of the granite worktop.
I’d left exactly 90cm for the stand-alone oven.
With the granite worktop, I had exactly 89cm.
Schoolboy error.

My wife organised tickets to see ‘Charlottes web’ last weekend.
It’s probably very ‘un-cool’ to admit it, but it was my favourite book as a child.
I must have been eleven or twelve.
Although a children’s book, it contained several bitter-sweet notions: How a girls affections are fleeting, the importance of a promise, how one person can make a difference, the miracle of life and finally loss and death.
The spider Charlotte was probably my first ‘love’.
The stage play was true and well performed and I have to admit, I shed a tear when poor, good and noble Charlotte died.