Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Santa Claus is coming to town

hi there

how is it all going over in New Zealand? well, going on the email i received this morning, it seems that Dad has his scanner working, if not his DVD player.

he sent me the following advert, which at first glance i assumed was on that he had placed in anticipation of the Christmas season and his gallery.



as it turns out, no he is not advertising this himself, he's considering applying for it and has asked me to provide some sort of reference. well, when i say he is considering applying for it, i rather suspect Mum has told him that he is going to apply for it, as it represents some 3 to 4 hours of a day that she shall not have to witness or be expected to participate in his usual shenanigans.

a reference you want, is it? no problem......

must be physically fit and healthy...... yep, no problem on that front. whereas over the years my Dad may well have indulged in typical borgeouis cuisine, such as eating roasted swan whilst having Frank Sinatra perform for him, he has over the last ten years or so engaged in a rigid and impressive bout of healthy eating and healthy living.

.......with a great smile. seems to have won my Mum over for quite a few years now, so yep.

now it gets interesting

outgoing personality. on my word yes. few, if any, are ever in any doubt at all about what is on his mind, and indeed if he is displeased by something all the more so. those that have displeased him, be they insolent delivery men, florists, airline employees or anyone simply "not walking properly" in his vicinity will all testify that they have never, ever experienced a more outgoing personality than when he discussed whatever the problem was with them.

a knack for interacting with children. to this he will simply state "i have three children and they have all turned out OK". interestingly the only time we hear this from him is when he feels obliged to air this particular sentence. he has - presently - six grandchildren, all of which adore him. what aspects of him do they love the most? difficult to say, really, for there are so many. i suspect they are rather grateful for the life lessons he gives in the form of making them all work in his garden the moment they could so much as crawl. suggesting that "a damned good thrashing" is the response to anything they do, be it accidentally spill milk or get awards and merits from school, teaches them the benefits of consistency. his routine and regular declaring one specific grandchild as being his "absolute favourite" (usually based on which one has been quiet the longest) builds in them all a healthy sense of competition, too. a further highlight would be his continuous quest to expand the vocabulary of children, too. i believe James was no more than 2 when he had mastered complex phrases such as "bloody thing" and "get in there you little bugger".

yep, that's all those boxes ticked. i fail to see how anyone else but my Dad can get this job, in particular if he has grown his beard once again.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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