well, this morning i was woken up with two wonderful events. first off was James wishing to watch, as a matter of some urgency (to him), Wonder Pets. secondly, as i kind of dozed off on the couch whilst James watched Wonder Pets (sorry Ming Ming, no offence!), my Dad calling to say thank you for his birthday presents. nice one, it's always a good feeling when you get gifts right!
and then, as the title suggests, Happy Birthday Dad! we hope you are having a good time up on a brief "holiday" of sorts! it should be a good day as long as you avoid the TV between 4 and 6 this afternoon, don't spoil your day with the inevitable!
happily, by co-incidence i have been busy scanning pictures again. there are probably enough ace pictures and wonderful memories to fill up several web pages, but let me limit it here to just a few!
first up, and regular readers will be of the view that this was a favourite holiday of mine, let's head to the Torquay / Cornwall holiday of 1983!
this was indeed an ace holiday - Richard wearing a t-shirt of The King, a great camp site where we met all sorts of interesting people and made brief "holiday friends", going off on a blow up dinghy with Dad and some fishing lines, learning to admire the fine art of admiring ladies wearing only 50% of their bikinis with the legendary, loved Steve Lloyd, a Radio One Roadshow, The Kinks Come Dancing dominating the chart and radio play, and the debut of a certain band called Frankie Goes To Hollywood......
the camp site also had a great entertainment centre on a night, where we coerced Dad into a competition where you had to pretend to be James Bond. i have no memory at all of who won, but watching Dad running around, doing ninja chops and an ace jumping head-butt on some imaginary SPECTRE agents made him the winner in our eyes!
onto February 1988, and our (up to now) last picture together at Scotta House Farm.
this was just before we all headed here to our new home. we may all have moved backwards and forwards in our lives here, but we also benefited from a great home built by our Dad, and we all have found love, happiness and our place in the world. all thanks to our Dad - nice one.
i have no doubt that Dad is proud of most of the things we have done with our lives (i suspect that he wouldn't have minded if Richard, Gillian and i had not damaged quite as many cars as we have), and it's always a great feeling to make him proud, considering all he has done for us over the years. little would probably top the look on his face and in his eyes on our wedding days or when he met his grandchildren for the first time, but every now and then there are other moments. like, for instance, when i graduated with my first degree (yes, i have more than one. i am that clever when it suits me, thank you). here, then, is me with my father and my father with his father just before my graduation ceremony.
it was a great day, and as i think i may have mentioned before, one of a number of instances involving something to do with me where Richard had pinched the suit that my Dad intended to wear for the day.
and finally, a republish of a picture, but one of the most important pictures of my Dad there is!
it's important not only because my Dad looks incredibly cool in it (cooler than i could ever look, as my friends are always thrilled to point out to me), but because this is the man our Mum fell in love with, and made us three (and our wonderful families) possible.
i might not have paid attention and learned all that i have from you straight away Dad, but all the good things i am are because i did, in my usual, roundabout sort of way, eventually pay attention. i am still listening and learning, and hope to be doing so for a very good deal more time yet. Happy Birthday once again, Dad - happy reading and watching!!!!!!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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