Monday 20 May 2013

Daddy Cool

2013-05-16 10.34.00So, it appears there’ll be a new addition to Sam’s Town in just under 6 months. Photographic evidence exists. This is, it seems, actually happening.

I’ll still be a tad sceptical until it pokes its little head out and flutters its eyelids for the first time. Sure, my wife’s waistband might well expand beyond all proportions but there could be any number of explanations for that. And as for the pictures – well, they could be anyone’s baby, couldn’t they? No sign of my blue eyes or a genetic susceptibility to shoulder dislocations quite yet…

It’s all a bit odd really. Out of nowhere we’re suddenly rifling through boxes we’d forgotten even existed, clearing a little bit of space here, a little bit of space there – presumably to give me somewhere to hide when the crying (mine or the baby’s?) gets all a bit too much. We’re painting walls and dismantling things like there’s no tomorrow. Saws are out, hammers are misused and kitchen knives are delightfully deployed to carve through whatever unwanted material we can lay our hands on.

I have begun asking such questions as ‘do you think a child could bang their head on that?’, assuming (quite logically) that reckless abandon will indeed be their middle name. I have stood in the doorway to our living room, hand on chin, picturing just how it will all look, like a film director checking out the suitability of the setting for the unfolding drama ahead. And as for the cat, well, she has been well and truly warned of what lies ahead for her…

Apparently we are now at shrimp size. Last week it was lime. In fact, I believe every measurement used to determine the growth has been something edible. Slightly concerning. Still, I prefer shrimps to lime and so I suppose we’re heading in the right direction. When we finally get up to duck size we’ll really be talking.

I suppose the big question we’re all asking is, what will this mean for the future of this blog?

No? Not even one of you?

Well, just in case, be assured that I have no plans to produce a daily record of every development. In fact, I doubt I’ll even stretch to a weekly or monthly report. But every now and again, up I’ll pop and this page will surprise us all with the fact that it’s finally been updated.

In other news, it’s exam season and so it’d be nice if those I’ve taught produced something readable. Hopefully they might even cause an examiner to smile and go tick-crazy in a flurry of Sam-induced praise that justifies my existence over the past 8 months or so. That would be nice. Achievement is always nice.

As for me, well, I’ve achieved a blog post and that hasn’t happened for a long time, so that’s a metaphorical pat on the back for me. Oh, and I’ve created a baby. At least, I’ve done something to help kick-start a new life and that can’t be too bad, can it?

Wednesday 2 January 2013

Let’s start the new year right

flag
Something tells me it’s not going to be quite as good a year for flags as 2012.
Perhaps for just a few minutes, as Sky’s Breaking News banner informs us that Kate has finally given birth after no doubt enduring hours of ‘gruelling labour’ (their words, not mine), we will raise our flags for one final hurrah, clinging on to the spirit of 2012 by our union-jack-painted fingernails. But weeks of overenthusiastic, shoulder-dislocating-levels of waving? I’m afraid I can’t see it.
2013 looks like going down in history as the ‘meh’ year. The year in which we sit around in dusty cafes mourning the loss of 365 days we’ll never have back, flicking through channel after channel in desperate search of five precious minutes of blind 5-a-side football to keep the spirit flowing. No Olympics. No Euros. No World Cup. Not even a Jubilee. Just 365 days of normality. 365 days of life.
Stifle the yawn if you can and remember that fridge magnets, t-shirts, posters and who knows what else are providing the solution to our national stupor: When all the light seems to have gone, Keep Calm and Carry On (italics, capitals and the opening phrase are mine – lawyers on standby).
Carry on. Continue as before, with a song in your heart and a flag in your hand, and do it with a calmness that will keep the neighbours at bay. Sounds like a plan.
Amidst the calm, permit yourself an ounce of excitement that the next 12 months might in fact offer more than expected. 2012 promised much and delivered much, much more. 2013 promises precious little and so just imagine how surprised we’ll all be if something good happens. The re-opening of Woolworths perhaps? The creation of a new business called Banana that wipes Apple and Orange out of the financial fruit-bowl? A new Sam Lenton novel/play/film/blog post?
Possibilities abound. If any abound in my direction, I’ll be sure to let you know but for now let me simply bid you a ‘Satisfactory New Year’ and I’ll leave you to put those flags back in the attic for the next 6 months or so. The moment the news comes, you have my permission to go crazy – Olympic crazy, if you will – and risk wrist injury with every fibre of your being as we welcome the Union Jack back into our lives one more time.
Over to you Harry to plan 2014’s magic moment…

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BREAKING NEWS! (of the non-Sky variety): My novel Accidental Crime is currently only 99p on Kindle. A complete and utter bargain, even if I do say so myself. Go on. Treat yourself. Tell yourself that Sam says it's OK. And then tell others. There really are no limits to this news.

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