Saturday 2nd November
At one of our
recent family gatherings, there were various social interactions, of course,
between the younger generation, most of whom are under ten.
Xavier* was
later debriefing with his grandmother, Miranda*.
“So did you
enjoy being with your cousins, darling?”
Deep sigh. “Yes, mostly.” (Xavier is a kindly, gentle boy, very much
admired by the younger ones.) “But the
little girls sometimes annoy me, just a bit.
And one of them kept climbing all over me and wanting to pat my
hair. I hope you don’t mind, but in the
end, I said, GO AWAY, JOSIE*!!”
“That’s OK, I
do understand. What did she do?”
Xavier looked
deeply mortified.
“Well, she told
me to fuck off you… I couldn’t possibly tell you what she called
me. It is SO rude. Actually I don’t think you would have even
heard this word, it is so awful.”
Miranda drew a
deep breath, prepared for The Worst Word, and said, “Well maybe you could spell
it, if you don’t want to say it.”
Xavier, still
deeply troubled, said. “OK…It was
B-I-T-C-H…”
So very
funny... Fuck off was apparently
quite OK for general conversation but bitch
was too dreadful a word to be shared with his grandmother.
A parcel
arrived for our family recently… Two big boxes – gollyandgosh, whatever could
they contain??
Katy and Jeff
opened the box after the children were asleep to find solid layers of
children’s movies… In the box was a note from their favourite uncle, saying, “I
hope the children enjoy these movies.
But watch out, some of them might be in Japanese…”
This particular
favourite uncle is getting leaner and meaner by the day. Well not mean, in fact, quite the
opposite. He has been sending, from
afar, parcels of fabulous gifts. Little
tribal dresses, all mirrors and ribbons, for the little girls. Go-Pro action sports cameras for each family. Persian rugs and kaftans for The Girls.
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| Michael and me, Townsville marina - typical pose (April) |
When we were
with Michael in Townsville earlier this year, he was quite a hefty lad. Strong and quite fit, but the ground shook a
bit beneath his feet. Where he is now,
he is on an enforced detox. No alcohol,
no junk food, lots of opportunities for strenuous exercise. I think he is very pleased with himself, as
well he might be.
 |
Michael preparing for a fun run, recently |
* Names changed
to save possible embarrassment…
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