Specialist subject; the bleeding obvious

Joseph and I left the house the other morning and as he was about to climb into the car, he leant on it and walked along, wiping all the rain off the bodywork with his coat.

I looked at his arm and he followed my gaze and we both (comically) stared at the soaking wet sleeve of his jacket.

“What did you do that for?” I asked. “Now look what you’ve done! Your arm is all wet now!”

Joseph continued to stare at his arm, looked up at me, completely puzzled and said, “But it’s a raincoat Dad”.

There is nothing like the crushing voice of reason to stop you in your tracks and the fact that I was moaning that he had gotten his waterproof coat wet hit me in the face like the proverbial wet fish.

SLAP!

I got in the car myself, laughing at his 5 year old grasp of things which (still) elude me! “Oh yeah, heh heh heh ..... waterproof”, I exclaimed, like I’d learnt it for the first time.

“Am I grumpy sometimes Poops”, I enquired, knowing full well what the answer would be.

“Sometimes you moan”, he grinned.

“You’re right, I do. Ok then, next time I moan, tell me that I’m moaning and I’ll stop”.

The twinkle in his eye told me he would enjoy this power. We’ll see how it goes.

In other news, Annabel shows her ability at mimicry by doing a spot on impersonation of Joseph, announcing he is “going to Teta’s” (or Grandmother in Arabic).

Her transition from unsteady toddler to little girl is pretty much complete, all undertaken with effortless ease which, as I make a habit of saying here all too often, is both heart warming and heart-breaking at the same time.

On an entirely different note, from my office window today, I saw an old gent walking along the pavement; he stopped, looked around and then bent down to pick up a roll of brown tape. Pretty unremarkable I know, but what is it about finding something that makes us feel a little guilty?

Or is it just me?

Whether it’s a coin, a book or indeed, a roll of brown tape, there's that little niggle that someone might be watching us take it, nonchalantly walking on, heart quickening just a little.

No?

Just me then.

And on a different note from that different note, talking of my window, a chap from estates walked in and, without saying a word, opened the windows slightly, made a mark with chalk on the ‘opener’ (for want of a better word) and went to leave. I asked would he mind telling me what he was doing.

“Oh, I dunno, it’s some EU ‘fing. Sumfink to do wiv European standards of safety; you’re only gonna be allowed to open your office window this far”, he said, opening the window out to where his chalk mark was. “To stop people committing suicide I fink”.

Of all the cheek! Some faceless entity has decided that, should I wish to end it all, I am not allowed to chuck myself out of a window to do it!

What a liberty!

If, like me, you find the subject of the goings on of the European Union and the decisions made therein a total bore, then you really should read Mark Mardell’s splendid blog.

It makes what goes on in Brussels all worthwhile.

Read it here

Well, go on then!!!