"TV's, deep freeze and David Bowie LP's ....."

It is an irony that the general public (or Joe Plumbers if you are reading this "Stateside"), often find themselves rooting for the bad guy on TV, or even the very bad guy. I'm not talking about the underdog as I always cheer on the underdog. I'm talking about the con merchants, the tricksters, thieves and scamsters.

In the late 70's and early 80's there was Arthur Daley; a lazy, gin-guzzling conman with pound signs in his eyes who;

a) would sell his own Grandmother for a few quid

b) treated his minder/right-hand man Terry McCann as a general dogsbody and

c) resolutely refused to settle his bar tab with local landlord Dave Harris (brilliantly played by grumpy looking Glynn Edwards).

While Terry (Dennis Waterman) was trying his hardest to help Arthur's customers, Arthur himself was double crossing everyone, happily dropping Terry into difficult situations, enabling a quick getaway for himself.

As unlikeable as Arthur should have been, you would always find yourselves praying for him to avoid getting a biff on the nose from some disgruntled customer who had been 'had over'.

Terry was also extremely likeable even though he had just finished serving three years in prison for GBH and armed robbery. Society dictates, at least in real life, that we should not like these types.

But we often do.

The series Minder was very popular, running on ITV from 1979 for 10 years with it's original cast and it seemed the series could no wrong, although the pair did release a novelty song in 1983 called What Are We Gonna Get 'Er Indoors? which seemed to push their luck somewhat!

(No such problems for me though - I bought a copy!!)

The BBC must've been sat there thinking to themselves, 'hang on a minute, this formula of cockney wide-boy steals public hearts looks like a real winner', and within barely two years of Minder starting, another sneaky, thieving character hit the television screen in the shape of Del' Boy, a Peckham born chancer who, like George Cole's character Arthur, did whatever it took to avoid settling his bar tab with the landlord of his local boozer.

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what a hit the extended Trotter family turned out to be and the British public (myself included), grew to not only like the characters but also relate to them; everybody knew a Del' Boy, doing what he had to do to survive. If he bent the rules along the way, wouldn't anybody? Isn't everyone just trying to make a living, trying to make a pound or two?

Another individual much closer to my heart also looks like being 'a good little earner'. He is always wondering how to earn the next handful of change, how much he can get by doing some chores around the house and don't get me started on what he has planned should he win the lottery!! You won't find him on television though; he isn't the product of some clever writer's imagination.

He is my son.

The other evening he came into the kitchen while I was preparing dinner and asked for a piece of notepaper and a pen. The image at the top of this post is the outcome of this request.

To be fair to him, he was wearing a smile of Cheshire Cat proportions as he slapped the note down on the counter, aware of what my reaction might be.

Still, having seen a Lamborghini drive past us the other week and annoucing that he would one day own a car just like it, I am pleased for him that he looks pretty serious about making plenty of cash. I will do my best to teach him that there is more to life than money but, if I get the blend just right, he will study hard and decide relatively early on what he would like to do for work.

Good for you Joseph.

Oh, by the way, the image below was my response.