Curse the damned weather! Bryan and I were due to go up to London this weekend for a fun Go Ape Session, but the weather forecast is not pleasant. I for one don’t fancy meandering through Battersea Park with heavy wind and rain lashing at us all the way. So, we’ve postponed it to the following weekend, and that gives us a weekend at home instead.
That’s not something that bothers me. It’s nice to get out and about but being at home is a nice way to spend some time. Bryan and I even baked a cake this morning, which I think is very impressive for two people whose baking skills begin and end with Betty Crocker’s finest. By the by, did you know that Betty Crocker isn’t real? I’d always assumed that Ms Crocker had either founded the company or was a leading light within it – but no. She was made up as a family-friendly face of a faceless corporation. It’s a small thing, in the grand scheme of the universe, but still a bit of a shocker.
Moving on from the controversies of the baking world, I’ve now got another week off, in which we intend to take it very slow and calm. I continue to struggle with the concept of my son moving into Year 9 at school, where we will soon begin to discuss options, his first GCSE exam (they start early), and onwards to his next stage of academic life. I went to Holy Cross in Broadstairs many moons ago (well, it would have to be, given that the school’s been shut down and demolished for a hell of a long time), and I don’t actually remember receiving my GCSE grades. I did go in and pick them up, but it’s all very hazy.
I remember collecting my A-Level results, though; that was two years later at Dane Court, and I was hopeful of some reasonable grades. One of my subjects had been Sociology, which I’d found really interesting, and I was expecting a B or a C in the subject. My first impression that I might have done well in the subject was when I approached the sixth form building and saw one of my sociology teachers standing in the entrance. He saw me, beamed, and shook my hand. But when I went into the building and saw the head of sixth form, she congratulated me. I can’t repeat the exact sentence she told me, at least not in writing, but when I opened the envelope, I thought something pretty similar in my head. I’d received an A in Sociology, and not done badly in my other subjects as well.
I tell this to Bryan every now and then to remind him that we all get through our exams somehow. At the time, they’re incredibly stressful, but now I can barely remember anything about them. The topics were interesting, and I did learn a lot, but I’ve also gained a lot of experience in the real world, as well as gained a few other qualifications that have broadened my mind.
As a student, it’s difficult to know where your life is going to take you. If you’d told my 18 year old self that I would be a dad in my forties, doing a lot of different things and with some published books behind me, I would have assumed you were absolutely mad. That wasn’t my life plan at 18. My career path has taken a winding trajectory over the past twenty-five years. There are people who have stayed in the same profession (if not the same employer) for their working lives; my dad was a journalist for his career, and I’ve known people who have spent their careers in the NHS.
For me, I’ve wandered; I’ve been a library assistant, an administrator, a communications officer. I’ve worked in local councils, a few local businesses, and a couple of charities. I never wanted to work from home until Covid hit, and then I found out that it worked really well for me as a single dad. I don’t think I’d ever want to go back into an office full-time. I get my work, and with modern technology, it doesn’t matter where I work from. Times have changed during the first half of my career and, given that I’ll inevitably be working for another twenty-eight or thirty years, I’m intrigued to see what the next half will bring.
Whatever Bryan chooses to do with his career – and dancing is the passion that consumes him the most – I know I’ll be proud of him, and I can’t wait to see where his life takes him.
