I'll just get on this comfy looking couch... (Or, move along now, nothing to see here.)
Lots of sad stories, lots of funny ones. Good going. I wish my post was going to fall into either of those categories, it's probably more a stream of conciousness. (So apologies.)

In the short time my dad wasn't drinking, he was ok. He taught me archery, how to shoot, how to kill. (People sadly. I've never had the need as yet!) But not the usual life skills a man should know. He taught me to drive and ride a motorcycle when I was eight, how to start a fire and live wild, how sleight of hand works, he was a big fan of the magic circle.

He achieved things in his life I can only dream of, yet died a poor man. He got across the Iron curtain (and back) with no passport- during the war. He blew up enemy camps in Palestine by living under a sunlamp and learning Arabic to blend in. (I wish I knew more about his army life, I think it might explain a lot. He made me swear never to join the army as "Sitting in a freezing puddle for days on end listening to your best mate get tortured is not a life I'd recommend. And that's just the training.")

He had a terrific sense of humour, but I was only witness to this for the few years he was straight.
I'm not sure what a father figure should be, (I'm not going into all the bad stuff here. This is a happy cathartic post for me.) But my wife tells me I'm doing a great job with our kids which makes me very happy.

I cried when I found out he'd died, and cried again at the funeral. In the last years of his illness he showed me more that he loved me than ever before in my life. Once he'd lost the power of speech I could read more than if he still had it.

He gave me sage advice. One driving lesson- "Everybody on the roads is an idiot" (True) "Speak softly and carry a big stick." (Very handy!)
But one bit I found after he'd died kind of summed him up. It was on a personal organiser he never used. "You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again."

Dad- I wish you could have seen my kids. They're great- you'd have liked them.


Apologies again. Cathartic post and all that.
( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Fri 26 Nov 2010, 13:44, Reply)