A good weekend

Young man on top of an access tower, drilling a hole

The working week usually ends with several wishes that I “have a good weekend”. I confidently predict that tomorrow will include a similar number of enquiries of “did you have a good weekend?”

As a matter of fact I did thank you.

I look back, this Sunday evening, to a remarkably good weekend – hence taking up my quill.

I was vaguely aware on Friday that there was a job to do – for which we’d hired an access tower – and that I was hoping that using a tower, as opposed to a ladder, would reduce, if not eliminate, my ridiculous fear of heights. It didn’t. But thankfully, my son has no such fear. He volunteered to help and, well, if he was genuine, it would be terrific.

My relationship with my son has been up and down for the last few years, so spending the day doing a job that needed him to do things I can’t do – and him doing them well – was an absolute joy. It was the best day I’ve had for many years. Not because we got the job done (which we almost did) but simply because we did it together.

The day got better. Confirmation came through that Trump had been defeated by Biden (huge relief, the world is a better place with his catastrophic term now ending). Having successfully coaxed just enough life out of my old phone to extract and save 5 years' worth of images, my wife then made the pasta dish I always choose when it’s available (puttanesca) – delicious. Our daughter joined in the family quiz for the first time, and my wife and I won, also for the first time. There were no cross words all day from either child – and that is a joy in itself.

Saturday was a good day.

Sunday came and… no son to help finish the job. At midday we’re texting and phoning and not getting a reply. Humph… Alright, nothing for it, we’ll have to do it ourselves, which was rather daunting.

No sooner had we set to work when the phone rang. If you’re not going to come back to finish a job, well, becoming a dad to a 6lb 13 oz baby girl is a pretty good reason.

A new-born baby girl

Her first gift? Not just one but two ankle bracelets with GS1-conformant barcodes.

It has indeed been a good weekend. Thanks for asking.