A Day Well Spent

 Today I will be spending the day with the love of my life, my pride and joy, my daughter. We are to attend the Gallery of Modern Art where they are showing an exhibition called Another World. It includes some great works from Dali and the other surrealists. Then we head back to the book festival to listen to one of our favourite crime authors, Mark Billingham.

So it looks like today will be a day when I will be full of pride and together we will have a good time, and once again she will lead me off the straight and narrow. In other words I may have an ale, let me say that again I may have two ales.

We are very alike, my daughter and I, we both love to let our hair down and we both love to debate and discuss.

She has always been an independent person, once her mind was made up it was hard to make her shift. If she decided that wellington boots and a summer dress was what she was wearing it was best just to go along with her. At a very early age she insisted on going to the shops herself, with her trollybag and purse. This involved me phoning various friends along the route to look out and make sure she was safe.

When she got older, and left home to go to university, I told her I would rather not know what was happening. She laughed and said. “Dad I will share the edited version with you.”

The truth was I never really worried about her. Unlike the mother who got the following letter from her son when he was away from home at scout camp.

Dear Mum



We are having a great time here in the highlands. Mr Ross, the scout leader, is making us all write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and worried. We are OK. Only 1 of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Barry when it happened.



Oh yes, please call Barry’s mother and tell her he is OK. He can't write because of the plaster on his arm. I got to ride in one of the search & rescue jeeps. It was neat. We never would have found him in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning. Mr Ross got mad at Barry for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Barry said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him.



Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas can will blow up? The wet wood still didn't burn, but one of our tents did. Also some of our clothes. John is going to look weird until his hair grows back.



We will be home on Saturday if Mr Ross gets the minibus fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked OK when we left. Mr Ross said that a minibus as old as ours you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance on it. We think it's a neat van. He doesn't care if we get it dirty; and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the tailgate. It gets pretty hot with 10 people inside. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the police stopped and talked to us.



Mr Ross is a neat guy. Don't worry. He is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Terry how to drive. But he only lets him drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up there are forestry trucks.



This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake. Mr Ross wouldn't let me because I can't swim and Barry was afraid he would sink because of his cast, so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood. Mr Ross isn't strict and moany like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets.



He has to spend a lot of time working on the car so we are trying not to cause him any trouble. Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Dave dove in the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works.



Also Wade and I threw up. Mr Ross said it probably was just a touch of food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said they got sick that way with the food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he was doing his time.



I have to go now. We are going into town to mail our letters and buy bullets. Don't worry about anything. We are fine.



Love, David.



I hope you all have a great day Like I will surely have. Yes I know I am suffering the pride of a father.

Forgive me I will not be reading any blogs today. Ha ha.

This blog is linked to my other. Autumnal Abstract