Goodbye

A final posting on this blog to let all those who knew and loved my dad that he finally lost his brave fight against cancer last Friday afternoon. It took a long time to beat him but there was no escape in the end. I am so proud of his bravery and selflessness throughout. He was a very special man and as the hole he has left behind begins to open up, we will all have to try our hardest over time not to fall in too deep.

If you want to join us to celebrate his life, the funeral has been arranged for Friday 18 May at Linn Crematorium, going on to Cowglen golf club afterwards.

Thanks, Phyl xx

(Maybe I should add three commas at the end - just to make this posting feel more authentic? ,,,)

My Old Pal

I have a friend. He's 80 past ; how I'll never know !
You see, he has an eating disorder. This takes the form of, eh, having a very restrictive diet !
His problem is ; His Mammy didn't skelp his arse when he was a we'an ! That is, the silly woman let this small infant kid dictate what he would & wouldn't eat ,,, Apparently it all started when she once tried to force him to eat Porridge as a wee boy ! ( only oor bloody National staple !)
Anyway this manifests itself today ( and all the days I've known him !" ) into fetishes like ,,,
Oh I don't like that !  To wit my reply is, ( ALWAYS )  but have you ever tried it ?
And strangely enough the answer is ( ALWAYS ) ,, eh, naw, I just know I wouldn't like it !!  Save me !!
He'll take HP sauce if it's out of the original GLASS bottle but absolutely not if it comes from a plastic version ,,, or worse, if someone should put it into a dainty little sauce dish !
He'll eat nothing that smacks of "FOREIGN" ,, try explaining to him that spaghetti is just mince with a little pasta ,, and you get the inevitable Ooooh yuk ,, This man has served his country and gone thro' a world war in the ARMY and still will eat ONLY, mince &  totties, fish & chips, Steak-pie, or chicken !   Even the company Seargent Major couldn't dent his fads !! ( so why the hell do I try ? )
Anyway, as a wee throwaway final comment on his eating disordeer ( now there's a Fraudien slip if ever I saw one ,, Venison ,, Oooo yuk ,, a'll no' eat that kind o' muck he'd say !!
The beloved & I had  him over for dinner the other night.
We stuck with the simple, traditional, steak-pie, tatties & peas .,., Yo a winner !
Followed that with  a simple scoop of ice ctream and a couple of peach halves ,, from a tin !
Ooooh, whit's that ? he asks ,,,  Peaches says I.
I've never tried them he admits ????
Eh, 80, and never tasted a tinned fruit ?
Aye thtat's right he says .,.,
Jesus, I'm livid by now ,,,, JUST BLOODY CUT A SLICE & TRY IT I commanded !!
God bless him, he did his best but at the 2nd. bite he boacked !!
I only like Apples or Oranges he finally confessed ( on the fruit front that is ! )
So the beloved being who she is dived off thro' the kitchen and produced a tin of Mandarin ORANGES ! Ha, success I thought ,,,
Oooooh, whit's THAT he says ,,, Jesus suffering .,.,.,.,  It's WEE oranges says I ,,,
Aye but I don't eat anything foreign ,, you know that Dougie ,,,
Whit the hell's foreign about Mandarin Oranges I finally blurt out ,, choking on my anger !
Chinese he says ,,, MANDARIN ,,, OI couldnae eat CHINESE ,,,,
I rest my case
If you would like to vote that Jim's Mammy has a sin to answer fior & should have given him a sore bum before he reached school age reply to "Dougie's Blog "!!!

Do you or did you LIKE your parents ?

Now there's a thought to waken you at 4-30am
I hadn't been dreaming ( as far as I know ) but suddenly, there it was !
And a big question is is too don't you think ?
My mum died when I was about 25 ... so I've been without her for a long, long time, about 45 years in fact !
I missed her terribly at first ,, still do actually ,, I would love to have her back, even if only to chat for a day, but alas life doesn't work that way !
However, when I awoke this morning with Mum in my mind, I got to wondering ,, did I like her ,, I really don't remember !  I'm sure I loved her dearly but ,,, did we like one another or did we just exist as a family unit with little real ties other than blood ?
She was a good mum ,, this I'm sure of ,,, ( not a great cook as I recall but her heart was in it !" )
She did all the pre-requisite mum things ,, put me to bed ( with a story ? ) got me up for school, washed me, fed me, kissed me when I fell over & hurt myself, but, I still wonder ,,,, did she like me ? But more important at this point in my discussion ( admittedly only with myself ! ) did I like HER ?

Then there was dad ! Quite a hard guy to actually love but a great larger-than-life, happy-go-lucky sort of projection he came across as ,,,, outside the family. Oh don't get me wrong ,, Big Wullie wsn't any kind of Ogre or anything at home but he was quite hard work !  Now, was that because of him ,, or me ?  Maybe he wasn't all that keen on me as a person ,, again I don't know, not really. And I'm not all that sure whether I really liked him either ? Strange ,,, he was my dad so I must have ?? surely ??

Life was different back in the 50's ,, people didn't dare bare their souls to one another then as they might now ? My own dear wife I'm sure had similar reservations about her given folks but I would never dream of putting words in her mouth regarding her feelings for them !

Back to me & mine ,,, After mum died, dad ( understandably ) became somewhat morose ! No longer the happy guy with a beer & a song . He later found a wee wuman who did him no good whatsoever and, truth be told she ruined any chance of a son/dad love/like relationship.

The question remains then :- Did I like my folks or were they just the people I was required to live with 'til I grew up and moved home ?

Now before I get any strange comments on this blog posting ,,, this is NOT a "phishing" blog !
I know exactly how I feel about my kids & grandkids and how they feel about me ( for we talk & tell each other ) so I'm not looking for any kind of feedback here guys !  ok ?


Oh shit ,,, do I REALLY know how they feel about me ?????????