Perhaps it should be 'Tom, Richard and Harry'

Two of my sons catch the train to and from school. Last night round the dinner table we were chatting about how school was, who their new teachers were, new subjects etc., when we arrived at the subject of the journey to school by train. My middle son, who has just started school, was confused about which Harry from my eldest's class was on the train. Anyway, the talk seemed to include lots of Harrys and lots of Toms and so my mind conjured up the image of 'Tom, Dick and Harry' sitting in a row on the train. So, to complete my mental image I asked my eldest son "Have you got a Dick?".

I realised when I'd said it. Oh dear! Stunned silence. Then laughter. Yes I did feel a bit silly - maybe it's age. I don't think my seven year old quite got it - my 12 year old son did though!

It was also one of those moments when my eldest sons glinting eyes spoke of the young man he was becoming and the little lapse was indicative of the forty-something that I am. It was good to see my eldest son growing up but it was also good to see my youngest was innocent enough to not get the joke - I still felt a bit silly, that never feels very good!

Ego maleness

Now you really should see Robert Sharpe's blog. In an email to me in which he encouraged me to pop some postings he mentioned that self publishing might be giving a little nourishment to the old ego.

He is probably right. But it made me think that an 'ego' always seems to be a male sort of thing - so do women have a female equivalent for 'ego'? Do women have egos? Dangerous territory - answers in an email.

Grumpy about Brits in Mallorca

Well, here I am again prompted by Rob to start blogging. I'm back from a week in Mallorca where two of the Jenks had to make visits to a doctor and one was a little sick! But it was a good holiday - Mallorca was beautiful.

Now what I fear is that us Brits have sadly lost our sense of adventure. Alas, the vast majority of Brits seemed to be found roasting around water - any water - pools, sea, ponds, lakes. As long as us Brits are within 100 feet of water we are happy.

The beach would be full of bodies but go inland and it was empty. The main tourists we came across were German.

And another thing, I was given the impression that Germans grabbed the sunbeds. Not where we were. We stayed in a quiet apartment overlooking a marina with probably equal numbers of German and British tourists. The pool was never crowded and a lot of the time we had it to ourselves. But there were some sunbeds that had towels draped over them from early in the morning to late at night - yes, they were Brits!

Oh yes, and why are we so obsessed at throwing money into pools, puddles, ponds, wells and fountains? Do people really think it brings luck?

Oh dear, I'm in a real grumpy mood - I must be getting old.