My New Friend

In a bid to reconcile our artistic differences the wee man and I have had a morning of naff pop songs, bright lights and lots of Chinese based fun. Well they tried to claim Chinese, one song they played sounded suspiciously like J.S. Bach but played on vaguely sounding Chinese instruments. I was tempted to alert them to their cultural mistake but I feared I would be thought of as a nit picking jobs worth and then I would have been excluded from the group for not being fun enough and being a bit of a twat. But you don't go to these groups for real life, you go to numb your mind while your child runs themselves out of energy. Seeing as the wee man is only just napping now, it's safe to say he had a lot of energy to burn off.

So I kept my mouth shut about the music and used my social smile which I bring out at such events.The Friday group we go to makes me interact with new people. No one I know goes so I am forced to look people straight in the eye and open my mouth. These are such difficult things for me to do for long periods.

But interact I do and I have even made some friends, shock horror. Because I am a man I am often seen as a bit of a novelty and people start talking to me about why I have decided to do this full time. Plus some women keep asking me if I will be friends with their husbands. It's like they're some sort of dating agent for their spouses. I tell them that I'm happy to meet up with other dads but fear those dreadfully awkward moments when we are introduced and we have to admit that we need our wives' help to make friends. And so would begin the "So do you like football?" lines.

One woman today was very friendly to me today chatting away and being interested, then she even came to sit next to me as the group started and continued to talk to me. Being SUPER CYNICAL MAN I wanted ask her if she was confusing me with someone else or partially sighted. But in truth it was very nice to meet someone interested in the wee man and I and what we get up to even if she was trying to set me up with her husband. The gist of it was that he was tall, dark and handsome with a love of the arts and music. I'm sold then.


jpr