Wednesday 8 May 2013

Slugs And Snails And Dodgy Men In The Bushes

I have spoken before about how sometimes it can be difficult for men to be involved in and around children. For some reason men are thought of as more untrustworthy than women. Anyway a story from today sums this thought process up. I took the wee man out for a walk in the park to kill some time. The wee man being the wee man ran off into some bushes requiring me to go in after him. Said bushes are in a corner of the park that is a little out of the way. So I ran in and pulled him out but at the same time two older women walked past and gave me a look that said "that man's coming out of the bushes with a toddler who's having a cry. What's he been doing to the child?!" The wee man was annoyed that I had spoiled his fun and was pulling him out.

I could feel their eyes burning through me and I thought if it was The Chancellor coming out of the bushes with the wee man they wouldn't look twice. The wee man then being a monkey ran back into the bushes and as the women both looked back it might have looked like I was going back into the bushes with the wee man. Afterwards I thought, if I saw a man coming out of a bush with a child part of me would think that looks a bit dodgy too. But why? Have we been conditioned by the media to fear men who are around children? Are we all just hardwired to be suspicious of anything and everything? Why do some people's minds immediately go to the bad place? Who knows but either why it pisses me off as people think I'm doing dodgy things in bushes. I'm not that type of guy!

Anyway away from shrubberies the wee man has found a new fun past time, standing on snails. With the Cypriot weather long gone and the rain returning our garden is full of snails and the wee man at first began picking them up thinking they could be eaten, which they can be but not in the way he wants to eat them. Now though it's much more satisfying for him to stand on them causing a nice 'crunching' noise. He scoured the garden and demolished a hand full of these poor little things grinning at the same time. Sticky shoes ensued and we now have slug remains all through the garden. Nice.


jpr

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