Good Daddy Material

Posted by dulwichmum on Fri 24 November 2006

I remember sitting at the dinner table as a teenager one Sunday at home, with Aunty Lou in residence as usual. My three sisters were trying to embarass me in front of my mother, by asking me dreadful probing questions about some boy that I liked at the time. ‘Is he a good kisser?’, ‘Is he old enough for stubble?’ ‘Would he give you beard rash?’ – they asked over the roast dinner, my sisters are legends. I almost choked on a yorkshire pudding!

In the middle of all of the chaos and cringe, Aunty Lou asked (in a tone of complete indifference with a dead pan expression on her face) ‘Is he a good dancer?’ The girls went quiet. ‘Is he generous? Would he rush to the bar to buy you a drink?’. I sat with a curious expression on my face, my eyebrows almost joining together in shock. ‘I suppose’ I answered suspicously.

‘Well’ Aunty Lou continued, ‘that’s marvelous then, your uncle John was a great dancer, yes, that was a great asset to me for the years we were married, out dancing he was. Oh, and yes, he was always generous with his money at the bar, especially when the twins were small, and I was home looking after them. You will be set up for life, so……………………’ Poor Aunty Lou. I began to see boys in a different light that day.

I was in Dulwich Park yesterday, and as on many other occasions, I observed a dad, out and about with his two little boys – almost the same age as our two children. He always seems to be swinging them over his head by the leg, or allowing them to dangle precariously out of a tree, flying kites near electricity pylons, playing roughly with rotweillers – you get the picture. Hair raising stuff, really, you should see them. I have heard him complain that his wife thinks he is too rough with the kids. What does he have between his ears? Just one missed catch and its lights out for junior.

How do you assess the attractive guy you meet out one night is good daddy material, a potential good partner? I know it might not be what you think you are looking for at the time, but we really should encourage our little girls to consider these things (I am rather old fashioned, aren’t I?). I always see that crazy man out and about and I wonder if he met his poor wife in a Lindy Hop club. Surely there must have been clues?

If she had her heart set on starting a family with that mad man, she should have ensured that he had a substantial enough income to employ a nanny.

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 Under Offer

Posted by dulwichmum on Wed 22 November 2006

Hurrah! The Estate Agent tipped us off first this morning that an old lady on Court Lane was about to put her house on the market. So, without hesitation we ran there half dressed, made an offer at the asking price – and it looks like we moving house! I wept with joy – as you do in the current market – just to find a house in the catchment for the Dulwich Village Infants School – before everyone else……..shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I had only straightened one side of my hair and had not even brushed my teeth. I am sure the vendor was so overwhelmed by my strange hair and raging halitosis that she was terrified to refuse us. What a productive morning!

I wonder if it was impolite to be so elated that the old lady was being forced to move into sheltered accomodation?

‘ I am unable to cope at home alone anymore’ she said, her frail voice filled with emotion (still in her dressing gown and slippers),

‘Great stuff’ replied James enthusiastically while shaking her hand so hard I was afraid he was going to dislocate her shoulder.

Apparently Mrs Giles is moving out within the week. I think it may be prudent for us to try to lock a feral cat in the property, in case the estate agent tries to show it to anyone else and gets a higher offer. The presence of hand rails in the toilet and velour soft furnishings enhanced by the ‘eyewatering’ smell of cats may be enough to stop anyone else from gazumping us.

I am not really cruel to animals, we could drop some ‘Go Cat’ pellets through the letter box every morning…… (not seriously).

As I said before, we don’t want Freya to feel that she has failed anything so young, that will come later – when she becomes a mother. I wish we had a brochure though, there have been no photos taken by the estate agent yet. I wonder if he will bother now? I would love to see some pictures and a floor plan, as I can’t remember what the house looked like, we were just so relieved to find one. It could have been a chip van for all I cared at the time. Now I have had time to reflect, I simply must have original sash windows.

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