The funeral itself was in Hackney, but I made time to stroll through the neighbourhood beforehand. And what a cool place Hoxton is! [I say this with my tongue fixed firmly within my cheek]. I'm not one for the cutting edge and zeitgeist-y so alot of E9 makes me wince. You're somewhere trendy when marketeers use the word 'space'...in more places than you expect. A blackboard outside the local caff advertises it as a 'space for [insert aspirational demographic here]'. I passed an estate agent promising to find 'a solution to your personal space needs'.. or something like that. In a city teaming with 7 million it seems the thing people are after is an escape from one another - something I cannot live without...
Poor J looked lost at the service. He's a guy who doesn't shows his feelings much so when I heard his voice crack during the eulogy my heart nearly broke. J i. I didn't get the chance to pay my respects personally as domestic duties called, so after exchanging small talk with J's other old buddies I headed home. Before doing so I had a revelation: 'Look at us, we're all grown up'. Our social get togethers have morphed from A-Level result celebrations, into travelling farewells, into weddings to more sombre occasions nowadays. As a group we'd grown up together and now here we stood sporting laughter lines and wearing business attire. The last two decades have crept up on us pretty quick it seems.
In home news, little D continues to grow and assert herself. Music no longer calms this savage beast, it seems. Our classical music CD no longer stops D's frustrated shrieks, she now sounds like a seagull being strangled when something upsets her. I marvel at the person she is becoming, assertive and exceptionally strong willed, D reminds me more of her aunt and nanny than her own daddy nowadays.
Here's the rub though. Our domestic watchword now is 'DO NOT ANTAGONISE THE BABY'. My main job is to run interference to ensure such things do not happen. And it's a energy sapping job too! X loves his little sister and he howls and warbles along with her. However he never fails to either over-energise or piss her off! His baby carrying style reminds me of someone toting about a bag of spuds and that makes me wince even more. I don't want to spend my time telling X 'don't do that!' when he is playing with Diz as he'll start disliking me very quickly. Family life is like a minefield, you spend your time concentrating on one stretch of ground but always need to be mindful of explosions from elsewhere!
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