I guess I shouldn't feel guilty But the look I was getting from two old dears, Well lets just say daggers! But up until then I had been oblivious to them, Nattering away passing remarks about anyone they could clap their eyes on, looking for a reason to have an opinion on anyone who didn't meet their high standards of whats right and wrong, I started to feel a bit self conscious as their voices dropped a bit as I approached but I still picked up the jist of it...Look at yer man, Look at the way he parked sure he almost fell over gettin out of the van And sure look he cant walk straight....Someone should call the Guards on him He's pissed with the drink!
Sometimes I'm confounded to see that people think that its perfectly acceptable to insult and judge others based on a hunch, Now when I was younger things like this would just be like water off a ducks back And I would have said nothing or more likely i wouldn't have known what to say, But I think as you get older you've got so much more to say, A better command of the English language if you like! Even though it appears no one really wants to hear what you say, never the less my opinion will be heard! So I stopped and addressed the situation, I explained to them that I have Parkinsons disease and that sometimes I find it difficult to move freely, And that if they were concerned they could have simply asked what was wrong and I would have explained, They're response was one of confusion, I got a perturbed look from one, A pause...And then quick as you like, Isn't that what yer man Mickey little fella off dat film back to de past had?...You know yer man with de flyin car! I could hardly contain the laughter as I corrected her That it was actually Michael J Fox and the film was back to the future!She looked puzzled and said We thought you were drunk And we didn't want to be rude, I laughed said my goodbyes and turned to head across the street to the Stillorgan shopping centre and Pondering their thought process, We were talking about you behind your back as we didn't want to be rude! Is that just an Irish thing? No surely its just a human thing! Who knows...
Its great to see that tesco's have remodelled their store, Still a little bit on the small size But at least they seem to have utilised the limited space they had putting it to better use, I don't wish to sound disabled but being symptomatic with Parkinsons can happen at any moment, And usually that would be likely when you're shopping in a place like this, Where the isles were too narrow and were generally cluttered up with recently delivered boxes any day of the week, Which might suggest they were short of storage space. But first I had to head to the Post office to grab a stamp for the blue envelope I held in my hand which contained a ticket with three stars exposed on it, For the show Winning streak...My god the least you can win is ten grand...How bad! Now I don't generally get so excited about such things, As I don't usually purchase these tickets, Maybe I should...get excited a bit more I mean! Maybe have more of an air of expectancy, Don't they say expecting it opens the door to receiving it!! Or words to that effect, No it was kindly purchased by a relation of my brother in law Paul and given to his wife Margaret, My sister, Now it wouldn't be fair to Margaret to mention that she first scratched the card to see if she had won any money...She hadn't, And then gave the card to me...She did! Fair or not I've mentioned it...Sorry Marg,
Hold tough though, The story gets a wee bit more interesting While walking to the post office which is directly under Brambles bistro at the far end of the centre, Someone put their arms around me from behind and squeezed, After my initial shock when I realised I wasn't being mugged I relaxed and the person let go, When I turned I was surprised to see my fourteen year old daughter Emily Jade standing there, With her hair plaided on one side of her head and the other side hanging down freely, An odd symmetry but it worked on her! Her ray bans which she assured me have made a come back hanging off the end of her nose so she was looking up at me with those puppy dog eyes, Its about now that I usually start reaching for cash, She never asks for it, But i feel like i have to give her everything all the time, I guess that's the effect that teenager girls have on their fathers! I suspect we know it wont be long till that someone, more age appropriate, Cute and sooooo cool captures their attentions! At least temporarily, Until eventually she gets her little heart broken And all I will want to do is sort it...But I guess I know that will be the domain of her Mother! For the moment at least I'll take any attention i can get! Already I can see a look of regret on her face, Shes now wondering was it such a good idea to have made herself known, Should she have instead quietly slipped past me and said nothing, Its just that there is an air of awkwardness about our meetings now, Never since I was her age have i felt so out of place or indeed awkward, Remembering how as a juvenile overflowing with testosterone My friends and I would compete for the attentions of a girl we liked Which usually meant holding court with her friends as well, Entertaining them all equally but making her best friend who would usually be sitting next to her, laugh only as much as she was laughing herself, Any more and you would be guilty of flirting, Any less and you were subject to the eyes rolling in her head and a look of disdain that only girls know how to deliver! And then you knew you blew it! While I never yet received those eyes from Emily, Not that I'm aware of anyway, The simple fact is and I'm going to educate all Fathers out there who's daughters have yet to reach the age of fourteen...I'm 46...She's fourteen...Everything I say is boring, Everything she says comes out of Justin Biebers...Or at least the depressed, skinny and mopey girl from Twilights mouth!
It's an age thing, It also a Father-Daughter thing that has been going on long before I got here, And no doubt will continue long after I leave!
I guess the lesson for me here is that relationships change and improve, Whether it be the few muddled moments spent in the company of those two old ladies or lifetime I will spend loving my daughter And at times understanding that on occasions it will be unrequited love!
