Day 73 - Father To Son

So, it was Father's Day yesterday. Not according to the day numbering of this blog, admittedly, because I'm a little behind still, but in reality, yesterday was Father's Day.

Here's a thing I didn't know about Father's Day. Father's Day (at least in most of the world) occurs on the third Sunday in June. It's almost exactly nine months before Mother's Day (which occurs in on the fourth Sunday in Lent). Someone, you would think, is making an amusing point, but apparently not. It's just a coincidence, but a nice one.

Obviously, Father's Day is a little bit different this year because next time it rolls around, I'll qualify. I dunno... when we were kids, we didn't really do Father's Day in this country. At least that's my recollection. Perhaps everyone else did Father's Day and my mum was just mean. Mother's Day, or as K___'s mum insists 'Mothering Sunday' (which makes it bloody hard to buy a card) was always around, but Father's Day... No. My feeling is that this has crept in since the mid '80s and I must confess, much like Valentine's Day, it's always struck me as a bit of a 'Hallmark Cards' day (when the citizens of a country generously increase the profits of doggerel peddlers). I suppose my problem with such things is the whole 'thinking about you because I've been told to'. I actually resent being told to tell my wife I love her on the 14th of February because someone has decreed it should be so.

Of course, I say all this... Do I do Mother's Day? Yes. Do I do Fathers' Day? Yes, and this year I did find myself thinking about the old man and what he'd done for me when I was growing up. Consequently, I found myself at a checkout with a bar of Green and Black's chocolate and a couple of bottles of red wine. I wrote, 'Well, by next Father's Day, I'll be getting a card myself (or, I'll be eligible, at least) and you'll be a grandfather. I expect I'll have more than a few questions to throw at you and please feel free to say to me 'Now you know how I felt..!'

If you've ever seen Robin Williams 'Live at the Met', we'll be thinking of the same bit right now, and I also couldn't help but recall this hoary old chestnut from Queen II.

Father To Son - Queen

A word in your ear, from father to son
Hear the words that I say
I fought with you, fought on your side
Long before you were born

Joyful the sound, the word goes around
From father to son, to son

And the voice is so clear, time after time it keeps
Calling you, calling you on
Don't destroy what you see, your country to be
Just keep building on the ground that's been won

Kings will be crowned and the word goes around
From father to son, to son

Take this letter that I give you
Take it sonny, hold it high
You won't understand a word that's in it
But you'll write it all again before you die

A word in your ear from father to son
Funny you don't hear a single word I say
But my letter to you, will stay by your side
Through the years till the loneliness is gone
Sing if you will,
but the air you breathe I live to give you

Father to son
Father to, father to, father to son
Joyful the sound, the word goes around
From father to son, to son
Kings will be crowned, the word goes around
From father to son, to son