Lad's Nights

When Jacob was about 6 (he'll be 10 in July), he and I dreamed up an idea we called the "Lad's Night".

It's very simple - every now again, usually about once a month, I'll spontaneously arrive home with a 2 litre bottle of some fizzy stuff (loaded with sugar, artificial colouring and E numbers - Smak Cloudy Lime hits the spot on all 3 counts), a few bags of crisps and usually some Jaffa Cakes, and we spend the night in front of the tv until he conks out. We used to watch DVDs like Shrek, but now (thankfully) he's into football, so tonight our Lad's Night was Rangers v Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup semi-final, which went to penalties. And Rangers won!

[ aside - when I was getting into football, back in the days before the internet and digital tv, we used to be able to pick up BBC Scotland on our aeriel. The picture was snowy but the sound was ok, and watching Davie Cooper rip teams to pieces every Saturday night was brilliant ]

Anyway, Jacob's nearly 10 and Charlie's 5, so he joined us - Charlie and Jake in their wee Rangers replica shirts, Jake's mate Andy Adair came round too, and we spent the night yelling at the tv and spilling green fizzy drink on the floor in our front room (which is just painted floorboards, so dead easy to clean up). We kept Hilary well out of the way, but Maggie Jane (she was 3 last Saturday) ran in and out pretty regularly to steal crisps and mini Jaffa cakes. The E numbers really did their job - the weans were bouncing off the furniture!

So they'll be tired in the morning and probably a bit queezy too, but "Lad's Nights" have now taken on epic proportions in the wee minds of Jake and Charlie, and we've had some really great ones. I hope that when they grow up they'll remember these wee things we did together.

Having 3 weans is a real challenge, and privilege, a nightmare and a joy. They grow up too fast - so a "Lad's Night" once a month is something to treasure with them while they're wee.