Unhalfbricking

Aye...A voyage roond ma faither indeed. The old man's visit today seemed to be mostly for the purposes of grog procurement/consumption. A rather odd half day vibe-he came through in the afternoon, had a bit of a desultory look for a Burns related book (another of his biggies- he regularly 'performs' at Burns suppers in various Fife shitholes) and then advanced onwards to the pub. Dad normally plans his visit round about mother's catering service so he tends to head back in time for tea therefore I'd planned to meet CH for food later and I wasn't really sure what to do with faither! I suggested he come along and hae some scran wi' us but dyed in the wool man's man that he is, non pub 'socialising' isn't really his thing so he kinda drifted off back to Fife which I did feel a wee bit funny about. After a while dad tends to get really into his conversation...and his Vodka...but he forgets to converse, preferring to rant in a monologue on his bugbears, normally modern day football or how pubs shut prior to the bells on old years night. It can get a mite oppressive. He goes on and on and on wi' mair and mair expletives (nowt wrong wi' that per se of course) and aggressive tones coming into play. I found it heavy today and didn't prioritise lengthening his visit shall we say. Communication or lack thereof is a huge issue wi' him. He ploughs headlong into the macho, blustery vibes and doesn't normally stop to let you know his plans or regale you wi what he wants to do when he's with you. The guy is not someone who shows his feelings too readily. These days they come out in these rather lovely and kooky messages he writes to me on birthday and Xmas cards and in the occasional pat on the arm or shoulder but not any more expansively than that. These messages on my cards normally reduce me to tears. To see something so affectionate being forthcoming from him gets me every time. He probably did just want to spend a bit o' time with me but had difficulty in formulating a plan or stating a preference. I suppose we shouldn't need a plan for stuff like that...Met CH after a few delays and had nosh at the legendary Monster Mash. This is a chain eaterie but it's one I like. The scran is plentiful and non-extortionate, veggie stuff is equally bounteous and generally eating there is akin to wallowing in a trough full of the loveliest most satisfying stodge on earth. I also got fascinated by a couple in front of me who were clearly on a first date! She liked him but he wasn't so sure about her. He adopted 'neutral' body language while she was kinda going for it and trying too hard- hands flailing wildly and way too 'expressively'. These vibes fascinate me, they really do. I don't have any attractive qualities(!!!) so the idea of me going on dates is quite absurd frankly. They remind me of days at school when you did Scottish country dancing and the girls picked the boys. I was always left standing against the wall waiting for the firing squad and either ended up dancing with the teacher or with another boy. I also feel like I've morphed back to the days of PE lessons when you played football and in lieu of bibs you played 'shirts vs. skins'. Fat wobbly boys were inevitably on the 'skins' side. It was hell and a definate form of institutional abuse IMO! Anyway, I suppose I'm so used to feeling the 'not interested' thing from women that I find it quite weird to see a lass struggling to 'impress' a man. I'm sure there are many lasses who have big unrequited things going down...natch...but when you are an unattractive bloke it does seem a little hard to accept that that could possibly ever be the case!...I'd better shut up before I go all Sid The Sexist on you...or have I done it already?! ha ha..aye...so nosh and Desmond Morris at MM followed by grog doon in Leith...ah Leith...blue remembered hills made of the memories of when I first came to the big city and moved into the port full of youth and joy and overdraft facilities...sigh...these are slightly leaner times-wallet if not wasteline wise...PS aye experienced sudden annoyance in MM when I remembered about that Desmond Wilcox series re that bairn frae 'the rain forest' who was quite unbelievably referred to as 'the boy David' or (in Fife anyway) him wi' a hole in his puss. While of course I'm sure intentiones were guid something about the series seemed sickeningly bourgeois and made you feel that efforts were being made to 'educate the natives'. It was clearly the most patronising piece of TV 'one' is ever likely to see...surely you all agree...anyway...