People often say that you can learn a lot by listening to the young 'uns. I think it's true. Kids do sometimes manage to put The Essential Truth into simple words. Not all the time, obviously. I'm not suggesting that everything they say is a pearl of wisdom.
For instance, the other day Granddaughter No. 2 told me that there is a green dragon living under her bed and to be honest, I've had a look and I think she's wrong. There may be a couple of stray teddy bears under there but that's about all. Definitely no dragons. Anyhow, I digress.
It was Granddaughter No. 1 who got me thinking about essential truth when she told me that she was thinking of giving up ballet.
I admit that doesn't sound very much like a deep and meaningful thing to say but it was the reasoning behind it that got me interested.
Her logic worked like this; a few months ago she had wanted to take up ballet because one of her friends did it. So she had tried it out for a few weeks and she had now decided that actually, it wasn't for her. There, simple. No stress, no worries, no dramas. She doesn't think she has failed or let anyone down or wasted her time. Far from it. She loved it. But now she is ready to move onto the next thing. Which appears to involve singing very loudly in her bedroom for some reason.
It made me realise that one of the things that has happened to me as I've got older (much, much older according to Son No. 1) is that I don't think like that anymore.
I tend to divide things into two camps; things I do and things I don't do. The idea of trying something out just for the fun of it has gone out of the window. Or rather it had gone out of the window until that chat with my grand-daughter.
Now I've decided that the time has come to start thinking like a kid again. If I fancy having a go at something – then I will. So far this new way of thinking has led me to take up a few things I've often talked about but never actually got round to doing.
Yoga, for instance. I've joined a class and I have to say it gets a massive thumbs up from this old duffer. It's lots of fun, a great way to get into shape and the perfect excuse to wear unreasonably tight Lycra things which are not at all flattering. But that story is best left for another day and another column. In the meantime, just be grateful that the picture at the top of this page is posed by models rather than being taken of me whilst I was trying out my 'downward dog' pose.
I've also joined a choir. Another first for me. I've often sung with groups of people before, in fact most of my professional life has involved singing pop songs in one form or another.
But those were usually songs I had written, so I knew how they were supposed to sound. The stuff the choir sings is written by someone else and is handed to me on sheets of paper.
So it involves me learning how to read music and sing whilst also appearing to make sense of lots of bizarre lyrics. (Do all folk songs have bizarre lyrics? These ones all do.)
I don't want to stop at choirs and yoga though. It's all very well learning new skills and trying out new hobbies. But I want to go further.
I want to take inspiration from my nephew's attitude to life. He's at the age where kids start hunting round for Saturday jobs to earn a bit of money whilst they're still at school.
Apparently he looks for work by just wandering into any business he can find and casually asking if they would like to give him a part-time job. I love that carefree way of thinking.
I fancy having a go at it one day soon. I've already got a list of jobs I want to try out. I want to work in a cafe and learn to make lovely coffee and I want to work in a bar, mainly because my friend works in one and he always looks so happy when he's at work.
I also want to spend some time working as a cycle courier. Admittedly the hills of Bristol would absolutely wear me out but what a fantastic way to spend your days.
Talking of which, if I'm going to get ideas from the young 'uns there is one last thing I just have to try. A grown up gap year.
Wow! I have no idea how on earth I'm going to get it past my dear wife, let alone how I'm going to afford it. But now there is a brilliant idea.
Question is; Do they let grandads backpack around Asia?
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