Father's Day Angst
Three years ago I relocated from Glasgow to Inverness and since then I keep looking for little signs to assure me I did the right thing. Obviously I take great pleasure in being the Out-of-Glasgow pest at Â鶹Éç Scotland meetings, constantly reminding my colleagues that there is life, culture - even sport - outside the central belt. Most times they give me a sympathetic hearing. Sometimes they beat me up and lock me in the cleaners' cupboard. It balances out.
I was most worried about the impact on my family, especially since it involved our two children moving schools. My daughter, I'm proud to say, is doing very well after two years at Secondary school. She was among the prize-winners at a ceremony last week attended by the Provost of Inverness. To the surprise of many parents, his speech touched on the expenses scandal at Westminster and how the Highlands might benefit from global water shortages. All this in a brand new, state-of the art school where the temperature and air conditioning is computer-controlled. Naturally that means were all expiring in the heat and the Head Girl almost fainted while giving her speech from the platform. That stuff about water shortages felt very real.
My son, likewise, is doing well at Primary school and Saturday was a very emotional day for us. It was his last time playing for the school football team and he was taking part in a tournament involving all the primary schools in and around Inverness. Four hours of high drama involving head injuries and missed penalties, but eventually they won the competition and were awarded the cup. Lots of happy wee faces.
It's this kind of community infrastructure that makes Inverness such a good place to live, but still there's that nagging doubt about whether or not we should have moved from Glasgow.
So, what with it being Father's Day, I thought I'd do a little spot check. After getting breakfast in bed and a balloon shaped like a pint of lager, I asked my children for their opinion on my parenting decisions. My daughter chastised me for having taken so long to buy her a dog. My son complained that I hadn't done more to keep Inverness Caley Thistle in the SPL. (He seems to think our sport department have had some say in this.)
But their biggest complaint?
"You should have moved us back to Inverness years ago."
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