It was 8pm last night and I'd just tottered in from teaching all day at the local pool and cycling a meagre 5 miles home. I sank onto the bench in the kitchen and, ignoring Mrs H's warning scowl, took a swig of her wine. Son David was across the table, head in arms, morose from a gruelling A level geology exam and gloomy at the prospect of a tougher IT exam to follow. Suddenly, he lifted his head and spoke; "You know, Dad, I admire you". There then followed a fluent monologue about carbon footprints, keeping fit and healthy, saving money and contributing to saving some fossil fuels for him and his 10 year old brother to use. Furthermore, apparently he admires all cyclists; by default I suppose that means you lot as well. By the time he had finished, Mrs H had poured me my own glass of ordinary and I was a little choked. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I would have to cycle continuously for about 157 years to balance the energy used to manufacture my aluminium conveyance. Many of you with teens at home will be used to the long silences, the grunts of greeting and farewell, the complete inability to load the dishwasher and the generally downbeat demeanour, especially at exam time. All the more astonishing, then, to hear words of praise. Or indeed complete sentences, come to that. David, you made my day.
