Who's The Daddy: Leave your cares behind, these are [still] the good times

The boss’ family is waaaaaay bigger than mine. So when a 50th birthday party invite landed from a relative she hadn’t seen since they were kids, a six-hour round trip away in sunny Northampton, we said, sure, why not?

Most of my side of the family are long dead and a reunion could comfortably be held in a phone box and be catered with a tenner at the local chippy, or with a ouija board, a bottle of the good stuff and a fertile imagination.

The boss, on the other hand, as well as having a dad, sisters, aunties, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces dotted around who only came to light to yours truly after 25 years of marriage, about three months before the big night.

So the travel tavern was booked, the car loaded with sisters and a brother-in-law who manfully volunteered to drive us all the way there and all the way back again, and away we went. Road trip.

The first thing we realised is Northampton is bloody miles away. The trip passed off without serious incident and before long we were in a bar in a new town at 4pm with no kids around to tug at our sleeves. Don’t mind if I do.

Prinks, as the young ‘uns used to call them a few years ago, are often the most satisfying part of a night out. The do itself was a pretty swanky affair, in a converted church with a very, very loud sound system pumping out Studio 54 tunes with dancers in sparkly leotards with mirror balls for heads like something out of a Royal Blood video shot by Liam Lynch.

The last thing I recall was doing some of the finest dancing ever to Chic’s Good Times before road testing the replacement radial head in my left elbow an hour later by landing on it while drunk. To my surgeon Mr Kumar, you did a fine job. It still works, thankfully.

Finally this week, a very happy but scarcely believable 21st birthday to daughter #2. When this column first started she was four and her party piece was getting dressed while balancing a 20p coin on her elbow. Seriously, try it. She was a major talent back in 2006 and nothing’s changed.

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