It pisses me off quite often that I didn't have the best of relationships with my Dad. (My fault) I was 25 when he died and should have looked up to him more than I did. What a arse I was.
My old man went to sea all his life, in Oz at 14, claimed to have visited every country in the world with a coastline, by the time he retired at 56 penniless and suffering from TB. He was tough as old boots, and so where his shipmates, his stories especially the WW2 ones were legendary and not for the faint hearted, he was torpedoed three times and served on the Russian convoys, he was awarded for his bravery twice but as with his medals dismissed them as worthless. In spite of this background he was unassuming and very literate, and its his unique vocabulary, rooted in his lifelong experience of the sea, that I miss most and will never forget.
Not your fault at all mate ..... it's every dad's duty to challenge their sons. Sometimes you don't realise until it's too late but you just have to blame him for dying before you had the chance to work it out
Me dads been dead 34 years. He suffered bad health and worked the pits till he was 40 years old Then never worked again. He never EVER swore. He drank most days and nights of the week. Only what he could afford.he smoked a pipe and was an excellent snooker and pool player. Very small in height and frame and extremely intelligent. He had his faults but he was basically quiet man. If he was with us today he would love the karaoke and would be the star of the show. Miss him but we did have the odd pint or two together. When I say he was intelligent he also new just about all Sunderland states going back for years. I went to the Sunderland centenary at the Mecca 1979 I had billy death telephone me dad at home and they had a chat on the phone. Miss him
Hard hitting thread in all honesty, but shows everyone's true colours at the same time. I'm probably considerably younger than the majority on here so lucky enough my old man is still with us. He wasn't really around as he worked abroad 9 out of 12 months of the year and when I was 8 or so he remarried and moved down south. I have a good relationship with him now and he's about to become a grandad officially later this year. My grandad was my hero, he was in the pub majority of my Mam's childhood so I think he felt like he had to make up for that with me and my sister, missed very dearly to this very day. All the best gents
I will give this thread the respect it deserves. My dad. He is the best. A miner at wearmouth..(sol) beast of a man. Notaround that much as kids due to daft ****ing shifts down the pit. Always had what we wanted. He was the only one there the first day i ****ed off to join up. Then his face when i got that beret. It was for him. Ive missed very few people on my diferent life role, but he is one. Now im back in the UK. (his health is one of the reasons) Im expecting i may see his final years. He is ****ed now. That bastard pit has killed him. Sorry. Gotta stop
I know me and you don't see eye to eye, but that was a good post Comm. Some cracking, honest posts on this thread Smug.
Its back to old school. Ive been out of order at times somb. Seems an appropriate thread to apologise.. Sorry fella
I'm lucky to have had a hard-working but caring father. Barely saw him during the week as he left early and often got back after we went to bed but every Saturday, unless he on call, he would give his day to do things with us (I'm the youngest of three boys all close in age) and every Sunday he would make the Sunday dinner while my overburdened mother would get an afternoon to watch a murder mystery of some sort. I didn't appreciate at the time that he basically worked every single day but I didn't know any different. My parents (who were young, 3 kids by the age of 22/23) have been married 40+ years and are still going strong yet I rarely even bother to give them a phonecall. A lot of men are a bit **** at that sort of thing. The example he set does mean that my brothers and I are all better fathers for it though I think. There's plenty of people who learn from their parents by thinking "I'm not going to be like them", I'm incredibly lucky I got to have someone to emulate.
Its **** mate. Im watching the shafow of a man. But they (my mum is still alive) are old school. Their language would offend many. But its what they knew. Try telling a 70+ you cant call a spade a spade. You get my dtift. But my dad was a chatlie bronson lookalike. Movie not the other nugget
I was fortunate to be blessed with a top fellah for a dad. He was born in South Shields in 1931 to a poor, working class, family. He saw his dad, my grandad, work his way up the seaman's ladder to captain his own collier running coal down the coast to the London power stations. He followed that example by getting a scholarship to a grammar school to better himself and had to fight his way past all the other kids going to the local comp, who wanted to use the grammar school kids as target practice, and then back again in the evening. Got himself articled to a firm of chartered accountants and worked his arse off so me and my sister wouldn't have to want for anything. Spent the last 30 years of his life battling chronic asthma and 3 types of cancer without complaining and was always there for me. ****ing A1 bloke. Soz to lower the tone with a happy tale, but there it is...!
I absolutely worshipped the bloke from as far back as I can remember until the day he died. Too many things to write on here and it wasnt one major thing but almost everything he did for me. My mam died when I was 15 and the bloke was a rock for me n my brother. Went out drinking with him more like a mate. I even asked him to be my best man. He's dead now but I felt so comfortable I managed to tell him I loved him whislt he was still here. I got to tell him how grateful I was for everything he had done for us. I realised how hard his life must have been when my mam died at 38 yrs old and that neither me or my brother fully understood what was going on and probably never gave him the help or support he almost certainly needed. He stated apart from losing his wife we had given him a tremendous life. Great thread and good reads.
My dad was a miner in Easington. Quite unassuming and an introvert, but he showed so much love to his kids. He was a passionate and an absolute cracking football player. Never swore, well at least when us kids were in his company. Not a heavy smoker or drinker but died at the age of 42 after his third heart attack; i was 16 and it was the undoubtedly the saddest day of my life and I remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was only in the NE last week and my 13 year old daughter asked if she could visit her Grandad (she never met) and her Grandma's grave. Of course I had to say yes and I was in absolute bits (as I am now). A great man, a loving father and I would only hope I could be half the man he was. Cracking thread Smug.
My gran was a mostly good woman but horrifically racist and was never going to change her ways. We would be talking about something in the news or on tv and could have been going on for half an hour and she'd just shut down the conversation with the most horrendous line my ears had ever heard in between drinking a cup of tea and nibbling a rich tea. As a dutiful teenage grandson who didn't feel I could call out my grandmother we'd literally drop to silence for 10 minutes before I remembered something I had to do at home...
My mum and dad are still alive and going strong but I don't have any grandparents and I'd love to be able to go back and speak to them as an adult. I didn't appreciate them enough as a kid, I know that and it's something I regret. Fantastic thread btw. I don't think there's anything more powerful on this earth than the father and child relationship.
I totally respected my dad. Mind you, he would dish out the discipline if we done owt wrong but he was a good man. Worked 28 years for RHP & in all that time had two days off when me & my sister were born. When I left the forces & I bought my first house, him & me grafted every weekend on it. I watched a strong, physical man waste away to nothing due to cancer. I still miss him & think of him almost every day.
I've written this post out at least 4 times now and just keep deleting it. The truth is I've written it out in my head a million times in my life and just kept deleting it. Good topic Smug. Men often keep this sort of stuff bottled up, you don't know who you might have helped with this one.
