The ups and downs of a teenager

A very tough week, partly of my own making. For the second time in my life I have built a whole team structure including some very carefully worded job descriptions around a particular person only to see them walk away from the opportunity and my plans in tatters. The last time it nearly wrecked a life as well as a job so it is to be hoped that this time the consequences will not be so serious for all concerned. I like to think that there is still a way back but then despite everything my glass is always at least half full. Emotional commitment, subterfuge and final admission of failure (at least in the immediate future) all take it out of you so getting home Friday was a welcome relief. Those familiar with my habits will know that Friday is "chill in front of a DVD/Video" (yes I am still old fashioned enough to have video and I think Blu Ray is a fish!) night, preferably with a glass of something intoxicating on the side. No DVD this Friday, instead I wrestled with technology and managed to access the programmes I had saved on the "set top box" A great documentary on Pink Floyd and a rather self indulgent film about Genesis. Made we want to go and dig out the vinyl. Talking of Genesis - a very interesting housegroup this week. Being the bicentennial of Darwin this year (birth or death? someone asked and I still don't know the answer) we put the creation account in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 on one side and the Origin of Species on the other DISCUSS". Well it was a very interesting evening and I think we reached a point where no one could be accused of being a fundamentalist and no one was written down as a wooly liberal but it was a good opportunity to review our own beliefs and where we stand in the light of God given scripture and investigative science. As one of the group said "one is science and the other is faith" and there is no answer to that. So maybe even here, or perhaps especially here it is appropriate to ask the question "will I ever learn"
Which brings me in a rather circuitous way to the highs and lows of teenage life. Unfortunately Jetski boy had a disappointment during the week in connection with his driving progress. However he bounced back by informing me that "a nice Corsa had appeared in Masons" - code for can we go and look at a car. His comment about the "massive rims" and the discovery of an exhaust system with an exit port only marginally less massive than the rims brought his verdict of "a chav's car". This no longer seems to be an expression limited only to Basildon, or even just Essex so I feel no reason to explain further. At least the upholstery wasn't Burberry!
Anyway, we then met P who invited us to l"ook at that one which has only just come in" complete with mud splashed all down the side. Since we had been given the keys it seemed rude not to take if for spin. I think P must specialise in deceptive cars. The last Fiesta we tried from there turned out to have a 1600cc engine with sports tuning and an insurance premium that could have purchased several branches of Woolworths. And so we returned this elderly but "nice runner" to his tender care and said that we quite liked it but it depended on the price. The price was reasonable and a deposit changed hands at which time the revelation was made that this one, a Clio, had an 1800cc engine!!!!!! With the insurance premium I could have bought this and another car so it looked as if this would be another disappointment. And then that friendly dog with aspirations to be a prime minister (or do ads for Yorkshire Bitter) arrived with a discount premium to make you bite the hand off. So, out with the cheque book (credit card more like) and back to P who seemed not at all phased by a request to take immediate delivery. The keys were handed to Jetski boy together with a crisp £20 note to "go to the carwash and get some diesel" the latter being the second revelation as I would happily have filled it up with petrol. Now all Jetski boy has to do is get the keys back off Dad and persuade him to put the L plates on. If you see a blue Clio that sounds like a tractor then you have been warned (especially if a man in a red coat and a white beard is driving)