Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Relating with Teenagers

I don't think I've ever really posted about my godson, EB. Maybe it's cos I've never really had a chance to spend much time with him and to get to know him, since his mum MR always hogs all of my attention when I go to visit them in Wales! Still, I've never forgotten his birthdays and have always seen him at Christmas - can't really say the same for his other godparents.

I'd suggested a while ago that if he wanted, he could spend some time with me for his next birthday. To be honest, I didn't think he'd want to, that a 14 year old would rather spend time with his friends but surprisingly, he agreed.

So, I drove down to Wales and we had a big Harvester meal with his family. I was hoping to shoot back up to Manchester with EB, maybe catch a movie or take him to the arcades but by the time we set off back to Manchester, it was nearly 9pm - not a lot of time left to do anything! :-(

Anyway, I let EB be in charge of my ipod during the journey back and he was impressed that we both liked the same music (apart from my dance/chart stuff!). I found him to be very polite, intelligent, though a bit of a smart Alec, but that's not necessarily a bad thing!

He's also a very good kid, MR is pretty hard on him and has some tough house rules but they obviously work. When we got back, I just let him loose on my laptop to play Runescape, an online game which I haven't played for nearly 3 years (screenshot above). Hmm...might be something to distract me when my social life isn't so active!

EB's not allowed on the internet at home - in fact, not even MR's husband is, only MR herself (which I find strange but I'm not likely to ask why...) so he only gets to go on it at his friend's house or at his grandparents.

I let him play the game for a few hours, allowing him to stay up until 12.30am - hey, it was his birthday AND it's school holidays! I hope he didn't tell his mum...

Next day, drove into Manchester city centre and we wandered around Forbidden Planet and some game shops in the Arndale and had a spot of lunch in Starbucks. Then, it was time to take him home.

It hadn't even occurred to me that I'd parked down Sackville Street, which is where I usually park on Sundays. As we walked back to the car, his eyes widened as he noticed the rainbow flags on the pubs. It's funny that for the first time that weekend, he started to act his age!

Anyway, during our brief time together, I found out that he's a super fast reader (reads two or three books a week, many are the fantasy books that I read), that he enjoys learning German at school, that he admires Thierry Henry, goes to watch Wrexham FC with his granddad, enjoys painting Warhammer 40k models and that he hopes to become a marine biologist. Sounds quite promising, considering all the bad press about the 'youth of today'.

So the question is - did he enjoy himself? I'm not sure, as he doesn't really show a lot of emotion right now, happy or unhappy. I guess I'll find out from his mum.

After I'd dropped him off, went to the David Lloyd club in Cheshire Oaks and met up with the glamorous C. We had a workout in the gym, a good chinwag in the sauna and then we had a little celebratory meal as it was her birthday too. We will celebrate properly in around two weeks time - can't wait!

Right, next post will probably be of JH's wedding....woohoo!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a cool kid, but most importantly - which football team does he support? (Wrexham don't count, that's like supporting the Lebanon at rugby)

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  2. Deosn't count, sorry.

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  3. Doesn't count, even. I need to change the light bulb in here *blush*

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  4. LOL - been on the beer again? :-)

    Funny, I never asked him as we just talked about football in general.

    The main thing for me is that he isn't a Man Ure fan!

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  5. I was quite sober actually! It was just really dark in here - honest :)

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