More wise words

My Dad has been on my mind a lot today. Nothing unusual about that, his voice pops up all the time.
Not always politely. "Cut the cackle" I hear him say, if I'm chatting too much. "Get on with your knitting" if I'm wasting time. He couldn't understand knitting, or crossword puzzles.
My Dad was a bit  like a shield for us. You always felt safe when he was around.
He always knew what really mattered

Maybe it was using the word "pompous" in the previous blog. He used to  say things like "He's all pumped up with his own pomposity", to describe some poor soul who had given the impression of being full of conceit. Once, he amazed my husband by parking his car in a slot that someone else was waiting for, then  saying "well, you shouldn't have been so pugnacious". I'm not sure if I've remembered that right.
He was always telling us to keep "cool, calm and collected", (difficult) and be "patient, tolerant and understanding". We were always fascinated by his expressions.
If someone was known as being a bit reactive he would say "You don't want to cross swords with him".
He had a knack of turning up in unexpected places. The one and only time I went out in the lunch hour, from school , who should come by but him. the one time I made a rash exit onto a road in the car, who should be sitting in the restaurant in front but him.

I used to love it when my Dad took me to school in the car. He was meant to drop me off at the bus stop but would sort of pretend he'd forgotten and we'd drive on in companionable silence. He might sometimes make a detour to get flea powder for the dog or something like that and send me into school with a note explaining why I was late, always a ridiculous reason.

He never became a dab hand on the computer or anything, his 90 year old best friend who is still alive has read "Fifty shades of Grey" on his kindle, he would have been interested in that. He always said the best invention ever was the telephone, he loved to just ring up and  say "you sound as though you're in the next room".