…to iron boxer shorts. 
I had thought that this was an activity restricted to mothers-in-law until a few months ago when I spotted my sister-in-law brandishing the iron over a pile of unsuspecting boxers. Apparently her husband expects crease-free boxers. Personally, I’d just show him where to switch the iron on but then my housekeeping standards do leave something to be desired.
I had planned to write this as a lead-in to a meditation on working at home, following a piece on Mother at Large . That will have to wait, however, as I found myself indulging in something altogether stranger yesterday evening – shortening a tie. In the old days, boys wore ties to school and knew how they worked. These days, it’s polo shirts and sweatshirts. But they’re both off to NYBBS this week, and a tie is required for the end of week concert. As GP1 is man-sized, and almost as tall as his dad, a man-sized tie does the job. GP2 may only be 2 years younger but is a whole adolescence shorter and a normal tie reaches down to… well, you can guess. Try buying a boy’s tie anywhere east of Edinburgh. They do not exist. So I sat last night with my needle and thread and a large pair of scissors and chopped and sewed and the end result was quite passable, although I say so myself.
This morning I drove the boys and a friend over to St Andrews for the start of the course. My two are not what you would consider child prodigies, at least not as far as brass is concerned, but GP1 went along to the course last year and had an absolute ball. It’s great that they can go to something like this and find that playing an instrument and having a good time are not mutually exclusive. They’ll make new friends and, I hope, come back enthusiastic and a little more independent. We’ve already had a couple of very excited phone calls from GP2 – I’m not expecting anything more than a grunt, or possibly a text, from his older brother.
We’ll go over on Saturday for the concert. Worryingly, I was directed to St Andrews today by large yellow signs for the British Women’s Open which starts on Thursday. I wonder if we’ll get near the place at the weekend.
Postscript
I was told last night that I hadn’t made the tie quite short enough, as the bit underneath was still sticking out! Chortle…
Now, on leaving the tie-free zone of primary, they take a look at Dad’s efforts and get on the web to find out how to tie a tie properly. They’re then delighted to find that that the various tie-tying web sites provide a wonderful resource for surreptitious displays of individuality. They also delight in showing Dad the error(s) of his ways, but no surprise there.
Well I never realised there were so many ways to tie a tie! My area of expertise resides solely with the Four-in-hand knot (known as tying a tie in my parlance).
And I still haven’t worked out how to put links in comments.