Walking back from the gym this evening I saw another impossibly cute and hilarious thing. Don't worry I will get back to ripping apart the disgusting and perverted sectors of society soon, but clearly for the moment I am enjoying seeing happy things.
A small boy, who must have been under three year olds, was cycling along the pavement on a tiny little bike crossed with a scooter. I suppose it was a scooter that you sit on like a bike. It had a bike frame, but no pedals and the child propelled himself along with his feet. He was with a man who was on a regular scooter, who was supervising him, but the little boy was really going for it, traveling at a breath-taking speed, careering towards junctions in a way that would make my mum shriek with concern for his safety (and even made me gasp a little). To see someone so tiny, moving along so quickly, with such fearlessness and adeptness was slightly awe inspiring, but also stupidly funny. Every time he looked like he was heading for trouble he would manage to stop without any kind of screeching or burning shoe rubber. He was on it man. Two foot high and flying down the pavement.
At one point he stopped to pick something off the ground. It was a red rubber band, dropped no doubt by some postman. He wanted to put it on his handlebars. His guardian came back to see what he was doing. He explained he was being a good boy and helping tidy up. "You are a good boy," said the adult, "You're a really good person." I love it that he called him a person. Because even though he was tiny he was like an adult and braver and more coordinated than me.
If you want a laugh then get a two year old to ride a scooter-bike thing. It's really brilliant. But only if they're good at it. I would have been rubbish and my shrieking Bobby Robson mum wouldn't have let me within thirty yards of the thing.
And I don't think I would have gone on it either. The more I work on my show the more convinced I am that we are what we are and that our environment has very little effect. If you're the kind of kid who wants to career down the pavement on a bike, then you will do that, even if you occasionally break a leg or nearly get run over. You'll carry on. I was never going to be that way, even if my mum had looked like Evel Keneval instead of Bobby Robson. I can only sit back and envy the adventurous, which is slightly more galling when they are only 2 years old.
But like the 82 year olds from yesterday, he shared an appreciation of the joys of life, whatever his limitations. I wish him a long and happy life. Just drive slowly if you're heading down Hammersmith Grove any time soon, and look out for the hobbit on the scooter bike!
I think he can look after himself.
