The Jet Set

Helena brought a DVD with her this weekend. It was of a school assembly, and she wanted me to watch it.

I'm not a very involved parent when it comes to school things. I suppose I'm the same as my parents who went along to parents' evenings reluctantly. I let Helena's mum do that - she's no more enthusiastic, though.

Anyway, watching a video of a bunch of nine year olds singing out of tune or, worse, playing recorders out of tune, isn't my idea of a good fun, whether Helena is involved or not. But this DVD is different.

Firstly, there is no recorder music. Secondly, it's a recording so you can always turn down the volume. Thirdly, for once I was watching it as a proud parent.

In between some inspirational song and dance routines, they were performing a play. The play was about an evil man and his gang terrorising a village. Of course, the villagers have the courage to stand up to him and good triumphs.

The play was written and directed not by William Shakespeare, or Alan Ayckbourn, but by Helena. She had had the idea, and had spent part of an evening here writing it, and printing off copies. As she watched the video she pointed out some of the cast's mistakes, and explained some of the changes that her teacher had made.

So of course, like all parents, I started to have visions of the future. Helena the great writer director, dividing her time between Broadway and Hollywood. Wouldn't it be great? Living the jet-set life - parties with all the top people, everyone rushing around to do your bidding, money no object. Yes, life as the father of a famous director would be fantastic.

Helena's trophy cabinet in the future? [Source]

I know what you're thinking, I shouldn't get too excited. It would be a mistake to assume that her artistic triumph is necessarily going to lead to such a career. After all, she might be the next James Galway (I'm sure he had problems with his top C sharps too, when he started learning the flute), or the next Picasso (he couldn't even draw faces properly).

She's good with word processors, so she'll probably end up in an office staring at a computer screen all day. Won't that be nice? Following in her father's footsteps... As long as she's happy, I don't really care.

But the jet set life might be fun. Excuse me while I tell her to stop playing that computer game and get on with writing that film script...