We've got a star in our house!

I know this is a real bloggy thing to do - every other family blog has pages of elegies to the kids - but I really have to make this story public. My son Finn is growing up to be a remarkable young man. A couple of weeks ago he quietly revealed to me the most beautiful, perfect miniature Gray-Nicholls cricket bat, signed by his headmaster and the head of sport at his school. The bat is inscribed: "Presented to Finn Weston for scoring his first half-century for Kingswood Prep - 55 (in 45 balls) v Paragon at Prior Park on 17-06-05." At the age of just eleven, he has achieved something I never achieved, despite playing for my school's first eleven cricket team for three successive seasons. Last year he came home with the Player of the Year medal for his year at the local cricket club. Finn's great grandfather on his mother's side was an England opener and is still, as far as I know, the only England batsman ever to score a six off the first ball of a test match; he also once took all ten of the opposition's wickets in a single innings, for just 31 runs. It looks as if little Finny has Charlie Barnett's DNA rocking and rolling through his bloodstream. Yet he (Finny) is not at all boastful in describing his achievements. If asked he'll proudly but quietly describe the more memorable shots he played and he lights up with enthusiasm for the game. But he's no more effusive than when he describes his team-mates' successes on the field. This is another way in which he has already exceeded my achievements. I'm proud of him and I can think of few better ways of telling the world than on the worldwide web. Well done, Finny and thanks for setting your old man such a good example :)