People sometimes tell me to ‘have fun’. I resist such suggestions. I prefer to be a grumpy old man. My aversion to ‘having fun’ has become a long-standing joke with a number of friends…
My friend, I’ll call him Norman, reminded me of this yesterday… He’d been invited by his son and family to join them at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach.
To enter the Pleasure Beach, he discovered that he needed to purchase a £5 ‘Fun Card’ that gave him ‘5 ride credits’. Apparently, Great Yarmouth Pleasure beach fun costs a minimum of £5. He could buy more credits, and hence more fun. Norman chose to give away his Fun Card to another family member, who presumably had the fun that Norman had purchased…
Thinking back…
…In 1964 the Beach Boys sung ‘And she’ll have fun, fun, fun, ’till her daddy takes the T-bird away.’ A girl had acquired her Dad’s car under false pretences; her fun was dependent on that car.
…In 1974 Terry Jacks sung, ‘All our lives we had fun, we had seasons in the sun…’ A man who was about to die sung with regret about past fun.
…In 1983 Cyndi Lauper singing ‘Girls just wanna have fun,’ seemed to say that girls have as much right to fun as boys…
This morning:
Bear Grylls thought for today: ‘I have discovered that life doesn’t have to be solely about the big blocks of time. There’s so much fun to be found in the five minute margins. Our happiness, creativity and inspiration are activated by small but meaningful activities.’
My Bible reading: Jesus spends time with ‘sinners and tax-collectors’ . I wondered if He had ‘fun’, and if he did, what that fun looked like. Perhaps His fun came from enjoying people for who they were…
Today I’m musing not on big Pleasure Beach or T-bird fun but on unexpected fun in the margins, fun with people in the margins, and the continuing fun in being a grumpy old man.
malcolmsmusings.org 
The Cambridge dictionary online gives various meanings of fun:
pleasure, enjoyment, or entertainment:
They also give the use of the word in:
To make fun of someone
or
To poke fun at someone
I am known for playing the fool a lot. In fact, my granddaughter who is staying for a few days, said I was “an odd sod”
I remember various kids I taught saying “Oh grow up Mr B”
But I would certainly not change a thing I do.
However, when actually thinking about the fun of “poking fun at someone”, I realise you have to know your victim will “take it” and can give back as much. I think I’ve forgotten that at times in the past.
If I remember rightly Malcolm, you weren’t averse to poking a little fun at us.
Well, we’re taking our two grandchildren to The Pavilion Circus in Yarmouth this afternoon where we hope we’ll all see lots of fun, as well as death defying antics of course.
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Thanks, Alan. The dictionary definition of fun was there in the original, but got lost in the edit. Thanks for reminding me of the mutuality of healthy fun-poking. We all need to be good at laughing at ourselves. Perhaps we’re back on generously giving rather than selfishly getting. I like the idea pf being a source of fun.
Have fun at the circus, Alan!
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Reminds me of this song, which has nothing to do with Abraham of the Bible, “Father Abraham had seven sons, seven sons had father Abraham, they never laughed, they never cried, all they did was go like this….”
You may recall in the book of Daniel 3, whenever the people heard the music, they were required to bow down and worship the golden statue…
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I’m not sure that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thought that the music was fun!
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They didn’t fall for the music and were thrown into the fiery furnace…
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This is a fun post, Malcolm, simply because it made me smile! (See, you can be fun!)
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Sorry if you had fun, Dana. I shall have to be more serious in the future!
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It certainly is worth a try! 😉
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Of all the post I’ve read of yours Malcolm I never really got “grumpy old man.” More reflective and thoughtful. And like Dana says, this is a fun and enjoyable post. So you can be plenty fun.
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Ahhh! You don’t have to live with me every day, Rachel!🤣🤣🤣. I’ve had years of practice in being grumpy… and now that I’m an old man it’s a responsibility that I hold dearly!!
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This is very true! Haha, I don’t get to experience you every day and I only get a little window through your blogs. Also I think it is a right of passage for older gentlemen to be the “grumpy old man” in their friends and family’s lives.
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I’m glad you understand, Rachel. It’s a duty and responsibility – particularly to my children and grandchildren.
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Ha! Fun in being a grumpy old man – funny, Malcom!
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It comes with years of practice, Wynne.
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