Todd Alexander
Harper Collins. Rrp $34.99
Comedy author Todd Alexander returns with a new take on ageing. While it might not be a funny topic for all, Todd has applied his typically dry and self-deprecating humour to something that is inevitable for all of us… and better than the alternative!
Over the Hill and Up the Wall is an affectionate, funny look at the frictions of taking a more active role in our elders’ lives. It’s a nod to every child who has waited three hours for a parent to fasten their seatbelt, and every parent whose child assumes they can’t count to twenty. And, if your parents are just hitting middle age, it may well be a warning of things to come!
Says Todd, “Of course, we love our parents. Even if they do so many things that drive us bonkers.
Like how a mother – for argument’s sake, let’s say mine – taps her fingernails on the car window whenever she sees a place of interest (seven taps for a regular haunt, up to twenty for somewhere fascinating). Or the way a father – let’s call him Dad – practises deafness but can miraculously hear a suggestion of no ham at Christmas over the roar of cricket commentary. It might be the way your mum works herself into a tizz over a call from Azerbaijan one week and Nigeria the next. Or how your dad has an answer to everything (despite his information being forty years out of date) and ‘a guy’ for all fixes (if only he could find his Rolodex).
When do we stop being our parents’ child and become their parent? After all, they did pretty well on their own for decades – why do they need our intervention now? And that tendency for them to drive us up the wall … could it be because we are entering middle age and starting to recognise some of those traits in ourselves?
“We took Mum and Dad on a little holiday to Forster a few weeks back. The drive reminded me a lot of the content of the book – how it takes quite a few goes for them to fasten their seatbelts, and how Dad loves turning place names into song titles, like Elton John’s “Dungog Breaking My Heart”, for example. Mum also enjoys pointing out places of interest by tapping her fingernail against the glass of the window… seven taps for something mildly interesting, and up to twenty taps for somewhere really fascinating. It was a good trip!
“For a while, I thought it was just my parents who defrosted hunks of frozen meat on the kitchen sink all day… in forty degree heat… but the more I spoke to my friends about these kind of quirks, the more we all came to realise that a lot of parents do very similar things. It gave my parents great comfort knowing they were not alone! But the book also highlighted to Mum and Dad that they’re not the only ones with meddling middle aged children like me, assuming we know what’s best for them. It’s generated a lot of laughs around the bingo halls that Mum and Dad frequent on the Central Coast and is really a big fat celebration of ageing and parenthood. I hope I have done them proud.”