BEING A YOUNG DAD WAS THE BEST TIME

Ray Connolly Real age: 78. Spirit age: 29.

EMOTIONALLY frozen at the age of 29, that’s what I was. That’s how I still think of myself.

It was the age when I became confident that I knew how to do what I was good at. We bought a big, run-down house on my 29th birthday in 1970 and it felt like a new beginning, setting off on a new adventure with a future rich in hope and possibilities.

That was also the time when I was a young father. I liked the role of being a dad — I still do. Not the sort of dad who helped much around the house, more the type who saw children as people to amuse and who enjoyed being amused by them.

I expect lots of men identify with being in their late teens — which suggests to me they must have had more success with girls at that age than I did. Marrying Plum when I was 25 was the best thing I ever did. We’ve grown old together, but still reckon the years when the children were small were the best.

It was hard, of course. Not much money, two children and soon another on the way, redecorating all four floors of our home in the evenings — Wedgwood blue and white panels nearly everywhere.

Not everything has turned out as I hoped. There have been some mistakes — like selling that perfect house — and setbacks. But I’m still happily working seven days a week, still getting new ideas and beginning new projects. Still feeling all of 29.