I made that costume he's wearing there. I was quite proud of it. If you put Oliver in a Shakespeare thing now he'd kill it. The signs were there at the age of nine that he was intellectually superior. I say this both as a parent but I have the results to prove it. He relishes in his intelligence. And he should.
I can say now with some conviction that Oliver's primary school never understood what they had in Oliver. It took a teacher a few years' later to have faith in him. His high school has no doubt about what he is.
October 29, 2017
Meet DJ Divide - known here as Oliver Janisch. If I had my way he would have been Peter Green Divide - but I have learned the hard way that your children will do what they will do and no amount of Zapparing or Peter Greening will change that state of affairs.
Every year brings different aspects to Oliver's childhood and every year he excels at something else. This year was extraordinary for him. He has found his rhythm at school. And is just the most amazing (opinionated I stress) child.
Where do we start with this year? So much has happened, the last 8 months have been so fluid that I don't think I can look back much further than that. Maybe I can go back as far as December where the young man decided to walk down a banister whilst we were on holiday. We rented a house in Scarborough which is not known for its cellphone signal - in fact it has no signal at all. I asked Oliver what his plan was here - he said to me he would jump down. He slipped immediately afterwards and broke his arm. His mother was out with the the car and I couldn't find a signal to call her. He's a brave little kid and sat in pain until his mother came home and schlepped him over the mountain to the nearest hospital. He earned a few bragging rights as a result.
But it was rugby that liberated him. Oliver is a very broad shouldered kid. This is because he spends hours on the trampoline (and he has two) with his Playmobil man. This man is a very important part of his life. It's like a kid's teddy bear. He wears them out and then he'll get another one. They are this conduit for his imagination. Every night we get "have you seen my man?" routine, it seems as if this toy is a sleep inducing placebo as well. Back to rugby. The school offers rugby from Standard one (I know it's called grade 3) and Oliver made the E team. It's chaos on the field - Oliver just picks up the ball and runs and everyone runs towards the runner. He was the top scorer in the grade and eventually made his way up the ranks to the C team. No sooner had the rugby season ended when the soccer season started, but he wanted to play rugby. His mother had heard of a few kids at his school who were interested in playing rugby at Pirates, the only issue was that practice was held on Wednesday and Friday nights with games on Saturdays. Oliver and I went to Pirates on a cold Wednesday night just to check it out. Oliver was kitted out in his soccer boots and school rugby kit. After about half an hour he said he wanted to go out and play. We asked the coach if he could come on the field and Oliver got stuck in, he had to take his shoes off because they play barefoot. The thing is that club rugby is at a very different level to school rugby. He ended up playing with kids from a wide variety of schools, many of them Afrikaans speaking who are fantastic players, better than anything his school could field. But he got involved and was accepted by his teammates. And my god he got fit - there they just run. He also learned to play 15-a-side rugby and in positions too. He found his home as a flank. Because there is a clash between club and school sport we were just happy that he came and practiced with the other kids. But he made the team and he played a lot of games - not only did he get stuck in but he stuck it out. None of the other kids in his grade got as far as he did, I don't think any of them actually pitched for a practice.
And
it was the rugby that brought on a love for sport. He's got a long way
to go but the seed is sown and he loves it. He is also starting to
understand the importance of practice and hard work - he's more than
happy playing for a lower team and enjoying the game and accepting
promotions when and if they come.
Why then the title "Pyramus and Thisbe"? There was a Shakespeare quiz that was really for highschool kids. Oliver's teacher decided to enter a team from his school who just happened to be about 8 years younger than their fellow competitors. His team mates were given extra lessons and we bought as many Shakespeare books as we could find - Oliver read the lot. He also spent a lot of time on YouTube researching. The four of them went to the childrens' theatre in Johannesburg and set themselves up. They were leading the points after the first round. And then the questions became very technical and specific about different plays. There was one question which was about Midsummer Night's Dream and the play within the play - and Oliver blurted out "Pyramus and Thisbe". I almost burst into tears - I'm quite tearful writing this actually. They came sixth out of eight teams and his school, parents and grandparents were ecstatic. They got a special mention at school assembly the next morning.
Oliver is a fantastic child, a very loved and special son and somewhat inflammatory brother, but a protective, inflammatory brother. He got his first speaking part in the school play and delivered it with guts and aplomb. It’s been a year of finding his feet, both at school and home. These last ten years haven the most amazing decade of my life. And I can't wait to see what the next year brings. One thing is for sure - it will involve reading more books than the school library has to offer him. We've had to join the public library to keep up with his voracious reading appetite.
Thank you my wonderful son, thank you for being you. You are the most amazing you I have ever known.
Now let's not stray from tradition. It's my tradition that is not specifically appreciated by my son but he can start writing his own blog posts and putting up his own music.
09 - Peter Green - Little Dreamer
Happy birthday Peter Green. A track taken from the seventies, his very lost period (the eighties were worse for him). But Oliver is a little dreamer, it's very apt.
It's also Denny Laine's birthday. It's sad that history is in the process of forgetting Denny Laine. McCartney's Wings success was very dependent on Denny's consistency. Happy birthday Denny.
Ollie Halsall's closest brush with commerciality was with Tempest. Not his birthday but tradition dictates that we include an Ollie song every birthday.
Happy Birthday my wonderful, talented and stunning eldest son.
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