It’s great having two sons as it gives me a chance to relive my childhood. Cars, sports, trains, planes, mud, fights, sticks, Disney, tears, trucks, screams, jumping on beds, tractors…it all comes flooding back to me, an overwhelming deluge of toys and tantrums. And they’re both proper little boys. Jumping on beds, getting muddy, totally hyper, running around the house, fights and punches, a constant energy, living areas looking like Toys R Us after an explosion. It’s hard to keep up with them.

Then there’s the rages and fits of jealousy – particularly when they fight over toys. No matter what they have, whatever the other has is always better and worth fighting for. I’m thinking of doing an experiment and giving them identical cars. I am sure they would still fight over them. A psychological short circuit that whatever ‘the other’ has must be better. 

I remembered Dardar cars from my childhood – well actually I was around 8 years old and at my school there was a massive craze for these little die cast Porche 901s that you pulled back to activate the spring motor. And did they go fast! We built ramps and halfpipes for them in the school breaks so it became like a merging of two crazes, skateboarding and motor cars. It was like an early form of the mash up. 

I couldn’t find them in the shops here so had to resort to my old and trusty friend eBay, always a reliable recepticle of childhood arcana. I can’t wait for them to arrive so I, I mean, my boys, can play with them. I hope they like them as much as I do, sorry, did. I hope there are no arguments over them. And I mean me arguing with both of them over who gets to play first.