Fools & Horses – One Of The Family

Fools & Horses – One Of The Family

(A Fans View) By Philip Coffey

I was born in Limerick Ireland on Dec 10th 1981, to a young couple both 18 without a brass farthing to their names. They were married only since that September past and we lived for my first few years at least, on a pretty rough estate. As the years went on my Dad worked his socks off and got us to where we are now, out the country in two cushty houses (first his, now me in mine). Only Fools And Horses has been with us, through it all.

I sit here now with my 3-month-old first born daughter and as we watch Del, Rodney Granddad and Uncle Albert, I suddenly realise, my whole life, the high’s and low’s, the good and the bad, they’ve always been around, the Trotters!!

I look forward with this warm and wonderful feeling to when she’s old enough to laugh with me and of course cry; as we share the greatest adventures a television show has ever produced.
Ok, enough of that shh… show of emotion, on with my story.

My earliest memories of the show are from the early 80’s when we lived in a council house in what is generally considered to be one of Limerick’s and indeed Ireland’s worst estates. It was a lot like Peckham in many ways really (or at least what Peckham was like in OFAH). We had great neighbours and my childhood was full of great memories but there was always a dangerous element to the place and it got a bit of a reputation as a stab estate. It’s far worse now mind.

Anyway, we’d sit down of a Saturday evening and watch Del, Rodders and Granddad run all over the place getting up to all sorts and my Dad would laugh at it like nothing I ever seen! He’d forget

Trotter Family and Friends

all about the hours he’d done all week, the small house we lived in, the trouble all around us and just get lost in it for that half hour. He’s a great father, always has been, but he’s old school. A lot like Del Boy actually. My wife always says my old man is a terror for wheeling and dealing in anything. Even today he’s got a house in the country, good job, flash Jag, but also has two Toyota Starlets (89 and 90), a clapped out car/van thingy, and a garage full of junk he’s gathered from relatives which he tries to shift once a month at the jumble sale! Hasn’t got the Capri thank God!!
But I would watch as he’d laugh out loud at this great show and I found myself even at a young age connected to these characters.

As the years went on and we moved to a nicer estate I became a proper fan of the show. I got into it through Dad, but started to chat to my school chums about it and realised all their Dad’s loved it too!! But the bestest bit, (as Del might say) was Christmas day. The Christmas specials were the second best thing about the day for every year from the mid 80’s until the final trilogy a few years ago. (Mum’s turkey being the best!)

We’d all huddle round the box and laugh ourselves silly at the boys down the Nags Head, or up the market or especially in the flat. Because it’s what we were like! Silly hats, laughs and joking, taking the Mick out of each other. Honestly I think my families humour started with Only Fools.

My brother and me are both huge fans. My Dad watches it every day on Gold, driving my Mum nuts!! But we don’t collect memorabilia or go to the conventions; we carry it with us in who we are as people. Our sense of humour, our compassion, our friendships. All of it is influenced by a lifetime spent watching the boys. And so now my daughter is here, I am already making sure she grows up with the same influence as I did. Even with the gadgets and gizmo’s around she’ll be one little kid at school who’ll let out the occasional ‘Lovely Jubbly’!!!!