Times when your parents have surprised you by being cool.

[Norton Canes]

Dad, living in Luton, used to do nights out in the West End in the late 50's/early 60's. Think it was more regular boozers than Ronnie Scott's type haunts though. Who knows though, maybe he was hanging with the Colony Room Club crowd or camping it up royally on Old Compton Street.

He also went through a phase of buying acid house 12" singles from HMV on the way home from the office in 1987/88. No idea what prompted that.

In case you were thinking he was cool or anything, there was one time my sister bought some joss sticks to burn in the living room and my dad was worried in case they made us feel 'groovy'.

[buttgammon]

My dad studied physics and chemistry in the 70s, and presumably took loads of drugs. He also nicked some chemicals from the laboratory, blew up a bin as a prank and was asked to leave university.

He wasn't cool though; I saw a photo of him wearing a hat that had 'SAVE ENERGY: MAKE LOVE SLOWLY' printed on it, which is possibly the worst thing I've ever seen.