I’m not bad at drawing cartoons.
It’s what I was probably best known for in primary school. Classmates and teachers would ask me to draw stuff to show to their friends or to use on posters.
I’m not brilliant, but I’m not bad.
And it was largely thanks to a how-to-draw book I bought from a local library sale.
It was great. It explained everything from tricky body shapes and detailed clothing to illustrating fast moving action.
When my daughter was born, I was looking forward to passing it on to her in the hope she would get the same enjoyment out of drawing podgy-looking characters with round eyes and big noses.
There was one problem: the book is written by Rolf Harris.
And by the time my daughter was old enough to read it, it really wasn’t an appropriate gift.
It’s now in a box in my shed, all rotten and discoloured.
I’ve been thinking of adding some other things to the box, such as once-loved Louis CK and Woody Allen DVDs.
It’s a strange experience when someone you know and respect turns out to be guilty of a heinous offence.
It happened again this weekend with former councillor Michael Jamieson, who admitted at Perth Sheriff Court to having a stash of obscene child abuse images on his home computer.
Jamieson was known to the local Courier office for years before he became a councillor, as the spokesman for a major children’s music competition.
He was always jolly, helpful and friendly whenever I met him.
So when the charges came to light it was more than shocking, it was stomach churning.
And that’s from someone who barely knew him. I can only imagine what it felt like for his close friends, family and colleagues.
Now I think I would struggle to look him in the eye.
Society shuns people who have been exposed like this. Partly to punish them, but mainly because we don’t know what else to do.
For many people, it would be a lot easier if we could put them in a box in the shed.
