I always wanted a brother too. My sister is 11 years older and we're chalk and cheese. She did ballet, played several musical instruments, knitted, sewed, listened to classical music. I ran around with the boys, scrambled down hills on my bike, was always muddy, loved football and listened to punk when still at junior school
There was Rob though. He's 17 days older than me and is the son of my Mom's friend and they always lived by us, even after we moved from opposite them they moved to a house three doors away shortly afterwards. He was never a rough and tumble boy though. He'd
watch when we scrambled down the hills. He hated mud, getting dirty upset him, and when we went to the beach he was always carried on and positoned on a towel and he hated sand - his wife jokes that she still has to do the same now
He was always immaculate and I was like that Peanuts character, Pigpen, who walked around surrounded by a cloud of dust. He's the closest I've got to a brother though and his wife is very tomboyish and I love them both to bits, they're Joe's Godparents.