Meet the Flockers: Simon Bridgens

Our Meet The Flockers series gives us a chance to show the humans behind Stephenson Law. We stop, take a moment, and spend some time on the sillier side of life.

From guilty pleasures to bucket lists,  this series sheds a light on what makes our flock tick.

Introducing Simon Bridgens, part-time touch rugby player, full time talented Senior Solicitor. Take it away Simon…

Tell us your favourite short story about yourself?

I found a dead body outside my halls of residence at Uni once – actually that’s quite a sad story, so maybe another one…

It’s difficult to really think of a favourite – I love telling stories and dad jokes, and like to think I can bring out the right ones at the right times, and mainly aimed at getting a laugh!

I was even asked to leave the room by the midwife during the birth of my second child, because I was trying to lighten the atmosphere with a few amusing yarns.  Turns out the midwives, and my wife in labour, didn’t think it was helpful.

What is your biggest irrational fear?

I’m going to say that all fear is rational – I think all fear responses can be traced back to the particular time or event that created them.   Whether they are thought of as irrational by other people on the other hand….

I really don’t think much phases me, but I do have a strong aversion to a ringing phone!

There was a stage in my life where I took on more than I was able to cope with…I didn’t really help myself by moving jobs, moving house and having a second child all within the space of a few months.  The job was stressful.  Having a second child was not as easy as some people say!  And some of our new neighbours went to some pretty extreme lengths to make us feel unwelcome.

Like one of Pavlov’s more corporate-minded dogs (you must have heard of that one?), the combination of constant phone calls during a time of such high anxiety, created a very strong association between the two in my mind, with the effect that a ringing phone (whether it’s my mother or a client) still generates a strong feeling of fear/anxiety in my body 7 years later!!

What is your favourite hobby?

Touch rugby – I played rugby competitively throughout my school and uni days but had a break of about 10 – 15 years after that, was busy doing other things!  About 5 years ago, some friends and I (mostly emerging from having/taking care of babies) decided to start up a local touch rugby club.  This has evolved into a weekly ‘therapy’ session for middle-aged dads, involving an hour or so of plodding round a pitch and re-living our youth, followed by some talking therapy in the pub after!

On an average day, how many pigeons do you think you could reasonably carry?

I got my daughters to help me figure this one out.  I’m going to use the karate kid ‘crane’ technique to carry them.  So there’s one on each foot, 3 or 4 on my thigh, another 5 or 6 on each arm and then 2 on my massive head.  What’s that? 12 – 14 pigeons.  I’m happy with that.