Can you imagine celebrating your 17th birthday with your grandchildren?
That’s exactly what Tom Cunningham is doing this Leap Day.
The Fife granddad – who will be 68 on February 29 – only gets a “real” birthday every four years.
But he says he has never missed out.
In fact, the postman, who lives in Coaltown of Balgonie, has always felt special because of his unique birthdate.
‘My mum would make a fuss – I got two birthdays instead of one’
“When I was a kid, my mum would make a fuss.
“She didn’t want me to miss out on the years that I didn’t have a real birthday.
“So I would get two birthdays instead – we would celebrate on February 28 and then March 1.
“She would tell me, ‘Your birthday is the last day of February and it’s the first day of March as well’.
“It’s a special birthday, isn’t it? Who else can say they’ve got a birthday like that? Not many folk.”
Dundee-born Tom even recalls his classmates going to a special effort for his birthday. “I remember getting this cardboard cake that the students and teacher had made for me I was 5 years old.”
These days, Tom tends to celebrate his birthday on the last day of February.
He normally marks the occasion with a big family get-together at home.
“I celebrate my birthday with my family, they will usually get me a cake and present”, he said.
“I am hoping they will manage to get 17 candles on the cake.”
Any ‘leapling’ will know there are often a lot of gags to contend with.
Being born on Leap Day ‘always a talking point’
“The most common one is ‘Oh, you’re 17? You’re not even old enough to drink!’ And things like that,” Tom said.
“Or, ‘Oh you’re not 17 – you can’t even drive!’
“Whenever I need to give my date of birth over the phone and they always go, ‘February 29?! What?! No, that can’t be right!’ and so on.
“I usually get a bit of a ribbing for it. And that’s fine, I get a laugh out of it as well.
“People are often surprised because there are not many people who know someone who is born on February 29.
“I feel a bit special about it and whenever it comes up it is a talking point.”
Does it ever get a bit old?
“No,” Tom said. “It is a talking point, it is a bit of fun.
“It is a bit different and there is nothing wrong with that these days, to have something to talk about.
“It is light-hearted, there is nothing sinister about it, it is just nice.
“It has never worn out for me.
“For me, it is something special.”
Tom grew up in Dundee as one of five siblings.
“I remember my sister June being born in the bedroom. I must have been about 5 at the time,” he said.
“It had two older brothers, a younger brother, and then June – the youngest.
“She was dead special because mum and dad had always wanted a wee girl but had four boys. And then they had June, so June got away with murder.
“We weren’t well off at all. We lived in a tenement in Dundee for a few years then moved into a terrace house.
“My dad was a labourer and he worked hard.
“From the age of about 14 he had been carrying coal bags and whatever else.
“Mum was from the East End of London.
“She met my dad after the war. He was in the Navy, and she was attached to it in some way.
“They met down south anyway and fell in love, then up they came to Scotland.”
Tom met future wife Eileen in Dundee Civil Service job
After leaving Morgan Academy, Tom worked on a pipeline system between Aberdeen and Grangemouth.
“Then, I got a job working in the Dundee Dye Works,” he said.
“It was funny because I would come home a different colour every night.”
The dad-of-two went on to join the Civil Service, where he worked in a variety of roles for more than 30 years.
It was while working at Lindsay House in Dundee that he met his future wife Eileen, who he went on to have two children with, Ross and Hannah.
“Eileen came in and asked me something,” Tom recalls. “She was still relatively new to that office at that time, and the person who was mentoring her had said, ‘Go up and tell Tom such and such’.
“And I think I said something like, ‘That’s wrong, go tell him this’.
“So her nose was a bit out of joint.
“But strangely enough there was a spark there and we just gradually got together.
“We got married in 1987, then Ross came along, and a little while later Hannah came along, and then we moved to Glenrothes.”
Although the couple are no longer together, Tom says they have remained good friends.
“We separated about five years ago,” he said.
“But one thing that does keep us together is the kids, and obviously the grandkids.”
It is clear that family is a number one priority for Tom, who is fiercely proud of his children.
“We were delighted with Ross and Hannah getting into university,” he said.
“Hannah got into St Andrews University to do maths and Ross went to Stirling University to do media studies.
“Hannah works for JP Morgan as an executive assistant and Ross works in press in marketing.”
Together, Tom and Eileen watch daughter Hannah’s children, Clark, 7, and Zoe, 5, every Thursday.
Becoming a postie has turned his life around
Despite nearing retirement age, Tom, who moved into a new house in Coaltown of Balgonie earlier this month, says he has no interest in slowing down.
Since leaving the civil service in the 2010s, he has worked as a delivery driver across Fife, for companies including Argos and Dominoes.
In December, he became a postie for the Royal Mail.
“This job is great for me,” he said. “I’ve lost over two stone since I started this job, I had let myself go a bit before then.
“It has just turned my life around. I feel so much better, I am so much fitter, I just feel great. I could see me doing this for another 5-7 years.
“It is outside, I’ve been doing Newcastle area in Glenrothes, and there are squirrels running around, birds singing in the trees.
“Every day I’m looking up at the hills and I’m thinking, ‘How am I getting paid for this?!’
“I’m just loving it.
“It has given me a new lease of life.”
And it’s a good thing, as the birthday boy has a few more milestones he would like to reach.
“I suppose my 21st birthday is going to be quite a special one.”
Laughing, he added: “But if I could get to 50, that would be great.”
Conversation