Such a shame about Popstar Pete. Here's hoping rehab works for him.
Think the thing with High Maintenance Mandy will last long enough that I'll get to meet her?
And how is your digging into Piotr the Protective going. All is quiet on the builder front by the way. We're just soldiering on clearing and stripping and sanding. Currently on our second skip.
So Ever-so-capable Evelyn. Let's get the quick news out of the way. She hasn't seen the Convivial Count since that weekend but he has been in touch about some fete or other that he is supposed to host. So the plan is for her to go back down there shortly to start working on that and organising things. There is a committee but he wants someone he trusts to join him on it and then hopefully it won't get out of hand. Fingers crossed he sees just how good she would be for him. Definitely a better option than me.
As for the shocked expression. She had assumed when I said that I had bought a house that it was more like a home and less like a project. Hence the gift. A very nice, and no doubt en vogue, vase with an expectation that it had something equally as nice, and possibly en vogue, to sit on. Which of course it doesn't. Not at present anyway.
So as she is over for a few days staying with her parents she has offered to go over my room outlines and do a bit of interior designing for me. Only suggestions but options for me to think about. She is definitely not up to grunt work but this much she can do and actually it will be really useful. Again not something I had thought about. She has already cast an eye over the kitchen and bathroom options I was considering and given me her learned view on those.
But that's not the big news of the moment. Far from.
I did suspect that once the news of my house purchase got as far as my little sister that there would be some comeback. Luscious Lydia has a spidey sense for potential and perceived injustices - to her - no-one else. And the prospect that the parents might be providing financial assistance is one of those areas that is likely to get her keen senses tingling.
Unbeknownst to me the Mother-ship had already had a few enquiries clearly attempting to illicit information on whether money had changed hands (and by implication was therefore due to her in equal share). We are all used to how my sister works so I assume that had been handled carefully.
And in reality the parents have not yet had to assist with funds.
But nonetheless Luscious Lydia has felt the need to attend in person to make sure that her share of any inheritance is not being squandered on her sister's project.
As with her literary namesake my sister is generally pursuing men with the means to keep her in the style to which she would like to become accustomed. Unlike her namesake she is intelligent, cunning and frighteningly callous when it comes to relationships. I like to think of her as a praying mantis. Only prettier.
So she has been somewhere hot and luxurious for a month or two now, with little update and even less consideration for the parents. Until now.
We arrived back at the parents house after a long day and all of us just wanting to shower, change and eat and instead we were met by a one-woman Spanish inquisition who barely stopped short of demanding receipts and bank statements.
All of this completely unnecessary in my view. Due to my sister's successful encounters with the rich and famous, and even more successful ability to leave a relationship significantly better off financially than when she entered it, she has no reason to worry about money. But as I say, her issue is fairness. But only where she is concerned. Were the boot on the other foot she wouldn't give two hoots about any implications for me.
I'm sounding bitter. I shouldn't be because at the end of the day my parents will be fair and are more than capable of managing their own affairs and not likely to be influenced by Luscious Lydia.
But I could do without her and her demands and her perceived injustices and you get the picture.
And right now she was demanding to see what heap of bricks we were all wasting our money on. As if it was any of her business.
I should also point out that my sister has been very successful in acquiring property in many a far flung place and selling what she does not need. I believe that she currently has apartments in London and Paris and some beachside villa in Miami. At least she did. She may well have sold one or all. Maybe not the London one because that's the address that cards and presents are sent to.
And I was sure that she would find nothing in my choice of property that would meet her approval. Not that I want her approval but her disapproval would be relentless and persistent and scathing.
And right now I had neither the patience nor the energy for it.
So whilst she was bemoaning the unfairness of the parents being asked to assist one sister when the other had never asked for anything (she also has a short memory - I could off the top of my head recall at least half a dozen occasions when she had) I rang the Dashing Major.
Now seemed like the perfect time to book a preliminary meeting. What I was not expecting was his suggestion that I could come down so soon though I must admit that was a welcome suggestion and one I willingly accepted.
Now however I'm worried that I'm going to get another telling off. By him this time.
But on a practical front do you have any suggestions on where I might stay overnight?
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