It looks like the situation regarding ballroom dancing has come to a head, had the heated pin of insight pricked into it and now the fresh, yucky pus of truth squeezed from it. Nephew has gone back home, not without a struggle and a few tears from various people, but hopefully he can start to get his act together after resolving his own problems for himself. Better that than hanging around our house in the same boxers and socks for 3 days avoiding what he needs to do. And he knew he needed to do it.
The phone didn’t stop ringing tonight, all the way through the ‘witching hour’ of 7:00pm to 8:30pm, that window where you get to put the kiddies to bed, shout at the elder one for a while for running around and hopefully despatch them to the land of nod with good thoughts. Not tonight. Tonight we had the train-wreck of family problems intrude big time. Jude was out working, so I had to entertain brother and sister-in-law (2 seperate phone calls, both from mobiles so they’re not telling each other about ringing here) while trying to feed Mark and listen to Luke trash his room. What’s a nice way of saying ‘fuck off’ without it seeming too callous?
I think we’re out of the picture, but I don’t think that’s the end of it. Nephew now realises that he’s got somewhere to run away to if things get rough at home. Alas, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this.
“Sorry – it’s not a good time.”
Covers a multitiude of possibly serious or trivial interpretations.
If you feel really guilty: “Can you get back in an hour?”
I often just let it ring, then vet it to see who it is.
Hi VJC
I did get a bit forceful in the end. Not too arsey, but just enough to let them know that I was disassociating myself from their problems. “Yep, I’ve spoken to Jen, and your wife and my wife and our mother-in-law. Nope, I don’t know what to do either. Hear that screaming baby? He’s more in need of my attention than anyone else”. Huge hints, delived with all the subtlety of a flying sledgehammer, but they still weren’t taken….
bollocks to them all is the best attitude.
Hi Cliff
I’ve started doing that, but I still hate to. At the moment, I’m waiting for a relative to die, bless ‘im, so I’m a bit loath to leave things go in case it’s my poor, grey-haired olf mother passing on the bad news just like she loves to. I suppose I’ll have to learn to be a bit harsher with the screening….