See, this is the problem with writing a blog so far in the past – I get dates confused. Anyway. Having checked various diaries, bits of paper and so on, I've got this post to put in, out of sync again.
18th January 2008 – 23rd January 2008
Tim invited his friend, and friend's girlfriend to visit. It's all timed so that they return to the UK just before Mum comes back here from Borneo.
A week or so before they are due to arrive, Tim casually dropped into conversation that a couple of other extra friends will also be joining them… "oh, I thought I'd mentioned it". Errrr NO! But I guess I should not have been surprised as this lot always do everything together.
I'll call them D1 and D2 (or Thing 1 and Thing 2 as we've recently been re-reading The Cat in the Hat). So that's four people coming to stay, when I was only expecting two. I am not happy about this at all. But what can I do but deal with it?
I won't be going on any day trips with them as there is no way we can all fit into the car and I will, of course, need to be on hand for the school run.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 share the twin bedroom next to ours. You have never heard snoring like it in your life, I can promise you. One of them always ends up going downstairs in the middle of the night with no regard to the rest of us by trying to be silent. I am greeted by the sight first thing in the morning.
None of them eat anything other than "safe", semi-vegetarian British food. Therefore, I refuse to cook: besides, with the prices here, I can't afford to buy expensive British food for all of them. They eat McDonalds all the time.
While here, they barely spoke directly to me, although the volume at which they speak is decibels above normal volume. And the conversations are beyond inane. I just kept out the way because with all of them sitting in the living room, there was no room for me.
Talk about being excluded in my own home. Humph.
When they returned to the UK only one of them said thank you to me for "putting up with them"...