> but, er, i DO read along, the continuing story.
>
> have even retold ~it~ to amazed friend in oz...
>
>
> i dunno... why is it amazing?
well, -it- maynt be so amazing when i tell -it-.
but, after all, it was my friend who was amazed by it,
not the story itself being amazing per se...
that's the thing. you did, you went through, you acted. in the
retelling of these activities they become an -it-, a story, a
thing.
>to me, there is a thing. and the thing needs. so i do
yep.
my friend is a periwinkle anyway. pauline. never does much, need a
crowbar to get her out of her house. i've made stories about her
an john in here before. but she can be amazed at the antics of
others, even though i find her antics a little amazing at times. and
john's especially.
well, she kicked him out. after all these years. she told me that
after he'd gone, she'd cleaned the house up, and felt that she'd
been on the verge of madness for at least the whole time they'd lived
in that house..never being able to find anything, putting something
down somewhere and then it not being there when you went for it.
throwing things away, and him buying it back. she'd tried to get rid of him before anyway, especially when he'd threatened her with going to
live with his bro in queensland and finding work there, she'd been a
bit hopeful. if only, she'd thought, he could. 2 weeks later, he was
back on the doorstep. she knew they wouldn't put up with him longer than
2 weeks.
this time apparently, their daughter had been asked for her
opinion. clare is 13 now i think. she told him to leave, which seemed to
shock him into doing it. after he'd gone and was staying at david's,
he'd called and sobbed that he'd no money to get to the hospital, to
pay for his needs, that david and kevin were wanting him gone. pauline
had told clare about her father's dire situation. oh no you don't,
she'd replied, he's not coming back this time.
i was keen to see how david was bearing up with john in the house. he
told me that he'd enforced strict rules. once when john had run out of
money the day after his pension had been cashed, and was keen to get a
drink, david told me how he'd made him do push ups and then carry out
the garbage until he was panting. oh i know i'm cruel, but it's just
like the cat -you can't give into their wheedling unless you can
torture them first. then he let him have three fingers of the
glenfiddich. kevin though, was being sent quietly mad. kevin doesn't
talk much. likes to come home and insert himself in front of the puter,
read magazines. john would like to talk to him. kevin too quiet to tell
him to go away and shutup - doesn't actually work anyway - john took to
prattling on at his side. they finally gave him the ultimatum to leave.
well, david did. by the end of the month or the friendship would be at
an end. the housing commission found him a flat anyway. on sickness
benefits, you get to the top of the list. david told him not to visit
for a year, because he'd worn out his welcome. something like that.
i also told pauline about ailsa, which amazed her in chunks of how
come? it was a continuing backwards explanation story. like, she'd
called when we got back from adelaide, saying she was stuck at the
airport, having flown in two nights before from perth where she lives.
she knew we were back that day, and that we were staying at a house in
sydney, a ten dollar cab ride from the airport. she was on her way to
san francisco on a staff ticket, the lowest of the low, below stand-by.
it was january, and the only 2 united flights outa sydney to the west
coast were all full. overbooked even every day. some people had been
taken off after they'd got on. she asked me if she could stay the
night, so she could go back the next day and try again. she was taking
her one year old son with her. to visit its father. he'd got her the
staff ticket. she had no money left. i told her i'd pay for the cab
when it arrived, because we didn't have a car. i asked the people
living in the house if they minded. so she comes with all her stuff,
you know, with a baby you come equipped with a fold up crib and a strap
in baby seat for the car and lots of extraneous baby matter as well as
your own stuff. the next day she packs up and goes off to the airport
again, but it looks grim. she's run totally out of money, except for
the return ticket to perth and the fare from the airport there. she has
no job and no income apart from what her american boyfriend sends her
for the baby, and no prospects either with no degree - well, maybe a
job that would pay for the baby-sitting expenses that would let her go
to work. she is dying to get to san francisco for her three week visit,
but it looks as if, according to airport staff, she won't get on a
plane till thursday at the earliest. that's when we are going back to
the UK. it was sunday. we were not going to be in any day that week.
the baby wasn't self sufficient and no one was volunteering. i asked my
mother whether she'd like a couple of house guests, and they were very
happy at the prospect, except they live an hour and half away from the
airport by several trains and staircases. ailsa declined. i had to give
her enough money to let her stay at a hotel near the airport at least
until thursday, mainly because she was so depressed at the prospect of
having to go home after coming that far, and because she was so
depressed. the last i had that wasn't borrowed from various parents,
that i still considered mine to give. but that was ailsa, lost soul in
some ways, friend from japan, just 31 having spent 12 years in japan,
the last 8 at university studying corporate law, fluent in japanese
even written, couldn't muster the last strength she needed to attend
classes and get her degree before being kicked out of japan...and then
going back to the states to stay with the guy she'd met 3 months
previously when she'd been given the heave ho from her flat - and
knowing japanese corporate law, had been able to extract the hefty
golden handshake from her landlord that gaijins never were sposed to
know about or get, and had promptly spent it all on a trip to brazil,
the states and canada...yep, she had enough money to set herself up
back home in oz, knowing she was to be leaving nippon, but instead
wanted to spend it travelling, which i guess i would do too had i been
her...and i would have gone back to spend time with a fella i liked in
a foreign country too, for the 6 months visa i could get before having
to go back and settle down...what i wouldn't have done is get pregnant.
he already had a boy by another marriage, and she didn't want to live
in the states, so, well, this isn't my life after all... we happened to
see her again at the airport on the thursday waiting to see whether
she'd make it on a plane to LA that afternoon, the baby happily
crawling about on the floor, before we had to get on our flight back
here. she seemed optimistic that she'd get a flight the next day at the
latest. i haven't heard from her since then, but no news is good news.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Sun Nov 18 2001 - 12:13:00 PST