Monday, October 26, 2009

When will I ever learn?


I should have known better. Soldiers get decorated for less. I must have been bad in a previous life.

My mother wanted to buy 'a couple of things', so, with encouragement from Pia, I agreed to drive her to the shops. My mother has never bought a 'couple of things' in her life. She doesn't know what a 'couple of things look like'. She shops and time stands still for her. She enters an alternate universe devoid of common sense, devoid of any feelings for anybody else, devoid of time.

I have to say that I was very scarred when I was young. Scarred by agreeing to take her by car into Harrogate, parking on a double yellow line with a definite promise that she only had a 'couple of things' to get and that she'd only be twenty minutes. It was the early days of traffic wardens and there weren't many about, so I decided that I would take a chance and stay with the car. What a fool. What a poor innocent fool.

Three hours later (YES -THREE HOURS LATER) I'm still sitting there expecting her to return any minute and not knowing if she's forgotten and gone home. Words can't explain how angry I was, so when you put the words 'shops' and 'mum' in the same sentence, I so don't want to know.

Anyway, we arrived back with her complaining to Pia (who seemed to find it all very amusing) that I'd only allowed her two hours to buy 'a few things'. She has no idea how lucky she is. Where's the medal?

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