Occasional Scribbles

So I called the Teen this morning.  It is evening in New Zealand, about 8 o’clock and it’s his last night there before flying out tomorrow.  I hear noises in the background, laughter, chatter, girls voices, guys talking loudly and I imagine him in a bar somewhere, drowning his sorrows, having one last night on the raz, saying farewell to friends, afterall why not? 

He hasn’t received an email from the guardians asking him to meet them at 9am tomorrow (tonight here) complete with shiny clean car which he is supposed to be returning when he collects his ticket and passport from them.  What are the chances I wonder to myself, of him getting everything sorted out in time and arriving at 9am ready to make these exchanges?  Well I think it will be a miracle if a) he gets there on time and b) he has cleaned the car to a suitable condition for resale.

I mention this pressing job to him and he is ready with excuses.  “I didn’t know I had to be there so early” he says and I come back with nagging authority, (crikey! I’m nagging already), “well you should have phoned to find out what the arrangements were, you idiot.  How are you going to get the car cleaned up and get there on time.  And you better not be late, they have a busy day and won’t be pleased if you turn up after 9”. 

There’s still lots of noise on the other end of the line, the sound of people having fun.  The Teen tries to get me off the phone with various assurances that he won’t be late and he will clean the car, “I can’t give it back in this state” he says and I can just imagine what state, given his bedroom that I’ve just cleaned.  Clearly he had other plans for his last day.  He wants to distribute various belongings that he can’t bring home, to friends and presumably he was going to clean the car – probably at the last minute.  But having, as usual failed to make contact with the guardians and more importantly to make arrangements, he will now have to do it their way, which means an early start and no car for the rest of the day.  It’s a shame that he still hasn’t learnt to communicate with people properly.  He may as well not go to bed since he has lots to do and a 27 hour flight home in which to snooze.

On the other hand I feel slightly, a tiny bit, annoyed with the guardians.  Why have they chosen to be so busy on the very day that the Teen is leaving?  Granted, thye really don’t want much to do with him anymore and vice versa but you’d think they’d make sure that if he needs a lift to the airport they might be available.  Instead, they expect him to be there at the crack of dawn – 9am is a bit early on a Saturday after his last night in New Zealand and are leaving him to sort out arrangements to get to the airport.  Since their biggest complaint is his disorganisation, it might have been more prudent to put him the plane.  This way they are almost guaranteeing that his last dealings with them, will end on a sour note.  Equally, given the Teens behaviour, he really should do all in his power to leave on good terms, acomodate the guardians and make sure he doesn’t cause them any further irritation.  But he is a Teen.

Meanwhile here in England, the Teens friends are buzzing like bees to honey.  One of them is coming down from Uni and another even offered to drive me to the airport to collect him.  Much as I appreciate all this loyalty and devotion they’ve shown to my son, I rather wish they’d let me have him to myself at least for a while before decending on us.  I managed to tactfully decline the offer of being driven to Heathrow and had to smile to myself when the younger Teen told me the lads were worried that I might give the Teen a bollocking on the way home and thought they might prevent it if they were in the car too.  I have no intention of doing such a thing – that will come later!

We all have mixed feelings about his return.  The grand parents are obviously relieved that he will no longer be on the loose and safely under our roof again.  The Other knows he has some serious talking to do which is long overdue and the younger Teen is worried that his brother is going to come back and boss him about and interfere with the life he has established without him, though he’s kindly offered to come with me on the long drive to the airport.  And I, I can’t wait to set eyes on my first born again but know that any good will, will be short lived once he starts hassling me for the use of our car, pesters me for money I don’t have and probably intends to carry on much as he left off 8 months ago. 

We are all going to have to think carefully before we speak and count to ten before we shout!