The Folks Visit

On Friday it was my mum, dad and my brother Danny's turn to came and visit. I've been spending the last few months not really liking my new flat but they seemed to love it.

I dunno, maybe I've been spending too much time at home and maybe it's because since moving here in December the weather has been cold, wet and mostly shit. There are so many things that annoy me about the place:
the fridge door opens the wrong way (towards the wall) which means you have to shut the kitchen door in order to open the fridge; there is laminate flooring throughout and I fucking hate laminate flooring; my landlord refused to take the hideous white wardrobe and chest of drawers outof my room so I'm stuck with the fucking things; the doors are all just plane white slabs that shut by themselves; the washing machine isn't plugged in behind it so you have to plug it in with the cable running over the kitchen surface whenever you want to use it, etc, there are more...

When I moved into the flat I only took it because of it's location and because no one else would touch me with a barge pole. 'Unemployed single mother' basically black-lists you from most estate agents in London and I experienced such horrific prejudice it really was frightening. Even with a guarantor and an upfront payment of the deposit plus three months rent in advance (we are talking over four grand, here) still no one would let me rent their flat. The whole point of moving to London was to get a fucking job anyway! There is nothing in Brighton and after getting made redundant in October I had to move. But eventually some kind young Estate agent lady did just treat me like a normal human being and persuaded the landlord to trust me when I said I would pay his rent every month. So I moved and I have a full-time job now so it's worked out.

The flat's not that bad, though. I am focusing on all the negatives and the positives do outweigh them. My neighbours are lovely, it's on a nice road, I like the area, there are loads on birds and trees around here, there is a lovely nature reserve across the road, I have friends who live nearby...

Anyway, here is a picture of George and my dad (again, with one of those things on his head to prevent 'nasal drip'). My parents brought with them a massive pop-up tent for kids in the shape of a whale with about three parts to it. They wanted to put it up inside the flat as it was so cold outside, so we did. It took over the whole front room and even made Dad do one of his almost-falling-over grabbing the air maneuvers. Now, to me, putting up a tent or slide or some large play thing indoors which is intended for outdoors, when you have a tiny flat in the first place, is not a normal thing to do. But that's my parents for you. There is no task too small or too pointless...that they can't make a massive ordeal out of. But they bring with them a kind of lovely, silly chaos that it is just charming to witness. It's hard to explain their little eccentricities to other people and having left home a long time ago I no longer have to experience daily exasperation at their routines but I can appreciate their true wonder: being amazing, unique individuals and totally selfless loving parents.