Terrible ParentingMy parents used to lock my brother, sister and I in the car while they went to the pub for a "quick one" after work. This quick one might last several hours, during which they would send bottles of Indian Tonic Water to us by way of refreshment.
On one particularly cold evening, bored stupid, we lit a small bonfire on the back seat of the car using the cigarette lighter and the contents of the glove box. We owe our lives to passing winos. (BTW: Please no more Maddie or Jesus gags, they've been done.)
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Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 16 Aug 2007, 9:47)
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Not Parents, but eastern european great-auntsWhen I was 17 I moved to Prague to live with my grandmother for a year, hoping to learn czech and do some bonding with my relatives. She lived in a huge house in a lovely leafy suburb with her three aged sisters. Being all teenaged and over-enthusiastic i made a real effort to be nice to everybody, running errands, doing all the washing up, walking dogs, taking nice long strolls around the cemetary with them and so on.
One day, my Dad called me and told me he'd be arriving the next day -
Me: ooh, what a nice surprise, is it a business trip?
Dad: no, i'm coming to the funeral.
Me: oh no, whose funeral? one of your friends?
Dad: erm, no, auntie Zoras...
Turns out the great-auntie on the middle floor had died a few days ago and had been lying in state right above my head. and nobody had bothered to tell me because they didn't want to upset me.
This sort of thing is apparently what made my Dad run off to London at 17.
(, Thu 16 Aug 2007, 12:59, Reply)
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