Relationships

The past few days have been all about relationships. In fact I seem to have a fairly broad panarama of relationships within my life at the moment.

- Relationships that are broken and in no need of fixing (Me and my father)

- Relationships that are broken and are in need of fixing and should be easy to fix(Gabriel and Lian)

- Relationships that have been fixed and are now trundling along quite pleasantly (Me and my brother)

- Relationships that have been recently established that seem to want to go somewhere but because of time and geographical constraints they seem to be actually going nowhere (Me and Sarah)

- Relationships that broke but may be fixed although I'd prefer them not to be (Andrew and Kevin)

- Relationships that broke (if they ever existed in the first place) that I'd definitely prefer not to be fixed and will make substantial strides to make sure that they are not fixed (Andrew and David)

- Relationships that are completely solid even though they involve one party cleaning up the faeces of the other on a daily basis (bit of a unique one, this - Me and Ripley)

- Relationships that had a wonderful and heartening reunion last night (Lukas and basketball).

Colin managed to get me to talk about that first relationship on the above list this morning. He apologised for giving my dad my number; which he'd done in a moment of forgetfulness. I asked him to ask dad not to ring that number, but Colin said he couldn't guarantee that. Colin said: He's finally started looking at acting his age, you know. I asked how Colin knew this and he said he went up to see him last week (which is quite a trek, all the way to Inverness) but didn't tell me as he thought (quite rightly) that I would not be interested. Colin continued: He's ignored his age too long, Bryn. All those years he pretended never happened have caught up with him; he's realised actually how old he is and it's really hit him and he's not coping with it well at all. I told Colin I couldn't find it in my heart to care. Colin asked me would I care once the bloke is dead? I told him that I thought it unlikely.

Gabriel's ear is not looking very attractive. It bled overnight and he woke up looking like an extra in Apocolypse Now. I helped him wash all the blood off and it started bleeding again but not too badly, so I've stuck a plaster over it and we're hoping it'll sort itself out. I asked Gabe if he still had his ear-ring and he confirmed he had. Then I asked what he was going to do about Lian and he said he didn't know. They spent all day at school yesterday forcibly ignoring each other. I asked if he wanted her back as his girlfriend and he said that he did, so I told him he would have to apologise and see how things went from there. The longer you leave it, I advised him, the more difficult it'll become and the more distant from her you'll become. The more time you spend apart the harder it'll be for you to be able to patch things up. Gabriel said that she should be apologising to me but I told him that it was not going to work like that. I'm leaving it up to the pair of them to sort things out. If they both want it to be sorted out, that is.

I had a quick look around the internet last night for how people in Myanmar celebrate birthdays but Google largely came up blank. Found out though that in nearby Thailand the custom is for the birthday person to be the giver of gifts, rather than the receiver, so some of my original thoughts were very much along the right lines. Nothing definite so far on Myanmar though - I have another Detective Dad session tonight. If I can find out more it may give Gabe something further to think about when considering if he should apologise or not. No matter what I think of Lian (I'm perched on the Lian fence) she's a positive influence on Gabriel's emptions, which is good - if somewhat selfish - news for all of us.

Someone who has a positive influence on my own emotions is of course Sarah, although she's not having as much of an influence on my emotions currently as I'd like her to have. She phoned me last night and casual chattage ensued. Ruth has settled down after the weekend fun, and negociations with Daniel established the reasons behind her fleet feet at the weekend and an understanding. More efforts are to be made to intergrate Ruth into the new side of Daniel's family rather than just lumping them together.

I'm not sure where this alleged relationship with Sarah is going, if anywhere. When we said our goodbyes we'd made absolutely no arrangements to actually see each other again. I think if either of us tried to, the question of the distance between us may arise and that tenuous link between us may shatter. I think we're being too polite with each other - for A to come to B, A would have to endure a three hundred mile trip and six hours of their lives (or more); it's a tough thing to ask for. I need (yet again) to push myself and get my widening butt down to the coast. The further time that expands between now and the last time I saw Sarah, the less interested in her I become, but I think that is down to pure laziness on my part.

To end on a positive, Gabe's poor mood of yesterday meant no issues in getting Lukas back to basketball, as there was no need to ferry Gabe in the opposite direction to the Martial Arts academy. How strange it felt walking through those familar doors at the leisure centre after a three month break; helping Lukas get changed in the man-sweat-drenched changing rooms and seeing him sport that comically oversized green jersey. Typically, he didn't score a single basket, but made the usual menace of himself over every blade of grass on the court. His soaked face - in sweat and joy - when his game was over (the Lizards lost) was something wonderful to behold.

No real plans for the weekend other than thwarting my son's reluctance to visit Poppy's memorial on Mothering Sunday.