For the Record

 Truth is I've been putting this off and I am not quite sure why, except to say that the subject is an unpleasant one. Perhaps that is reason enough. Here goes:

Yesterday I discovered that my youngest (to whom I shall refer henceforth as X) had stolen my Visa card to gamble online. sadly this was by no means the first time. This created a number of serious repercussions: my bank was forced to return 2 direct debits, this in turn caused me great stress, unrelieved by the fact that attempting to right these wrongs was met with the usual 'announcements' one must endure while calling a corporation of any size, and the message which followed telling me that I may have to wait even longer due to staff shortages caused by Coronavirus. (Coronavirus is turning into a great excuse for almost anything, methinks.) I'm guessing that this will have damaged my personal 'credit rating', and all so unnecessary! Sadly, I must report, that this was by no means the first such incident. More to follow...

Add to that the fact that my wife (one of the kindest people I ever met) is something of a hoarder, possibly the most untidy person I ever met and we live in a big, detatched house (expensive to maintain and absolutley not vital to our existence), you may understand why I have thought about 'upping sticks' and 'buggering off'. My wife works as a Parich councillor (many hours worked 'at home': here is a picture of her home office - I'd show you our bedroom, but that would be very un-gentlemanly! 

You get the idea!

Maybe I'll get a book out of this - I've certainly been put to unwarranted expense in my efforts to save this child (now 25 years old!) but if I don't, then who will? Like any father I love my children and want nothing more for them than to lead good, happy lives. I am consoled (at least partially) by the fact that our firstborn (eldest) has forged a succesful career, good ethics and a happy existence in dear old London town: a place where both I and my wife lived and enjoyed many happy years both pre and post marriage.

To go just a little further for now, my dear X suffes a serious addiction to both the 'booze' and the 'gambling'. Like any 25 year old, there is within this child a confidence that the problem can be solved without any outside help. Of course, at that age, we think we know everything and are 5 star problem-solvers. Sadly my most difficult goal is to disparage this theory: help is needed, urgently, now and unquestionably.