Living Hell

Did I step into a soap opera? When, exactly, was it decided that more drama was needed around here? And why wasn't I invited to the meeting?

First let's get the good news out of the way. My bike's working just fine now. The new tyres are fantastic. They're "RoadTec" tyres, a brand I'd not heard of before. In the dry weather they were astoundingly good and this morning the roads were a little wet and there was no noticeable difference in performance so I'm pretty chuffed.

One of the guys at Gedge, Andy, was running in the marathon. I'll have to see how he did at some point.

Onto the bad news.

Yes, it's busy at work. I've managed to get through a fair bit of work this morning and I'm just taking five minutes to write this before I get stuck in again. I don't know when John might be back, or if he'll be on long-term sick leave.

Some elements of the jury duty are still lingering in my head. Some members of staff are asking me how it was and although they mean well I'm fidgeting as I try to find another way to say the same thing yet again. It was interesting. There was more than one charge. It was very complicated. There was evidence that made me feel uncomfortable. I had trouble sleeping. I don't regret it but I hope I don't get picked again.

And the worst news.

Entirely unexpectedly, it seems that there has been deceit, dishonesty, deception, and duplicity in the Fairlight household. We were all very close friends, and I thought we trusted one another without question or reservation. Apparently that trust was ill-placed. For six or seven months now, Adam's girlfriend Nicola has been having an on-and-off affair with Richard. Adam is, of course, distraught, and although his seven-year relationship with Nicola was not the steadiest or sturdiest, nothing excuses perfidy or treachery like this.

I honestly thought we were all above that sort of thing. That no matter what, a problem like that would not crop up within the group. Apparently I was wrong and both Richard and Nicola are both equally capable of such a recreant act. They plan on getting a flat together while Adam and Nick go back to living with their respective parents.

I can't say I fully understand the situation, but I really don't understand how Richard and Nicola can trust one another after committing such a betrayal to someone they were both close to. If you commit a crime, you're punished partly because you're capable of doing it again. So what makes the deceptive duo so certain that one will not, in time, betray the other? I don't know. This whole situation is messed up. I didn't expect this from either of them. I honestly thought we were all better than this. Obviously not.

I was up at the house on Saturday and neither Richard nor Nicola wanted to give me their side of the story. I almost wanted to say that I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed. Very disappointed.

Anyway, while they've not done anything to me, directly, I do not feel that I can trust either of them the way I used to. If we were to maintain a friendship then we'd have to start from scratch, and then I'd view them as untrustworthy because of what they've done. So, in other words, I doubt I'll see them or hear from either of them again unless it's by chance, and I won't be going out of my way to stay in contact.

Matt (Vish') split up with his girlfriend not long ago and they were pretty solid. It wasn't under the same circumstances and they hadn't been together for nearly as long as Adam and Nicola... but perhaps this is the time of year for change? Not that I'm trying to add rhyme or reason to anybody's actions. But there's a lot of confusion and hurt floating about right now.

So while I'm not going through living hell, I thought the post's title was appropriate because of what I wrote in the previous post.