Obstruction

You can't please everyone, of course, and a rather sour little episode this morning was certainly evidence of that adage. After the interview on Tuesday, and the subsequent good news yesterday, there was still one element of the process that needed to be done, and done straight away - posting the acceptance slip for K's place at the new school back to them. They needed the paperwork in hand by Monday, and, given the vagaries of the Christmas post and the nearness of the end of the school term, it really needed to be posted today. The problem was that K isn't very well at all - she was already well on her way into a nasty cold on Tuesday, and, by today, she was effectively confined to bed - she had almost completely lost her voice, amongst other symptoms, when I needed, as events panned out, to speak to her this morning. Those events stemmed from a phone call from my ex not long after I'd got in from work this morning - she started by complaining about K's attitude, how she hadn't cleaned her room, typical 'parent of a teenager' stuff, but the subtext soon became apparent, namely that she didn't want to do anything to help K's application, it was my business and K's, nothing to do with her. Given that a parental signature was required on the acceptance slip. and I was, of course, 200 miles away from the relevant piece of paper, it looked as though my ex was going to try to 'veto' the whole process. When I pulled her up on it, by reminding her what she'd said herself only a few days ago, about not wanting K to go, she hung up on me and refused to answer the phone when I tried to call back. The upshot of it was that I had to ring K on her mobile and effectively tip her out of her sick bed to prevail upon her mother to sign on the dotted line and then go out and post the letter herself. I was thoroughly annoyed by my ex's attitude - I can understand that she isn't happy about the prospect of being left on her own, I know all too well what that's like, because it's effectively been my situation for almost two years, I've probably only spent, in total, around three or four weeks' worth of days with K in that time, but for her to seemingly be prepared to torpedo K's chances of getting the education that's right for her just so she isn't alone struck me as unforgivably selfish. For the most part, our divorce and its aftermath have been reasonably amicable, particularly in respect of K's welfare, so this morning has left a particularly nasty taste in the mouth. At least the outcome, of the acceptance slip finding its way into the local postbox, was the right one.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B