Friday debacle

I’m so disappointed in my sister.

My cousin T is a fresher at Brunel University in Uxbridge, and I had volunteered to pick him up by car and bring him back to London for the weekend. We had arranged it all last Monday, and it would have been a good opportunity to catch up before we were both busy with college work. I would be going with another cousin, S, who is studying at UCL and would be coming up to Kilburn especially for the trip. S and I were to meet up at the train station at 6pm, walk home, drop our stuff and then drive up to Uxbridge together. Only when we got home, the car wasn’t there. My sister had taken it in the morning, saying that she would return it in the early afternoon as she knew I needed it for the trip. I tried calling her lots of time on her phone, but I kept getting her voicemail and I later found out that my mum had unsuccessfully been trying to get through to her since 3pm. Normally I would have understood, but my sister has a habit of disregarding other people’s commitments and switching her phone off when she hasn’t fulfilled a promise and doesn’t want to be contacted.

Anyway, I called T to explain what had happened and he was seriously annoyed. He ended up asking his sister to pick him up, but she did so begrudgingly, having had to give up her Friday evening plans. I heard that she let T know her feelings in no uncertain terms, and this in turn made him even more furious with me. I felt terrible. When I called back a while later to apologise again, explain the situation and ask for his pardon, he refused to answer the phone, and hasn’t picked up today either. I think it’s a pretty juvenile response. Does he really think I would have left him in the lurch if there was any way I could have avoided it? Even if I was busy or feeling lazy, if there was an alternative way to collect him I would have done so and not broken a promise. I respect the guy. Why would I want to lose my respect and trust with him? Anyway, seeing as I can’t get through by phone or text I’ve sent him an email outlining my side of the story. Will wait to hear what he said.

So, what did I end up doing on Friday night? Well, S ended up staying over, and we went out for some food before heading to this dodgy snooker hall. I had a good time and really enjoyed his company. He’s just a thoroughly decent guy. He’s from Leicester originally, and this was the first time we’d had a chance to catch up properly for nearly three years. I’m sure we’ll meet a lot more now that he’s studying in London though.

My sister had just got home when we returned, and gave a pretty lousy justification for her antics. The friend whose place she was going to have driven to in the morning hadn’t been free till the afternoon, so she had decided to postpone her trip till the afternoon. Her phone’s battery had run flat and hence we hadn’t been able to get through.