‘What can I do for...

badness?’ 

is an oft heard refrain from my rosebud lips. 

As I’m at a loose end, aren’t we all?  I got to thinking, like you do, of some of my past capers, of which it won’t surprise you to imagine there are many!

He stood on the doorstep of my little terraced house beside the river Ouse in York.  He had carefully dressed in the hand spun, dyed and knitted by me fair-isle pullover.  As I opened the door the last person I expected to see was him.  My last sighting  was as he walked up to get the mail bus from where we lived in the Highlands.  He was off potato picking in Ripon. His parting words were 

‘If I can’t have you no one else will, I will fire the croft with you in it!’

With him away I had time to plan my escape.  I trudged up to the phone box to consult with a solicitor as to what to do.  The guy came all the way from Inverness to see me, his advice was for me to pack up his belongings and send them to where he was staying.  Provide a covering letter saying as the relationship had broken down it was over!  In fairness I had been saying this for eighteen months, so it wasn’t going to be a complete bolt out of the blue.  

My next problem was I didn’t have his address. I just wish I could remember exactly how I got it without alerting anyone what was afoot.  I did somehow get it and packed up his things, hired a man with a van to take them with the letter. At the solicitor’s advice told him to unpack the contents onto the pavement if necessary, deliver the letter and drive away.

I then had to pack up all my things and find homes for the animals. This is where my lovely neighbour came to the fore to take the animals and change the locks when I drove away.  I still feel in his debt to this day!

Into another van me, my treasures, the cat Sugar and the Westie Katie were taken by the guy who had come to do the double glazing on my croft house.  He drove us to York were I was going to stay in a house my father jointly owned with his lady friend.  

The solicitor assured me that this was my only course of action to ensure my safety and for Andy to accept that the relationship was finally finished.  

That wasn’t the end of it, without any idea about my whereabouts how did he track me down?

That’s a story for another day...