Harridan Hassle

I can't post this on Fbook, so....

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and

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Thanks. I feel better now.

Nutritionally unbalanced

I love cooking, and I do a lot of it. Proper home cooking with things that grew in the ground and stuff. I know my stepson F likes it when we have family dinners, and recently he's also started to really enjoy cooking with me, so I make a special effort when he's here to cook and eat something nice all together, and always make a big family roast on Sundays.

During his mid-week visit last week, as we busied ourselves in the kitchen making stuffed peppers, he said "I said to Mum and B [harridan sister] I wonder what I'll be having for dinner and they said I bet it will be something from the chip shop or the pub!"

This stung a great deal, not only because of the gross inaccuracy and unfairness of their comment, but also because The Harridans should not be making derogatory comments about my care in front of my stepson.

I know where it comes from - for 4 months this year I filled a senior interim post at County Hall which meant I was not getting home until around 6.15/6.30. When F comes for his mid-week visit, my partner the BFG has to drive him home around 6.45. So while I was doing that job, on the days F came, the BFG was generally going to the chip shop. This meant I didn't have to worry about cooking in a rush when I got home, and the BFG (who is not blessed with immense culinary gifts) didn't have to worry about cooking while looking after a 6 year old and a 3 year old.

However, apart from those FOUR MONTHS, during the rest of the past FOUR AND A BIT YEARS I have fed F an excellent balanced diet of home cooking - despite his resistance in the early days, since he wasn't used to that sort of thing.

So the snide comment hurt, and I was sorely tempted to write a note, but restrained myself. I also would have liked it if the BFG had shown his support for me by (a) defending me, and (b) asking them not to make such comments in future, but that never happens. They could stand outside our front door with a loudspeaker shouting "TUFTYCAT IS A FAT SLAG" and he'd still stay indoors for fear of 'upsetting them'.

Anyway. Last Saturday night F arrives for his weekend visit, and the first thing he says is "I'm really hungry, I haven't had anything to eat". Saturdays it's Mother Harridan's job to feed him; he always, without fail, arrives here starving. So the BFG texts Mother Harridan and enquires whether F has had anything to eat this evening.

The reply?

"He had a MacDonalds at 4.30 and a jam sandwich at 6.00"

Nothing to be said, really, is there?