Family Tree...

I'm very excited. The wee brother is coming over from Spain next week for a couple of days and of course, he's staying with me.

We're absolute opposites - he's very laid back and good natured, whereas I'm like an irritable firework.....he's great with money (and was able to retire at 48), whereas I'm rubbish with money, and will be working until I'm 98....he's very musical and can play umpteen different instruments, whereas I can play the piano with my right hand only.....he's very slim and good looking, and sporty, whereas I'm...not. (I could go on for hours, but I'd just depress myself!!)

He's not (quite) perfect though - he's unbelievably stubborn, and is the most absent minded person I've ever met. If I have anything important to tell him, I just tell his wife instead, as he'll forget it instantly anyway. (This would be quite worrying, except he's been that way since birth!) We were talking recently, about an occasion when he was in hospital at the same time as our grandmother.

'What was I in for?' he asked.

'Appendicitis.' I reminded him.

'Good grief, I'd completely forgotten I'd had my appendix out' , he said. ''That explains the scar on my stomach then...'

There is no way I'm giving him a set of my house keys when he's over......