A few posts ago, when I was at a bit of an all time low, I mentioned a friend who turned up 'out of the blue' to stay with friends of mine. He came with a story of how he had been in hospital and was bleeding from his eyes etc etc - resulting in him being told he had between 3 and 6 months to live.
His house had been broken into and those responsible had ransacked the place, ruining much of the furniture and stealing a lot of his possessions ...
WELL, AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT HE SAID AT THE TIME!!!!!
The friends he was staying with have been like a second family to me and when M called in tears to tell me what had happened, I lost all faith and started to question much of what he had said. I was so angry that I had to put the phone down, rant and rage and then call her back! I am not someone who angers easily!!
Whilst staying with my friends, he lied to, and stole from, them. 3 Christmas presents were taken and a large amount of money was also stolen from the house. Money which did not belong to my friends, but which belonged to many people they were buying theatre tickets for. My friends run a theatre club, running trips to the theatre for many older folks in the town and surrounding area that wouldn't normally manage to get to Glasgow or Edinburgh. The ticket money had been collected and a large portion was stolen.
He was apparently also opening a new business. Rightly or wrongly, I started to question much of what he had said and I went all Miss Marple and started to investigate for myself. The new business DOES NOT exist! He has moved house and changed phone and mobile numbers. There was absolutely NO communication of any kind over the Christmas and New Year period which was very strange as he calls at least once per week - he knows that we now know!!!
I am now questioning the hospital stay and the 3-6 month diagnosis. My friends decided to call the hospital where he had apparently been admitted and where he had all his tests. As he had gone missing we asked if he had been admitted again and explained the story about having a tumour etc etc and were told that the last admission was months and months ago - there was NO recent admission to hospital!
Words fail me when I think about how we have all been taken for a ride by this complete and utter fu*kign bas*ard. He had few family and real friends and has completely isolated himself from those he did have by telling lies that had us all in a very emotional state thinking he only had months to live, all the time he was stealing and fabricating this elaborate story!
The silence from him and change of address and phone number with no communication tells me, he knows what he has done. The friends he stayed with have replaced the stolen money and stolen presents but I know that they have been shattered by this experience, M inparticular, who has stood by him through a very messy divorce and some very low times.
I sincerely hope that he NEVER contacts any of us again, I don't want to hear any pathetic excuses and I certainly don't want two very close friends, M and R, to go through all this again!
Sorry that my first post back was a bit of a 'hum-dinger'!!!! I have been spending huge amounts of time at work after the holidays and have been doing some extra work for a local university so I have had little time to actually spend updating this wee ditty - I will be more regular from now on :o)
McTavish is doing really well at the moment. He and mum had a bit of a war of words, she felt he was wallowing in self-pity and not helping himself - since which he has made a great return to the man he used to be :o) bloody argumentative and grumpy git hahaha and he's very slowly putting on weight and getting stronger and healthier each day :o)
