What a weekend!

My brother came to spend the weekend with us, to celebrate his birthday.

When he arrived yesterday and he was a little bit worse for wear so we chilled out around the house a bit. We went out quite early and had dinner and a few drinks (his light-weight big sister got more drunk than she expected. Much quicker than she expected, too!) before coming home and drinking some more, before crashing out.

We had another lazy day today, before he decided it was time for him to go home... but couldn't find his car keys. He found, them, eventually. In the ignition of his car. With no real way of getting them.

He has a spare set, but they were at home. An hour and a half away. I suggested that maybe someone could either bring them here, or half way to meet Mr B.

There was no-one he could think of. My dad wouldn't do it - he had some lame-ass excuse. My mum's boyfriend wouldn't do it - it's not his problem. And his "friends" won't come for him, despite the fact that he has, on many an occassion, done similar things for them.

We tried breaking in to the car with a wire coat hanger, but it turns out that that's not as simple as it looks on the movies, and none of us had enought of a mis-spent youth to really know what we were doing!!

Eventually, we decided that the only way around it was for Mr B to take him all the way home, pick up the spare keys, and bring him all the way back so that he can drive home. That's a 3 hour round trip for Mr B. It's by no means ideal, and my brother felt really bad, but it was the only way. So, they're on the return journey now.

Since they've left, I've sat and had a little cry. It breaks my heart that, in his time of need, he didn't have anyone that he could call on. No-one that would come for him.

My brother's had a really tough time lately. He got into trouble a while back, and after over a year of court appearances and goodness knows how much stress, he was charged with affray in January 2009. He was given a 2 year suspended sentence, community service and probabation that finishes in January 2011.

But, because of all of the court appearances, he lost the job he had with a carpentry firm. And, it turns out, employers are reluctant to take on someone with a criminal record. I think that he suffered with depression for a while, too.

I'd like to say that my mum was super supportive. But she wasn't really. She was quite naggy and negative with him because he didn't have a job. Whenever i ask how he is / how he's getting on, she only ever gives me negative feedback. She didn't tell me that he's applied for quite a few jobs. She didn't tell me that he's having a test on Tuesday because he needs a certain card thing so that he can get a job. And she didn't tell me that he's actually been pretty fricking messed up about the fact that he owes quite a lot of money to quite a few people. (Me being one of them. I know I'm good for it, though.)

I also feel bad for him because it turns out his 21st birthday was pretty fucking shite. He spent the day in his room, playing Xbox. Nobody came round. Nobody made an effort. Two of our aunties didn't even acknowledge his birthday (no surprise, none of them acknowledged my wedding!!). And the presents he got were pretty fucking lame, too.

It breaks my heart that nobody seems to make an effort for him. I don't even understand why. I love him, so very much, and wish I could wave a magic wand and get him a good, stable job, pay off his debts and get him on his feet.

In the meantime, I'll make him some dinner when he gets back here, and hope he gets home ok tonight!!

xx