Heroes of the Road

[oloriel]

So my brother is in New Zealand. Or no, by now he'll be somewhere over Asia, but at any rate, he was in New Zealand for over a month.

That's good for him.

Less good is that he practically didn't keep in touch (he sent one short e-mail when he was on the ferry to the South Island, and then another short e-mail when he was on the ferry back to the North Island a couple of weeks later). NOW he apparently sent me an e-mail, which reached my Inbox last night at 3 am.

Now, my wild student and roleplaying days are over, so at 3 am, I do not check my e-mails.
So a bit later he sent a text message to my father, who - surprise, surprise! - doesn't check his text messages at 4:30 either, but read it later on when he got up and called me on his way to work. "Tom sent a text message - he asks whether you don't read your e-mails?"

"Not before breakfast, I don't," says I, but promise to check right away. I have a mild suspicion what it might be about, anyway.

And indeed: It's a (very nicely and creatively worded, I have to give him that) request whether I, in my boundless generosity, might pick him up at the airport tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 pm.

I'll probably do it (if I have a car at my disposal), but damn, dude, can't you think of these things earlier. Like, before you get on a plane and can't be reached or make alternative arrangements until you're already in Düsseldorf, thereby sort of guilting me into agreeing? I SHOULD MAKE YOU GO BY TRAIN AND BUS JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE SUCH A SUCKY PLANNER.
Haha, no, he's my brother and I know how annoying it is to get home by public transport after a full day's plane journey. But argh. How hard would it have been to organise this well in advance? He booked his flight home several months ago. Yes, yes, flights get cancelled or rescheduled all the time, but it'd still have been kinda useful to plan ahead.

Ngah.

[/First World Problems]

Comments

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Heh, I understand that you're a little angry. But as you say, he's your brother. But listen to this: in August, four female colleagues of my husband went to London. And one day before they returned, they called him to come to pick them up at the airport.
Hey? WTF? Four of them, and not one single husband/boyfriend/brother/sister/parent to come? Apparently not - he had to go and pick them up.

[http://users.livejournal.com/macalla_/]

WAH!! Sowas HASSE ich!

Und dann ein schlechtes Gewissen machen ... URGGGGHHHHSSSS

(Bin grade sozusagen um deinetwillen sauer)

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

He owes you bigtime for this 'favor'. I hope he brought something very cool (aka LoTR/Hobbit movie-related) for you from NZ.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

Men can be like that. My son was going on a trip, and then he cancelled it. Guess what? Yesterday he told me he is going anyway, and as he lives with me, I get to babysit his doggie. I love the doggie, but what if I've had other plans?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Naja, das schlechte Gewissen macht ja nicht er mir - das mach ich mir, weil ich halt denke, wenn ich jetzt NEIN sage, dann erfährt er das erst in Düsseldorf und findet so kurzfristig erst Recht niemand anderen mehr und sein Studententicket ist nun auch abgelaufen und...
Das wäre zwar wiederum seine eigene Schuld, aber man fühlt sich ja doch irgendwie für den kleinen Bruder verantwortlich.
Aber jedenfalls sagt er selber nichts, was mir ein schlechtes Gewissen machen müsste. Von daher musst du da nicht für mich sauer sein, höchstens auf mich, weil ich so weichkeksig bin. ^^

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

... nice! I guess I should be happy that it's only about a few hours of time and a few litres of gas in my case. ^^

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I damn well hope so too!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

... whoa. I guess one should feel sorry for them if they really don't find anyone of their own family members who help them out... but expecting that a random colleague will jump to their rescue? I hope they at least are friends in "normal" life, too, not just in a minor emergency!

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

Yep! It will be 3 days in my case, which is okay, save for the issue that he didn't get a replacement to walk the doggie because he just decided to go a couple of days ago, and I don't do it. So I'll have to play with him more than usual. :)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Icon LOVE!!!!

Meh, I totally hear you about the "Hi, I'll be at the airport at 7:00 AM tomorrow, and I need a ride" thing. (The airport being 4 hours' drive from here, through scary urban interstate traffic.) One can't really say no, but one can certainly say "Fine, but you owe me big-time for this, and next time, you ask in advance." The difference between brothers and friends is that one can poke one's brother when he's being a pain: it's one of the traditional perquisites of sisterhood.

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Yes, they are sort of friends. Ok, not very close friends, but not mere colleagues. But still, I'd expect that they'd call some of their families/boyfriends/close friends to come to pick them up.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

It's quite useful, although I no longer get to use it as frequently as I once did! :D

In my case, the airport is only 1 hour away (the perks of living in a small Central European country ;)) and the traffic should be OK mid-day in the week, so it's not nearly as bad. I'll certainly have a word or two on the matter of asking in advance. It's not like he made any prior arrangement that suddenly got cancelled or anything of the sort.

Grr. And he's beginning to work as a trainee teacher in November. A teacher really should be able to plan ahead, no?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

They probably tried and didn't find anyone who wanted to do it. But still, what a weird constellation.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

It's like that epigram, "In America, they think a hundred years is a long time. In Europe, they think a hundred miles is a long way." Mt town is celebrating the centennial of its incorporation this month, and the terminal to the Seattle ferry, where I'm always picking my daughter up on short notice, is more than an hour away, so... everything is relative, eh?

(LOL, Kír says "Yes; relatives without cars.")

'Should' is a tricky word: it actually means 'not', because any time someone is talking about what they or someone else should do, they're talking about what they're not doing. I have, believe me, seen a passle of teacher trainees, and few or none of them have the ability to plan ahead in that context when they start.

In actual practice, it takes years of classroom crises to develop the keen awareness of Murphy's Law that veteran teachers attain. The ability to plan ahead is essential, but the best-laid plans oft gang agley, so the ability to function without a plan, or to improvise one off the cuff, is at least as essential. So I think your brother will do all right as a teacher, once he gets a bit of training up.

Which doesn't mean you oughtn't smack him with the Clue Trout for 'improvising' an avoidable inconvenience for you. Ever consider, the fate of the House of Finwe might have been so much different if Nerdanel had had a few daughters....

[sermanya.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't come too punctual and take him for the week's shopping on the way home ;)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

As it happened, I wasn't on time (though not on purpose - it just took me that long to find a parking place), but still earlier than he was - took even longer than expected to get his baggage back.

But I did invite myself to a pizza once I'd brought him home. XD

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I got a lump of volcanic rock from Mt. Doom Ngauruhoe. Yay. XD