Waving, not drowning.

One thing gets better and another gets worse. Today's crisis is that the car has broken down. The roof has been leaking in three places for some time, between patch-ups, and now I think something has got wet that ought not to be. May dry out and be okay. Water is not our friend just now. One does begin to wonder if it means anything.

Still, worse things happen at sea. Where there is considerably more water, as a rule.

The worst thing, if I am perfectly brutally honest, is that - whilst my parents' hospitality is very much appreciated, we're very conscious of imposing on them as well as the fact that without them, we'd be homeless in a very real sense - these two are incapable of having a conversation with one another without having an argument. It is like they are in some petty competition all the time; there is no major area of conflict, but they are determined both to wind up and be wound up by one another. Today is particularly bad because they are off on holiday tomorrow, and cannot agree about anything; the latest eruption was to do with what sort of toothpaste should be packed. There is much shouting, stomping on the stairs, slamming of doors, and then each of them keeps coming to me at different times and demanding, "Do you think I am a completely unreasonable human being?!"

Of course, our prolonged presence here can't be helping at all. And uh, they are off on holiday tomorrow and have given us permission to borrow their car, without which kindness, once again, we'd be in far greater trouble than we already are.

It's all about trade-offs. But so far, we are keeping our heads above water. Figuratively speaking.