Grouchy has been quiet of late; He and his partner Roxy, yes, they are officially an item now, have been spending time together learning about each other, talking about their future and spending a lot of time in their room doing...Well, you can probably work it out for yourself.
He has popped out now and then, and only early last week came into my home office for a chat whilst I was working. It went like this.
"Hey G-dog whatcha doin'?"
"I'm working mate. Emails." I didn't look up, just kept typing.
"You work too hard brah. Work, work, work...Fuck man, you should have some fun more often, life;s too short!" Grouchy was not really known for his work ethic and never seemed to consider that my work paid the bills around the house, and I had to do it.
I nodded and kept writing my email.
"Hey."
I ignored him.
"G-dog."
I ignored him.
"HEY G-DOG!" Grouchy shouted.
"Goddamn it bro, what?!" I needed to get things done and Grouchy wasn't helping me maintain focus. I turned to see the little guy leaned up against the door frame nonchalantly. "I'm trying to work cobber. What do you want?"
Grouchy smiled, clearly pleased he had finally broken my concentration. Little bastard.
"Well, now you ask mate, Roxy and I were thinking about taking off for a bit of a holiday. A road trip. Whaddya reckon?"
Right about then I would have been happy if he built a rocket and flew to the moon as I really needed to work. I figured it would be good to get him out of my hair for a bit and said so.
He seemed pleased.
"Cool," Grouchy said. "I'll tell Roxy you said we could have your Landrover!"
Typical Grouchy...Taking liberties again. I needed to head off this expectation before he ran away with it!
"Nope."
"Nope what", said the little green fella with a frown.
"Nope you cannot use my Landrover Defender. If you want to do a road trip you will need to make your own car!" I thought this might teach him some responsibility. "You've been stealing my cars for too long. Remember stealing my Landrover and getting lost at the Billabong?"
"Yeah yeah, I remember." He said dismissively not seeming to remember well enough to actually look remorseful.
"You're going to have to build your own vehicle cobber. So, get busy. The Lego box is over there. I have to work." I gestured with my hand and with this I went back to work ignoring his muttering and mumbling...Mimicking my words and voice.
Above you can see the build-process of his vehicle. A cute little wagon. It's not a complicated Lego Technic build but is going to be enough for what Grouchy and Roxy need on their road trip.
To his credit he even thought about his accommodation. He ended up building a caravan to pull along behind the car. His idea is to wander about, find a likely looking spot and simply pull over and stay a few days.
Below you can see the finished product and the main image shows the day he took the vehicle and van for a test run. It seemed to work fine and he's pretty pumped for the trip.
When he was done Grouchy came back into my office. Fortunately I wasn't as busy, or grumpy, so I had more time to offer him.
Knock knock...Grouchy was being polite this time.
"Excuse me G-dog, might I have your attention for a moment?"
I grinned at the stupid posh English accent he uses when he wants to sound sophisticated. He thinks the accent does this for him. It doesn't. I turned around to him.
"You're a wanker Grouchy. That accent makes you sound like you belong on Downton Abbey, down in the scullery!"
Grouchy affected a half-decent bow. "Why fuckyou very much G-dog!" He proclaimed in the same dumb accent.
"Anyway, I'm finished building. Come have a look!" He said this in his normal voice.
I did.
As I was taking a look, listening to his build process and his holiday plans I was thinking how good a job he'd done ion it. I said as much. Praised him.
"Aww, thanks broo. I'll be honest, at first I was pissed off that you made me do it as using one of your vehicles would have been easier. But after doing this myself I find I have gained a lot more satisfaction. It's mine, and I'm proud of it." He thought for a moment. "I feels good to have worked towards this end product. It means so much more."
I was pleased to hear this as teaching people the reward for effort ethos, that was instilled in me by my father, is something I feel is quite important in a world full of people with the expectation ethos.
"Well, you should be proud mate. You've done a good job and I reckon you're going to have a killer time on holiday with roxy."
He nodded enthusiastically, clearly eager to get it all under way.
"Yeah man. Should be good. Me, my lady and the open road. Can't wait." He really was amped.
"And when we stop to camp...If the caravan is rockin, don't come knockin! You know? Know what I'm saying bro?" He said this last with a glint in his eye, and raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively. Pretty clever for a little bastard with no eyebrows!
"Grouchy," I said with a mix of exasperation and resignation, "you're a dickhead."
So, Grouchy and Roxy will be off shortly. Of course, since he built his vehicle we lost my best friend of twenty two years my cat Merlin, and my father passed away only days ago, so Grouchy will stay around and support me then take off after the funeral sometime. I appreciate his support in that way. He's a good lad.
Sometimes.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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