I swear I've got "frickin' idiot" stamped on my forehead!

As I had a hair appointment this afternoon I decided to go into town early to stop at the bank beforehand to get some cash. Since I was really early I figured I had enough time to have a drink before walking over to the hairdresser's. When I got to the café I spotted a guy called Stephan who I used to see quite a bit when Stan had his little bar in the village. Now Stephan has the most piercing blue eyes I have ever seen and was probably a pretty handsome guy in his time, but the Stephan I got to know was just plain weird. He was obviously pretty intelligent and spoke several languages, but for some reason he got it into his head that as I was English it was ok to speak to me in German. I know some German but in the end I had to tell him "hey, I'm English ok. If you want to speak English to me fine, but please quit with the German"! It didn't work though - I reckon it was just his way of showing off. I came to find out later from Stan that Stephan - who is about my age - had worked as a language teacher but had been placed on a disability pension some years ago (due to schizophrenia I think). While that was sad he had a more than decent pension and in any case he lived with his wealthy parents in town and wanted for nothing. He was also, sad to say, an alcoholic and alcohol had obviously ravaged his looks over time. Still, I got on ok with Stephan - or at least that is until my husband moved out. At that point he must have seen me as a good target and I remember being shocked one time when he asked if he could borrow €100. I decided to give it to him, writing it off to myself as a bad loan, but to be fair he paid me back about a month later. Stan told me I was a fool as Stephan probably had more money than I did but at least I learned from the experience. Shortly thereafter Stephan again asked me for €100 but this time I just said no, that I was not a bank, and that if he needed money I suggest he speak to his parents! Then, I found out that his parents took his car off him because of his drink-driving, so while it is more than feasible to walk up from town to my little village, after that I didn't see him very often unless he came to Stan's with his dad.

A few months later I saw him again and he had the nerve to ask if he could rent a room from me "because you've got this big house with so many bedrooms", saying that he was tired of living with his parents. Thank God I learned long ago that "no" is a complete sentence, rather than faff around trying to find excuses. So I simply told him that it had taken me a long time to gain my independence and that I treasured my privacy so sorry, but the answer was no - regardless of how many bedrooms I might have! Actually, another guy contacted me about the same time asking if he could rent my camper and live in my driveway when my ex moved out. This guy lived about 200 metres from me with his stepfather in an identical house to mine but yet he wanted to live in my camper? So I wrote back saying that I had bought my camper for my personal use so the answer was no! I already had him figured, I reckon, because when I would want to be out in my camper he would be thinking he could move into my house - and then presumably never move out again! Not long after that Stephan phoned me, but since I had an idea as to why he was phoning I never answered and that seemed to be the end of it. That is, until today!

As I mentioned above, I was early for my hair appointment and I went off to have a drink, and that was when I spotted Stephan, who said hallo to me. I figured after all this time it would be ignorant not speak to him so I sat and ordered a drink for him and me and we chatted for a while. He told me that one of the guys I used to see at Stan's was a relative of his and had died about 18 months ago of a heart attack at the young age of 52. I was shocked as he and his partner were pretty nice people - but 52!!! He'd been walking in the mountains when he had the heart attack, but even the air ambulance was unable to save him. What a shock! Anyway, as I went to pay I saw Stephan look at my wallet - and that's when he asked if he could "borrow" €10 to "buy some smokes"! Damn, any time I ever saw him in town he would be at the bar, and he must have smoked five cigarettes while I was with him! He told me he would stop by on Saturday to give me the money back but as I don't want him coming to my house I told him I would be out and that he was welcome to keep it. But there you go, never again. He's a user and I just can't be bothered with this shit any more!

So then, as I was walking back to my car, guess who came running up behind me - if you guessed "white van man" you'd be right. If you remember, he was asking for "a few coins in order to get out of here" when I was doing my shopping last Thursday. It's not as though he needed money for the parking because parking was free - and then I saw him in the shop with a €50 note. Nope, this time he was "€2.30 short and needed to buy his train ticket". I was a bit more with it for once so I asked him where his van was .... and at that he just ran off. Next I saw him at the Post Office pulling the same stunt. Damn I get so fed up of these people!

Anyway, after that I seemingly had no choice but to head off down to the gym to sign up for the year. It's a bit weird at the moment because if you want a shower you have to "book it" in advance as only so many people are allowed in the locker rooms at once. I also have to let them know via their app that I'm intending to go the gym (because of contact tracing), but I guess these measures won't last for ever. So there will be nowhere to leave your valuables because the lockers are out of bounds, no showers and the need to use a contact tracing app to boot. Still, I signed up anyway and have my appointment with a coach on 15 September (I think). But get this, as I was walking out I heard a voice behind me asking if I had a spare mask. Oh damn, here we go again. But when I turned round it was a young girl who I reckon had forgotten her mask and couldn't get in to the gym without one. As luck would have it I had put a spare mask in my bag so just this once I didn't mind handing it over!

When I got back home my neighbour (the wife) was out front of her house so I stood and chatted to her for a while. So then, as I'm sick and tired of her husband's "aw shucks did I park in your driveway again" routine, I thought "in for a penny" and said "would you mind asking Jan not to park in my driveway when he comes next time only it's getting to be pretty annoying having to ask him or your husband to move when I come home". She was surprised and said she hadn't realized they were doing that because "oh you know men, they don't think". So I just said "well thankfully we're here to think for them, but just so you know, I'm getting fed up of having to ask them to move off my driveway when I come home with my groceries". Not that I should have to have an excuse like groceries for wanting to be able to park in my own driveway of course - but at least it's a start don't you think!