The Rules of Love, 3rd Edition

RULE 89

There are no rules

I’ve got this friend, a very dear friend indeed, but he has one trait that used to irritate me hugely: he’s utterly unreliable. He turns up late or not at all, and then suddenly he’ll arrive out of the blue. He says he’s coming for a night and stops an hour, or says he’s only got an hour and then stays a week. This suits his lifestyle perfectly – he lives in a camper van and travels at whim – but it doesn’t always suit mine.

A few years back he did something or other, I forget what, that just wound me up. I wasn’t in the mood that day to have him cancel at the last minute, or whatever it was. I started thinking that maybe it was time I just cut him out of my life. Not rudely, but just stop making the effort. I said ...