What Happens in Glastonbury

Home for Christmas

I did make it home alive two hours later, thanks to Jesse.

I stood at the end of the long driveway to catch my breath, man I was unfit! (having walked a mile from where the bus had dropped me off!!) and also to prepare myself for my overbearing parents, after 6 months of freedom and independence I wasn't looking forward to this. I loved them, sure, but we weren't particularly close, my parents were older than most of my friend's parents, my Mum didn't have Mollie until she was 39 and me not long after so we'd never really bonded like some of my friends and their younger Mums had, it was always just me and my sister. But even still, stood in front of the family home it brought back nice memories of my childhood and if nothing else it was going to be nice to sleep in my big room again, our house in London was small and surrounded by concrete. My parents had a big old farmhouse at the end of a long drive, surrounded by a huge garden and beyond that was open countryside, there were neighbours, but they had similar properties in large plots and were pretty spaced out. The space and the air felt liberating, I was kind of glad to be here for Christmas, apart from the smell of cow shit, I hadn't missed that!

Five minutes after arriving at the family home I remembered how much I don't like being here after all and how annoying my parents are! Screw the space, I'm happy living in my little concrete shoebox. I was in the door for about 30 seconds before my Mum started

"Hello love, don't forget to put your shoes in the cupboard and take your suitcase up to your room" she said

"Oh, and sort through your washing, I'm putting a load on now" she added

Jesus! Don't you know what I've been through?! I've nearly been murdered by a stranger, maimed for life, by said stranger, who I may or may not love, but that's a different story! I've been abandoned in a scary city, rendered homeless and attacked by a psychotic seagull, cut me some slack! I didn't say that to her face, obviously, because I wanted somewhere to live at Christmas! I just left my shoes and suitcase by the front door and went up to my room.

I text Jesse.

I text Zoe, she would be proud of me that I managed to get home all by myself! She didn't need to know about the step-by-step instructions, suitable for children that Jesse had given me, just that I navigated the transport system all the way home, alone - ish.

I laid down on my bed, I thought I'd missed home, and this bedroom, the same bedroom I'd had since I was 3, I thought I would come home feeling really nostalgic and realise how much I'd missed home and not want to go back to London, but I didn't really feel anything. My sister had annoyed me, and I hadn't even seen her yet, my mum had annoyed me in a record breaking 7 seconds after I got in the door, just needed my dad to make some comment about me wasting my life and it would be a full house!

"Ols, did I tell you Hannah next door got into Oxford? She's going to study Biochemistry! Isn't that amazing!" Said Dad, poking his head around the bedroom door. And there it was, full house in 5 minutes, that was a new personal best for sure.

"Yeah amazing" I replied sarcastically. I didn't give a shit about fucking Hannah-next-door! Hannah was a twat! A smug little goody two shoes!.....and I bet she's a virgin! I thought, rolling my eyes. Yet another person to make me look like more of a failure in my Dads eyes. Awesome. Thanks a bunch Hannah! I hope you drown in the boat race! Actually, no that's a bit too mean, maybe just fall out and have everyone laugh at you. That'll do.

The next few days were a mix of boring, really boring and so boring I wanted to put my head through a window just for a bit of excitement. The constant smell of cow shit outside really put the cherry on top. I hadn't missed that since I moved to London at all! I forgot how awful it was, maybe when I was living at home, I'd just got used to it and tuned it out but there was no way I was going to be able to do that now having gotten used to living without the smell of cow shit for the last 6 months.