My brother has ALWAYS looked after me... for as long as I can remember...

I have no doubt that at times he wants to throttle me when I get myself into some of the ridiculous situations that I get myself into.. but he loves me none the less.... and I love him.

On Friday when my daughter returned home from her week away.. he had a day off work.. and knowing full well that I couldn't get home early to see her.. he spent the day at my house waiting for her to arrive home.. and then spent the afternoon with her til I got home. They didn't do much.. they just hung out til I came home... but.. and this is the funny thing... that afternoon ended up to be an expensive one for him.

When he mooched around my house on Friday with HB he couldn't find anything to eat (it was payday and grocery shopping was sheduled for Saturday morning). When I got home from work he asked if I wanted to go shopping. I said I planned going the following day but he said lets go tonight.. so.. sure enough... after having an hour private time with HB we sped off to the supermarket. Now I love shopping with my brother... he never has a budget.. he is single after all... and as we are walking round I'm picking food up and putting things in the trolley and hes telling me to get more and more and more.. and sure enough.. by the time we had bought cd's and clothes too we were loaded down and we'd spent £150 on shopping... this is a delightful luxury for me.. to be able to shop without a budget... and I love my brother for doing this for me every now and then. Obviously it means that I'll be cooking for him all week and thats not a problem... it never is.

Now this is where it gets better... and more expensive for him. He asked what we were doing over the weekend and I told him of my tentative plans to go into the city to buy a few bits and pieces for HB. He invited himself along.. and then proceeded to spend a fortune on HB on clothes. He spent a fortune on clothes for himself and also offered to buy some things for me too. I turned him down.. I didn't want him spending even more on us than he already had.

The generosity of the man always does take me by surprise.. always... I love my brother... I really do.. and I'd be lost without him sometimes. The part of the day that was the most fun??? Walking around the Barbican with him and eating fish and chips from the paper when we got home.

HB went to sleepover at her friends house on Saturday night. Big Bro and I mooched round the house.. watched Big Brother and Pulp Fiction and then he wandered off home.

This morning I went off to collect HB and we popped into the city to buy some underwear for her (stuff she couldn't dream of doing with her Uncle lurking around on Saturday) and then we got home in time for Big Bro to come over from his house and watch the Formula 1 accompanied by a big fry up cooked by yours trully.

Hes all the family that I have apart from HB... and weekends like the weekend I have just spent with him make me realise just how much I will miss him when I'm finally gone to the States.

Big Brother side note:- I've managed to avoid alot of the Big Brother series. But due to Big Bro overload at the weekend.. I'm hooked already though I'll limit my viewing to catching up once a week though I'll keep a close eye ont he website. OMG Makosi was SOOOO stupid she didn't realise what she had to do that they had to call her back to the Diary Room to explain it all again... I'm tipping Science and Derek at the moment... I think they're both great.. In the coming weeks no doubt there will be more Big Brother asides... I'll keep them at the bottom of posts so that you can ignore them if you aren't interested....