My Dear Cousin - Permit

28th May 2021

My Dear Cousin,

In my last letter I told you about (Pickle) wanting to remodel the house, my telling him to use the money my old man promised me for my part, and him calling (Pony Girl) who put a stop order on the re remodeling.

There was something of an issue with permits. I didn’t know much about them at the time, but the contractor hadn’t gotten them. This led to the permits being prepared and an inspector needing to come out to the house.

This is when (Pony Girl) came to the house to find the crew working. They needed to expose the pipe to show the inspector that they were up to code. Well, she put a stop to them working right away and started complaining.

I had to explain to her that if they didn’t work, we wouldn’t be able to get the plumbing inspected and so wouldn’t know if the work was good. She relented and the inspector went all over the house looking at the plumbing.

At this point any interaction I had with the woman put me in a bad mood so I normally would go to my workroom and work. I was running a blog or two by this point, and I always had something to do.

It was a sad state of affairs that I was once again dealing with a woman who had abused me as a child, continued that abuse into my adulthood and now felt I should have been happy to be her servant. (Pony Girl) is a parasite looking for someone to leach off and that person all too often was me.

She felt I was the dumb one because I let it happen. When I got wise to it she did what she could to play the victim. In the end, she sued the contractor, got some of the money back, and it left the house with one working bathroom.

(Pickle) never left me get over that and would harp on me for it for years after that. It was a big factor in him moving out that he had to share a bathroom with me. Part of it was that he hated me.

I know he hated me because he always took joy in causing me pain. He would bring up anything he could that would make me feel bad and rub it in. If I ever did that to him he’d cry about it. He had been doing that since I was ten years old and he kept doing it until the last time I spoke to him, but that’s for another Day.

Best,


Richard Leland Neal

My Dear Cousin - Remodeling

 

27th May 2021

My Dear Cousin,

In my last letter I mentioned that (Pickle) had elected to remodel the bathrooms. This was likely because I had the money from an inheritance, and he wanted to spend it for me. Anyway, the house was a wreck and I was still too depressed to really get much cleaning done.

I mean, I was still not speaking with (Yule) or (Pony Girl) and she had gotten now more than eighty thousand dollars from the old man in support. My life was a ruin, and I was trying to get as much of it back together as I could.

One of the problems with people who have suffered the abuse that I have is that they tend to have trouble trusting others and letting them into their lives. Me, I’m alone for that reason, and so my broken soul left me depressed and hard to live with.

We hired a contractor and elected to remodel both bathrooms and replace the old galvanized pipes with new copper ones bringing them to modern standard and preventing the rust of galvanized pipes from getting in the new fittings.

This was when I insisted that (Pickle) use the money (Yule) promised me for college to repair the house. He had a check book with his name and the old man’s on it. He had access to the money that had now been promised me twice. I figured it was only fair.

After all, this man had beaten me as a youth, abused me verbally as an adult, and now I was forced to look after him. That could be another reason why the family was always so unsupportive. They wanted me to spend my life looking after their problem.

Anyway, (Pickle) first tried to pay with his own money rather than speaking to the old man about it. Then he decided against that and called (Pony Girl). It did turn out the contractor was crooked but the family felt that I should have paid ‘my share’ even as they had short changed me. (Pony Girl) put a stop order on the whole thing and even adult protective services were called.

It led to a real rift between (Pickle) and I. It didn’t help that the contractor was crooked and used parts that didn’t last, old materials, and the cheapest crap that he could find. It really was a mess.

(Pickle) never forgave me for expecting him to use the money I was promised. He knew it was mine and he didn’t object at first but only made a stink about it later. You tell me, was I in the wrong?

Best,


Richard Leland Neal

My Dear Cousin - My Aunt’s Estate

26^th May 2021

My Dear Cousin,

Here comes the point that I’ve been dreading. This could be the dumbest or most evil thing I’ve done in my life. In hindsight, well, I should have said no to the whole thing. You may recall that at some point one of our aunts died, and she, having no children, meant a part of her estate to go to my family.

What I got out of that was about fifty thousand dollars. I recall my two siblings getting their checks first and my (Pickle) and I both thinking that I was going to get shortchanged. I had honestly been treated that badly by family over the years. It just wasn’t all that odd an idea for me to get cut out of my aunt’s estate, but the next day the check came and those fears disappeared.

I remember that at this point I went out and bought a car. It was a Honda Civic, and I got it used. I had replaced a good amount of my computer equipment and updated a number of things. I mean, the dumbest thing I had spent money on was trying to get my old car to stop leaking transmission fluid which ended up destroying the car.

Anyway, I had a little over half the money from the inheritance left when a valve went out in the front bathroom. You see, we had galvanized pipes which rust on the inside and gum up your valves and I had replaced almost every valve in the house at this point.

I remember getting that bad valve off was hard. I would spray it with WD-40 and tap it with a hammer. Then I’d try to get it off the pipe and when it wouldn’t come I would spray it again and let it sit for an hour. I think it took six hours to get it off but that was worth the work to let me work on the toilet.

Anyway, (Pickle) figured that we needed to remodel the bathrooms. I think he just figured that I had money, and he should spend it before I did. They always figured I was bad with money which could be one reason why they never gave me much of it even if they owed it to me.

I didn’t think things through and I agreed to have the place remodeled. One of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. I’ll save the next dumb thing for my next letter.

Best,

 

Richard Leland Neal

My Dear Cousin - Another Car

25^th May 2021

My Dear Cousin,

 

As I recall, I have now written to you about all the events of my family life ending with the three gifts I rejected from (Yule), his mother, and his sister. I have to remind you at this point that everything that was ever given to me by my family was at some point used as leverage to force me to do something I didn’t want to do.

I recall (Pony Girl) bringing up every dime she could remember that my old man had ever given me. She couldn’t remember that she had gotten more than eighty thousand dollars from the man at this point, and the last time I had accepted anything from the family they had harassed me about it until I was too depressed to go to work.

I calculated something like fifteen thousand dollars in lost wages from that, but I’m sure if I had mentioned that they would have said it wasn’t their fault. That was my family for you. They did whatever they wanted to me, and I was just supposed to take it without complaint. I defend myself in any way, and I’m the villain.

In any case, the old man got on another of his legal drug benders and wound up in a manic state where he was just spending money like it was going to go bad in a week and this led (Pickle) to come to me and say that I could have my (Pony Girl)'s old car as she was getting the old man’s SUV now he was getting a new one.

“I can tell your answer by the look on your face,” he said seeing how I felt. Her car was a Saturn SC2 and where as it was in better shape than the Saturn SL2 they had tortured me over the thing had problems I didn’t want to inherit. I recall that the sunroof was no longer working, and they had needed to do work on the power train.

At some point after that I asked for money for college which I was promised but never got. The old man once again said he would give me money and never did then he got himself a second SUV instead and when he found himself in a ditch with blown out tires he stopped doing whatever drug he had been taking as of late and (Pony Girl) became his power of attorney.

They returned the second SUV, and I got nothing, as expected, I never got anything from that old man that was of value.

I do recall at some point (Pickle) telling me that (Pony Girl) had said she took all of the old man’s money and put it in her bank account so that I couldn’t ask for what he had promised me ever again. This is felony larceny by the law, but I guess it doesn’t work that way once you have power of attorney.

Best,

 

Richard Leland Neal

Cotswold Way - Bath

On the last stretch of my Cotswold Way, I walked past Dyrham Park, a lavish 17th century house that was owned by the Blathwayt family for 230 years until its acquisition by the National Trust in the mid-20th century. It used to have a herd of fallow deer from the 1500s until 2021. Used as a film location and undergoing significant restoration works in recent years, the property is now open to the public.

 

The trail skirted around Lansdowne Hill where the Battle of Lansdowne was fought during the First English Civil War (1643 AD). A fierce battle ensued between Royalists and Parliamentarians with heavy losses for the Royalists. Over the course of that night, however, the Parliamentarians silently fled for Bath, resulting in a victory for the Royalists.

 

With great anticipation I completed the rest of my journey and arrived in the gorgeous city of Bath. Entering from the northwest, I passed by a spectacular row of terraced houses in a crescent layout known as the Royal Crescent. A little further east was The Circus, a circular grassy area surrounded by curving townhouses. When viewed from the air, the two landmarks form the famous ‘question mark’ shape.

 

Of course, no trip to Bath is complete without a visit to the Roman Baths. Built by the Romans in the 1st century, the baths were used until their withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century. Over time the baths disappeared under silt and the city grew on top of it. When it was rediscovered in the late 19th century, the baths were found 13ft (4m) below street level.

 

Adjacent to the Roman Baths is the grand Bath Abbey. Built over a century and completed in 1611, the abbey’s Gothic architecture is breathtaking. Featuring pointed arches, fan vaulting and finely carved pews, the abbey has a total of 52 windows including the spectacular stained glass behind the altar. More than 600 wall memorials and over 800 floor stones adorn the interior dedicated to various figures throughout the city’s history.

 

Another fascinating landmark was Pulteney Bridge. Built in 1774, the triple-arched stone bridge is one of only four bridges in the world to have shops built across its full span. It reminds me of the Ponte-Vecchio in Florence where the St Francis Way begins. Although Ponte-Vecchio is only open to pedestrians whilst Pulteney Bridge continues to have vehicular access.

 

To round up my journey, I meandered up to Alexandra Park for a splendid view over the city. Here I reflected on the beautiful villages I travelled through, the rolling hills and mysterious woods and somehow wished it wasn’t over yet.

 

I bid you farewell until the next time.

 

PS. Experience our virtual challenges in real life - The Conqueror Adventures

 

The team at The Conqueror Challenges
https://www.theconqueror.events

 

My Dear Cousin - Walking Pony Girl

22^nd  May 2021

My Dear Cousin,

Every time I write you now I go over the letters that I wrote and now and then a memory comes up of an interesting anecdote. Back around the tenth and eleventh I talked about losing my job. One of the windfalls of that was that I started walking with (Pony Girl).

(Pony Girl) had been diagnosed with hemorrhoids and walking got her business moving. Every now and then she would need to take off running to use the restroom. It’s a thing I can laugh at now, but it made a positive impact on her health.

I do recall that people were telling her that she looked thinner, but that she didn’t lose weight. In truth, had I followed this up with good diet I would have changed her life, but I was still ill myself and knew little about health.

We took the same walk we used to when going to grade school. The school is about a half mile from the house, and there are two ways of getting there from where I live. One way you walk up and down a hill and the other is flat land. We would go there on the flat way and come back by the hill. One night we did this ten times. (Pony Girl) even tried to get her girlfriend walking but she wasn’t much of a walking partner.

The telling event that came from this is when I talked about changing jobs. I didn’t want to go back to security. The only thing that really brought me joy back in high school was theater and I mentioned that I wanted to go into acting.

This really pissed off (Pony Girl) and she started by screaming at me that I wouldn’t get any overtime working as an actor. This is actually not true, but you normally don’t work at night as an actor. I could have done it for extra money but not as a job.

(Pony Girl), however, demanded we stop talking about it she was so mad. Mind you I had just put her up for two years as she finished college and she was refusing to pay me back.

Looking back I think this was very telling of how she saw me. I was a means to an end and she was basically a parasite who felt I lived to make her happy. I’ve lived a life with that woman eating me financially, and that hasn’t changed.

Best,

 

Richard Leland Neal