Yes. Sometimes, I think animals make better companions than people. People are just cruel and they can all dump your sorry self in an instant, whether it is for genuinely OK reasons (like the end of a relationship) or they just desert you of their own selfish accord. But I love my late grandmother, Mary, for she was understanding and branded herself as a people person. My grandmother once owned a budgie named Danny, but the ironic thing is that when she and the family migrated over to Australia in the sixties, no pets were allowed aboard the ship, even though budgerigars originate from that land. So the story goes. The poor wee bird died of a broken heart. Then years later, my gran bought the budgie named Danny II, who was blue. He was born in 1998 and lived until May of 2011.

My gran died in August 2004 in a care home. Visiting her in that place was not the same as talking to her across the street back in 2002 and 2003. Sadly, she had to be looked after because she developed dementia and people with this can become a danger to themselves. My mother and I along with my sister occasionally would visit her, but usually we would just sit on the benches at the front door and the cigarette smoke was bad. There was a door, a paved floor and then another door straight ahead with two benches at each side. My gran was never done smoking, which is how she ended up with cancer. My own mother is also a chain smoker.

I am really annoyed about my flat, because A, it was my actual home and B, losing Joanna and Sara was never necessary, had somebody spoken to me about their grievances and issued a warning. It was not me that was harassing Sara during shifts. She claimed I was making her uncomfortable, yet she was coming to see me but bringing a bad attitude with her. Rather than talk to us, the seniors just pulled her off my case and lied until they could not conceal it any further. Then they refused to give me a second chance, so how was I supposed to react?

Maybe how I behaved after that decision was made was immature, and they know I am obsessed, but I reckon we could have worked something out. Now look at what has happened; I am not at the flat any longer, Sara and Joanna are truly out of my life for the most part, I have been in prison twice and not one of those balls of dirt called the seniors even want to know me. They never came to court in December and I was left to rot because they made out I just wanted somebody present in court to assign the blame to him or her. Well, the way I see it, this is just one more obstacle in my life that I will have to get over. And Lord knows I have gotten over a few of those in my life.