We spent the better part of a day - my holiday - driving around the City looking for my boyfriend's friend's son. The friend had called my boyfriend for help. Could we look for his son and put him up for the night.

On the surface this doesn't sound like much but it was to me. This young man is an addict who had walked out of his rehab centre a week previous. His father learnt he was in my boyfriend's city (I was visiting) and asked for help.

One of the things that infuriated me was that we spent a day looking for this individual when his dad could have driven to the city in a matter of hours and done so himself. His dad could have then taken him home or found him a hotel room, etc. Why were we expected to drop everything to do this? Why were we expected to put him up? Why was this our problem?

We finally found the boy. As I had expected he was higher than a kite and wanted money not help. We did manage to talk him into a warm meal (he hadn't eaten in four days). It was only with the promise of washing his clothes and a hot shower that he was convinced in coming home with us. I didn't trust him on account of his state. I got no sleep that night. It was me who had to nurse him through withdrawal.

Needless to say I was really quite ticked off. I was really scared. This was supposed to be my holiday. Where was his father in all this.

My boyfriend on the other hand seemed to feel he was obligated to jump to action to help. His friend had helped him out in the past. But since when is something like jump-starting a car equivalent to putting your life potentially in harms way?