I've had a very long and somewhat difficult day today. →[More:]
I just got back from my sister's. Today's her birthday. I set off at about 6am (she's 150 miles away) and just got home (nearly 11.30pm).

As those of you who've followed the saga are aware, my sister went into meltdown about 10 days ago, attempted suicide at the weekend and has got herself into the worst mess she's ever been in, emotionally and financially.

When I got there this morning, I asked her how she was and she said "Not good. I've had [ex-boyfriend] on the phone for ages." This is jobless, deadbeat dad, total loser ex-boyfriend who moved in with her after about two dates and who the police had to remove from her house.

Now, what part of this does she not understand? HE IS ONLY ON THE PHONE FOR AGES BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HANG UP ON HIM!!!I did not yell at her, much as I wanted to.

Breathe deeply. Count from 1-10.

We went to Asda to do a big shop and to stock up on all the staples. So if for the next two months she gets sick of eating pasta and sauce, rice and beans and other such things, well, that's just too bad.

It was an experience, Asda. We went down aisles I had forgotten existed. My sister, despite being a cook and having all kinds of culinary qualifications, believes soup comes powdered in a packet, as does cheese sauce. She eats these lots of these things called Quavers, which are like those polystyrene packing peanuts, only flavoured with something which is meant to resemble cheese.

She bought a single apple "to try". No other fresh foods made it into the mix. (Does anyone have any idea what "beef-style animal protein (contains no beef)" might be? That seemed to be in quite a number of 'meals' she bought.

Oh well, at least she won't starve for a while.

We went through her finances, and the upshot is that things aren't as bad as she thought. It turns out she has £750 in a savings account which she said she's keeping "in case the shit hits the fan".

*sigh*

After explaining that, not only has the shit hit the fan, it's been splattered over everything and needs cleaning off, she (reluctantly) agreed that she needs to use that money for her mortgage payment.

As a quid pro quo, I have agreed to make her car payments for her for the next three months (£112 per month).

And - I lobbied hard for this - I bought her computer off her for £300. It's a year old, she has no clue how to use it and I have been her telephone tech support at least three times a week since she's had it. (Once when I told her to go to the desktop she said "it's not on a desk, it's on the dining table.") She said she uses it for maybe 10 minutes a week, so there's no way she can justify the cost of her internet connection. I pitched it to her that this would be the cost of the dogs' food for the next few months, and, put that way, she chose dogs over computer.

It's not the best computer in the world - it's a Compaq Presario - but the spec is way ahead of my 7-year-old hamster-powered clunker (which has just one USB port and no ethernet connector), and as I don't torrent or game, it'll be just fine for me.

I told her that my financial support is a one-off (this is money which I've had to take out of my home renovation money, of which there is not a huge amount left), and that if she fucks up again in future, she's on her own, and that she absolutely must take up the counselling offered by her doctor because if she doesn't, she'll fall back into the same old, same old again.

So, it's been an expensive exercise. I used a month's petrol (£40) in one day, it cost me £150 in Asda, £336 in car payments and £300 for the computer. But, yay, new computer, hardly used. I may ask for help next week in transferring stuff onto it, so be prepared, O techie ones.