On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:52:22 -0000, K <mek@privacy.net> wrote:

>In article <pmpgj31n4suuim7nmlg5ep9pmaqb8e5iuf@4ax.com>,
>twirlip@bigfoot.com says...
>> She has just come into my room for the umpteenth time to
>> pester me contemptuously some more and specifically to tell
>> me not even to try to inform myself about the financial and
>> technical implications. It has now reached the point where
>> I literally can't think about this any more, so I'll just
>> have to post this message, in its current unsatisfactory
>> state ... She wouldn't even let me do that, but stood in
>> my doorway and harangued me literally for a whole hour,
>> insisting again and again and again that there was no point
>> in my trying to discuss this with anyone on the Internet ...
>
>Suggestion:
>"If you allow me the time and space to research this, the decision could
>go either way. If you continue to harangue me and talk to me with such
>disrespect and contempt, you can have an answer now, and it will be no."

I tried a slightly weaker variant of that, roughly ten minutes
into her rant (so my dazed memory tells me). It was something
along the lines that it was still quite possible that she would
get what she wants, but if she went on in her current vein, the
only result would be that she would get nothing at all from me,
either for her birthday or for Christmas.

I didn't go so far as to say that I would make such a negative
decision right now; and indeed I'd rather not do so. Instead,
I'm lashing myself to the mast and trying to weather the storm
of her contempt - sort of like resisting the voice of a siren,
only in reverse - but I fear this metaphor and/or simile has
gone to pieces! :-)

Neither of us actually lost our temper, which I suppose is
progress. I think I do just have to ride this thing out, and
not be pushed into making a bad decision either way. I'm not
reluctant even to give her exactly what she is asking for (no
doubt provoking further contempt for causing an "unnecessary"
delay!), just so long as I have had time (and, as you rightly
say, space) to make a considered decision.

My ex-wife is willing to help with the cost of the e-mail/
Internet contract (if it is really needed), so we're almost
cooperating as a family, in a strange and difficult way.
--
Angus Rodgers
(twirlip@ eats spam; reply to angusrod@)
Contains mild peril