I 'm really slow. I just sussed that P is now using me as his alibi when he spends time with his girlfriend. I wondered why he often gave me his mobile phone when he left me to get on with some repair I could handle. More than once, I've had to tell M, when she rang up, that he was on another job. He was on the job, all right. Of course, wherever he leaves me, I've got to hang around until he comes back with the van, so it's sometimes a bit awkward hanging around waiting for him, though he's always come back exactly when he said he would.

How did I find out about this? Not by doing a Sherlock Holmes. Turns out that this business is all in the family. R told me P's extracurricular interest is J, his own brother H's wife. And H is on the cross-channel ferries, so he's away two weeks in three.

Well, it's nothing to do with me, but I'm seeing friendly old P in a new light. And I hate that he's got me involved without the option.