“…was available! but no longer available! Get it? You silly shrewsun of a womun! Now for Gawd’s sake SOD OFF!”
Bit dim of Alistair not to have foreseen and prevented this, being so concerned about his father…
Still, he’s only a vet, so what does one expect? Brains?
…well, I think James Herriot might have something to say about that!
You’ve been too long in the US, my friend [trans, colloq: buddy]
Yes, they are meant to be volunteers.
How did the shop manage without him when he was missing without notice last week? and the week before? If I were in charge of the rota I would have removed him from it until he said he was ready to be put back on, as I would do for anyone who was unreliable in such a way.
But that would mean redesigning the rota, which is Terribly Difficult (it might take, oh, minutes).
I expect Roy would be happy to act as consultant.
I was once privileged to witness an Australian demonstrating how “mate” can, with varying intonation, mean anything from “I thought you were dead, let’s have many drinks” to “outside, now”.
That Strine masterclass sounds like excellent fun.
I particularly enjoy the “you poor, deluded, inadequate fool” delivery.