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Odd BiL

80 replies

WattsandAwl · 07/03/2020 16:08

Name change. Pom bears, wolef, Brian yoni, etc.

DH's brother is staying with us for a few days, while there's some structural work going on at his flat.

I just need to come here and vent.

He's harmless, but odd to the point where I wonder how I'm going to get through this!

He arrived afternoon, rang the doorbell and shouted through the letterbox to not worry as he was going to cook dinner as a thank you. I opened the door and he turned around and and said he was dashing off to Asda.

Three hours later he came back and made baked bean toasties with a "side order" of pickled beetroot. DH, I and DS (14) and DD (12), sat down and genuinely enjoyed the eccentricity of it.

BiL then presented (with a flourish) a flan base. We all just sat there bemused as he ran back into the kitchen. He then ran back in and tipped a tin of pears onto it, saying "Shit! That was supposed to be apricots". BTW, DH never swear in front of the DC, but we just sat with fixed smiles.

We ate it, but BiL just sat and angrily berated himself for buying the wrong tin.

Later on, he said he had a film for the "grown-ups" to watch. Apparently nothing offensive, but the children "wouldn't get it".

We were all sitting in the living room chatting, when he jumped up and said that he could hear the ice cream van. He couldn't. We live on the edge of a very rural and very tiny village. We've never had an ice cream van here.

BiL pressed £10 into DS's hand and told him to run outside and treat him and his sister to whatever they wanted. He said that they should catch the bus and go swimming afterwards. There is no bus.

In the end, DC went upstairs anyway, so BiL took the opportunity to put on is DVD, which was King Ralph, starring John Goodman.

Not my cup of tea, but DH and I sat and watched it. All the time BiL was excited (shuffling in his chair and saying "nearly there now") about a scene that we absolutely had to see, as it was so hilarious.

It wasn't remotely funny. An African king was visiting the court of King Ralph, leading to outdated and cringey 'humour'.

BiL rewound the scene for us twice, as he didn't think we "got it". He was doubled up with laughter the whole time.

After that he got a wodge of paper out of his bag, called the DC downstairs and asked if we know any origami. We all said that we didn't, but would like to see what he can do. He said he didn't know any and was a bit disappointed about that!

DD woke up in the night a bit frightened because there was 'screeching' coming from his room. It was a recording of monkeys that he likes listening to because it reminds him of "happy days" in which he volunteered at a woolly monkey sanctuary. Unfortunately he's now made a recording for DD, as he thought she would like it.

There are so, so many little oddities, but too many to go in to.

He's a lovely, kind and intelligent man. He works very hard for a refugee charity and is very passionate about looking after everyone who is vulnerable. But this is going to be a tough week!

OP posts:
bellabelly · 07/03/2020 19:04

This thread has genuinely made me chuckle. I love the stack of paper and hopeful enquiry about origami skills! Hope dinner tonight is fun.

WingingIt101 · 07/03/2020 19:05

He sounds excellent! Bonkers but brilliant (although I’m sure embracing the eccentricity is tiring at times)

Can not wait for the post dinner updates 😂

Borris · 07/03/2020 19:06

I laughed properly at the monkey recording. Can’t wait for the post dinner report. Any chance of a half time update from the restaurant loo OP?

NataliaOsipova · 07/03/2020 19:10

I love this so much! Please keep us updated, OP. BiL sounds lovely actually - so many people are such conformists.

Cherrysoup · 07/03/2020 19:12

I bet you have an entertaining evening!

TimeIhadaNameChange · 07/03/2020 19:12

Reading this had been the tonic I needed. I'm currently anaemic having given birth earlier this week and have been feeling crap and weak all afternoon. I'm now feeling a lot better. Please keep this thread updated, I need the giggles.

conduitoffortune · 07/03/2020 19:28

I get weird crushes on men like this

AtrociousCircumstance · 07/03/2020 19:34

He works hard for a refugee charity, he’s kind and means well = extra leeway. It’ll be a long week for sure but you, DH and DC will laugh about it for years to come. Fondly.

ZsaZsaMc · 07/03/2020 19:44

Looking forward to hearing how dinner goes - love that he’s wearing his anchor shirt 🥰

whyisitsoflammingdifficult · 07/03/2020 23:07

@WattsandAwl how did the meal go?

Ginntoniconpause · 08/03/2020 13:00

Any update op?

WattsandAwl · 09/03/2020 20:42

Well, the meal was fine, but I'm not sure that the other couple enjoyed it. They hadn't had Thai food before and I don't think they were very keen.

Since then BiL has continued in all of his weirdness. Luckily he's going back to his town a few days earlier than expected and staying in a B&B because he's needed at work.

He was watching Youtube videos on origami, which led to reading about manga and animation. So, the paper wodge is back out and he's inventing Japanese-esque cartoon characters and shouting out in their voices.

Tiring!

OP posts:
Borris · 09/03/2020 21:06

Did the other couple think it odd you were all having dinner together? Did you know them at all?

WattsandAwl · 09/03/2020 21:19

Yes, I think they thought it was strange, but the woman talked a lot (a few embarrassing quips about catching corona virus from the food). We recognised them, but didn't know them.

They liked to talk about cars, so BiL told DD to move and sit by them because she's into classic cars (she isn't at all, but he bought her a magazine about them, so that prompted him to do that). That was a bit awkward.

The restaurant owner took a real shine to BiL and made him some "special" gunpowder tea, so he kept joking that he was going to blow-up. Lots of "BANG!" cries at random moments, which made us all jump. Luckily there was only one other group in the restaurant and they didn't seem too sober to care!

OP posts:
PondLover · 09/03/2020 21:59

He’s not neurotypical, surely. Though I’ve no idea what neurological wiring would make you hear an imaginary ice cream van and try to make two children go out to it, and then take an imaginary bus to a possibly also imaginary swimming pool, purely so you can watch ‘King Ralph’.

Which I’ve seen. From what I remember, the scene where John Goodman’s redneck king meets the ruler of an African country involves him shouting ‘Hey homey! Wass goin’ down?’

You have the patience of a saint, OP.

WattsandAwl · 09/03/2020 22:38

According to DH and the other brother, BiL is NT. He's had various assessments over the years and nothing has arisen. I think he's just a bit manic and very, very odd!

OP posts:
WattsandAwl · 09/03/2020 22:40

Yes, the scene was all "Yo homey". Absolutely awful. BiL thought it was just my sort of humour, which is a worry! He thought it was absolutely hilarious.

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 09/03/2020 22:48

:o I like him! Would love to hear more!

PondLover · 09/03/2020 23:05

I wouldn’t worry about him thinking you’ve got a puerile, racist sense of humour, OP. After all, his imaginary version of you likes steam trains.

The bit that really interests me is the ice cream van/bus/swimming bit. I mean, do you think he pre-planned this so he could show you his favourite crap film, because he thinks this is what you do with ‘in the way’ children, and the fact that there was no ice cream van, bus or swimming pool, was a minor detail? Because it’s the kind of thing characters in soaps do with children before a showdown takes place?

What did he say when you said there was no ice cream van or handy bus to a pool?

Camopetals · 09/03/2020 23:12

This sounds like the kind of exuberance and eccentricity you sometimes see in men who have taken waay too much ecstacy in their youth! I know a guy like this, also very compassionate, political and educated, good job, married etc and it's like he just vibrates on a different frequency to everybody else. Totally harmless but a bit draining to be honest. Massive raver back in the day.

jalopy · 10/03/2020 07:07

He sounds a bit manic to me.

QuiteForgetful · 10/03/2020 07:35

As you tell us of the things he does, I am visualizing Kramer, from Seinfeld.

Zaphodsotherhead · 10/03/2020 09:31

He sounds like my friend' son. He 'decides' that you are a certain way ie, like ukele music and ducks on absolutely no evidence, and will present you with a ukele or duck models for no reason, 'because you like them. Yes, you do'. And you cannot tell him otherwise.

Plus incessant talking, non sequiteurs, odd assumptions etc. Has BIL given you any conspiracy theories yet?

Friend's son is very definitely non NT. He's interesting, but the random moments mean that my friend is on the edge of her seat most of the time they are out in public.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 10/03/2020 09:41

Ah! I worked with him, I think. A psychology lecturer who was well and truly off piste... his DB was even more so. Ionly know that a colleague would invite his DB into classes to demonstrate some obscure point he was making to his class!

The number of vaguely scared students asking to swap into my sessions dimished over time as we all acclimatised to him. But he could be very hard work as, once he had pigeonholed you, or a student, there was no shifting him! Caused no end of ructions with parents to be told their straight A grade, extremely obliging child was a total distraction in class and would likely make a good concert painist!!!! No, us neither!

QueenArseClangers · 10/03/2020 09:55

I used to volunteer at (from the sounds of it) same Monkey Sanctuary in Looe. Was he there in the mid nineties? Confused

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