So while you go out having your fun, I should sit here waiting for you?*

(* 'Didn't I Tell You', Keyshia Cole)

My oldest standing friend, Rt, is effectively my twin. We are Geminis born on the same day in Sydney and have known each other since Kindergarten; ie as close to 60 years as matters. In reality we have very different personalities. I am introverted, he is extroverted. I keep to arrangements, he rarely does. I am punctual to the point of obsession, his timekeeping is disgraceful. I am organised and he is not. I am gay, he is straight, married and a parent. We get on extremely well.

Rt now lives in South East Queensland. He rang me several weeks ago almost begging for me to put him up for four days over this weekend. 'We', he told me, are coming down for a friend's birthday but all hotels are booked out because of the AC/DC concerts being staged in Sydney.

Now, I have a two bedroom apartment but my second bedroom contains only a single bed and there is barely room to fit in a folding bed there, something Rt knows well. I said I would put them up (I assumed 'we' meant Rt and his wife, Jy) and prepared the apartment and myself for their arrival. I washed the bedding, purchased food and moved furniture around to make best use of the available space.

An email Rt sent during the week informed me they would be arriving around 2pm on Friday (today) and staying until about 4pm on Monday. Knowing Rt, I didn't really expect him to arrive at that time or even necessarily within 2/3 hours of that time so was not concerned when he and Jy had not arrived by 5pm. I rechecked the email to confirm that this was the correct weekend and was reassured to find it was but noticed for the first time a small tag at the end indicating two of his childern were accompanying.

I started to panic at this point wondering how I could accommodate them all. I would have been annoyed with him but for the fact that I hadn't bothered to check what he meant when he said 'we' were coming and worse still had not noticed the crucial reference in his email. I calmed down reassuring myself that we would make the best of a difficult situation.

When they had not arrived by 7pm I started to get concerned they had met with an accident. I telephoned Rt on his mobile who, after a delay, answered with his usual cheery tone. Rt informed me they had just arrived in Sydney and were in the foyer awaiting their room. Hey what!? I thought, not saying anything to him at that point. Rt took my silence to mean he could tell me more. He went on to tell me how he never thought he would be staying at such a grand hotel as the Wentworth and at that moment they were enjoying complimentary drinks whilst waiting for their rooms to be ready.

Finally Rt asked me what I was doing. 'Well', I replied, 'I've been sitting here all afternoon awaiting your arrival as I thought you were coming to my place'.

Silence.

'Oh, didn't I ring and tell you I had secured a hotel after all?' Rt asked in all innocence.

Why wasn't I surprised?