Toy for the Boy

It's my son's birthday coming up in a few weeks. My ex-wife wants to get him a Nintendo DS, which is fair enough I suppose. She sent me a link to one being sold on eBay, with a request for me to buy it on her behalf as she's skint, and she'll pay me back as soon as possible. I had a look at the link, and saw that it was going to be shipped from Hong Kong. The DS itself was £36, but the postage was £40. I pointed out that they weren't all that much more expensive to buy here, plus you get a guarantee or warranty with it. Fair point, she replied.

So I get a phone call from her a couple of hours later. "I'm in the shop, they won't take a cheque without a card, can you pay for it over the phone on your card please?" Well, I could, if it wasn't two days before pay day and I had more than about £20 to my name. "Oh," she says, "I'll try my dad then."

The question is... why does she have to get it now? It's not his birthday for 5 more weeks, and he'll be back at school next week anyway. Can't people think ahead any more?

The final straw was when she later emailed me to say that yes, she's got the DS, it came with a game included, it's got a 2 year warrantry on it, and here's a list of other games that would be suitable for him to play. I wonder where she expects me to find the money for games on top of the child support, birthday bash and guitar lessons she also expects me to contribute towards. I can only give her what I have to give, and no more!