A Little White Lie

It is amazing the lengths that some people will go to, when they try to cover up a mistake they have made or to get out of a difficult situation, without hurting the other person’s feelings. I must admit that I aman expert at this, and at the risk of informing all of my friends and relatives ofmy deceitful ways, I always have a white lie upmy sleeve. When someone asks me why I haven’t called for ages, I tell them that I was just about to, or that I had left a few messages on their answeringmachine. We all knowthat these mobile phones are rubbish, and very often don’t work properly. The friend is often very apologetic, and explains that her phone has been playing up recently, so thatmust be the reason. The truth is, that I have usually been so busy, that I just haven’t found the time to return her call.

Then there are invitations that you really don’t want to go to, and I certainly don’t mean the cosy dinners at friends’ houses. You don’twant to offend anyone by refusing to go and you just can’t admit that youwould rather be snuggled up on the sofa, watching another episode of Downton Abbey, than listening to their children singing in a choir or joining them at a book club. These days, I don’t have time to read the whole newspaper, let alone a book every week. Maybe when I retire, there will be time for such niceties.

Then there is the other type of "lie" when you suddenly realise that you have made such a huge mistake, or forgotten to do something so important, that you have to come up with something quickly to save your skin. Like the English man, who was having such a lot of fun at a friend’s stag party, that he didn’t want to go home to his girlfriend. He called to say that he had been kidnapped by somemenwho he owed money to. The police searched for him all night.

Aman from Liverpool forgot to confirm