Grim acceptance

So I had The Awkward Conversation with Bepe last night and boy do I feel bad.

"I've got to talk to you about your family staying," I said.

"Oh yes?" he said.

"There's just too many of them to fit here. I'm sorry. It's not fair on me."

He looked all hurt and then told me the following:

His parents' small bakery business has been doing really badly lately. They live in a smallish town and now there's a big new supermarket. The supermarket is cheaper and the recession is bad in Italy too so the family's income has been dwindling and so they had decided not to come to Ireland but he said that he would come. He bought them tickets with Ryanair. Now I know that Bepe's not on a huge income. Just minimum wage plus tips. He says that he just can't afford to pay another red cent. He said that he's sorry that he didn't talk with me. He said that he sees that this was wrong. But his parents dream of seeing where he works.

To top it all off, this will be their first trip overseas and their first trip in a plane so it's supposed to be the experience of a life time.

I am a shit. I feel awful. I basically fell in a grovelling heap and apologised. Dublin Tourism Marketing people, if you are reading this, I could really do with some tickets to entertain a family of two middle aged and two teenaged Italians from a small town somewhere south of Rome. They are arriving on August 2nd and I have no resolved to do all I can to make their trip a fantastic one.