Leaving Home

Robbie is totally frustrated by the restricted train timetable between Northampton and Rugby. He was out of sorts by Wednesday and positively evil by Thursday morning. He ranted and raved because he claimed that I hadn't ironed any shirts for him, I had, there were at least five ironed shirts but I had forgotten to look into my crystal ball and predict what he would want to wear on Thursday. After a meaningful exchange of views his ironing privileges were withdrawn and I threatened to starch his underwear if he continued to annoy me.

Friday is the only chance that Robbie and I have to spend a weekday evening together, so I was less than amused when Robbie didn't get back to Northampton until 8.30pm! I wouldn't have minded quite so much if I had known before I cooked his meal but apparently the phone connection between Birmingham and Northampton is as unreliable as the train service!!

When Robbie surfaced on Saturday he was still behaving like a bear with a sore head and I was totally fed up with his behaviour. I refuses to accept his lame apology, as far as I am concerned “I'm sorry but you shouldn't wind me up” is not an apology it is an excuse. He decided to leave home and packed a rucksack while I watched with interest. It reminded me of the time that Laura left home when she was about three. She took her Edd the Duck rucksack, a noddy cuddly toy, four packets of raisins and a carton of fruit juice. She forgot to take a coat, but as she only went as far as the garden shed she didn't really need it! Robbie packed his laptop and his ipod, but I knew he didn't intend to leave because he didn't pack any clean underwear! He was furious when he realised that I wasn't taking him seriously, but in the end we had to laugh about it.

Once we were friends again you may have expected Robbie to have a few loving thoughts to share, but in his own unique way Robbie surprised me with a completely random comment. He informed me that when he was a child his mum had a Hoover Junior, he then asked if I remembered the Hoover Senior because his grandmother had one of those. I replied that I didn't and I wasn't especially interested in the history of vacuum cleaners. The next time I checked my email he had sent me links to three sites about old vacuum cleaners. Why does he have to be quite so unique?

Back on Track?

Hopefully Robbie will be back on track today, Network Rail engineering works over the bank holiday meat that the railway station looked more like a bus station and the poor old passengers had to endure replacement coaches yet again. Network Rail keep telling us how wonderful it is going to be when all the work on the West Coast Mainline is complete, we will have to wait and see, but I suspect that some of the passengers who have endured the greatest disruption and inconvenience will not derive least advantage from the improvements. I was very surprised to hear that the new platforms 5 and 6 at Rugby are too short to accommodate pendolinos and some other train formations. Apparently the platforms are intended to be used by local services, but it seems extremely short-sighted to have constructed new platforms that can not accommodate certain trains, it restricts the ability of the station to be flexible and it takes no account of future need.

Newcastle is also facing disruption because of major engineering work. Network Rail seem to know how to say just the right thing to make a bad situation even worse. I am sure the passengers at Newcastle were 'delighted' to hear from Network Rail that it is an unlucky coincidence that services from Newcastle are going to be worst hit during rush hour! How do they get it so wrong?

Back to Reality

On Monday morning I had that disconcerting experience of waking up and having no idea where I was. Then with a sinking feeling I realised that I wasn't on holiday any more, I was back at home in my own bed, in the real world and our holiday is just a fading memory. I really don't want the summer to end, it has been nice to have more time with Sam, Laura and Emily and now there is only one week left before school starts again. Before we know it the clocks will be changing and the dark days of winter will stretch ahead of us.

The more immediate reality of work and daily routine can not be avoided, but I am determined not to let it completely overshadow family time. Coming home after a holiday makes you look at things with a fresh eye and I am determined to de-clutter the house. there is also too much stuff and too little space. I am also going to redecorate the kitchen, I have been promising that I would do it for ages, but I have to stop thinking and get on with it. We have had temporary fencing up on one side of the garden for months, it only required three panels but Robbie turned a supposedly simple task into a bureaucratic exercise of endless planning and indecision – he's been spending too much time with Network Rail! In the end I gave him an ultimatum, if he couldn't get it up I would find someone who could! So yesterday he and Sam ventured out into the garden and after three hours of effort they had managed to erect one panel! Oh well, only two more to go. Maybe Robbie should stick to train planning!

What Norfolk Means to Me - by Robbie

There comes a point when even 'Robbie' needs a holiday and to me Norfolk is my sanctuary. Open sea, long deserted beaches, and flat expanses of land as far as the eye can see. Even if the weather is not so wonderful I still love it, but to me it is one of the only times of the year when I can spend some REAL family time. Not worrying about my train being late, not worrying if I forgot to send that email to Network Rail.....just 'us' time!

The Last Day

The last day of our holiday found us back at the car boot sale because Sam wanted to look foe more old coins. He now has a penny from each of the 5 reigns from Victoria to Elizabeth. It was nice wander round and look at all the stalls, but we didn't buy much. Afterwards we went to Mundesley for a couple of hours, it was nice just to enjoy being by the sea. Robbie and I went for a walk along the beach this evening, there were some amazing cloud formations and I was able to get some nice photos. I love Norfolk and I will be sad to head home in the morning, but I have missed Emily and Laura and I am looking forward to seeing Meg and the cats too.

Going Round in Circles!

You will never guess what Robbie made me do today. He had me driving around in circles looking for the site of a station that doesn't exist any more. It is my own fault really, at the car boot sale last week I bought him a book about the railways in Norfolk and ever since then he has talked about long forgotten routes and stations that closed before he was even born. It has got him into trouble several times - especially when he chose a very inopportune moment to turn over and start reading his railway book! Anyway he became obsessed with finding the exact site of Mundesley station and when we were at Cromer today he bought yet another railway book that pinpointed the precise location. So on the way back from Cromer we had to go and see the place where the station once stood, there was nothing to see but it seemed to satisfy him – he's weird!

As well as his train book he bought another jigsaw in Cromer, it probably will not come as a surprise that the jigsaw had a railway theme! Sam and I had a good time, I spent ages looking at the books in a shop that sells old books, I could spend days looking at those books, Sam was happy too he bought a graphic novel and more old coins. We also had time to enjoy the sea and to visit Sam's favourite ice cream stall.

On the Beach

We spent some time on the beach on Wednesday then after lunch we went to North Walsham. I love being at Walcott and I'm sorry the holiday is coming to an end.

Back on Track

Diplomatic relations have been restored!! We had a lovely day, we went down to the beach at Mundesley. Robbie was very talkative – making up for lost time. As always he talked mostly about trains, for some reason Northern Ireland Railways popped up in the conversation several times. For a change I was rather pleased to listen to his chatter because he told me about Andy Cooper's letter printed in this weeks Rail magazine in response to Barry Doe's recent vitriolic and grossly inaccurate comments about Cross Country Trains. The letter was very well written and considerably more restrained and dignified than Barry Doe deserved. My favourite sentence was 'A wider and deeper understanding of the industry might avoid such inappropriate jibes'. Hopefully they will make sure that they check the facts properly next time Barry Doe throws his toys out of the pram.

Norwich Bound - Monday

Sam wanted to go to Norwich again and on Sunday evening Robbie had suggested that we should go on Monday. Sam and I got up early(ish) anticipating a nice day in Norwich, amazingly Robbie didn't want to come – when has he ever turned down the chance to go on a train? I tried to convince him to come but decided to stay at the bungalow and read train magazines. Sam and I had a really good time, he bought some stickers, a badge, a T shirt and a hoody as well as a couple of UMD's for his psp. He loves his psp and he enjoys watching films on it, I like it too because it keeps him out of trouble! When we got back diplomatic relations remained fragile, Robbie seemed to struggle to understand tat an apology along the lines of 'I'm sorry, but you made me angry because you wouldn't accept that I am right' is not really an apology.

Living Dangerously - Sunday

Robbie didn't wake me quite as early as yesterday but that's because he didn't get up as early and when he called it was to tell me for the 100th time that the new Spitfire polo shirts are brilliant (OK Robbie, I've got the message!) and of course he told me that he was going to have have breakfast before heading back - there's no surprise there Robbie is almost as passionate about food as he is about trains! Sam and I had another nice day, we went out for lunch at our favourite restaurant in Mundesley.

I went to pick the intrepid traveller up from North Walsham station at 5pm and in the short journey back to Walcott he had managed to cause an argument. I don't take kindly to being told what to do, but when it comes from someone who has far less experience of the matter in question than I do. It would have been just a brief argument, once I have said my piece I am happy to move on, but Robbie decided to dig furiously until he found himself in a hole and he couldn't find his way out. So I had another peaceful night – and Robbie had the sofa!

Tractors - Saturday

This morning Robbie managed to annoy me without even being here! He sent me a text at 7.06am to tell me that they had made a good start on the rail tour and that the new polo tops look great. One of the nice aspects of being on holiday is not having to get up at the crack of dawn, so I didn't appreciate being woken up by a disturbingly loud text (new phone). It would have been slightly more excusable if he had managed to mention that he missed me, but he has a one track mind and the track he was travelling on was leading him from Wolverhampton to Cleethorpes. He informed me that he was behind a pair of tractors, I don't always listen when Robbie goes on (and on) about trains but I know enough to understand that he was referring to a pair of Class 37's and not a couple of agricultural vehicles. I thanked Robbie for the 'alarm call' and he responded with a text informing me that he does everything noisily so why should texting be any different!
Sam and I had a nice day, we went to Mundesley for a couple of hours and then we went to Stalham to visit the factory shop and then to pop into Tesco to pick up a few groceries. We were lucky because it was a beautiful day here but Robbie said they'd had torrential rain.

Mistaken Identity!

You may be wondering why I haven't written about Robbie for a few days, well maybe that's because it wouldn't have been positive. Not content with taking the weekend off in the middle of our holiday to go on one of his rail tours, he has talked about it non stop since Monday. On Monday when we went to Norwich on the train he begged me to let him have a day on the North Norfolk Railway next week. I think my response made it clear that he was pushing his luck, because he hasn't mentioned it since! Anyway we had to get up early this morning so that I could deliver Robbie to North Walsham station. Believe it or not he had even planned a diversion to his journey so that he could go back to Northampton to have his hair cut!

Sam and I had a very nice day, we went to Stalham and then on to a car boot sale. It was very hot and sunny and it was fun to wander around looking at all the stalls. Sam decided to buy a few pre decimal coins from one of the stalls, he was fascinated by the old pennies and he bought several.. As we drove home in the car he looked at his coins and asked why we used to have a picture of Lenin on our coins. I was puzzled until we stopped at traffic lights and I was able to have a quick look at the penny in question. It wasn't Lenin, it was Edward VII! I think they must be getting something wrong at school when Russian history is more familiar to a thirteen year old than their own British history.

Wishing Stones

We had a lovely day today, we spent the morning on the beach. Emily did all the things she used to do when she was younger, she paddled, wrote her name in the sand, dug holes and collected stones. This beach contains very special stones, they have holes right through them and we call them wishing stones, Emily found lots of them, we spent ages walking up and down the beach looking for stones.

Sadly Emily and Sean had to go home this afternoon, I wish they could have stayed longer, but it was lovely to spend some time with them. When they had gone Sam Robbie and I went to Cromer, Robbie went to his favourite bookshop and bought two train books and a DVD about trains – that man has a one track mind!

Crazy Golf

This morning (Wednesday) was beautiful and Robbie and I walked along the path by the beach noticing all the changes since last year. They had bad storms last winter, which caused a lot of damage and erosion now the path above the beach that we have taken for granted for so many years has been completely ruined. Many of the properties have smart new fences, some have no fences at all and one garden still contains a big pile of mangled debris which is all that remains of their garden fencing. The footpath is now rough and uneven and very hard to walk on, I expect it will bed down again in time but it feels very strange and it is a vivid reminder of the power of the sea.

Emily, Sean and Sam went to Mundesley this afternoon, they explored the beach and played crazy golf – Emily won. It has been lovely to have Emily and Sean with us for a couple of days, I wish Laura could have come too.

Bat Watching

Emily and her boyfriend Sean have joined us on holiday for a couple of days. I was concerned that they would have a horrible day because we had a short but incredibly sharp shower mid morning. After that it brightened up and the sun broke through, then the rest of the day was warm and pleasant. I didn't realise until I watched the evening news that places nearby must have had much more rain than we did, because there was flooding at Norwich and the sea front at Cromer struggled to cope with such heavy rain.

Emily, Sean and Sam had a lovely time in Cromer in the afternoon, then in the early evening they went down to explore the beach. Then as it got dark we watched the bats flying about, they fly so fast it is hard to see them properly, but they are fascinating to watch.

Elephants in Norwich!

Guess what we did today – we went on a train! We got up moderately early and drove to North Walsham to catch a train to Norwich. I wasn't too keen on getting up early because I was summoned from my bed by Sam shortly after midnight to watch two moths mating on the bathroom window. I found myself feeling sorry for the moths, the process didn't seem to be very exciting and it certainly wasn't quick so it didn't have much to recommend it. When I returned to bed I was just settling down to sleep when Robbie woke me to inform me that they are opening a new Morrisons at Wednesbury. It wasn't even of passing interest, I try to avoid going that far north.

Anyway we got to Norwich in time for Robbie to have the 'foot long' he had been promising himself for weeks. Robbie and Sam both love eating at Subway, I can't see what all the fuss is about but at least they can't talk while they are eating so I get a few minutes peace. Norwich had been invaded by over 50 brightly coloured elephants, they were all over the city centre and they certainly brightened the place up. They are part of a creative arts project, but the intention is also to raise money for two charities, CLIC Sargent and the Born Free Foundation. I loved the elephants and I took lots of photos. I even got a nice picture of Sam in the Costa Coffee shop, but he wasn't too pleased about it.

We had a nice day in Norwich visiting all our favourite places, but the big disappointment was Norwich Station. I had always liked Norwich Station in the past, it seemed to be well run and friendly, but this was my first visit since National Express took over the running of the station and I was very disappointed. The station was disorganised, the announcements were unhelpful, the place was a mess and horror of horrors the toilets left a lot to be desired. At least they provided entertainment outside the station, the National Express coordinators were attempting to manage the parking and despatch of replacement coaches. I say attempting because they were proving beyond doubt that they could not coordinate their way out of a paper bag! The sad thing is the station is supposed to be providing a service to the public, but instead no respect or consideration is shown to the passengers.

Rainbow

Our first day was lovely and relaxing, there was a breeze but it was warm and bright and it was nice just to enjoy our freedom. There were a few spots of rain this evening and then suddenly there was an amazing rainbow with a fainter rainbow at the side of it. This is the view from our back garden.

Alarm Call

I got the car packed and ready on Friday evening, and only a few last minute bits and bobs were left to do on Saturday morning. I wanted to hoover and tidy up before we left because things always get a bit chaotic while you are packing. It was too late to hoover that evening so Robbie said he would get up early in the morning to do it while I finished packing the car. When the alarm went off Robbie turned over and ignored it, I prodded him, poked him, pinched his bottom and his only response was a scattering of obscenities I let the alarm go on and on, but he just buried his head under the duvet so I took the duvet away and he curled up in a ball. I was so tempted to go and get a bucket of water, but I restrained myself, I just yelled at him instead. He finally plodded off to the shower still muttering obscenities I was so cross, and I was determined that I wasn't going to do all the work, after all he could sleep through the journey, but I had to do all the driving. I blame his job, they work him into the ground with early starts, late nights and impossible deadlines, then I'm left with a useless wreck. Well, they'd better watch out – the fight back has begun!

Robbie survived his difficult start to the day, but he had his fortune told in no uncertain terms. We didn't leave quite as early as planned, but when we finally got on the road we had a good journey. It is so nice to be in Norfolk again, I love the bungalow and it is really special to be so close to the sea.

Pants!

I was so mad with Robbie on Friday morning that I threatened to go on holiday without him. I woke him up as usual and he embarked on his usual morning routine. I only became aware of a problem when I went downstairs and he announced “That's it I can't go to work, I haven't got any pants!” I knew that was nonsense and I went back to the bedroom and returned carrying a pair of his Next trunks. Instead of being grateful he claimed I was trying to injure him because 'I know very well' that that pair chafes him. I'm sorry to disappoint him but I'm really not so interested in his knickers that I know each pair individually! I suggested that instead of ranting he should look more carefully but he stood there rooted to the spot like a naked gnome insisting that I had wilfully deprived him of his pants. He even insisted that there were none of his pants in the house. I can't imagine what he thinks I have been doing with them, if he thinks I am making a fortune selling second hand knickers on ebay he is sadly deluded! The truth is much simpler, they were not missing, he just didn't look properly! It didn't take long for me to reunite him with his drawers, the world looked a little better when Robbie finally put some clothes on, but I was still far too mad to talk to him and he left for work in silence.

I went shopping later that morning and I bought him a new stash of knickers, I'm sure he has enough pairs to last him a month but if it saves me from sites like that first thing in the morning it is worth it. If Eddie Grundy (from The Archers) is thinking of adding a new design to his range of naughty gnomes, I can recommend a very good model!

The King of the Slugs

We had some fencing delivered yesterday. It was just three sections, three posts and three post holders, to patch a gap where the fence got damaged. I got the small items inside but I couldn't cope with the fence sections so Robbie said that he would do it when he got home. What he omitted to tell me was that he wouldn't get home until 10.30pm, so it was past 11pm before the fencing was brought in. I was feeling exhausted because I had just got back from work and Robbie was exhausted and hungry, so he said that he would leave the fencing in the hall until this evening. When I walked through the hall on my way to bed I realised that Robbie had brought in more than just the fencing. There was a giant slug sitting on top of a piece of fence looking at me! I am not frightened of slugs but I don't want one as a house guest so I asked Robbie to escort it outside. I went off to bed so I don't know if Robbie had a close encounter with the slug, but it or one of it's mates must have spent the night in the hall because I have spent this morning cleaning snail trails off the hall carpet. There is no sign of any slugs so either they escaped or one of the cats helped them on their way!

You Can Lead A Horse To Water But .............

They say you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, that does not sound anywhere near as impossible as getting a teenage boy to deal with his laundry! Sam doesn't like people to encroach on his bedroom and he thinks I am totally unreasonable to make such huge demands on him. Demands like changing his bedding regularly, being able to see the carpet (not to mention seeing enough of it to be able to hoover) and the most irksome demand of all – to bring his washing down to the washing machine when asked. How hard can it be for him to put his dirty washing in the laundry basket and then bring it down when asked? I achieved a major triumph yesterday after three attempts Sam managed to bring all his dirty washing down (almost all anyway) but it took 3 days of constant nagging to achieve it. I would probably have more success trying to train the cat to keep the house tidy!

Getting Ready

We are going on holiday on Saturday to a remote corner of Norfolk where mobile phone signals are non existent and (hopefully) all the hype about the Olympics will pass us by. I know it hasn't even started yet but I am absolutely sick of hearing about the Olympics, am I the only person in the world who doesn't car a jot about it?

I always vow that I will be more organised next time when it comes to holiday packing, but when 'next time' comes I still find myself rushing to get everything done at the last minute. I have pages of lists, things to do, things to buy, things to find and of course things to pack. So far there are a pitiful number of ticks on my lists, I have to shift into a higher gear today otherwise we will never be ready on time. The boys 'Robbie and Sam' have a few new DVD's to take with them, but my favourite part of planning for a holiday is going off to buy a selection of magazines to take with me. No doubt Sam will want Empire magazine or something similar packed with information about films and DVD's. Robbie will choose a stack of railway magazines and perhaps he will throw in a railway magazine to keep me quiet, but my choice will be family history magazines and perhaps one about scrapbooking – I love scrapbooking.

Talking of family history, we have managed to get a bit further with Robbie's tree, we have found that relatives from another branch of his family went to USA too, and Robbie was delighted to find that one of his ancestors worked on the railways. His obsession with trains must be in his genes!

Missing Out

As if being bought flowers by another woman wasn't bad enough, the plot thickened at the weekend when another member of his fan club phoned to invite him out for a first class lunch trip on his favourite Deltic next Saturday! Just one problem - we are going on holiday that day. I said that Robbie could go if he wanted to, but he decided not to, he thought that being allowed to go off for his rail tour on the middle weekend of the holiday was enough, but he hasn't stopped moaning about missing out on the Deltic

A Bit of a Rant!

Robbie started ranting as soon as the latest edition of Rail magazine went on sale last week and he is still ranting. The cause of his irritation is Barry Doe – nothing new there! By Friday I was so sick of hearing about it that I thought I better read the article, and I could see why Robbie was so vexed. Robbie gets cross when anyone has a pop at Cross Country but when someone doesn't bother to get his facts right it is even more annoying. The main thing that had caused Barry Doe to get his knickers in a twist was the Cross Country fare restrictions on their cheap day return tickets. He had a scandalous headline which I will not repeat because I hope someone will sue him!

He sited one example where a senior conductor apparently made an error about the validity of a ticket. He may (perhaps) know about ticketing (he is not always right) but it seems he doesn't have much idea about anything else, he called the senior conductor a guard – what century is he in? He made the valid point that commuters find restrictions hard to understand and it is not clear from the tickets who sets the fare or what the restrictions are. But he then went on to blame all the wrong people, in particular he called the Cross Country management stupid. He has obviously been contemplating his own navel for so long that he is too myopic to see the bigger picture! What he doesn't seem to understand is that the franchise was awarded to Arriva by DFT in a competitive process. You can not blame Cross Country for railway privatisation, they have to fulfil the terms of the franchise agreement an they have to act in the best interest of the company (just like every other TOC). With regard to cheap day returns, they are free to set whatever restrictions make sound business sense, so if you want to blame anyone blame the government for allowing unregulated tickets! As for ticketing, yes we all agree it is out of date but you can't blame Cross Country for that either, ticketing is the responsibility of ATOC under the rail settlement plan – but of course being such an expert he knows that already!
As for his complaint about the Voyager shop not being open between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh, if he'd bothered to check he would have known that this was also the case when Virgin had the franchise. So why blame Arriva?

He's a bit like a wasp really, very annoying, not much of a sting and absolutely no practical use! I suggest that the next time he wants to have a rant he should grab his bicycle clips and ride around the block a few times to get his thoughts in order before committing a lot of inaccurate rubbish to print!

Say it With Flowers!

When I got home yesterday I found a vase of flowers in the kitchen. I assumed they had been given to Emily or Laura. I'm not keen on cut flowers, I prefer to see flowers growing in the garden, so people don't usually buy me flowers. I went into the lounge and asked Robbie about the flowers, I got a sheepish smile and an admission that they had been bought for him by 'one of his women'. The girls found it hilarious. Life with Robbie is rarely dull!