Monday 30 June 2008

A Fright in the Night

Robbie spent Sunday doing his best to get back into my good books. For some reason he found it necessary to tell me in detail how to make a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. This is particularly useless information because I don't like smoked salmon and I don't like bagels, but Robbie didn't let a trivial detail like that deter him. He explained the whole process step by step with recommendations on the best place to purchase the ingredients, a unit cost analysis and a comparison to the ready made option from Marks and Spencer. If he could confine his thoughts to things that actually matter he could take over the world!

Last night was yet another disturbed night. Robbie came to bed very late because he had been having a protracted battle with his ipod, apparently it was stubbornly refusing to synchronise. Anyway Robbie is a creature of habit and he woke me up when he came to bed, there was no prospect of of me going back to sleep without a trip to the bathroom so I reluctantly headed along the landing. While in the bathroom I became aware of a commotion at the back of the house. Oreo had obviously squeezed out of a tiny window and was meowing loudly and attempting to get back in through the closed kitchen window. I trudged down to let him in and then shut the tiny hall window to prevent a repeat performance. I met Robbie on his way out of the bedroom to confront a burglar. I ordered him to put some clothes on first! Then I explained what had happened, but Robbie was convinced that a burglar had been attempting to get in the window so (when decently attired) he went down to check. He returned satisfied that everything was safe and secure. He got into bed and fell asleep instantly (how does he do that?) but I lay there wide awake for ages.

This morning Robbie has gone for Fire Warden refresher training. I'm not sure why that conjures up images of Dad's Army in my mind, perhaps it is just the link in my mind with the ARP Warden, but it could be Corporal Jones getting into a flap and telling everyone not to panic, or perhaps it is Frazer's prediction that "we're doomed".

Sunday 29 June 2008

Give Him an Inch and He Takes a Mile!

Robbie had to leave early for his railway open day on Saturday because there are no trains to Birmingham after about 9am, and the prospect of making the journey by coach did not fill Robbie with enthusiasm. Sam also had to get up early because he was going out wit Emily's boyfriend Sean. Robbie promised to get Sam organised and to be very quiet so that he didn't wake me up. I guess he fulfilled half of that promise because Sam was ready on time. Not waking me up turned out to be an impossible dream. If the Grand old Duke of York had marched all of his ten thousand men across the bed and back again I couldn't possibly have been more disturbed than I was by Robbie searching for his favourite pair of pants! Apparently he could not possibly go to a railway open day in the wrong pants! He was moaning and sighing with frustration and clattering around the room, once he had found his pants we had the same ordeal with the T shirt and the socks, then he started the whole process again looking for his jacket, I believe it was at this point that I promised he would be a soprano if he didn't leave NOW! He took a different jacket. He had got up on time, but he had fallen asleep downstairs hence the panic.
I enjoyed a lovely peaceful day working on my family tree, Robbie didn't get home until after 7pm. He had only been back for about ten minutes before I had to ask him to shut up! The whole point of him going to the open day and me staying at home was that I wasn't interested, but Robbie never seems to get the message.
It was almost midnight when I went to bed and I was still awake when Robbie emerged from the bathroom and landed on the bed with a thud. He cuddled up to me and promised me his undivided attention, but with minutes he was snoring steadily. I settled down to sleep but Robbie grabbed the duvet and turned over, leaving me with hardly any covers. This was the last straw and I gave him a meaningful prod, after an exchange of words he stood up on the bed, grabbed the duvet, shook it and spread it more equally across the bed. I was furious because he had made the bed cold, so I turned my back on him. He seemed to be crawling around the bed and the next thing I knew a DVD began to describe the plight of the railways in Germany after the war and the subsequent reconstruction. By this time it was 12.30am and I was not amused. Next there was something about catering, I think they were celebrating 100 years of railway catering but I must have dozed off because I woke with a start to find Jimmy Savile in my bedroom, talking to me about the convenience of rail travel, I was now ready to harm Robbie, but he was fast asleep and snoring. He woke with a start when I pinched his rear end and he obediently crawled down the bed to exterminate Jimmy Savile. He is still not entirely forgiven!

Friday 27 June 2008

The Meaning of Life

Robbie gets up at about 5.15am on weekdays and I get up shortly afterwards. I am not that keen on mornings, they always seem to come around far too soon. It takes a cup of tea and a large dose of Radio 4 (I have a radio in the bathroom) before I am ready to face the day. Even then I find the sight of Robbie trotting around the house in his knickers a bit hard to cope with and I am certainly not ready for 'meaning of life' type questions. This morning Robbie asked "Why are lemmings so suicidal?" I have no idea, perhaps it is because people keep asking them impossible questions first thing in the morning! Once again I was left wondering what exactly goes on in Robbie's head, but that is certainly not a question to contemplate early in the morning.

Thursday 26 June 2008

Body Language

Our dog Meg is a great communicator. If she knows that she is in trouble she walks along with her tail tucked under her chin and her body close to the ground, and if she has to walk past me she will do a wide circle, we never hit her so it must be instinctive behaviour. When she wants something she makes absolutely sure you know about it, she becomes very fussy and affectionate and she keeps walking backwards and forwards and looking at the thing she wants (back door, food cupboard, water bowl, lead etc) until her slow but loveable humans finally get the idea! Robbie is much less subtle, when he wants something he 'creeps' shamefully. I am almost sure that the phone rings differently when he wants something because I can tell instantly, even the little silence before he speaks is different.

Yesterday I got one of those phone calls, he was a bit too loving, there were far too many compliments and he found it even more difficult than usual to get to the point, so I cut through the flattery with a simple “What do you want?” This brought on a bout of stuttering from Robbie, then a painfully drawn out explanation that he had been offered a ticket for Tyseley Open Day in Birmingham, and he would very much like to go. I was a bit disappointed because he was out all last weekend and he has other trips planned so I was hoping for a nice ordinary weekend. He obviously wanted to go because he offered to take me with him – no chance! A railway yard open day is not my sort of thing because it will be attended by the 'socks and sandals brigade' and to be brutally honest that many peculiar people in one place is a bit hard to take! The venue also puts me off, I don't like going to Birmingham, it is too chaotic and it makes me feel despondent. When we are heading to Birmingham on the train I give up hope soon after we pass Rugby, everything starts to look grim and unloved and a close encounter with Birmingham New Street Station is enough to ruin anyone's day!

I told Robbie he could go, he would have only talked about it all weekend anyway, so he may as well go. I will find something to keep me busy on Saturday and when he gets back he will find a list of jobs to keep him out of trouble on Sunday!

Wednesday 25 June 2008

A Night To Remember!

Robbie is not very good at going to bed on time, he has good intentions but then he either falls asleep over his computer or something on the television catches his attention so he sits down to watch it and falls asleep. On Monday night he was supposed to be on his way to bed, but there was something on television that caught his attention and he sat down again. I settled down to sleep with more than my share of the duvet, Radio 4 for company and just for a change no train noises, railway stories or timetable enquiries. Most people count sheep to make themselves sleepy, but Robbie recites train timetables and routes. When he was watching his DVD the night before there was a clip of Euston Station in the 1970's and it included a brief look at the departures board. Robbie kept rewinding and freezing the picture because he wanted to check the routes and work out the journey times - sad! Perhaps that explains why I treat his occasional absence as a luxury.

I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I remember was being woken in the middle of the night by ghostly moaning accompanied by bumping and clattering noises. I was still half asleep and struggling to make sense of what I was hearing when I felt an incredibly heavy weight on my legs that made me want to cry out. Suddenly I was wide awake and the 'haunting' turned out to be Robbie coming to bed. He had fallen asleep downstairs and when he woke up he was in agony and could hardly move. He had half walked and half crawled to bed moaning all the way and when he got there he launched himself onto the bed from my side and landed on my legs. I think I must have expressed my feelings fairly clearly and I must have turned my back on him because I remember one other thing, he tapped me on the shoulder and asked me very politely if he could please have a little bit of the duvet.

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Superior Knowledge!

Robbie went to work in a strop this morning because we had managed to disagree about a sending a text message. I am not a gadget person in the way that Robbie is, as far as I am concerned a mobile phone is for making phone calls and sending the odd message. I don't use my phone as a mobile entertainment system in the way that most people seem to these days. It is a bit of a family joke that I don't understand text language, I use proper words and to everyone's amusement I use punctuation as well! It takes me ages to send a text and usually I ask Robbie to do it for me because he is lightening fast. Mad as it sounds I have a sentimental attachment to my phone, it is about 6 years old and to be brutally honest it has seen better days and it is a bit temperamental. This morning there was a text from my friend to say that her baby had arrived, I asked Robbie to text back for me but he complained that the space button wasn't working. I told him to get the space from the symbol menu instead, but he just had a strop and claimed that he couldn't do it. I showed him how, but he stomped off still muttering about me being unreasonable. I was a bit surprised by his reaction but I think he was just cross because for once I could do something with a gadget that Robbie didn't know how to do! He did apologise - eventually.

Monday 23 June 2008

Robbie Makes Demands

Robbie finally got home from his weekend playing trains. To be more accurate he got as far as Rugby and got stranded, so I had to go and rescue him. He chatted almost non stop about his weekend and as usual the food seemed to interest him almost as much as the trains. We had a busy afternoon and evening but in a quiet moment Robbie demanded an early night - so that we could watch railway DVD's in bed!! A company called MD Rail Productions has produced a DVD of The Spitfire Railtours Cumbrian Coast Explorer and Wey-farer tour, and Robbie was very keen to watch the DVD. Here is a link to the Spitfire Railtours DVD. He also had his latest British Transport Films DVD to watch so it looked as if we were in for a long evening.

Our early night didn't materialise, but when Robbie came to bed at about 12.25am he woke me up and demanded that I stay awake to watch the DVD's. I managed to watch a film called Travelling Intercity, when the next one about the design of the HST came on I couldn't keep my eyes open and I had to settle down to sleep. I don't know how much he watched, but when I woke at half past three he was sleeping soundly, still clutching the DVD case. I think there may be another night of railway videos in store!!

Sunday 22 June 2008

Birthday Boy

It was Oreo's first birthday yesterday, time passes so quickly, it is hard to believe that the timid little kitten has morphed into a great big cat who seems to think that the world revolves around him. The picture shows him sitting in the bathroom sink, he is not about to take a bath (he hates getting wet) he was moth hunting! He didn't have a birthday cake, he likes cake, in fact he likes every kind of food imaginable, but we spoiled him with one of his favourite treats, a crab stick. We don't know when Dave's birthday is so we will have to celebrate his 'finding day' instead. He will not care as long as he has plenty to eat, one day is much like another to him. For a cat with a serious shortage of teeth he does remarkably well and he can eat just as quickly as Oreo!

I thought it was the longest day yesterday, but apparently due complicating factors such as leap year it was actually the previous day. It always makes me feel a little bit sad, I love the long days and light evenings and now it will be a gradual decline towards winter. I think May and June are my favourite months. The Mock Orange (Philadelphus) is in flower in my front garden, it is one of my favourites and it really cheers me up. I love roses too and we have some lovely roses near the front door, they seem to thrive on neglect but as far as I am concerned that makes them even more special.

Saturday 21 June 2008

The Paignton Pudden

Robbie has gone out to play for the weekend. After work yesterday he made his way to Crewe ready for an early start this morning. Robbie has been taking more exercise in the last couple of weeks and he was delighted to find that his black 'train tour' trousers are no longer as tight as they used to be. He celebrated his achievement with pie and chips - I don't think he has quite got the hang of getting fit yet! Having told me in considerable detail about his pie and chips, he held the phone out for me to listen. I couldn't make out what I was supposed to be listening to, but Robbie assured me that I was listening to trains going past. He told me that he could sit in his room naked and watch the trains going past - I was horrified! He assured me that he was adequately attired and that he would not get himself arrested. Imagine all those traumatised passengers reporting a sighting of Homer Simpson naked at hotel room window! I don't really understand Robbie's aversion to clothes, it is just one of the many thing that make me think that he is 'on the spectrum' Anyway he has been on the Paignton Pudden rail tour, he has phoned me with regular updates throughout the day, but I will spare you the detail, I expect Robbie will write about it himself when he gets back.

Sam and I survived our shopping trip yesterday. Sam headed for a pair identical to the ones he bought and refused wear a couple of months ago. I stood my ground and we finally settled on a pair very similar to his old ones (the ones that he actually wore) and we were still on speaking terms when we got home so I guess the trip was a success. The shoes were more expensive than I'd anticipated, but everything seems to be expensive these days. Now that we have dealt with the school shoes Sam has his heart set on a pair of Vans and then a second pair of Converse and then ...... Unless I win the lottery I will not need to remember the rest of the list, it would require a second mortgage to buy that lot! The pictures are of Sam's favourite pair of Converse, he has now grown out of them and has replaced them with a black pair.

Friday 20 June 2008

Best Foot Forward!

Sam has a teacher training day today. He has been looking forward to it all week! He is a bit like me, he doesn't dislike school but he could always think of something better to do. Today we are going out to buy school shoes and I am feeling rather apprehensive after the disaster last time. It ended with Sam having a major strop because I wouldn't buy him a pair of Sketchers. I bought the school shoes that Sam had selected , but he withdrew his cooperation and he has only worn the shoes once or twice because he claims that they 'rip his feet to bits'. I wouldn't say that Sam exaggerates, he just likes a good headline! Yesterday he claimed that his life was so controlled that it was like living in a communist state! My 'sin' on that occasion was to restrict the amount of pepperoni I was prepared to buy in a week. Sam would eat it every day if he was given the chance.

Anyway back to shoes, after the last fiasco I made him manage with his old shoes if he refused to wear the new ones, but now they are falling off his feet and I think Sam understands that we have to get it right this time. I think to some extent the difficulties are linked to his Aspergers, he has very fixed ideas about things and he doesn't like change unless he decides to change something - come to think of it that sound like Robbie too! For the last two or three years each time Sam has had new school shoes they have been exactly like the ones before, but the last time they were a different style. I think we have to go back to the tried and tested style, at least that will be a safe option. After past experience I think I would rather go to the dentist than shoe shopping with Sam!

Thursday 19 June 2008

Traffic Report

I use a service called Sitemeter to help me keep track of who is reading the blog. Don't panic it doesn't reveal your contact details or any personal information, but it gives some very interesting information, including the location of the visitor and the time of the visit. I have been surprised to find that people visit the blog from a number of countries including USA, Canada, India, Philippines and Australia. I hope they don't think that everyone in England is like Robbie – that really would be scary!

Sitemeter also tells me the search terms used when people come to the blog via google or other search engines, I had a look at some of these the other day and I can only conclude that people do some very odd searches. Here are one or two of the strangest ones

national fig roll crisis
how do you get the fig into the gig roll
wake the fish
Jimmy neutron t shirts
bad things about William Shakespeare
sometimes it is not necessary to tell the truth
people in Shakespeare used to wear
craigentinny dentist blog
random demon writings
Samuel Rowbottom


I don't suppose they found many useful answers to their questions on the blog, but perhaps they were not as disappointed as the various people who searched for Robbie Photos expecting to find Robbie Williams smiling back at them, but instead they stumbled upon assorted images of Robbie instead. I'm not sure the world is ready for Robbie as a pin-up, but you never know!

Wednesday 18 June 2008

A Step Too Far

It seem that I shocked some of the blog readers on Monday, they took one look at the picture of the wellies and assumed that Robbie's taste in footwear had become even more peculiar. Please don't give him ideas! It is bad enough coping with assorted pairs of Dr Marten's and lurid pairs of Converse without having to cope with wellies as well!

Today I have a much nicer picture for the blog, my little nephew Oliver. He seems to be changing so quickly, and he certainly looks more like my brother now. Oliver lives much closer than my other niece and nephew Charlotte and Jack, and it is interesting to watch him change week by week. He seems to be very contented and very relaxed, but the nicest thing is that when he cries or needs a nappy change he can go back to his mum or dad!

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Father's Day

It was Father's Day on Sunday and in our house that is a day of very mixed emotions. My own dad died when I was still at school, and I still remember the pain of Father's Day without a father to buy a card for. I have a step father, he is not a substitute for my dad, but over the years he has become special in his own right and he has been a fantastic grandad to my children. The mixed feelings are much the same for my children, Robbie is a brilliant step dad and he has a good relationship with each of them but that does not replace their dad. Being a step parent is always a challenge, and in my case there was no vacancy to fill, they have a mum and a dad, so I needed to find a different sort of role with Robbie's children, more like a grown up friend than a parent. Of course from the other angle it is difficult to accept a step parent, how dare your parent inflict this person on you without giving you any choice in the matter and apparently without taking your feelings into account. My own stepfather didn't always get it right in the early days, but because of him I know that a good step-parent can make so much difference to family life.

Robbie misses his children when he is not with them especially on Fathers Day and birthday's, but we have some happy times when we are all together. Robbie's main present was the latest in the series of British Transport Films DVD's but it hadn't arrived on time so he is looking forward to getting that later in the week. He also had a couple of books, a big glossy book about railway blunders and a little book packed with railway facts. He loved both books, but by the end of the day I was getting a bit fed up with all those facts. That little book has a section on timetables and lots of information about Bradshaw's, he is bad enough as it is without a little book of facts to encourage him to bombard me with random railway information!

Monday 16 June 2008

Moth Hunting

Dave the cat has been like a bear with a sore head recently, well to be more accurate he is a cat with sore feet. His pododermatitis has got worse again and he has an open sore on one foot. I hoped I could get it to heal up again but it is proving stubborn and I think we will have to go back and see the vet. He can still walk on his foot but he grumbles and swears and lashes out at Oreo if he gets too close, poor old Dave, he's a lovely cat.

Oreo has a new hobby – moth hunting. For some reason we always get a lot of moths in the bathroom, they don't really bother me as long as they don't try to get in the bath with me. They may not be as colourful as butterflies, but they have beautiful markings and they are fascinating to watch. Oreo also seems to find them fascinating, he loiters in the bathroom and leaps around trying to catch them. This morning I caught him sitting in the sink, he had obviously decided that he needed to be higher up if he was going to catch a moth. He is not supposed to be in the bathroom, but it is difficult to get cross with him when he looks so cute.

The Big Bang Theory

On Saturday evening I went to bed at about 11pm. At about the same time Robbie found a huge puddle on the floor in the kitchen, I just assumed that I hadn't closed the washing machine properly and I thought little of it. I vaguely recall Robbie coming up to tell me there was another puddle in the kitchen, but I was too sleepy to make sense of it. Robbie came to bed at some point because I remember him waking me up bu bouncing on the bed. My next clear memory was at about 1.30am when a very worried Laura woke me up to say that the boiler was making terrible noises and she thought it was about to explode. With admirable powers of delegation I assured her that Robbie would go and turn everything off and we would deal with it in the morning. Robbie went without a word of complaint and returned in due course to assure me that everything was turned off. He promptly went to sleep again, but I was unsettled and I remained awake for hours worried that something dreadful would happen.

In the morning I was thinking more logically and I realised that the leak had come from the radiator not the washing machine and the boiler was having a tantrum because the pressure had fallen. Laura had a friend staying with her on Saturday night and she said her friend thought it was a bomb so she hid her head under the pillow -not much use if it had been a bomb! Laura had different priorities, she went to rescue her shoes, she move her new, very expensive wellies (from Asos) as far from the boiler as possible to make sure they were safe!!

I'm so fed up, I hate having to have the boiler repaired.

Sunday 15 June 2008

Not a Good Week

It is a week since we got home from holiday and there is only one thing that I didn't miss when we left Cornwall – the narrow roads! The Cornish roads around Padstow are not very wide and if you meet a vehicle coming the other way it can be a hair raising experience. The roads are beautiful with high hedges and wild flowers growing along the verge, they may look harmless but they demand respect. The hedges are built with earth and stone, they are made to last, so when you have to pull in to the edge of the road the innocent looking vegetation may conceal sharp edges ready to scratch your paintwork. It feels good to be driving on normal roads again!

It has been a horrible week. After a fortnight of Robbie 24 – 7, I was quite looking forward to sending him back to work, but I really missed him and I hardly saw anything of him during the week. I missed a school reunion when I was on holiday, I was glad of an excuse not to go. I am not a going out sort of person anyway, but after this long I convinced myself that my former classmates would be younger, thinner and smarter than me! Despite my misgivings I was keen to hear news of the reunion and I contacted one of the people who had organised the event. I was expecting the usual inconsequential stuff about people I knew a lifetime ago. Instead she told me that someone who was a close friend during my school days had killed herself. It came as such a shock, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I have perhaps encountered more than my fair share of illness and loss, but I had never been confronted by suicide before, I can't imagine the despair and distress that would lead someone to take their own life. I wish life had been kinder to her.
Robbie also had bad news, he has been worried about his friend's health for months and last week his friend was finally diagnosed with a brain tumour. Robbie is a typical man, he is not good at feelings and all that stuff, and he found the news very difficult to accept. At first Robbie's anxiety and shock combined with an inner rage because he felt so powerless to help. I felt pretty useless too because there was nothing I could do or say to make him feel better. His friend has been foremost in his thoughts all week.

Friday 13 June 2008

The Blind Leading The Blind

Every time I hear the words Network Rail uttered my blood pressure takes a turn for the worse. When we were on holiday the shameful news of the huge bonuses for top Network Rail managers was announced. They made the staggering claim that they were getting the bonuses because punctuality had improved significantly to over 95%. I was reminded of a quotation in my school maths book 'Statistics are like a lamp post to a drunk man, more a means of support than illumination'. In other words you can use them to support something that will not stand up on it's own!! I rather doubt that commuters in Northampton have enjoyed 95% punctuality, and what about all the weekends when there are engineering possessions, there are no late running trains - because there are no trains at all! I suspect that if punctuality has improved it is in spite of Network Rail rather than because of them, and it probably has more to do with the hard work of the train operators.

This week it was announced that Network rail has awarded a huge 3 year contract to BT to upgrade their communications systems. It doesn't require a crystal ball to foresee disaster! I have had many dealings with BT both as a residential customer and in the course of my work. I think they probably rival Network Rail when it comes to incompetence, delay and poor customer service. In fact last month I was finally able to ditch BT and have my line rental from Sky, they may not be perfect, but at least I am able to speak to a live human being when I need to! As far as the liaison with Network Rail and BT is concerned, I don't hold out much hope. It will be like the blind leading the blind! Network Rail would probably be better off with a few old cans and some lengths of string! After all, if you never listen to anyone else, you don't really need an effective communication system do you?!

Thursday 12 June 2008

Unpacking

Why does unpacking turn into such hard work? When we got home on Saturday the girls had friends staying so I didn't start the major unpacking until late on Sunday. In theory it should be the simplest thing in the world to put everything back in the place it came from, but either I'm not very good at theory or I'm not very good at reality because the two don't match! How did that large pile of T shirts fit into that small space on the shelf in Robbie's wardrobe, and how could that huge pile of underwear possibly have come from that drawer? Putting away the clothes is the easy bit, at least they had a designated 'home' even if other things have encroached on the space. The big problem is the food, cleaning products and toiletries, they are all 'duplicates' bought for the holiday, so they don't have anywhere to go because there is already a jar of coffee in the cupboard, we already have condiments, tea bags, foil and cleaning stuff in the kitchen, and there is already shampoo, shower gel and toothpaste in the bathroom. All these things extra things have to be put somewhere and it is surprising how quickly the kitchen starts to look chaotic. Then of course there is the washing, I didn't think we had bought much washing home, but since we have got back the washing machine has been on overtime, but the pile in the laundry basket never seems to get any smaller!

Wednesday 11 June 2008

No Easy Answers

Robbie and I were rather anxious when we went to the hospital to see his consultant yesterday. We were surprised to find that we didn't have to wait very long until Robbie was called into the consulting room. The consultant explained that the MRI scan had been worthwhile because they were able to get some good pictures of Robbies spine and the pictures had been reviewed by a specialist at Oxford. As expected there was clear evidence of the damage caused by his spina bifida and they could see that his spinal cord was significantly longer than normal with less smaller branches coming from it. The good new was that there is nothing on the scan pictures to suggest that there is any tethering of the cord at the moment. There were words of caution too, Robbie should never have a lumbar puncture or any procedure on his lower back because it could cause serious damage. So the messsage was to keep walking, to accept the falling over and the pain as just part of him and to take great care of his lower back because if anything goes wrong with it they will not be able to put it right. It sounds a bit grim and it would have been nice if we could have found a way to stop the falls and to deal with the pain, but we didn't really expect that. I think we just have to be grateful that the news was as good as we could have hoped for. So now he just has to learn to bounce when he falls over and hopefully he will try not to fall in front of a car or a train!

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Don't Wake the Fish!

Yesterday wasn't the sort of day that you want to write about. It is always a bit of a bump when you get back to work and reality after a holiday and there is so much work to catch up on that it makes you wonder if it is worth going on holiday in the first place. Those things don't really matter, it is people that mean most in our lives.

There was one lighter moment during the evening, Robbie suddenly remembered that he hadn't been to feed the fish. I told him to go straight away, but he was worried in case he woke the fish up! I have never heard of a fish dying from lack of sleep, I think starvation was a much bigger risk!

Monday 9 June 2008

Back to Reality

Saturday dawned impossibly early, we were all up by 5.15am and by 7am we were on the road. It was the Royal Cornwall Show and I wanted to be well away from Wadebridge before the queues built up. It was an uneventful but exhausting journey and we made reasonably good time. Something about the M5 always brings the worst out of Robbie, he spotted a train at the point where the motorway passes close to the railway line and for the next ten minutes he 'entertained' us with a medley of train noises - I think he has been missing work! My nerves were still jangling when there was a thump against the window behind me, I thought some debris had broken the window but it was only Sam recreating the legendary moment when grandad had thumped his hand on the side of the window to express his feelings to a particularly inconsiderate driver. Needless to say both 'boys' were silenced by a few words from me!

When we got home there was a note and a key from our neighbour, she had just left for her holiday and she wanted Robbie to water the plants and feed the fish. He takes his responsibilities seriously and he popped round to check on the fish and see to the plants. He was gone for quite a long time, and when he returned he had a puzzled look on his face, he had been searching for the fish. Apparently he expected them to be in a tank somewhere in the house, but when he couldn't find them he went out to water the plants and found the fish - in the garden pond! The following day he wasn't quite as long, but he still took longer than expected, apparently he was trying to count the fish to make sure they were all still there, but they wouldn't stay still!

Friday 6 June 2008

How to Measure Time

Holidays are measured out in toilet roll, we start with a large pack tucked into the cupboard under the sink and gradually the pack becomes smaller until only a single roll remains and the holiday is almost at an end. We glance at the contents of the fridge and wonder if we will manage to eat it all without wasting food and we make absolutely certain that we don't run out of tea bags or coffee! However there is one cupboard whose contents has not diminished, in fact what started as a little pile of magazines has grown significantly over the fortnight. Robbie loves his magazines and newspapers and he is extremely reluctant to part with them. He promised me yesterday that he would sort through his pile and get rid of as much as possible, but unsurprisingly the pile remains un molested and Robbie is finding every excuse under the sun to avoid 'doing the deed' and if I'm not very careful he will sneak the whole lot into the car to be taken home. What possible use are copies of last week's Guardian, in fact more to the point what use is today's Guardian! They are certainly not going to be taken home with us!

Robbie has been busy with his jigsaw and hopefully he will finish it today. I enjoyed taking photos yesterday, I managed to get some shots of some of my favourite shops and landmarks in Padstow, then in the afternoon when it was low tide I got some lovely shots of the beach. I love taking photos, and it is lovely to look at them later and relive all those happy holiday memories.

Wednesday 4 June 2008

What Shall We Do Today?

Sam has been very keen to visit Newquay Zoo, so today we left Robbie behind (he is not a zoo person) and headed off to the zoo. It was a very good day and it is hard to choose a favourite animal or exhibit, but the tropical house would probably my choice, I also loved watching the red pandas. Sam loved the tropical house, they had huge bats hanging in the tree canopy. Everytime we go to the zoo the tortises seem to be 'misbehaving' and as usual Sam found it very entertaining. He was also fascinated by the stunning markings on the rear end of a Zebra! I don't know why they have those markings, he will have to do a bit of research. The owls were interesting to watch, and if you could cope with the rarher strong smell the otters were great fun.



The Tardis

This caravan has tardis like qualities, it does very strange things with time. In one sense the holiday flies past but in another way time stands still and we don't deal with normal every day things like post and normal everyday commitments. I love it here and I would happily stay longer, but when it is time to go home it will be lovely to see my family - and my dog!

I have been coming to this part of Cornwall for over 20 years and when I sit on the beach or walk along the coast path or wander around Padstow there are so many memories. When I was relaxing on the beach all on my own yesterday it felt very odd because I have spent so many years with the children gathering shells, fishing in rock pools, digging in the sand and watching them surfing or swimming in the sea. There are so many memories and fortunately there are lots of photos to keep those memories alive.





Things That Go Crunch in the Night

I went to bed at about midnight and left Robbie fighting a losing battle with his computer. His whole iTunes library has vanished without trace, apparently even artificial intelligence is offended by the stuff that Robbie calls music! I listened to my radio for a bit and then I settled down to sleep. Some time later I was was woken by a strange noise. In that semi sleep state I tried hard to make sense of the noise. It was rather like the noise of the filter in the big fish tank in the orthodontists waiting room, a sort of watery sucking noise. I knew we didn't have a fish tank and I could tell the noise was close by so I had to wake up and investigate. When I was fully awake it didn't take very long to solve the mystery, Robbie had given up on the iTunes and had come to bed and had decided to cheer himself up by chewing a chocolate toffee!! I put two pillows over his head but the chewing and sucking went on and on for ages, I'm sure a gobstopper wouldn't have lasted that long. Words were exchanged and I don't think he will do that again!

Tuesday 3 June 2008

Time to Get Up!


As soon as I woke up I could tell it was a beautiful day, the sun was streaming through the bedroom window and when I wandered through to make contact with the kettle the view of the bay was incredible. I went back to bed, but 'Sleeping Beauty' just grunted and went back to sleep, I had no chance of dragging him down to the beach before noon so I left him to it.

I got up, showered, had breakfast, washed a couple of towels and some clothes and hung them out to dry, but still the men in my life were not sufficiently awake to form a coherent sentence. Robbie promised that he would follow me down to the beach in a little while, but he must have been working on Cornish time because it was almost two hours before he turned up. I enjoyed the peace and quiet, I wandered
down to the rock pools and took some photos, then I read my family history magazine while relaxing in the sunshine. I love this place, I can't think of anywhere I would rather be.
Robbie finally turned up to enjoy the beach, but I made the mistake of telling him that my family history magazine was focusing on railway history. He was especially interested in the article about 'Steaming Ahead' the recently opened museum and railway resource centre at Darlington. He said he would like to find out more about his grandfather's work as a signal man. He spent the next half hour working out train times and connections to Darlington. I finally managed to stop him talking about trains, but when I put my magazine down it vanished, I think Robbie must have added it to his collection.

Birthday Girl

It was Laura's birthday yesterday, it is the first time that I haven't been with her on her birthday and I missed her so much. She had Maths AS exams during the day, but in the evening she and three friends went to my mums for her favourite meal (home made chips). Apparently they were so full after their meal that there was no room for their cake. Mum had made one of her legendary chocolate cakes, Laura took it home and when I spoke to her today she said that they were really enjoying the cake. I hope they save some for Emily! I asked Laura to make sure that someone took some photos of her opening her presents, but knowing her I bet she didn't get any photos. Laura has been lucky with her birthday because it usually coincided with half term, so most of her birthday's have been spent on holiday in Cornwall. Since I haven't got any photos of her birthday this year, I will have to relive old memories, her are a couple of photos of past birthdays

Monday 2 June 2008

The Seagull Has Landed

The caravan is very comfortable, in fact the bedroom is better designed than our bedroom at home. The bed is comfortable so in theory I should be able to sleep like a log. There is just one problem the local seagulls think our caravan roof is a runway! The roof is sloped and tiled so it is not quite as inviting as when they used to be flat but when a seagull lands it sounds as if there is a horse wearing clogs trotting over the roof. Oddly it doesn't seem to disturb Robbie at all. I mustn't grumble, my mum and step father have to put up with far worse at there house. A number of peacocks have set up home in their village, they land on the roof and clomp about as if they are doing military manouvers and they make the most ear piercing noise that goes on for hours.

Sunday 1 June 2008

The Oldest Swinger in Town

It was a lovely day for the beach today and it was extra special because Sam was able to spend the day with his cousins Charlotte and Jack. Sam enjoyed being the oldest for once and he was able to show Charlotte how to fish in the rock pools, the had a surprisingly good catch, 5 crabs and 8 fish. Jack is only 2 so he wasn't able to help with the fishing but he was fascinated by all the fish in the bucket. Sam loves skimming pebbles and the beach was fairly quiet so he was able to teach Charlotte how to do it. Robbie spent his time on the beach dozing in the sunshine he had obviously decided to conserve his energy for later in the day because when we took the children to the play area Robbie's inner child went wild. Have a look at the pictures and judge for yourself!