Thursday 29 January 2009

Feeling Old!

I am feeling especially old this week because it is Emily's birthday on Saturday, she will be 20! I really don't know where all the time has gone. She has asked to be given money for her birthday, bit I have bought her one or two little things to open on the day as well. There is just one problem, I have put one of the things I bought away in a safe place and I can't remember where I put it - possibly another sign of old age! I have to have a serious search today, it is so frustrating.

Wednesday 28 January 2009

What Did You Say?

I think there is a conspiracy in our house. The children insist that I am going deaf and they never miss an opportunity to make jokes at my expense. I am not going deaf, I can hear perfectly well if they speak properly, but most of the time they have their music blaring out making it more difficult to hear. It would help if they didn't mumble, sometimes when I hear them talking to their friends I wonder if they speak English at all, it seems like a spoken version of text language and teenage boys seem to converse in a series of monosyllabic grunts. I find Robbie hard to understand partly because he talks constantly about trains and partly because he speaks far too fast and I still find his accent challenging at times because he uses regional words that I have never encountered before.

Our cats are very good communicators, there is just one problem - they lie! This morning they put on an Oscar winning performance to try to convince me that Robbie had not fed them, but I knew that he had and their efforts were wasted.

On the subject of deafness I think it is the children who have trouble hearing – selective deafness. Any instruction, to pick it up, clear it up or switch it off seems to fall on deaf ears.

Tuesday 27 January 2009

Moved By Music

The children had Guitar Hero (for the Wii) for Christmas. They love it, but it is not exactly designed for spectators, so why can't they take the Wii upstairs and play it in one of their bedrooms? The root of the problem is Robbie! The songs on Guitar Hero have reminded him of all the 'wonderful' music that he has not listened to for a while and he encourages them to try out new tunes (I use the word 'tune' in the loosest sense). So for what seems like hours on end we have someone strumming away, then when they finally lose interest and peace is restored, Robbie starts. He clamps on his headphones and listens to 'music' on his laptop, it wouldn't be a problem if he didn't feel the need to sing along! Robbie has many attributes but his singing voice is not one of them and wearing headphones enables him to achieve new extremes of tunelessness. He sounds like a warthog in distress, then he wonders why I take myself off to the bedroom for some peace and quiet with my radio!

Sunday 25 January 2009

I Blame Network Rail!

On Friday when Robbie left for work I asked him to promise not to be late home, and he assured me that he would be on time. He was with Network Rail, so before I put the dinner on I phoned him to check when he would he back, he said he would be on a later train, so I agreed to pick him up. I dropped Sam off at his friend's house on my way and then drove to the station just in time to meet his train. I sat there for a minute or two, then my mobile rang and Robbie announced that he was not on the train and would be an hour later!! He still hasn't explained why he didn't tell me as soon as he knew he wouldn't be on the train, it would have saved me a wasted journey. Maybe it is a Network Rail thing - never give anyone any useful information!

I picked him up later and he was full of apologies, he promised me his undivided attention for the rest of the weekend. That promise turned out to be like the countless Network Rail promises about the West Coast main line – all hot air! He went online and got into an argument with some lame brains about train overcrowding. I gave up and went to bed and he promised he would be there in a minute. Over an hour later he was still on his computer arguing about trains with those sad acts, so I gave up and went to sleep. This morning when he finally woke up, he cuddled up to me and told me in great detail about how he used to collect erasers when he was a child, that was a real turn on! Later when I was having a bath he came in and sat down to have a chat, I was pleased, at least he wanted to talk to me, but then he started a long discourse on his plan to partition the hard drive on his computer! He doesn't need a wife, he needs a robot! If this is the result of a couple of days spent with Network Rail I dread to think how bad he would be after a week with them!

Friday 23 January 2009

Advice From An Old Farmer

I don't mean to offend anyone, but we have had an overload of news and information coming from America in recent months. I am very pleased that Barack Obama is the new president, but I am alread starting to feel that if I hear his name one more time I will scream. So I thought I wouls include something a bit different on the blog. I read a number of websites and among all the drivel about politics I came across this, it made me smile and it contains some good advice.

Advice From An Old Farmer

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.
* Keep skunks, bankers and lawyers at a distance.
* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
* Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
* It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
* You cannot unsay a cruel word.
* When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
* The best sermons are lived, not preached.
* Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen, anyway.
* Don't judge folks by their relatives.
* Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
* Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
* If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
* Always drink upstream from the herd.
* Good judgment comes from experience, And a lotta that experience comes from bad judgment.
* Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
* If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around

I hope Robbie takes note of the bit about fences, he still hasn't finished mending our fence!

'Quick, the Germans are coming.....' (by Robbie)


....and they have certainly arrived with a bang now!

As some of you know DB Railways now own what was formerly known as EWS (English, Welsh and Scottish Railways), one of the key railfreight haulier's in the UK, and as of 1st January 2009 it was renamed DB Schenker. It was therefore only a matter of time before the first 're-liveried' loco was unveiled, and on Thursday 23rd January it was displayed to the media for the first time in the form of 59206. This will now be on display at the NRM in York for a short time before being named and then released into general traffic. In my opinion it looks rather DAMN good......!!

Thursday 22 January 2009

An Inspiration

I didn't post on the blog on Sunday because it was a very busy day for me. It was my brother's birthday so we had to pop over to my mum's house to take his presents, then later on I had to work so the day passed in a blur of activity.

In the morning I was sitting on my bed doing some work on my laptop when Emily came into the bedroom looking very sad. She told me that Tony Hart had died, and she went on to say that he was amazing. I'd heard the news of his death on the news earlier in the morning and my reaction had been much the same as Emily's. As a child I had watched Vision On an amazing combination of art and performance, I loved the art part of the show especially the gallery of viewers art work. Tony Hart was original, inspiring and clearly very talented, he made art fun and he made it accessible to everyone, in so many ways he fired our imaginations.

When Emily was a child Tony Hart was there to inspire her too be creative too. He had moved on with series that were entirely based on art and animation such as Take Hart, Hartbeat and Smart Hart. All of my children love art and Tony Hart played a part in inspiring them to try many different aspects of art. Laura was always very good at three dimension work and Sam loved those very large pictures made of household objects that you have to look down on, he used to create them on the lounge floor. They still love art, all can draw and paint well and all have their own style. I wonder how many children have been influenced to enjoy art because of Tony Hart - what an incredible legacy. I can't write about Tony Hart without mentioning his annoying little sidekick Morph, a plasticine stop motion animation who appeared with Tony. Morph lived in an artists pencil box and he appeared in short clips of little more than a minute, he was fun and it was just one more way of introducing children to different aspects of art and creativity.

Tony Hart made a huge contribution to children's television, and he will be sadly missed by the many people who have enjoyed and been inspired by his work.

Wednesday 21 January 2009

Forgiven

Robbie is more or less forgiven for being a pain on Monday evening. I say more or less because he has this annoying habit of making a half apology, that sort of cancels out the apology. He will look defeated and say "OK, I'm sorry, but what I was trying to say was...........". It makes me so cross, I already know what he was trying to say, because he will have said it at least 10 times, but repeating nonsense doesn't make it less stupid and it doesn't make me see things his way!

I had loads of work to do last night and I didn't get to bed until 2am, it was so cold last night, but I didn't want to leave the heating on all night because we get too hot, so I put my dressing gown on top of the duvet over my feet. I was almost asleep when 'Bigfoot' came to bed, I was vaguely aware of him clomping around the bedroom. I don't know what he was talking about, but he was talking loudly. I must have dozed off because suddenly Robbie was in bed and my feet were cold - he had taken my dressing gown away and hung it up. A battle followed and eventually he grudgingly got out of bed and replaced my dressing gown. He moaned because it looked untidy. That is a bit rich coming from Mr Messy - he leaves a trail of clutter wherever he goes!

Tuesday 20 January 2009

Conflict

Sam is very keen on photography and since he got his posh new camera for Christmas no one is safe, from Sam quest to get the perfect picture. His homework for his school photography class is to take a photograph of conflict. At first Sam thought it would be easy because he intended to take a photo of of the cats play fighting, but they don't perform to order and when they play they will not stop to pose for the camera! So he has had to resort to plan B - staged conflict. This has not been very successful either staged conflict looks staged and despite his best efforts he is still searching for the perfect photo. He took this photo of Laura after a staged fight with her yesterday, I love her expression and the look in her eyes, it isn't clear if she will 'attack' or if she will burst out laughing. One thing is clear she will never forgive me if she finds out that I have put this picture on the blog, she hates it when her hair is all messed up!
It is quite comical to have Sam setting out to create conflict, when we have plenty of the real kind every day, it just doesn't lend itself to being photographed. Yesterday when Robbie got home I began to cook our meal and he began to disapprove. First I'd said I was doing mashed potato and he wanted chips, I intended to have baked beans but he wanted gravy, I was very tolerant. I got a pan out to put the sausages in the oven, he looked, shook his head and said "no, no, not that one". I gave him 'the look' but he blundered on. He offered me a much less suitable pan, then changed his mind and offered a third, then a forth pan. I offered him a stern warning but he pressed on with advice on how to cook his sausages! I looked at my lovely new saucepans on the worktop and felt an overwhelming urge to hit him over the head with one! I decided that love had to win (love for my new saucepans) and I stormed out and told Robbie to get on with it himself!

Saturday 17 January 2009

A Lot of Nonsense

Some things just feel right, but it isn't possible to explain why. I feel like that about Virgin trains, I love travelling on Virgin trains, I feel comfortable and relaxed, but it is hard to explain exactly what it is that makes me feel like that. I was so sad when Virgin lost the Cross Country franchise and like many others I had serious misgivings about the future of Cross Country. Time has proved me wrong, my fears for Cross Country have not been realised, in fact I have been pleasantly surprised. I don't think much of the livery and they lack the Virgin 'flair' but Cross Country is OK, in fact it is better than OK. There is just one thing I can't work out, why does Barry Doe have such a grudge against Cross Country?

In the latest Rail magazine Boring Barry posed the question “Why not avoid Cross Country altogether?” He seems to have taken great exception to Cross Country's attempt to get people to change trains at places more suitable than Birmingham New Street. I have shared my thoughts about Birmingham New Street previously, so I will be brief, I detest the place, I would rather visit the dentist than change trains at New Street! So if the company can suggest ways to avoid New Street, I'm interested. In fact I would be willing to accept a slightly longer journey if I could avoid that god forsaken place. Barry Doe gave an example, apparently the Cross Country leaflet advises passengers from Reading an the South Coast travelling to Scotland and the North East to change at Leamington Spa if a through train is not available. Boring Barry calculates that it would add up to an hour to the journey time and it would involve two changes. It may come as a surprise to him but he is not the only person in the country who can read a timetable and he is not the only person capable of comparing journey options - but I must admit few of us are as anal about it as him! I consider that I am a fairly ordinary passenger, if I needed to make that journey I would check the timetable, consider the options available and plan my journey accordingly. I do not blindly follow advice in leaflets without checking the facts.

He also claims that he can do Bournemouth to Edinburgh via Waterloo and Kings Cross in seven hours, so he can not imagine why anyone would use the Cross Country service. If he was a little more in touch with reality he would know that negotiating London stations and the the underground is challenging for anyone, but for passengers with heavy luggage, disabled travellers and people with children, it is almost impossible! Even the dreaded New Street is preferable to that!

Avoiding the complication and trauma of a journey across London would be one of my top priorities, so the temptation of lower walk on fares, more frequent services, more comfortable trains and and better on board services would not tempt me to travel via London. I am just an ordinary traveller, but I am not stupid, I would plan a trip like that and I would not pay a walk on fare anyway. As for longer more comfortable trains, someone should really explain to Barry that bigger (and longer) does not necessarily mean better!! I find Cross Country services comfortable, and judging by the number of people who use their services, so do many other people. What Barry doesn't seem to understand is that most people travel on trains because they are going somewhere, it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. They want a reasonably comfortable, trouble free journey, but to them it is just a journey and their main aim is to get there more or less on time. There are plenty of obsessives and rail enthusiasts who focus only on the journey, the route or the rolling stock, but the great majority of the travelling public use the railways for the purpose intended, to travel from one place to another. Barry Doe does not seem to understand that his myopic nit picking shows no understanding of the needs and aspirations of ordinary travellers.

Hopefully Barry will follow his own advice, and avoid Cross Country altogether. It should be a great selling point, passengers would flock to Cross Country services to avoid Boring Barry. I don't know what caused his rancour and resentment but I am sick of him having a pop at Cross Country and he would be doing us all a favour if he would stay away He is like a buzzing wasp - an annoying irrelevance!

Friday 16 January 2009

Totally Perverse!

We had an amazing Christmas present from my mum, a set of Jamie Oliver saucepans. Robbie had been moaning for months about the state of our saucepans and in particular the state of the frying pan. This annoyed me because I had bought that set of saucepans shortly before Robbie and I got married, it wasn't cheap and there was only one reason why they were not in very good condition – Robbie!! Over two or three years he had managed to drop and shatter every single saucepan lid, they were made of glass and sadly proved not to bounce very well. The other problem was that Robbie had not treated the non stick surface with the respect it deserved. He tends to grab any utensil rather than using one suited to the surface and the frying pan in particular was looking sad. Robbie claimed that it would no longer cook eggs nicely, I didn't have too many problems but Robbie kept bleating on about it. I refused to invest in another good set of saucepans until Robbie became more responsible, so when my mum told us she intended to buy an extra special present Robbie was delighted. I asked my mum if I could choose a (relatively) Robbie proof design and after a long search we settled on the Jamie Oliver set because they were the only ones we could find that did not have glass lids! I love the new saucepans, they made cooking at Christmas a real pleasure but I'd had no need yo use the frying pan until a couple of days ago, it was nice to use and easy to wash. Yesterday I looked for it with the other saucepans and it had gone. I asked Robbie about it when he got home and he admitted that he had retrieved the packaging and packed the frying pan away again. When asked why he said he didn't want to use it and we could manage with the old one! I give up, that man is impossible! I will throw the old one away and see how he copes after that.

Thursday 15 January 2009

Timetable Change

Robbie fell asleep on the sofa last night, I did my best to get him to bed but he sat down again and insisted that he had to wish the cat goodnight, so in the end I gave up and left him and the cat to it. Apparently he woke up and wondered where he was at about 1.30am and he finally found his way up to bed. When the alarm clock went off just before 5am Robbie was very reluctant to get up, but eventually I managed to boot him out and he came back with a cup of tea for me, but he then got back into bed and said he had re timed our morning timetable and he was going to catch a slightly later train. It was lovely to have a few extra minutes in bed, but it really messed up my morning routine. It is an odd week anyway because Laura is away on a Geography field trip and Emily is back at uni so there is just me and Sam once Robbie has gone to work. I cant get used to it, I have twice gone to wake Laura up this week, it feels really strange. Sam is usually like a bear with a sore head in the morning, and getting him organised in time for school can be a bit of a challenge, but despite Robbie's change to our morning routine I got 'Mr Grumpy' to school at his usual time.
Laura will be home tomorrow, I have really missed her this week, she seems to be having a good time, but she was very upset that she got rained on and it made her hair go curly. She will not like the picture I have added, you can tell from her expression exactly what she thinks of having her photo taken!

Wednesday 14 January 2009

Robbie's Piles!

Usually, I don't see much of Robbie during the week, by the time he gets home from work I have already left, so it is about 10.40pm before I see him. Yesterday was different, he had been to a meeting in Cambridge and he arrived home half an hour or so before I left. I was worried about him because his leg had been misbehaving and I would have liked to stay at home with him, but we can't always do what we want. By the time I left, Robbie was busy reorganizing his bookcase and making the case for yet another bookcase because he cant fit all his railway books on the one he has – one day there will be no room for me because of his books! He told me that he was going to sort out the collection of books and magazines that he had amassed at the side of his bed, so I was hopeful that I would come home to find a little more space in the bedroom.

When I returned later that evening, I was tired and hungry and I had forgotten all about Robbie's books, his bookcase looked much the same and I didn't go up to the bedroom until it was time for bed. I was late heading up to bed and when I came out of the bathroom I was looking forward to a few hours sleep, but that was to prove difficult. Robbie had piled all sorts of junk on the bed – it was his junk (except for a pile of my books that had been displaced by his railway books and were now homeless). I love my bed and taking liberties like that was not a wise move by Robbie. I rescued my books and piled the rest of the junk on Robbie's side of the bed, then I got in and settled down to sleep. I vaguely remember him waking me up to apologise for the mess on the bed and he must have moved it because when the alarm went off this morning Robbie was in bed and the junk was gone.

Tuesday 13 January 2009

A Sweet Tooth!

We have a gang of thieves targeting our house, an unlikely gang of trouble makers, one rather dim but determined dog and two clever cats. Dave is the mastermind, he is very agile for an old chap, so he can balance precariously while seeking out treasures from inaccessible places, and he uses his larger than average nose to sniff out stuff worth stealing. His nose also comes in handy to open tins and break into boxes. Oreo is not as subtle, he knows that he can open tins and containers by knocking them off a surface onto the floor, but he is skilled at opening cupboard doors by putting his paw under the door. Meg the dog is just an opportunist, she tags along with the daring duo in order to clear up the leftovers. On Monday they managed to open a tin of Roses chocolates and knock it onto the floor, so Meg had eaten a large quantity of chocolates (and wrappers) for breakfast. She had a severe telling off and spent the rest of the morning walking around with her tail under her chin, but the cats showed no remorse at all as they continued their usual morning routine of eating, sleeping and bird watching. Meg had obviously developed a taste for chocolate because when I went out to the supermarket she broke into Sam's bedroom and tucked into his stash of Christmas sweets, another telling off followed and she spent the rest of the day pretending to be invisible. The biggest mystery is why she wasn't sick!

Monday 12 January 2009

Lost Property!

I had one of those moments where I wanted the ground to swallow me up this afternoon, it happened when Robbie dropped his trousers in the lounge to show me how well fitting his new knickers are. Try thinking Edwardian bathing trunks and you will have a close enough image! I begged him not to show off his underwear to my mum, she is too old for shocks like that, he grudgingly agreed, but then he told me that one of the women who sometimes catches the train with him liked his new pants. I hardly dared to ask, but he admitted that he had showed his travelling companions his new pants on the train, thankfully he was not wearing them at the time! That was only the beginning of the confessions, a long and complicated story tumbled out, apparently he lost his pants on the journey home, but unlike his well travelled trousers they didn't get left on the train, he left them in someone's car! He retrieved them the following day, but I wonder how his travelling companion felt when he caught the train tat morning and asked “did I leave my pants in your car?” That man really needs a minder!

Saturday 10 January 2009

The Big Cover Up

Exciting news – Robbie has bought new pants! Those people who were alarmed after my recent post on the subject of Robbie's alleged shortage of knickers can relax, he is in no danger of running out of clean underwear. He got a little over excited about his purchase (Marks and Spencer has that effect on him) and he waved his new pants at us just before we sat down to eat on Friday evening. Thank goodness other people don't have to look at them, they are loud and startling just like their owner! Sam claimed that it will take years of therapy to get the image out of his mind and the girls claimed that it put them off their meal.

I think that is more than enough information on that subject. I would like to be able to write about a little mishap that happened to someone who shall remain nameless the other day but I have had warnings about dire consequences if if I do. All I can say is that if you doze off while using your computer you should try not to allow yourself to slump forward, because if your nose touches the keyboard it can cause all sorts of unexpected problems!!

Friday 9 January 2009

They Didn't Plan to Fail, They Failed to Plan!

I'm sorry, I'm still going on about trains, but there was yet another problem with the West Coast Mainline yesterday! I couldnt resist quoting from this article in The Times Rail expansion grinds to a halt as power line faults cause chaos

Last December Network Rail promised that a new timetable would “herald a step change in the frequency and speed of train services” unfortunately we didn't realise that meant more delays and chaos than ever! The article made me laugh out loud, Network Rail really make themselves look ridiculous The company has stopped carrying out daylight inspections of the lines and does them at night instead to avoid closing tracks during the day. An industry source said that it was much harder to spot defects at night.

Thursday 8 January 2009

A Trail of Coincidences?

Passengers on the West Coast Mainline must be wondering when all the travel chaos will end after a second new year of travel chaos. There have been a number of vague and unhelpful statements from Network Rail, claiming that the delays and cancellations are due to "infrastructure problems" and The Daily Mail reported that a Network Rail spokesman said A Network Rail spokesman said: A Network Rail spokesman said: 'We don't know anything at the moment, but we're not ruling anything out. My guess is that it is an awful trail of coincidences.' That much bad luck doesn't just happen it, it has to be caused. To adapt the words of Lady Bracknell, to lose power in one location may be regarded as misfortune to lose it in more locations looks like carelessness!

Virgin Trains must be totally exasperated by the problems, but I must congratulate them on the way they deal with the media, I am sure I have commented on it before, but their representatives always sound knowledgeable, articulate and appropriate. I listened to their spokesman Arthur Leathley on Radio 4 yesterday, he had a very nice 'trustworthy' voice (like a favourite grandad), he answered questions sensibly and he was very measured when speaking about Network Rail but he managed to convey the frustration of the train operators and their concern for the passengers. There was a very good piece in the Daily Mail Rail bosses blamed for 'rush job' as 100,000 commuters caught in travel chaos

Wednesday 7 January 2009

A Quantum Leap

It is so cold, the snow from Monday is still hanging around, and where the roads and pavements have not been gritted it has become solid slippery ice. Robbie fell over and hurt his back on his way home from work this evening, it is hurting him but he seems to be able to move fairly freely so hopefully it will not get any worse. He'd had a difficult journey to work this morning, there were delays and cancellations apparently this was due to a broken rail somewhere near Birmingham and there were diversions in place as well due to a problem with overhead lines on the Trent Valley.. I He finally got to work just after 11am! I could tell by his texts that he was totally frustrated, the word 'farce' in capital letters was used in every sentence. His return journey was equally frustrating, and he didn't get home until 8.30pm! Tomorrow looks even worse in terms of rail travel because Robbie has just informed me that there are problems on the West Coast Mainline again, this time it is overhead wire problems at Bletchley and more overhead wire problems at Watford. It looks as if Network Rail tempted fate on 14th December last year an unknown Network Rail spokesman boasted "The achievement is massive and the result will be a quantum leap in services." and Iain Coucher said "Now it is complete passengers and freight operators will reap the benefits". Well it has certainly been a quantum leap – in the wrong direction! I think George the cat has the right idea – get as close to the fire as possible and stay there!

Tuesday 6 January 2009

The Finger

I don't like the fact that the snow hasn't completely gone, I am worried that there may be more to come. I could really do without the added complication of snow this week.

Despite the West Coast Mainline problems and the snow Robbie had a fairly uneventful journey to work and his return journey was OK too. He even managed to stay upright, despite the very slippy pavements near us. Robbie has a poisoned finger and it has been causing him pain for days. Tonight I finally got him to hold his finger in hot salt water, it was obviously painful but it will have done him good. I am going to dress it tonight to try to draw the poison out, but I am worried that there may be a splinter or something in it. If it doesn't improve in the next few days he will have to go to the doctors.

Sunday 4 January 2009

About Time


We took the decorations down today, so Christmas is well and truly over. It feels very bare without the decorations but it will feel a lot less cluttered when all the boxes are safely back in the loft. Robbie must have caught me in a mellow moment because I let him put that clock up, you remember, the birthday clock with the hideous pattern. Our lounge is painted in coffee and cream colours, the clock has every colour except those two! If I manage to tolerate it for a week I think I will have done very well. Maybe I will make him take it to work to terrorise his colleagues, if not I suppose there is always ebay. Anyway I have added a picture of the clock so you will be able to decide how attractive it is for yourself.

Home Again

Emily is home again she has been away to Embrun in France with her friend Esther, she had a good time despite a cold. They stayed with the family Esther worked for during her gap year, Emily enjoyed the snow and she learnt to ski.
























And So To Bed

You know that lovely feeling when you settle down in bed and pull the coves around you ready for sleep? Well it doesn't last long with Robbie around! Last night I was just ready for sleep when Robbie bounced in like Tigger, giving a running commentary along the way. He let all the heat out when he got into bed, then I couldn't get warm again because he kept doing that 'Kenny Everett' thing where he waves his legs around like a dying fly. I was wondering if a couple of bricks in the duvet cover would solve the problem when he settled down and started to list all the railway magazines produced in the UK. It was 2am and I wasn't really interested, but I got all the information, date started, frequency of publication, publisher, price, size, and details of regular content. He went on and on until he got back to the pressing problem of the size change of the Rail Express, I couldn't stand any more so I used the only weapon available to me – I recited poetry to him! My first choice, The Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan just made him laugh, so I knew I had to bring out the 'big guns'. Next came Nicholas Nye by Walter de la Mare, that left him quietly confused, so I plunged in with On The Loss of the Royal George by William Cowper. That did the trick, he was begging for mercy. I threatened him with every verse of the Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning, if I heard one more word about trains, so he made the wise decision to turn over and go to sleep.

Saturday 3 January 2009

Drooping Dimensions and Other Difficulties!

Robbie went back to work today and I thought I would find myself writing about getting back into our normal routine after the holidays, but that will have to wait for another day. The silence from Robbie during the day was deafening, he said he was busy but I think he was just enjoying being back at work and working on his beloved train plans. It was a very different story when he got home, I couldn't shut him up, he was so cross it was just a constant stream of moans – about Rail Express! The reason for his fury is that they have changed the size of the magazine, it is now larger and as Robbie keeps pointing out, it is a non standard size. It will no longer fir in his briefcase properly and it messes up his magazine piles because it is too big. Worse of all, when he reads it on the train it 'wilts' when he holds it open to read it on the train, so the pages get damaged. If he goes on about problems with 'wilt' all weekend the magazine will be the least of his worried. Rail Express really should be more considerate, they must know what train people are like, I wonder how many wives and partners have had to put up with a whole evening of moans!

Friday 2 January 2009

Snap!

Sam had a very posh camera for Christmas, he has already taken some lovely photos with it including these of Meg the dog, Oreo the black and white cat and Dave the ginger cat. The picture of Sam is very rare – he hasn't got that silly hat on!







Trouser Trouble

It is a strange life, when Robbie is at home I want to send him back to work and when he is going back to work I want to keep him at home. He has been challenging at times over Christmas, but I wish he had a bit longer at home. On Christmas Day he was still trotting around in his PJ's when my mum, stepfather and brother arrived at lunchtime, a fairly alarming sight especially when you are not expecting it. He eventually got dressed in his cords and his 'Ho, Ho, Homer' T shirt (that slogan proved too tempting for the kids!) but more shocks were in store – his trousers fell down when he was doing the washing up! I thought that was the end of the trouser trouble, but I nearly crashed the car on Tuesday when we were taking my Mum and step father shopping and out of the silence he suddenly announced that he was not wearing underwear! I sincerely hoped he was joking because he was wearing the same pair of cords that had fallen down on Christmas Day, and it was 'geriatric' day at Morrisons - he could have caused mass hysteria! I really don't know what triggers him to speak his thoughts sometimes, but I really wish he wouldn't, I have far too many grey hairs already!

Thursday 1 January 2009

Totally Sober!

Believe it or not this photo was taken at lunchtime today (well, yesterday by the time I post it) and he was totally sober I dread to think how he would look if he was drunk! We spent the afternoon at my mum's house because it was her birthday. We had a lovely time especially as my nephew Oliver was there too, he is so cute and we all love him.