Home Again

We said a sad goodbye to the caravan and headed home this morning. I was reluctant to leave because it has been a lovely week, but Laura has an A Level exam on Monday so we had to drag ourselves back to reality. The journey back was OK, it was busy and the M5 was running very slowly, but once we got past the cone storage area (otherwise known as Bristol) the roads were better. We got home safely, but I left the others to unpack the car because I was exhausted after the long drive. Unpacking when you get home is so depressing! My holiday has left me with with one unanswered question, each time I went to the beach the same question came to my mind - why do old men wear Speedos?

The T Word

Wow, we had the most amazing last day on holiday. It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky. Robbie had breakfast outside while I went for an early walk to get some photos while it was quiet and the sun was in the right position. We had a nice day on the beach, the sea was a bit cold but once I was used to it I enjoyed paddling in the shallow water as I wandered along the beach. Robbie doesn't paddle, he just sat in his chair enjoying the sun and reading railway magazines. We had a nice walk this evening and I thought I had his undivided attention, but something set him off and he was back on his favourite subjects, trains, rail tours and railways in general. It would have been nice to have one day without the T word, but I guess you can't have everything!

Unmissable!

We spent the morning in Padstow today, Laura wanted to shop for jewellery and Robbie wanted to indulge his passion for pasties. I didn't really want to buy anything, so while they shopped I wandered around taking photos of all my favourite places. We spent the afternoon on the beach, it was lovely, totally still and warm, but just a little bit misty, it was the sort of day wish would last for ever. When we came back up from the beach, I was so lucky to have my camera because a butterfly settled right in front of me and I was able to get some very close shots. I have never seen so many butterflies as I have in the last couple of days.

On the subject of photos, I waited until it was almost dark to photograph Robbie's shorts and amazingly my camera survived! As you can see with shorts that loud there is no chance of losing him on the beach.

Sights and Sounds

I love being here on holiday, I wish it would last forever, but since time goes far too fast I'm making the most of it. I love being able to wander around with my camera catching the little things that make the holiday special. Yesterday when we went for a walk I managed to get a photo of two butterflies. you will have to look hard to spot the second one because it's wings are closed and it blends into the wall. We heard the skylark singing too, I couldn't see it but it was beautiful to listen to. We walked around the coast path towards Trevose Head, some parts are very narrow and it makes me feel dizzy but the views are amazing.

Crimes Against Fashion!

Having had a fairly lazy day yesterday we decided to get up early and spend the morning in Newquay. It was a lovely morning and by 10am we were in the book shop looking at railway books , then for a little light relief looking at railway jigsaws! It was nice just to potter around for a couple of hours, I refused to go to the surf shops to look at clothes with Robbie because I am still adjusting to his recent purchases. A couple of days before we went away he went shopping unaccompanied (not recommended) and he came home with the loudest shorts imaginable, they are brown with luminous yellowish green in a large flower pattern. I can't provide a photo because I am worried about my camera, but today's photos feature Robbie's new cerise T-shirt, as you can see he is fairly unmissable when he wears it! Sam said that he is wanted in several counties for crimes against fashion!

Beach Days

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day so we spent most of the day on the beach, they all laughed at me because of my thick layer of sun block, but at least I didn't get burned. Laura caught more sun than she thought and she spent the evening hugging a cool block against her burned arms.
In the evening I went for a walk along the coast path, there were beautiful views and I heard several skylarks singing as they soared upwards into the sky. Here are some pictures taken on my walk.

Cornwall at Last

Friday passed in a blur of activity because we had so much to do to be ready to go on holiday in the morning. As well as washing, packing, getting the car ready and shopping for food, we also had to take Meg to the kennels. She wasn't too impressed when I took her out to the car, but when we got to the kennels she seemed happy to be there, she was very interested in the other dogs and she didn't give us a second glance. By 9pm the car was packed and most jobs on my list had been ticked, so I headed off to bed leaving Robbie to finish the last few jobs. We were planning to get up at 2am so I needed some sleep. I was woken at 1 am by Robbie coming to bed and when the alarm clock went off at 2am there was no way, that Robbie was going to get up. I had to get very cross with him and even then it took half an hour to get him out of bed. Once I got downstairs I found that he hadn't done anything after I went to bed, he had fallen asleep on the sofa. I was busy chasing everyone around to be ready to leave and Robbie was busy - cooking sausages! Totally normal, everyone cooks sausages at 2.30am! In the end I had to give him a deadline and threaten to leave without him.

It wasn't the best journey, everyone was asleep except me of course, I had my talking books to keep me company. Most of the journey along the M5 was through thick fog, there were lots of speed restrictions and it slowed us down considerably, but at last we arrived in Padstow in time to choose the best parking space and be happily settled in the Quayside Café eating breakfast before it got busy. It was nice to potter around Padstow looking at the shops, but we were very sad to find that the lovely old book shop has closed down, we will really miss it.

After lunch we drove to Mother Ivey's Bay and settled ourselves in the caravan. Finally we were unpacked and ready to enjoy the holiday. I love Cornwall and this little corner of Cornwall is best of all

Missing at Midnight.

Last night I was just finishing off my work at about 11pm when Robbie said he would go out and sort out the car. There was very little to be done and it should have taken him about 5 minutes at most, but I didn't take much notice until just before midnight when he still had not come in. I looked out of the window, but it was dark with no sign of any movement. I went out and walked round to the car, I could see Robbie sitting in the back seat and he didn't seem to be moving. When I opened the door he seemed to jump, he hadn't done anything to the car, but he said he was trying to trace a bad smell. I knew that was nonsense, the car smelled fine, he grudgingly admitted to the truth, he had gone out to the car, sat down and fallen asleep!

The Shirt Saga.

The shirt hasn't gone back to Marks and Spencer - yet! However Robbie has agreed that he will buy some long shorts instead, so I will be keeping alert until the shirt is safely returned. He got me to take him late night shopping at Tesco last night and he fell in love with some very loud and scary shirts there too, but I managed to steer him away without incident. There were some very nice but loud shorts, just Robbie's sort of thing, bright pink and brown with a huge pattern on, I could have coped with those but they didn't have his size so maybe the world is not quite ready for that vision yet! Robbie is feeling very hard done by, he claims he has even had women offering to take him shopping to help him choose more suitable shirts. They would soon learn, taking Robbie to Marks and Spencer is like taking a child to Toys R Us, you lose all hope of seeing daylight ever again!

Busy Getting Nowhere

Laura has her first A Level exam today, at least it is Geography, her favourite subject, but it is the start of an anxious few weeks for her. She will be leaving school for ever on Thursday and just going back for exams. I don't know where all the time has gone, it only seems like a couple of years since we had to choose a senior school for her and now her school days are over and university is on the horizon.

I feel as if I am busy getting nowhere this week. We are going on holiday on Saturday and as always I feel as if I am never going to be ready in time! As well as all the usual packing and planning I have to have everything ready for Laura's 18th birthday which is a couple of days after we get home.

This is War!

There has been a battle of wills in our house this weekend, Robbie made an unscheduled trip to Marks and Spencers and came back with the most hideous shirt imaginable. He had it hidden in his rucksack but if he hoped to sneak it past me he failed miserably. Even a used car salesman would have been ashamed to wear it! It was a horribly loud check with blues and pinks and it reminded me of that nasty synthetic material that they make overalls out of (the kind that old ladies wear). He insisted that it was ideal for work I insisted that it wasn't - unless he is thinking of a career as a rat catcher, it would be useful then because they would die laughing! Anyway after a weekend of argument he backed down and he has agreed to take it back on Tuesday.

The Invisible Dog

Meg the dog is not fond of men (except for Robbie who doesnt seem to count as a man in Meg's world). Her least favourite man is the vet, she perfers the female vet, but given the choice she would prefer not to see any of them at all! She knows where she is going before we even leave the house, it is the only time she is not keen to have her lead on and from that point on she tries her best to be invisible. By the time she gets to the surgery her tail is clamped under her chin and she seems to physically shrink. She is very good in the surgery, but when they put the kennel cough vaccination up her nose she makes absolutely sure that the vet ends up wearing it!

This time the vet had to check a lump for her and he took cells from the lump. She was deeply unimpressed at having her undercarriage and her tail remained firmly under her chin until she got home, then she cheered herself up by giving the cats a hard time! She is happy again now, she is sitting in her favourite spot and demolishing a bone.

Choices

I have such a bad back, I can hardly sit down to write this because it hurts so much. I don't know how I hurt it. Anyway on to more cheerful subjects, Sam has been notified of the subjects he will be able to study next year. He expressed his preferences a couple of months ago and he has been waiting anxiously to find out if he got his chosen subjects - he did! He was very lucky and he got everything he asked for, triple science, history, French and photography. He loves photography and he really wanted to study it so he is very happy that he can do photography GCSE. He already takes nice photos and he edits them in interesting way, here are two recent pictures that he took.

Disappointment

I had more difficulty than usual trying to get Robbie to wake up this morning. My alarm went off at just before 5am as usual and as usual I woke Robbie and told him to get up. On my first attempt he told me to go away, I tried again to ask him to get up and this time I got a resounding No! I gave him a minute or two to wake up and then I tried again, this time my words were accompanied by a well aimed prod. His response to being asked to get up was to ask why should he? I informed him that he would be late for work if he didn't! With the superior tones of someone talking to an especially stupid child he announced that it was Saturday and he wasn't going anywhere! Poor deluded man! When I told him it was only Tuesday he leaped into action but there was such a disappointed look on his face, like a child who had been told that Christmas cancelled!

What Comes Down Must Go Up - Eventually

After Robbie's reluctance to sorting the fence out, it was inevitable that matters would eventually come to a head. The whole fence episode had been going on for over a year and my tolerance levels were at rock bottom. After a frank exchange of views Robbie finally saw things my way and agreed to spend Sunday in the garden. It took all morning to chase him out there, but eventually he ran out of excuses and headed out with a resigned look on his face. I left him to it and went out and he rang me later to say that the final fence panel is now up! It isn't perfect and I am not sure how long it will stay in place, but it is a huge improvement on the gap that was there before! Anyway while I had him in garden mode I decided to make the most of it. A couple of weeks ago I got him to spray the weeds to keep them under control, I am not sure if used weed killer or miracle grow, but they have grown like triffids ever since. I asked him to spray them again and to make sure that none of them got away this time. For a couple of hours he wandered around the garden spraying everything in sight. At about 7pm he retired injured - repetitive strain injury to his trigger finger!

Timing is Everything

On Friday evening I had a succession of phone calls from Robbie to update me on his journey time. In the end I gave up and went to bed because I couldn't stay awake any longer. I had to get up again to go and fetch him from the station at just before 1am. He had an early start the next day and I pointed out that I would put up with him going out to play as long as I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to take him to the station. I even woke him up at 5am and he assured me that he was getting up. My mistake was to believe him. I dozed off again and when I woke a while later and noticed that Robbie was still there and still asleep. From the moment I woke him there was a blur of frantic activity and within a few brief minutes we were in the car and Robbie was urging me to hurry because time was against us. The lights were kind to us and we made it to the station in record time, Robbie running is not the most elegant sight, but it got him to the train just in time to jump on before the doors closed. I saw the train snaking out of the station as I waited in the car park wondering if he had caught the train, then I got a text telling me he was on the train. So much for my relaxing morning!

He was due home at about 9.30pm, but as always when Robbie goes north his return journey was beset with obstacles and I had yet another late night visit to the station!

Trying Their Luck!

Robbie left for work before I got up this morning, he had an early start because he was going to the 'deep north' for a meeting. When I got up and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea there were three faces looking up at me, two cats and a dog. When I took no notice of them Oreo the greediest animal on the planet began to meow loudly and Dave the brains of the pair went and sat next to the cat food container. Meg made sure that I noticed her by making me step over her each time I moved and she had a hopeful hungry look on her face. Clearly they were trying to tell me that Robbie had not fed them. I thought it was odd because he hadn't mentioned it, so I rang him to check, they had been fed, the little devils were just trying their luck! If they can act like that maybe they should think about television work!

Robbie, announced this morning that he is going out to play again tomorrow! I'm sure he promised that he would be at home this weekend. Oh well if he prefers to spend his time chasing after trains, I will have to find something to keep me occupied.

Living Dangerously

Robbie can be so annoying sometimes. On Saturday night he came to bed late, woke me up, let all the cold air under the duvet and then stole the duvet. I stole it back and threatened him with dire consequences if he did it again! On Sunday night he came to bed at 1.30pm, he woke me up because he made so much noise, then he sat down so heavily on the bed that I almost bounced out on to the floor. Then he deliberately flapped the duvet to let the cold air in and when he got in bed he tugged the duvet away and rolled himself up in it. By this time I was wild and ready to beat him to a pulp, for some reason he found it hilarious and he lay there prodding me and giggling like Mutley from Wacky Races. By then I was wide awake and too furious to sleep, my chances of sleep were further diminished because he continued to be annoying even when he fell asleep, he was making noises like a whale blowing throw it's blow hole. I think I showed incredible restraint, but if it happens again he will be sleeping in the garage.

The Morning After

Not surprisingly Robbie wasn't keen on getting up on Saturday morning, in fact opening his eyes seemed to be too much effort for him. Eventually after several false starts and copious amounts of coffee he managed to face the day. It took a little longer to to work his way back into my good books but I can never stay cross with him for very long. He really redeemed himself on Sunday, he cooked us a lovely dinner.

Emily went back to university on Saturday after her very long Easter holiday, it feels strange without having her around. Unfortunately they had a break in at the house while they were away, not much was taken but it is unsettling to think that someone has gone through the house. Emily said that the police were very good, they have taken finger prints and they have identified where the intruder got in, so that has all been secured now.

Pushing His Luck!

Robbie was late home on Thursday evening , but I dragged him out to help me check the tyre pressure anyway. The car had to have an MOT and service the next day. Robbie began rambling on about someone having a leaving do and that he really felt he should go. It was on Friday evening and Robbie had smothered me with promises about being at home and having a nice weekend after the performance last weekend. I couldn't be mean and try to stop him going, but I did ask him not to be late home and he assured me that he wouldn't. In fact he assured me that he wouldn't drink to much and he wouldn't be too late, he failed on both counts! He rang for a lift so at well past midnight I picked him up, he got into the car, grinned and went to sleep. We travelled home in silence except for his occasional snores, when I pulled onto the drive he got out and said “thanks mate” before heading into the house and leaving me outside. He parked himself on the sofa and complained angrily when I asked him to do the food and water for the animals. When he finally got up he did a little dance in the hall as if he was on board ship in a heavy storm. He was soon back on the sofa and sound asleep and I decided to leave him there. I know that he came to bed at 5.30am because he sat down so heavily on the bed that I was almost bounced out onto the floor! I wasn't impressed.

Good News

I was going to write about the state of the roads today because all these potholes are driving me mad but there was some good news on the radio this morning so I will writhe about that instead, Carol Ann Duffy has been chosen as the next poet laureate. She will be the first woman to hold that post and she would have been chosen for it last time d Tony Blair had been braver, but we ended up with Andrew Motion instead because they thought he was more politically correct and they didn't want to scare the voters! Carol Ann Duffy is an amazing poet, I love her work but it can be challenging. I told Emily about her being made the new poet laureate, she was pleased because she likes Carol Ann Duffy too, but then she added that she didn't know she was still alive. I was surprised by that because I took the girls to see her at a poetry festival some years ago, she read from The World's Wife, but Emily had forgotten about that. She just shrugged and said that everyone she has studied in her English degree is dead, so she has just got into the habit of thinking of writers and poets in the past tense.