Why Me?

In general I try to be a fairly helpful sort of person, nothing out of the ordinary, just on the boring side of normal if you know what I mean. So I really can't work out what it is about me that makes all sorts of people tell me about their problems.

I can be minding my own business wandering around the supermarket and bump into a parent that I knew slightly because years ago our children were in the same year at school. When I realise that I can't dart off in a different direction and pretend I haven't seen her, I manage a polite 'hello', and before I can stop myself the foolish question 'how are you' has slipped from my lips. Time slows down and my eyes glaze over as she relates every intimate and cringe makingly embarrassing health problem she has had in the last ten years. I do my best to compose my expression while my brain franticly searches for a plausible excuse to escape. When I finally reach the freedom of the car park I vow to be more careful in future, but it is so difficult to avoid the phrase 'how are you?'.

Another person who I know slightly because our children are friends bumped into me in the fizzy drinks section of the supermarket and after the briefest greeting proceeded to tell me in graphic detail about the trouble she was experiencing with piles – far too much information!

At work people tell me about problems with their children, their partners, their health and various unmentionable issues. I don't think I am especially sympathetic, I don't give amazing advice, I usually tell them that they understand their individual circumstances best so they are best placed to know the right answer for them. It isn't even that they think that if I can cope with Robbie I can cope with anything, because most of them don't know him. I really don't know what makes them confide in me.

A few weeks ago a customer at work asked for advice about a product, I helped him briefly as I would any customer. Now he seeks me out and comes to have a chat with me, he is a little unusual, in fact he may be the most boring man in the world. Last week he came in and told me about the history of a company that produces batteries, complete with dates, locations and sales figures. This week he took twenty minutes to tell me about the history and evolution of the cassette tape recorder. I asked if it was a special interest of his, he shook his head and said that he just likes information, then he added that he is most interested in the history of the teasmaid. I was horrified, could this possibly be Robbie's long lost twin! But to get back to the original question – why me?!

A Disturbed Night

One thing that Robbie is very good at is sleeping, he has even been known to fall asleep mid sentence. Unfortunately he does not always make it easy for me to sleep, his legs seem to have a life of their own and kicks the duvet about and worse still he lets the heat out of the bed. Occasionally he manages to roll himself up in the duvet, leaving me shivering with no covers, but at the weekend he came up with a new way to keep me awake. I had changed the bedding and he'd helped me to put the duvet cover on, but as we were drifting off to sleep he suddenly announced that I had forgotten to put a bottom sheet on the bed. I assured him that there was a bottom sheet but he refused to believe me and he put his search light on to check. I threatened him with unspeakable consequences and he grudgingly turned the light off. I was just starting to doze when he accused me of putting a nylon sheet on the bed, I began to think he was mad, where would I find a nylon sheet? I told him it was cotton, just like all the others but he wouldn't believe me, the light went back on so that he could check and I was becoming increasingly angry. The light was eventually turned off, but Robbie began a long and rambling account of synthetic fabrics that I have not heard of since the 1970's. Suddenly there was silence and then gentle snoring, Robbie had fallen asleep, but by this time I was wide awake!

Train Trouble in France

A man in France got his hand sucked down a train toilet when he tried to retrieve his mobile phone from toilet. That must have taken a bit of explaining when he was rushed to hospital with the toilet still attached to his arm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7693386.stm

XC Refurbished HST

On Thursday the BBC Midlands Today news program had a clip about the return of the HST. We don't get that TV channel in Northampton so on Friday Robbie sent me a link so that I could watch the clip. It was good, I still think the Cross Country livery lacks sparkle, in fact it is downright dull, but I can see the attraction of the HST, it looks as if they have done a very good job with the refurbishment of the trains and they certainly seem to be popular with the passengers. The HST's are the same age as Robbie, but after their twenty million pound upgrade they are looking better than ever. Hopefully they will continue in service for many years because Robbie loves them and anything that keeps him happy gets my vote. Talking of upgrades there was a news item last week about the staggering amount of money that the Republican party have spent on Sarah Palin's wardrobe. In her case I think they wasted their money, she is still very scary. Andy Cooper the MD of Cross Country appeared in the news clip about the HST what he said was interesting, but it crossed my mind that the company could learn from the political parties and use a stylist to make him seem a little more 'cuddly' and exciting.

The Bottom Line

Friday morning was one big rush, Robbie was running late again but this time it was planned, he had worked late the previous day before going to see Blood Red Shoes at the Academy in Birmingham. He didn't get back to Northampton until midnight and it was 1am before we got to bed, so it is hardly surprising that he didn't want to get up at 5am. Robbie was still galloping around in his pants when I was trying to get Sam organised, but he managed to get dressed and out of the house in time for his train. It was not the most inspiring vision to start the day, but I managed to banish all thoughts of Robbie's underwear from my mind and get on with the day. Robbie arrived home in a cheerful mood and announced that he'd had a brilliant day because the new pants he was wearing felt so comfortable. I was not quite prepared for such detailed information about his underwear (it's OK, I will spare you the detail) but if that is all it takes to bring a smile to his face I will know what to buy him for Christmas!

Running Late

Robbie has been so tired recently, he is very busy at work but I think mainly it is the legacy of the flu bug that we have had because it left me feeling exhausted too. We have had a couple of occasions when Robbie has struggled to get up when the alarm went off just after 5am, but this morning we both managed to go back to sleep and when we woke up it was half past seven! Panic ensued, Sam and I leave for school at 7.45am so there was frantic activity in order to catch up. I left with Sam only ten minutes later than usual and he got to school in good time. I then had to head back to pick Robbie up to get him to the station as quickly as possible – not an easy task in rush hour!

He settled himself in the car and began talking about car design - I turned up the radio and he took the hint! Then we got on to the subject of buses and coaches, believe it or not we managed to have an argument about the difference between a bus and a coach! Always one to choose just the 'right' moment to drop a bombshell Robbie announced that he was going 'out to play' on Saturday. Apparently he absolutely has to go because the HST is on an unusual diagram and it probably won't happen again. I was unimpressed, I would rather he finished the fence instead, but he keeps putting it off. I said that he seems to be always out, but this was denied strenuously, he said that he hasn't done his usual HST trips this year. I reminded him that he often goes away for the weekend to do the rail tours, but he said that that was different, it is (allegedly) hard work, not like going on the HST. The answer seemed simple to me, and I said that maybe he should give up the rail tours. He erupted with a tirade of loud and incoherent protestations. Clearly giving up the rail tours is unthinkable – I think he would rather give me up! Poor Robbie, he has such a hard life, how could I possibly deprive him if time with his precious HST. I expect that by Saturday he will have persuaded me to get up at the crack of dawn to take him to the station!

Too Hot To Handle

We had a couple of weeks without heating because we were waiting for the plumber to come and mend the boiler. It wasn't a big issue because we still had hot water and we had the gas fire if we needed it so it wasn't cold, but obviously we wanted it to be done quickly so that the heating was available when we needed it. The plumber came on Saturday and the heating was restored to full working order – and that was when the trouble started! Robbie will not stop tampering with the thermostat and the timer. I woke up at 3am on Sunday morning and I thought I had a fever it was so hot, then I realised that the boiler was thundering away heating the whole house to tropical extremes. Robbie had allegedly set the timer the day before so the heating should not have been on and the thermostat certainly shouldn't have been set at maximum. I woke Robbie and demanded that he should go and turn it off, he showered me with insults and we had a full scale row before he reluctantly plodded downstairs to do the deed. Since then we have had a battle, I set the thermostat and the timer and when he thinks I will not notice he overrides the timer and turns up the temperature. I could understand it if the house was cold, but it isn't, it is warm and comfortable. This morning he whizzed the thermostat around to maximum as soon as he got up, so when I went to the bathroom I was in danger of burning myself on the radiator – can you imagine explaining that at the casualty department! I am getting really fed up with this ongoing battle - I wonder if they make tamper proof controls?

Road Rage

I am so sick of road works in Northampton, it has taken months to be rid of the road works in the area around the station, so I have not been overjoyed to find new roadworks popping up like mushrooms all around the town. I know that roads have to be maintained, but it is so annoying. It wouldn't be so bad if you could actually see them making progress, but they are so slow that you would need time lapse photography to capture any movement at all!

There is a road that I use every day (along with thousands of other people) and they are doing resurfacing work on it. It has created chaos in that part of town and this has been compounded by the unhelpful notices that appeared to announce the impending road closure. The notice read “This road will be closed off peak from .....” what on earth does off peak mean? The train operating companies can't agree on a definition of off peak, telephone companies have their own ideas about it, and the fuel companies have yet another interpretation. I wasn't until the works had started that they decided to let us in to their little secret, off peak (according to them) means between 9.30am and 3.30pm. They are obviously not used to providing helpful information, so they redressed the balance (and caused chaos) by putting up a sign on the Billing Road to inform drivers that the road ahead was closed - with the arrow pointing in the wrong direction!

Leaves on the Line

When I got in from work this evening I was too tired and distracted to take much notice of Robbie rabbiting on about his journey to work this morning. As I tuned back in to what he was saying I thought he said there were 'extreme red head conditions' and I imagined the station being overrun with people who had ginger hair! He'd actually said there were 'extreme rail head conditions' that is just a posh way of saying leaves on the line! Network Rail were to blame because the rail head treatment train had not been able to run across the section - they were blaming bad weather, but we haven't had any bad weather yet! Personally I think the red heads would have been a more exciting reason for being late for work.

'Exciting' Information

Robbie and I finally had a weekend together without having to rush around, and at long last we are both feeling a little more human again after the flu bug. There is nothing nicer than waking up on a Saturday morning and not having to rush to get up. I had almost forgotten how good it felt, I had also forgotten Robbie's unfailing ability to spoil the moment - this week his thoughts strayed to the hand dryers in the gents toilets at Leeds Station! Why would he imagine that I would be interested at all, and why choose that moment to share such 'exciting' information? I don't suppose I will ever be able to change him, but there are times when I wish he could be just a little bit more 'normal'.

Imaginary Friends

Well I certainly tempted fate with my previous post, since then I have not been able to escape from the latest news of the US presidential candidates. You will be pleased to know that my radio is still intact despite my previous threats. I was trapped in the bath when the radio hijacked me with a whole program of highlights from McCain and Obama's latest spat. After my initial fury I must confess that I was fascinated because McCain brought along an imaginary friend. One of my children used to have an imaginary friend called Jimmy for a while. To be honest Jimmy was a bit of a pain, when the child did naughty things it always turned out to be Jimmy's fault, he had to have a place in the car and at the table and we had to be so careful not to tread on him! McCain's imaginary friend is imaginary in a different way - McCain imagines that Joe the Plumber is his friend and he imagines that he knows all about him. McCain decided to cling to his new friend throughout his encounter with Obama and Joe who objects to Obama's tax plans, became the star of the show. The problem with imaginary friends is that they always tend to get you into trouble and Joe the Plumber proved just as unreliable. It turns out that he is more imaginary than McCain expected, he's not called Joe, he's not a plumber and he doesn't earn what he claimed to earn. When imaginary friends get too troublesome children tend to leave them behind, the problem is McCain is not a child he is a presidential candidate. Perhaps it is about time he shuffled off quietly to a nice safe home for the bewildered. At least the end is in sight for us as far as the elections are concerned, we only have two or three weeks to go and then hopefully we will not need to think about him or his imaginary friend or that terrifying woman any more.

Gremlins!

Yesterday I saw Robbie off to work and then settled down in front of my computer to writ that day's post for the blog. I wasn't sure what I was going to write about, because I had two subjects in mind, frustration with AOL and my increasing irritation with the interminable US election coverage. I am so angry with AOL, having tortured customers for months with a saga of poor service and connection problems, they have now decided to close their journals at very short notice, leaving customers scrambling to move their blogs. The US elections have gone on for far too long and when I heard the latest fatuous sound bite from McCain I had an overwhelming urge to beat the radio to a pulp. I resisted the urge this time, but if I have to endure much more of it I will be a jibbering wreck!

Anyway I didn't get as far as writing a post for the blog, I didn't even get as far as the internet – the computer said No! My first response was fury with AOL for yet another interruption in service, but then I noticed that there were only two lights instead of three on the wireless router. I tried every trick in the book to get the router to behave, but without success. I even rang Robbie for advice, but I had already tried all the things he suggested. I am not sure if it was the remains of my 'flu bug or blind fury that made me miss the obvious – the wireless router was not working because the phone was not working. I was ready to find the number to report the fault when I decided to check the the line by plugging the phone into the original socket and bypassing the internal wiring - and it worked! I then traced the cause of the trouble to two feline villains who had decided to play with the wire and must have bitten or clawed it! So today I will be replacing the internal connections and the cats will find that the new wires taste of very bad because I will paint them with stop and grow nail treatment!

Feeling Frustrated

Gosh, two posts from Robbie within a week, I don't think I can cope with the shock! He has proved that he isn't just obsessive about trains, he is obsessive about music too, so when he bores you rigid you have a choice of subjects!!

On the subject of being annoying, someone is really getting on my nerves and I just can't escape - because it's me! I am fed up with being so pathetic, as well as the fatigue that comes with the flu, I have very little voice and a cough that is turning me inside out and creating havoc with my asthma. It makes me really scared when I struggle to breathe and not feeling well is really annoying me now, I have far too much to do. Robbie has been so supportive and helpful while I haven't been feeling well, but he is struggling now, he's too hot, then too cold and he's feeling like death warmed up. It was a real struggle for him to go to work this morning, poor old Robbie I hope he will soon be better.

20 years and still listening.........

Saturday felt very surreal for me as it is 20 years ago that I bought 'Into the Dragon' by Bomb the Base, and here I was buying the NEW Bomb the Base album ' Future Chaos!
The new album is quite a mix of various sounds, although to me MEGABLAST and Beat Dis will always remain high in my top 100 of the best records ever created.....
Below is the video for Beat Dis.............enjoy!!

To Birmingham and Back Again

Yesterday passed me by in a blur of agony. Clearly I insulted my flu bug by referring to it as 'just a cold' on the blog on Thursday, and it decided to show me exactly who was boss. By Thursday evening everything ached and my thermostat had gone mad, and by Friday morning I was ready to curl up and die. It is now Saturday evening, I am still feeling fragile and breathing is a bit of a challenge, but at least I can face the bright lights of the computer again. So rather than dwell on my aches and pains I will write about something completely different instead.

Last week Robbie took me to Birmingham for the evening. This may not sound very exciting but it is a big event for me because it involves passing through that God forsaken place known as New Street Station – I really hate it and I avoid it at all costs. Our journey started at Northampton Station, it is a while since I have been there and it will be a while before I go there again, the parking charge is a rip off! I hoped it would be a more pleasant experience than when it was in the hands of Silverlink. The best thing about the station was the hot chocolate from the coffee shop. The station staff seemed a little more cheerful and they has swapped the severe 'border guard' look of the Silverlink uniform for the 'slept in look' of what must be the most boring uniform ever. The station itself looks more unloved and shabby than ever, I'm not sure anyone could love a building that looks and feels like a farm shed, but I feel sad that this is the first impression that travellers get of my home town. Oh well, it could be worse, Coventry station takes 'grim' to a whole new level.

The journey to Birmingham was good, we travelled on a 350, it was surprisingly comfortable and it was a pleasant journey. I can't complain, but however perverse it sounds I miss the good old 321's and I miss the Silverlink livery that always reminded me of a Cadburys Dairy Milk wrapper. So there you are you have proof that Robbie is not the only weird one in our family when it comes to trains. All good things come to an end and all too soon I found myself in New Street Station. It didn't seem to have changed, there were the usual announcements about platform alterations and breathless and confused passengers with a demented look in their eyes sprinting from platform to platform in search of their trains. I know they have to announce platform changes, delays and assorted misery, but why do thy choose someone with such a grating voice that it sounds like nails being dragged over a blackboard?

We made our escape from the gloom of the station to the grim reality of the street. I never feel safe in Birmingham and I struggled to keep pace with Robbie, nothing would slow him down because he was heading in the direction of food. He took me to The Big Wok because he was sure I would like it – I didn't really, but to be fair I was probably coming down with the flu by then. Robbie made up for my lack of enthusiasm, in the interests of good taste I will not detail all that he ate but I can't resist mentioning the beef curry. I watched him polish it off incredibly fast, it looked as if he was melting like an ice cube in the sun, but he said he enjoyed it. I am sure that man would eat absolutely anything!

We enjoyed our evening out at the theatre, but afterwards we had to head back to the glories of New Street Station. The 'welcoming committee' defending the ticket barriers looked distinctly unapproachable and uninterested. Their uniform also had that 'slept in look' - obviously London Midland are a bit lacking in the imagination and style department! We had a while to wait for our train but I was happy enough on the platform watching the train dispatcher (he was rather nice) and having a good look at the 323 that was waiting to depart. The London Midland livery was hideous, the world should not have to endure that much green, but as soon as the engine started I cold tell that under all that war paint it was still the loveable, quirky 323. I love the way it sounds like a slot machine when it pulls away, you can hear it best from inside the train, but even from the platform there was no mistaking the sound.

Finally our Pendolino arrived and we were safely settled on board. For the first time that evening I felt safe, I'm not sure what it is about Virgin, but I love travelling on their trains. Unfortunately we had to abandon the Pendolino at Rugby in favour of a smelly old coach. Virgin failed to announce that passengers for Northampton needed to leave the train at Rugby, but at least they had a couple of friendly looking 'care bears' on the platform to point us in the right direction. Rugby Station looks like a bomb site, hopefully it will all come good in the end, but it is hard to imagine it happening in my lifetime! The coach journey was cramped, uncomfortable and scary, the driver threw it around as if his sole intention was to scare us to death. We arrived at Northampton safe but shell shocked, and I can honestly say I have never been so glad to see my car and to feel in control once more.

This is Not Funny

Last week I went to have my flu jab and while I was there they offered me another injection, I think it was to protect against pneumonia, I can't remember, but I took both injections anyway. If I get the flu or even just a bad cold I often end up with bronchitis and it always makes my asthma worse, so I try hard to stay well. The nurse put one injection in each arm right at the top close to my shoulder. I always react to the flu jab and within hours both arms were painful, by the following day I felt as if my shoulders were sticking out like an American football player. If anyone touched my arm it was so uncomfortable and it made me want to shout out, I couldn't even lay comfortably in bed. Steadily the discomfort diminished and I was left with a bruise to be proud of, but at least I could forget about it for another year. Then to add insult to injury my breathing started to play up, I started sneezing and now I have a really bad flu type bug, everything aches and I feel dreadful. I know it is just coincidence and nothing to do with the flu jab, but it feels a bit like a sick joke at the moment!

A Peaceful Night

Robbie seems to have got the message, he didn't cause any disruption at bed time. He had fallen asleep downstairs (again) and I think he was almost sleepwalking when he went to bed, so he was asleep again as soon as his head touched the pillow.

On the subject of sleep, I wish I was a cat, our two seem to have a very comfortable life!

He Has Been Warned!

Robbie can be so irritating sometimes, but somehow he always manages to make it my fault! It was past midnight when I went to bed, I left Robbie downstairs, but by the time I came out of the bathroom he had installed himself on the bed and was sitting there like an overgrown garden gnome reading one of his railway magazines. I tried to get into my side of the bed but the weight of 'the gnome' made it impossible to move the covers, it was more like a straight jacket than a duvet. After a battle he grudgingly moved for a second so that I could get into bed properly. I asked him to turn off the lights, but he refused, he needed the main light on as well as the 'search light' on his side of the bed, just to read about trains in the middle of the night.

All I wanted was to listen to Radio 4's book of the week, Chocolate and Cuckoo clocks: The Essential Allen Coren while I settled down to sleep. It is only on for 15 minutes and I can set the radio to turn off after an hour so it doesn't matter if I doze of f. Robbie would normally have listened to it too, but last night he turned the radio off without even asking me, I put it back on and he declared war. First he decided to read out loud and the more I asked him to shut up the louder he got, that didn't get sufficient reaction so he decided to eat Minstrels in bed, I can't bear the crunching, it's disgusting. I threatened to kill him but he still wouldn't stop so I lay there thinking about going to sleep downstairs, I started to get out of bed and he begged me to stay, promising to turn the light off. I stayed and he put, and he turned the light off and got into bed, but that was when the trouble really started. He deliberately lifted and fanned the duvet to let all the cold air in and as far as I am concerned that is unforgivable, then as I was finally dozing he kept prodding me and being annoying. Then suddenly he was asleep and once again I was left wide awake having to listen to him sleeping.

This morning he claimed that I was really miserable with him last night and he hadn't done anything to deserve it. Well, I am giving him fair warning, I am now armed with a black permanent marker and if he lets the heat out of my bed again he will wake up to find that his features have been enhanced with a moustache and whatever else I feel inspired to do at the time. I don't care if the RMT have messed up his timetables, it is no excuse for disrupting my sleep!

Trip to Trumpton

Well I thought it was time I put in a 'personal appearance' again...
I have had one of those weekends reminiscing about the days of acid house and stuff, and guess what I found on youtube??? well I won't spoil it for you all so I've attached the link below.....enjoy :)

Does it Measure Up?

Why does the weekend always rush past so quickly, while the week seems like such a hard slog? We went to the supermarket for our usual weekend shopping trip, it was nice to have something to distract Robbie because he had been talking about HST toilets again, I don't know why he finds the subject so fascinating, but apparently servicing the toilets has implications for his timetables. He told me I am not allowed to write about HST's because I was unkind about them last week, so of course that made me squeeze out another post on the subject. Telling me I can't do something is not a good idea! I may regret the loss of the shop and I may find the colour scheme a bit on the boring side, but even I have to admit that there is one plus point - decent brands are coming back. I was sad when Virgin lost the Cross Country franchise, but if it has saved us from that pathetic apology apology for cola, I am delighted. I don't think I have ever tasted anything as disgusting in my life. So OK bring on the (boring) refitted HST all is forgiven -well almost all, I haven't forgiven them for nicking half the toilets but I will have a rant about that another day.

Anyway back to Robbie and the supermarket, you will not believe what he did. I was so embarrassed that I had to walk away and pretend that I wasn't with him. He got down on his knees and measured the tomato sauce and HP sauce bottles! It was like shopping with Mr Bean.

It Could Only Happen to Robbie

There are some things that only seem to happen to Robbie. When I got home last night I found Robbie sitting in his PJ's with one trouser leg rolled up. It crossed my mind that he could have joined the Masons, but it seemed an unlikely explanation (unless they have a railway section) so I had to find a more obvious reason for the new style. As I took a closer look at his leg I saw that it was badly cut in a series of scratches that ran up and around his leg. According to him he was innocently walking home when a rose jumped out and grabbed his leg. Apparently he'd had quite a struggle to free himself! I hope he hasn't ripped yet another pair of trousers, it is bad enough when he falls over and writes off his trousers without finding new ways to destroy them. His leg is hurting him quit a lot, I really hope it will not turn septic.

Uninspired

Robbie got so cross with me yesterday. He is full of enthusiasm for the newly refitted Cross Country HST, he had been rather doubtful about the refit and he says it has turned out better than he expected and it doesn't feel cramped. He has talked about little else for the last couple of days, but after a while I stop listening – everyone has there limits!

Robbie showed me some photos of the new HST yesterday and he was furious when I said I was unimpressed. The Cross Country livery is OK but it is a bit dull, it isn't going to turn any heads and as far as I'm concerned that is how the new interior feels. From the pictures it looks cramped, maybe it doesn't feel like that when you are there, but it is so dull and boring, I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to travel on it. There again, I am writing from a female point of view, Robbie would travel on it all day long if he could – but he's unique. There are so many good things about Cross Country and in many ways they can be quite imaginative, so why do their trains have to be so dull!