Bursting the Bubble

I had a very strange experience this evening, I feel a bit sad about it really because I think I preferred not really knowing and letting my imagination fill the gaps. For years Robbie has been entertaining me with tales about his work, it is bit like the railway version of The Archers - the everyday story of train planning folk. Over time I have got used to this strange little world peopled with an odd assortment of characters, most of whom are known by weird and wonderful nicknames. Gradually I had built up mental images of all these people just based on their names, one was like a character from the beano, one had rosy cheeks and a slightly camp manner, another was tall and thin with a rather confused expression and one just had a silly grin. I was quite happy with my version of reality, but tonight Robbie burst my bubble by showing me a photo of all these people. My mental images were completely wrong, except for the beano character, that one wasn't too far off target. Most looked older than I expected, one had a lovely smile, one looked far more scary than I imagined, and one bore an uncanny resemblance to Richard Briars. From now on every time I hear his name Howard and Hilda in their matching anoraks will pop into my head, and this saga now has it's own theme tune - ever decreasing circles!