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!

National Fig Roll Crisis!

Robbie and Laura went to a gig at last night. The group was Blood Red Shoes, they have seen them before so they knew they would enjoy the music. Laura loves going to gigs with Robbie, but she said his singing was a bit on the loud side last night, the observations about his singing led on to observations about his dancing which Emily described as like a child's impression of an aeroplane, I presume it involves a lot of arm flapping. Never mind, at least he enjoys himself! The gig was tinged with a certain amount of sadness because it was announced recently that the venue The Soundhaus is to close because of nearby redevelopment, the result of a potty planning decision. There is a very active campaign to save The Soundhaus and hopefully common sense will prevail in the end.
Save the Soundhaus

When they got home I'd hoped Robbie had a sudden rush of energy and set about extending my general knowledge. Did I know that that there is a national fig roll crisis? No, I didn't and more to the point I am not bothered in the slightest. When that failed to get the desired reaction he changed direction, did I know that the first teasmaid (also spelled teasmade) was gas powered. No strangely enough I have never wondered about that, but thanks to Robbie I now know that Samuel Rowbottom patented it in 1892. As if that wasn't excitement enough Robbie shared yet more tantalising details about teasmaids, the first electric teasmaid was patented by George Absolom in 1933. There is one thing to be grateful for - I will never need sleeping tablets!

Fig Roll crisis
Fig Rolls in detail

Teasmaid facts
teasmade.com

Not Entirely Forgiven! 19.09.2007

Robbie headed off to work still feeling a little sorry for himself and not entirely forgiven. A few weeks ago I asked him how old his colleague Richard was, at first he shrugged and said 'indeterminate' then he shrugged and said that he was about the same age as me. Having read a recent comment from Richard where he admitted to being almost 60, Robbie realised that he was in a hole (bit of an understatement!) and started digging furiously. He assures me that Richard looked very good for his age. I suppose that there is a vague possibility that he has a painting in the attic, but it seems far more likely that life with Robbie has aged me dramatically! If you are wondering about my age, I'm younger than George Clooney. Robbie has meetings in London today so he can finally collect Sam's lost jacket from Euston. The saga with the car continues, I am feeling far too frustrated about it to write any more on that subject now. I will update you when I have more information.

Laura doesn't usually get much of a mention in the blog, but she has had a good few days so it is nice to have something positive to write about. She has got a weekend job at a large toy superstore and she starts her training tomorrow evening. Emily worked for the same company, but as she is off to university she will only work for them during the holidays from now on. I think it does the girls good to learn the value of money and to get some idea of real world, as long as they keep things in proportion and don't let it get in the way of their studies.

She got tickets to go to the Paul O'Grady Show in London, it wouldn't fill me with enthusiasm but Laura was really excited about it. She rang me after the show to tell me that she had been given a nodding Buster (dog). I wish I had known that a nodding dog would have given her such pleasure, I could have saved a fortune on Christmas and birthday presents over the years!

Robbie is going to a concert this evening, a group called Blood Red Shoes, the girls will be out too, so Sam and I will have a nice quiet evening.

A Walk on the Wild Side 21.05.07

I didn't see much of Robbie over the weekend, he spent Saturday on the wild side - in Walsall, and then on Sunday he went off to a gig in Birmingham in the evening and didn't get back until it was way past my bedtime. Then this morning all he could manage to talk about was chaos created by Central Trains cancelling services left, right and centre yesterday. Oddly enough at 6am I can't summon up too much interest in the disgraceful behaviour of Central Trains, in fact the only thing that interests me at that time is my first cup of tea of the day!
I couldn't even get away from railway news at work. I switched Radio 4 on just in time to hear Christian Wolmar pronounce that South West Trains decision to redefine peak times as contrary to common sense. It seems that peak time now extends to noon. I'm sure they keep that man in a cupboard on charge so that whenever the world railway is mentioned they can wheel him out to state the blindingly obvious!

This evening Robbie is sitting in the corner emitting strange tinny sounds - he is listening to Blood Red Shoes with his headphones on. I don't mind too much as long as he doesn't start to sing along! In fact I could do with some headphones myself, I have been bombarded with mind boggling questions this weekend. Sam tried to explain to me about the ageing effect of space travel, but it made my brain hurt. He said that if there were identical twins and one went into space while the other stayed behind, one would end up older than the other. Having thought about it, he must be right, I saw William Shatner on TV not so long ago and all that space travel has clearly taken its toll on him!