Robbie has gone out to play for the weekend. After work yesterday he made his way to Crewe ready for an early start this morning. Robbie has been taking more exercise in the last couple of weeks and he was delighted to find that his black 'train tour' trousers are no longer as tight as they used to be. He celebrated his achievement with pie and chips - I don't think he has quite got the hang of getting fit yet! Having told me in considerable detail about his pie and chips, he held the phone out for me to listen. I couldn't make out what I was supposed to be listening to, but Robbie assured me that I was listening to trains going past. He told me that he could sit in his room naked and watch the trains going past - I was horrified! He assured me that he was adequately attired and that he would not get himself arrested. Imagine all those traumatised passengers reporting a sighting of Homer Simpson naked at hotel room window! I don't really understand Robbie's aversion to clothes, it is just one of the many thing that make me think that he is 'on the spectrum' Anyway he has been on the Paignton Pudden rail tour, he has phoned me with regular updates throughout the day, but I will spare you the detail, I expect Robbie will write about it himself when he gets back.
Sam and I survived our shopping trip yesterday. Sam headed for a pair identical to the ones he bought and refused wear a couple of months ago. I stood my ground and we finally settled on a pair very similar to his
old ones (the ones that he actually wore) and we were still on speaking terms when we got home so I guess the trip was a success. The shoes were more expensive than I'd anticipated, but everything seems to be expensive these days. Now that we have dealt with the school shoes Sam has his heart set on a pair of Vans and then a second pair of Converse and then ...... Unless I win the lottery I will not need to remember the rest of the list, it would require a second mortgage to buy that lot! The pictures are of Sam's favourite pair of Converse, he has now grown out of them and has replaced them with a black pair.
The 'Robbie effect' on the railways is becoming rather worrying and people have started to notice. Every time he travels north he seems to jinx the network and either he gets delayed or the whole system grinds to a halt. He has run through most of the possible causes of delay from livestock on the line to high wind, floods, land slip, a bridge bash, power failure and assorted accidents. He went to Crewe yesterday evening to a retirement 'do' and he rang me several times detailing his return journey. He wanted a lift and we have major road works near the station so I needed to allow for a longer journey time to get to the station. I had already left the house when he sent a text to say that he was delayed due to a fatality at Nuneaton, I didn't pick up the text until I got to the station so I wasn't best pleased. I went home and had the added pleasure of driving back to the station later on to fetch him. That poor person, it is a horrible way to meet their end and terribly upsetting for the driver and those who have to clear up.
So once again Robbie has travelled north and once again there was a delay. Is he jinxed? Why does it always happen when he travels? He would hate it, but to avoid the 'Robbie factor' it may be worth Network Rail imposing a travel ban and paying for him to go everywhere by taxi. They should understand the concept, after all, they are the cause of so many other passengers being forced off the rails and ferried around by bus and taxi.
Robbie has an interesting and somewhat limited grasp of geography, it runs on rails. If a place has ever had any sort of railway provision Robbie will know about it, he will know of all the other places served by that line and he will be able to reel off all the significant dates connected with it. In Robbie's world if a place has never has a station it doesn't exist and he will have no knowledge about it. His brain only works in railway time and space, he will know the timing between two stations to the second but if two places are not linked to each other by rail he hasn't got a clue. I was therefore surprised when he randomly provided me with the coach time to travel from Crewe to Torpoint. He went on to provide the coach times from various other places to Torpoint. I couldn't help asking why anyone would want to go to Torpoint and he informed me that he had obtained the info from a document giving the replacement coach time between stations for occasions when the line is blocked. I felt obliged to state the obvious, Torpoint doesn't have a station, and the nearest station St Germans doesn't have much of a service. Apparently Robbie had overlooked this! He said maybe it was the nearest option for Saltash (clutching at straws). Sure, as the crow flies they are not that far away, but as a car journey it is about half an hour! I have left him pondering on the need for coach times to Torpoint.
This morning he told me that on Tuesday there had been problems getting from Northampton to London due to a fire at North Pole Depot. Now I am convinced he has a problem with geography. Or maybe that is why my trains are always late if everything runs via the North Pole!
Sam and I survived our shopping trip yesterday. Sam headed for a pair identical to the ones he bought and refused wear a couple of months ago. I stood my ground and we finally settled on a pair very similar to his
old ones (the ones that he actually wore) and we were still on speaking terms when we got home so I guess the trip was a success. The shoes were more expensive than I'd anticipated, but everything seems to be expensive these days. Now that we have dealt with the school shoes Sam has his heart set on a pair of Vans and then a second pair of Converse and then ...... Unless I win the lottery I will not need to remember the rest of the list, it would require a second mortgage to buy that lot! The pictures are of Sam's favourite pair of Converse, he has now grown out of them and has replaced them with a black pair. 
