One thing that may be a mixed blessing for Robbie is that I understand him very well, too well for his comfort at times! There have been times such as the test card incident and the fuzzy felts birthday card when I've thought that Robbie didn't understand me at all, but that's not true. He knows that I love him and even when he gets things horribly wrong his intentions are usually good - misguided but good.
Thankfully I have help in keeping Robbie on the 'straight and narrow', my older daughter (mini me) and my mum (senior me) keep reminding him of the 'rules'.
1) Never attempt to buy clothes for me without 'advice'
2) Never spring a surprise on me - his type of surprises scare me!
3) Retro is not always good
4) Never choose music for me
5) Never make arrangements which can not be changed later.
6) If in doubt, don't!!
It probably makes me sound very boring, I'm not really, but perhaps I indulge in quieter passions than Robbie. I think the real difference is that I am the one who has to keep my feet on the ground and not let my passions run away with me.
I was so impressed with Robbie this week, he brought me a little treat and I was in heaven. It was a can of Root Beer from Cybercandy and it was absolutely wonderful, I love root beer. It was the perfect way to show he cared, not stupidly expensive and very thoughtful. There were just a couple of little problems, it made me wonder 'what he had done' (but I was tactful enough not to put that thought into words!) and it has left me craving Root Beer. Maybe he does understand me a bit after all, he certainly knows how to make me happy!!
When it comes to excuses my family have always been more imaginative than most, but Robbie is in a class of his own. When he asked me to brave Birmingham on a Saturday he knew very well that I would say no, the thought of visiting Birmingham at any time fills me with horror. So he needed a good excuse to persuade me to join him on a trip to Birmingham on a Saturday. He announced that he had left his trousers at work and he needed to go and fetch them. It was not as worrying as it sounds, the railways were not brought to a standstill by the sight of Robbie in his 'smalls', the trousers in question were his long awaited new M&S trousers and he'd left them on his desk. They could have waited until Monday, but having waited weeks for them to have his size in stock he didn't want to risk them getting lost.
Robbie's track record when it comes to losing contact with his clothing is careless at the very least. His raincoat made an unplanned trip to to Plymouth without him last year when he left it on a train, he has previously left trousers, a hoodie, other sundry garments and his notebook on various trains. He has even dozed off and left himself on the train before! So rescue missions to recover missing items or a stranded husband are not uncommon. I grudgingly agreed to accompany Robbie on a trip to Birmingham to collect his trousers and we decided to make it a fun afternoon (not that 'fun' is a word that I would usually associate with a visit to Birmingham).
It was interesting to visit Robbie's office, it is rather nice. We also visited a couple of shops, Muji where I bought a set of nesting dolls for my next art project and Cybercandy which is amazing. I have bought items from their website before, but it was nice to visit the shop and see all the confectionery products from different countries. I was most tempted by the cans of 'soda' they sell root beer and I love root beer! They also sell Tab, just seeing that can brought memories flooding back. Robbie promised me a visit Starbucks, I prefer Costa because they do much nicer tea, but Robbie likes Starbucks and I have to admit that their fruit toast is rather nice.
