It's funny how fast you can wake up when you realise you've overslept.

I spent most of Friday getting ready to go out on a train on Saturday. So by Friday evening we had a massive picnic ready to take with us, my netbook was packed in my rucksack, my camera was charged and everything was ready for an early start. At least I thought everything was ready, but there was just one thing I had overlooked – Robbie! He was still awake when I went to bed but when the alarm clock went off at a stupidly early hour he was sound asleep next to me and he refused to wake up. I tried and tried but it was impossible, he didn’t wake up but when prodded he produced a selection of grunts and insults. In the end I gave up and let him sleep. When he woke up he was very cross with me. We were too late for the train we planned to catch but we made the best of the day and with a trip to Plymouth on an HST. I always enjoy the views as we pass the sea wall at Dawlish. It was a very exhausting day, we didn’t get home until almost 11pm and by then the roles were reversed, I was asleep on my feet but Robbie was wide awake!

University Visit

Robbie survived the day without his dongle! When I spoke to him this morning he was still in bed enjoying a cup of coffee. The visit to the university does not start until later so Robbie has plans for breakfast at one of his favourite places, in fact the whole trip seems to be planned around food and trains - no change there then! I hope Laura gets on OK at the university today, she has her heart set on going to Plymouth so I hope the course lives up to her expectations. Sam and I are enjoying the peace and quiet, it is amazing how quiet the house is without Robbie and Laura!

Plymouth day trip! 12.08.07

My mum mentioned that myself, Laura and Sam took a day trip to visit our baby cousins in Plymouth last week as you do. We awoke (very reluctantly) at 5am last Wednesday morning, and were on the train to Birmingham with a rather chirpy Robert Burgess by 6:30. I don't know what it is about Robbie, but I've never met a person more willing to be on a train so early in the morning, and so chirpy too...maybe it's his coffee. I'm afraid that I can't share the joy of public transport at such ungodly hours, but then I'm not a morning person; ask my mum! Anyways, we had a lovely train journey to Plymouth in the quiet carriage with the broken air con and some really chirpy Bristolians. However, we did get some free chilled water, which made the journey much more worthwhile! Our uncle was late as usual, but we were too busy watching a batty old lady with a packet of cheese and onion crisps, chatting up some young taxi drivers to notice. In the end, she got bored of them and told them to "buzz off"; they told us that she comes past everyday to do her shopping-clearly one grocery per day! Our cousins have grown so much! Charlotte is 6, going on 16. She seems to have inherited all of the best Jones genes- she is very tall, very blonde, loud, and extremely clever! Baby Jack is almost 18 months old, and looks exactly how Charlotte looked at his age, but he is alot shyer and has the cheekiest grin ever! We met our aunty Sara and went to the Hoe, where there was a fair ground. Sam was thrilled to be dragged on to the tea cups ride with Charlotte. Later, we went shopping. Me and Laura were thrilled to find that there is an amazing Primark shop in Plymouth. Lou came out of the shop with four handbags- and she has an amazing way of getting out of paying! Lou looked at a top, went "It's only three quid, I think I'll get it...*looks in her purse* oh, Ems, I don't have three pounds in change, could you pay for it please?!" I really should be less of a pushover, but I'm too lovely!! We met Robbie at Birmingham again, although by this time, the long day had taken its toll on me and so I was extremely irritable and kept nagging at Robbie and Sam who were extremely hyper!

Puzzled! 09.08.07

The children had an early start this morning, I took a very bleary eyed bunch to the station just after 6am. They were heading for Plymouth to spend the day with their cousins Charlotte 6 and Jack who is almost 18 months old. It is the first time that they have made the journey on their own, but at 18 and 16 Emily and Laura are ready to be more independent.

I had a busy but productive day, and I found time to pop out to buy a couple of jigsaws to keep Robbie occupied while we are on holiday - with a railway theme of course! I detest jigsaws, I don't see the point in all that effort just to break the thing up again when you have finished, I would much rather create something with an end product. It may sound surprising with Robbie and Sam in my life, but I am not a particularly patient person. I can resist the urge to batter them in to oblivion and I can (usually) resist the compulsion to scream with frustration, I can even be indulgent about their obsessions, but I can't sit still and do nothing. I think that is why jigsaws frustrate me, I struggle with the cinema too because I get bored, when I watch TV at home it is always a secondary activity while I am busy with something else. Being a man Robbie is not so passionate about multi tasking and he enjoys sitting for hours puzzling over a jigsaw, in fact he gets so engrossed that it is one of the few things that stops him talking - well worth £10.99! Just one note of caution, he becomes very territorial and is prone to having a bit of a strop if other people help him.

A Question of Time 21.06.07

Oh yes, he misses a train occasionally - or to be more accurate he misses a train regularly, as often as once a week. There was even one notable week when he scored a hat trick! I am not overjoyed if he is late home because it messes up our meal time, but what really winds me up are the excuses! If the train is late, one simple sentence is sufficient, I don't need to have a detailed analysis of every problem the railway has encountered in the last week! If he has missed the train a simple "I missed the train, I'm sorry" would help, but I am treated to a detailed breakdown of everything he has done at work that day with little diversions to explain what other people in the office did and said. He goes on and on and on and on ....... until I beg him to go away! In fact he goes on for so long that he risks missing the next train. I must admit that after being late home three times in a week he almost had to take up a new career - as a soprano!!
I realise that train planners struggle with normal time, what I would call about half past six he would call 18.27, but why does he have to leave only 30 seconds to spare before getting on a train? No wonder he get's it wrong occasionally! How can I make him understand that it is OK to be early, it would do wonders for his blood pressure - and mine! He was never a boy scout, but in all other respects he likes to 'be prepared' - you should see all the 'essential' junk he drags around with him, so why can't he allow himself sufficient time to catch the train?
When he is out with me I make sure he gets to the station on time, but we still have problems because he vanishes only to pop up again as the train doors are about to close. At Plymouth I lost him in the stores, he was chatting to old friends and the train almost went without him. At Euston he wanted to just pop into the stores and he left me waiting for so long that I thought I was going to get moved on. The children get really upset, because he darts off the train to get a coffee or to look at another train and they are terrified that it will go without him.
How does he manage to get all those train timings sorted when he can't organise himself to be on time for his own train? I know part of the answer, is that sometimes the later train more interesting and he will go to considerable lengths to travel on his preferred service, but of course he will not admit to that!!

A Cunning Plan 09.06.07

It was Robbie's turn to make me feel old this morning. I had an itch on my back and was directing him to the right spot with 'up a bit, left a bit, down a fraction, fire' and the inevitable reference to the Golden Shot. He claimed that he had never heard of the Golden Shot and asked if it was a ship! How can he possibly have no childhood memories of numerically challenged Anne Aston and the mysterious 'Bernie the Bolt'. OK having checked, I admit that Robbie was only 3 when the last series was screened, I suppose it is a bit much to expect him to remember it!

http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/variety/goldenshot.htm

It turned out that Robbie had a cunning plan. In a devilish strategy worthy of Baldrick he told me about a recent conversation with an acquaintance of his who seems to think that enjoyment can only be achieved by a night on the razzle and is disdainful of people who find more enjoyable ways to fill their free time. We were just pondering on the inevitable consequences of his behaviour - brewers droop, and we agreed that he needed to grow up and find some less anti social interests. Quick as a flash Robbie seized his opportunity and requested a 'day pass' to go to Barrow Hill to the I had to laugh, his planning was incredible. He then lost the plot and gave me a minute by minute account of his proposed travel arrangements (including a time allowance for breakfast!). My interest had waned before he had travelled beyond Wellingborough, honestly, Saturday morning with my husband and we have to have a monologue on the intricacies of train timetables! He gradually became aware of my frustration, maybe the fact that I was ready to batter him gave him a clue! In an attempt to redeem himself he suggested an overnight trip to Newquay. I was quite tempted, but I was mystified by his desire to break the return journey with lunch and shopping in Plymouth. I know Plymouth well but the shops are nothing special and we wouldn't have time to get to the Barbican and back. It didn't make sense until he admitted that it would enable him to travel on a more 'interesting' train back to Birmingham! He's impossible.

Scary Situation! 04.06.07

The first day back at work after a holiday is always a bit of a challenge. Robbie loves his job more than anyone else I have met, but even he couldn't help wishing that we were still on holiday. When he came home he was somewhat subdued - not a state you would usually associate with Robbie. At first he didn't have much to say, about his day, but I could tell there was something bothering him. Eventually he told me that he had been troubled by something that happened on the train. In fact by the look on his face he was badly spooked. Apparently another passenger appeared to be taking an obsessive interest in Robbie! That may sound unlikely, but I have known him to embark on deep and meaningful conversations with complete strangers so I wasn't that surprised. Once when we were on a day out he spent several hours talking to a woman who had been foolish enough to sit opposite us about protecting the flood plain in Northampton and about the regeneration of Plymouth and Coventry! Boring!! Anyway it soon became clear why he was so wound up, his admirer was a man and as if that was not bad enough, it was a man who wore socks with sandals and had a fold up bike - scary!!!!

Another Pet Hate! 30.05.06

We made an early start today and drove to St Merryn to buy pasties and sausage rolls for lunch. Proper locally made Cornish pasties are completely different to those plastic abominations that they sell in supermarkets and garages. The lanes around Trevose Head are extremely narrow so thankfully there are very few Volvos around plenty of much wider vehicles, but Volvo drivers can’t cope with the fear factor so at least we are spared that delight! There are however far too many of another pet hate of mine – golfers! There are a number of golf courses in this part of Cornwall and the road to St Merryn takes us across Trevose Golf course. The golfers behave like snipers and if they miss you with a golf ball they will do their very best to run you off the road with their vehicles. If all else fails they troll along the middle of the road pulling their thingy that holds the clubs. They would make a milk float look dynamic and the urge to mow them down is almost irresistible!

My brother in law, sister in law and niece and nephew came to spend the day with us. They live in Plymouth so we don’t get to see them as often as we would like. Jack is just over a year old and much to Sam’s disappointment he is not quite old enough to be corrupted. Charlotte is six and has Sam well and truly under the thumb, she gets him to do things that he would never do for anyone else. Today he was very relieved to find that like him she is potty about Dr Who so he was spared all the pink Bratz and Barbie stuff. They sat for ages reading Dr Who magazines and discussing their favourite episodes. I think square eyes must run in the family!

We had a good time on the beach, but Robbie fell asleep and I was able to get some very unflattering photos. I threatened to post them on the blog, but maybe it would be too terrifying! The lifeboat went out twice this evening, it is interesting to watch. Robbie likes to see it being dragged back up the ramp when it returns and he stood outside for ages watching all the manoeuvres.

A Few Days Away (posted by Robbie) 05.04.07

Bit of a break....lol...
Oh well, you'll all just have to survive for a few days without any new blog entries, as we're off to Plymouth to visit the family and the 'outlaws'. Its got to be done (I do enjoy it really...lol..!) I have asked for my usual day pass for the SDR but who knows if I'll get it or not....we'll have to see! You know, there is something about railwaymen and going on holiday; they never really seem to give it a rest, as in do something TOTALLY non-railway related. I think its just one of those things. Anyway I'm starting to ramble on a bit now, so time to sign off........

The Cossack Dance 14.02.07

Valentine cards for Robbie? You will be making him big headed! To be honest if you had told me that this morning I would have paid whoever sent the cards to come and take him off my hands - but more of that later! If he does have a harem of women (well I assume they are women, with that gay walk you can never be sure!) sending him valentine cards I better put him on a course of vitamins to keep his energy levels up!

Bad Walsall Woman, you have him completely freaked out, he doesn't know who you are! Kempoian, Robbie says you are just trying to get him into trouble, surely you realise he can (and often does) do that all by himself!! Sheffield rocks, I used to work there (in Nether Edge) in the dim distant past, lovely accent, a few nice men and a really nice area. I had worked in Dundee just before that and when my mum heard how that odd combination had influenced my accent she nearly had a fit. She said she hadn't paid good money all those years for me to end up speaking like that. I moved to Plymouth next and hated it, so despite marrying a Cornishman my accent gradually reverted to something that passes for normal.

Now to explain this morning's upset. We got up in good time and Robbie had as long as he needed in the bathroom, so things were going well. Considering they only have fractionally more to wash than women, I can't understand why men need to take so long in the bathroom!

The trouble started when we got to the station, Robbie went to get the parking ticket. I realised that he had brought his rucksack, I attempted to lift it and found that it contained a hundredweight of work documents as well as, diary, i pod, magazines, snacks and all the 'essentials' to deal with any conceivable railway emergency! Samuel has an unhealthy attachment to his rucksack too, he hates to be parted from it, but he has Asperger's Syndrome, Robbie is allegedly normal!

I took his i pod, pager and sweets out of his rucksack and put them in my handbag. When he returned I refused to let him take his rucksack. He would look ridiculous with a suit and a rucksack, I didn't want him to look like a Sherpa! Robbie went mad and had a full scale tantrum in the car park. I won the first round and he thundered off with what I can only describe as a cross between a stomp and a shuffle - if it had been speeded up it would have looked like a Cossack dance! He was impossible and he continued the argument on the train, I was tempted to tip my hot chocolate over him, but it was too expensive to waste. It took him until almost lunchtime to recover his temper - so much for Valentine's Day!

The university visit went well, I would be happy for Emily to go to Leicester, but she will make her own decision in due course.