I often go to bed before Robbie, partly because I need my sleep and partly because I prefer to listen to the radio rather than watch some of the scary stuff that he likes to watch on television. This works quite well for both of us but there is just one problem - Robbie! He doesn't understand the meaning of the word quiet and he always manages to wake me up when he comes to bed. He then falls asleep as soon as head hits the pillow leaving me wide awake unable to get back to sleep and fighting to hang on to the duvet.
On Monday night he decided to take things a step further. He wasn't quite ready for bed but he decided to come upstairs for a chat. He wasn't put off when he found that I was asleep, he just kept asking if I was awake until I woke up. So what was so important that he needed to wake me up at 1.30am? It certainly wasn't something that could be classed as an emergency even in 'Robbie world'. He wanted to inform me that the cat was suffering from flatulence! I told him loud and clear to 'go away' but I wasn't going to escape that easily. He went into great detail about the exact nature of the smell, then he started rambling on about possibly changing the cat's diet. By then I was ready to harm him and he made a hasty retreat.
The next day I asked him why he woke me up and he said he didn't think I was deeply asleep because I wasn't snoring - I give up!!
We have a house full of teenagers so I spend a lot of my time every day driving around in the car, all that is missing is a chauffeur's cap! Often I listen to Radio 4 while I'm driving, but I also enjoy listening to talking books. At the moment I am listening to The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night Time, it is about a 15 year old boy with Asperger Syndrome. It is an excellent book, but perhaps for me it provokes a mixture of emotions because Sam has Asperger Syndrome. I don't write about it often because Sam doesn't like to be talked about and he certainly doesn't like being labelled. Living with Aspergers is not easy for the person who has it or for those close to them, but as with most things in life you get used to it and you make adjustments.As we were driving home on Tuesday evening Robbie interrupted our conversation to comment on the open door of a telephone box. I am used to the rapid twists and turns in Robbie's conversation, but that was a bit random even for him. He talked at some length about the phone box, reasoning that the door closure must be broken and speculating on what would have caused it to break. I told him that I hadn't even noticed the phone box and that his obsessive interest in trivia was yet more evidence of his Aspie traits. He was adamant that he was totally normal and that it was the rest of the world that was out of step, come to think of it, that is exactly what Sam says! Anyway our conversation concluded with me challenging Robbie to take an Aspie test. The online test is not a diagnosis, but it does give a good indication of the likelihood of having Aspergers. Robbie promised that he would answer all the questions truthfully and to prove his honesty he provided a running commentary as he took the test. It seemed as if some of the questions were written just for him, especially the one about getting upset if someone sits in his seat. He is dreadful about that at home, but he even gets upset if someone sits in his favourite seat on the train! The test seemed to go on for ever, but eventually he completed the test and he was able to print out the detailed results, I will not bore you with the details but the conclusion was that he was very likely to be Aspie. Robbie seemed surprised by the result, but I doubt it would be much of a revelation to anyone who knows him well. I have always said that one of the reasons that I love Robbie is that he reminds me of Sam, now I know why. They would be deeply indignant about being compared to each other, sure there are superficial differences, but deep down they are very alike.
Robbie was late home from work again today and when I left work he was waiting for me in the car park so that he could get a lift home. I love him dearly, but at times like that I wish he could be a little more 'normal', last time he turned up wearing that dreaded flasher mac and today he had his white London Underground umbrella! He told me a funny story on the way home. This morning he was in he bathroom on 'the throne' when he became aware that he could hear faint music and someone was talking to him. It wasn't 'heavenly' music so he had no fear that he was about to 'do an Elvis' and meet his maker in the bathroom. This was much more down to earth music, and it bothered him, he couldn't believe that someone would be thoughtless enough to have their radio on in the street at 5am loud enough for him to hear it. He then remembered that the bathroom is at the back of the house, so he deduced that the offending radio must be in our garden, but he wasn't in a position to go an investigate straight away. Thankfully the neighbours were spared the vision of Robbie in his smalls searching for a radio in the back garden, because he found the source of the mystery music before he left the house. We have two radios in the bathroom, ours (tuned to Radio 4) and theirs (tuned to something else). One of the children had turned their radio down to almost nothing instead of turning it off!On the subject of mystery noises, the previous day Robbie and Emily searched the lounge for a phone that kept vibrating. It wasn't a phone, it was the cat snoring!
I had a back to front sort of day yesterday. I had one or two messy jobs so afterwards I looked forward to sinking into a nice relaxing bath. I took a cup of tea with me and I switched on the radio ready for ten minutes of 'me' time without the rest of the world intruding into my thoughts. I love Robbie, but it is nice to have the occasional break from the constant chatter about the railways. The bath was lovely but as I listened to Radio 4 I realised that they were discussing – trains! In fact they were discussing ticketing, permitted routes etc., I can't seem to get away from train talk. I could have got out of the bath and switched off the radio, but once in the bath I was staying put. I just didn't listen, I have a very well developed 'deaf ear' – I can't imagine why!
I love Radio 4 and I listen to it in the car, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in fact I listen to it wherever I am. For me the height of luxury is a relaxing bath with Radio 4 to listen to. Yesterday I was enjoying my bath, a tranquil moment in a particularly trying day when my ears were assaulted to such an extent that I had to jump out of my bath to turn off the radio. Can you believe it, Radio 4 is serialising Chere Blair's book. Why would anyone imagine that I would have any interest in that woman, she is an irrelevance and I have no respect for someone who attempts to make money from backstabbing and sleazy revelations about people in public life. I can't undrestand why she would imagine that anyone would be interested in her sex life, even the thought of it turns my stomach! What really makes me cross is that when Tony Blair was prime minister they were fierce about protecting their children from press intrusion - quite rightly in my oppinion (but they didn't mind using them for a bit of PR from time to time). Now, Chere Blair is telling the world about how Leo was conceived, how can a mother do that to their child? I'm not sure how old Leo is now, but he is certainly old enough to be mortified by her revelations. There are standards and there are some things that you just shouldn't do even for money, it seems to me that Chere Blair has put £'s before parenting and I am disgusted. I really would have expected better from Radio 4, what will it be next - readings from the News of the World perhaps?!
On the whole I prefer the radio to the television - the pictures are so much better on the radio! However there are one or two detective series that I enjoy on television, I get frustrated when they are not true to the books, but I can suspend my disbelief. They took horrible liberties with Morse, the books are much better but it was worth watching just to look at John Thaw. Frost is another favourite, again the books are better and make more sense as they are set in a different era, but David Jason has made Frost believable.
Last night I was happily sitting in the lounge enjoying an episode of Frost while I got on with some household admin - I always do something else while watching television because I find it hard to sit still. Robbie (as always) was finding it hard to be quiet, he had already been 'shown the yellow card' but once again he became animated and extremely vocal. The cause of his excitement was (unsurprisingly) a train. Frost was apparently seeing someone off from Manchester, but according to Robbie he was actually waving to a train travelling on the east coast mainline, He recognised the station and anyway he was absolutely certain that that particular coaching stock in view had never worked on the west coast service. I will spare you the details, but you get the idea.
I was then treated to a monologue about the various stations on the west coast line and all the different rolling stock used. He then went on to provide similar information for the east coast, then, just for good measure, he ran through every his encyclopaedic knowledge of other service in UK! By this time I wasn't really listening, I was fantasising about the best method of causing his voice to raise by several octaves. I didn't actually 'do the deed' but I had great fun thinking about it!
As for Frost, well he had almost solved the case before I was able to concentrate on the television again. Never mind, I had seen it before anyway!
