Scary Shoes

Robbie enjoyed his birthday very much, it would have been nice to have him home a bit earlier, but things don't always work out as planned (especially when London Midland are involved!). We had a happy evening together and he was able to tell me all about his day, it seemed to involve a lot food so perhaps it is a good thing that birthdays only happen once a year! He had two breakfasts, a lovely lunch and his favourite meal in the evening, no wonder he was too full to have any birthday cake! So we decided to save the cake until today.

Life with Robbie is never dull, I have learnt to expect the unexpected, but last night I was lost for words. Watching Robbie try on his new Dr Martens was a surreal experience. He was wearing a white T-shirt and his favourite very bright and very baggy M&M design PJ bottoms when he decided to try on his new Dr Martens. The shoes are white with brown trim and in my opinion they are absolutely horrible, but Robbie fell in love with them and because I love him very much I bought them for him as an early birthday present. He sat for a little while just stroking and admiring the shoes, then he decided to try them on.


He deliberated about the colour of the laces for a few minutes, he asked if I thought the white or the brown laces would look best. It really made no difference, the shoes would still look horrible, but I chose brown, so Robbie decided on white. The shoes looked so wrong, the look was not helped by the black socks that he was wearing. Not to mention the M&M PJ bottoms. He walked up and down the lounge, one hand on his hip and asked me what I thought. I am rarely lost for words, but on this occasion I was speechless. What I was actually thinking was that he looked like a cross between Larry Grayson and Phil Mitchell, but perhaps it wasn't the moment to say so!

My heart sank when he announced that he would be wearing his new shoes to work today, I am not sure the railways are ready for a shock like that, but I couldn't change his mind. He is wearing them with jeans and a casual shirt, personally I think they are hideous but I will leave you to decide....... 

Birthday Boy

It is Robbie's birthday today, he is 38. We celebrated his birthday yesterday because we will hardly see each other today. We had a lovely family day at my mums, she cooked his favourite meal for him, he is still not fully back to normal in terms of eating but he enjoyed the day. This morning he opened some of his presents and cards including the (rather loud) cuff links that he had been lusting after, but he still has a couple of presents to open this evening. Mum made him a rather wonderful birthday cake, but he wouldn't blow out the candles yesterday because he sad it was bad luck to do it early. It was certainly bad luck for everyone else because we all wanted some cake and now we have to wait until this evening!

Old Age?

I am so tired this morning I just feel like curling up and going back to sleep, but there is no chance of that because I have too much to do. As well as my work I have to pop into town because it is Robbie's birthday at the weekend and I have one or two little purchases to make. His main present has already been sorted out, but I want to spoil him a bit. He thinks he is old, but he is only going to be 37, so he must think I am absolutely ancient!

On Saturday we are going to my mum's for a special birthday tea, but he has to wait until Sunday (his birthday) for his birthday cake. Mum has made him his favourite chocolate cake. Mum and Robbie get on very well because they have a common interest – food! My mum makes it her mission in life to feed people until they beg for mercy and if eating was an Olympic sport Robbie would be a gold medallist! I'm not going to write any more about his birthday now because I don't want to spoil the day and anyway I am heading off to town.

Birthday Boy

It was Sam's 14th Birthday on Saturday. Having a birthday so close to Christmas is a bit hard on him so we always try hard to make it special for him. Of course if he had been born on time his birthday would not have been in Christmas week, he was due on 8th December – but I admit that a December birthday was a bit of bad planning on my part!
Robbie had been to a gig in London on Friday evening and it was close to 12.30am when I picked him up from the station and he was off again on a rail tour at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. Sam was fine about Robbie going out on his birthday, in fact it suited him because Sam and I were going clothes shopping and Robbie has very fixed ideas about clothes. Sam had most of the things he had asked for, dvd's, books, converse boots, a phone and other bits and bobs. I was still feely pretty diabolical because of the combined effects of my asthma and my flu bug but Sam and I went to town and had a good time. He bought the clothes he wanted including a ridiculously expensive pair of pants, a hat that looks quite good on him and a smart coat. We also went to see Grandma and Grandad and Sam had another lovely present, a pair of Vann's trainers.
Robbie was quite late home, but we saved Sam's birthday cake until he got back, Robbie's rendition of 'Happy Birthday to You' was memorable to say the least, but the main thing was that we were all together for Sam to blow out the candles. I think Sam had a good day and Robbie certainly enjoyed his rail tour, he hasn't stopped talking about it since he got back.

Birthday Boy

It was Oreo's first birthday yesterday, time passes so quickly, it is hard to believe that the timid little kitten has morphed into a great big cat who seems to think that the world revolves around him. The picture shows him sitting in the bathroom sink, he is not about to take a bath (he hates getting wet) he was moth hunting! He didn't have a birthday cake, he likes cake, in fact he likes every kind of food imaginable, but we spoiled him with one of his favourite treats, a crab stick. We don't know when Dave's birthday is so we will have to celebrate his 'finding day' instead. He will not care as long as he has plenty to eat, one day is much like another to him. For a cat with a serious shortage of teeth he does remarkably well and he can eat just as quickly as Oreo!

I thought it was the longest day yesterday, but apparently due complicating factors such as leap year it was actually the previous day. It always makes me feel a little bit sad, I love the long days and light evenings and now it will be a gradual decline towards winter. I think May and June are my favourite months. The Mock Orange (Philadelphus) is in flower in my front garden, it is one of my favourites and it really cheers me up. I love roses too and we have some lovely roses near the front door, they seem to thrive on neglect but as far as I am concerned that makes them even more special.

Bird Song

It is Laura's last day with us today, she has to go home tomorrow ready for exams on Monday so she got to choose what we did today. She wanted to go to Newquay again, so we got up early and set off in time to get there just after 9am so that we could pack as much as possible into the day. I didn't want to look at the shops again, so after buying a jigsaw I wandered down to the harbour to take some photos. I love listening to the herring gulls, for me it isn't really the sound of the seaside without the cries of the gulls. I have forgiven them for the little misdemeanour on Wednesday when one scored a direct hit on me. Having seen how much mess it made I can now understand why ostriches don't fly! fortunately I was wearing a raincoat so it was fairly easy to remove the evidence! Listen to gulls here Herring Gull

It was a bit dismal early in the day but it brightened into a beautiful afternoon. By 1pm we were back at the caravan and it was so nice that we took a walk along the coast path towards Harlyn, there is a wild spot where there are lots of skylarks. I love just standing there listening to them singing, they soar so high in the sky that it is hard to see them but their song is beautiful. When we got back we sat outside at the table with a cup of tea enjoying the sunshine. There was a male blackbird sitting on the next caravan, he seemed to have a huge personality and he was singing with such vigour that I couldn't help wondering what he was saying. Skylark Blackbird

This evening we began Laura's 17th birthday celebrations, her birthday is on Monday really, but as she has exams on that day she is stretching the celebration over several days.