It Wasn't Me!

Well this must be the longest gap in writing since I started writing the blog. Partly it is because I have been involved with an interesting little project which I should be able to write more about in a day or two. Mostly it is because I have been feeling absolutely dire for weeks. It sounds so pathetic to be moaning about having a cough, but this really is a hell of a cough. I have had it for at least four weeks this time and I only had a gap of about four weeks free of the previous cough which lasted for twelve weeks. The doctor says that my lungs are clear the problem seems to be higher up, but we are still investigating the exact cause. It always seems to happen when I get a cold and then I just can't get rid of it. Maybe I have to accept it as a very annoying symptom of my asthma, but to cough to the point of passing out or actually making yourself sick from coughing tends to limit your social life as well as scaring people who witness it. Anyway that is quite enough moaning for today, in fact I have probably used up a whole months ration of moans!

Robbie has been at home for three weeks or so and it has been frustrating that we haven't been able to enjoy doing more things together, but coping with the 'killer cough' and the fact that I still had to go to work got in the way of Robbie's plans. It is a bit of an exaggeration to say that he has been at home, Robbie gets withdrawal symptoms after one day without trains and I start to feel exhausted after a couple of days with Robbie, so when he asks for a lift to the station I am always ready to oblige! He has spent a lot of time on trains in the last few weeks and lots of numbers / routes have been ticked off in his little book!

This is his last week of freedom and he intends to make the most of it. On Sunday he had an HST day travelling to the South West and back. I love the sea wall, but I don't love HSTs so I decided that I would be happier at home. That turned out to be an inspired decision because when Robbie got on the train he discovered that one of the cats had vandalised his best Sennheiser headphones. When exasperated with the cats he always resorts to alliteration, when Oreo upsets him he is a 'furry, blank, fatherless, feline; but this time Bernard was under suspicion so we had a rant on the theme of 'B'.  

He managed a whole day without trains yesterday but he will be heading off on a train later today and he will probably fit several in several more trips during the week. On Friday we are going to York then at the weekend Robbie is off to a special event at the Bodmin and Wenford Railway. 

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm - Winston Churchill

It is time to admit that I am a failure, I know that because Robbie told me so loud and clear. I picked him up when I finished work yesterday evening so it was passed 9pm when we got home. The cats were not impressed, they are very good at telling the time (thanks to Robbie's efforts) and they knew that their dinner was late. The loudest complaints were coming from Shadow the guinea pig. I am not aware that Robbie has been actively teaching Shadow to tell the time, perhaps guinea pigs have an innate sense of time or perhaps she just loves to eat whatever the time.


Robbie and the cats disappeared into the kitchen; it was hard to work out if he was feeding them or trying to extend their vocabulary! A little later Robbie emerged from the kitchen holding a plastic bag with a few flecks of green in it. The clues were there, the expression, the hand on the hip, not to mention the expletives from the kitchen - he was not a happy chap. The plastic bag had once contained curly kale, but except for tiny traces of green it was now empty. He waved the bag at me and said "now what am I going to do?". It took me a moment to compose my features because there was something vaguely ridiculous about Robbie who is not noted for his love of 'greens' getting so upset about a deficiency in the curly kale department. Before I could say anything he said "what am I going to say to the guinea pig". I took a deep breath and said that we had other greens, carrots and apples as well as her dried food and hay, so it was unlikely that she would starve. Unbelievably he walked over to the guinea pig to show her the empty bag and to apologise on my behalf for running out of curly kale. I don't think she took too much notice, she was too busy tucking into an apple and her dried food. 


As soon as I finished work today I dashed to the supermarket and we now have an ample supply of curly kale. After all I don't want the guinea pig to think that I'm a failure!

Anti Cat Device

The sound of silence didn't last very long. The house seems very busy during the day as both girls have finished university and seem to be constantly coming and going. Robbie is struggling with very painful and disobedient legs, it seems as if there is no let up to the pain now and he finds it hard to cope at times. We have reached the point where it is restricting the things he can do, which is very frustrating for him and it is hardly surprising that it gets him down. I wish I could put it right somehow.

When I was at the supermarket on Tuesday I bought an air freshener for the lounge. It was one of those that produce a puff of smell every little while, they were on offer. I decided to put it on top of the television to prevent the cats from sitting there. Before long Oreo was back on the TV with his head leaning on the air freshener, when it produced a puff of perfume he arched his back and spat at it then turned his back on it. Before long Dave had replaced Oreo on top of the television and the puff of perfume surprised him so much that he fell off the TV!!

All Good Things Must Come to An End

On Saturday morning we made an early start and after packing the car we were on the road by just after 8am. It was refreshing to get on the road again after the very narrow (and sometimes scary) Cornish lanes. I was very sorry that our holiday was at an end, but since we had to go home I just wanted to get the long journey behind me.

It seemed to take forever to get to Exeter but eventually we were on M5 and Exeter was behind us. We stopped at the services and managed to lose Robbie. Sam Laura and I had all got back to the car, as sat there enjoying a long awaited cup of coffee and a snack I saw three trains go past, but still no Robbie. I thought there must be something seriously wrong if Robbie was missing out on trains, they were only FGW but even so trains are like magnets to Robbie. I tried to phone him but there was no reply, I seriously considered driving off without him because I didn't want to lose the advantage of an early start. Eventually he appeared and all became clear, he had been to Mc Donalds to by breakfast and there was a massive queue. He knew better than to buy anything for me, so I drove of as the others tucked into stinky breakfast snacks. I wish I could train Robbie not to hum when he eats, it really drives me mad but he claims he doesn't know he is doing it.

Robbie survived and we made steady progress towards Bristol and then on to the M4, we made a brief second stop at a service station, this time Robbie only escaped my clutches long enough to buy a Rail magazine before being escorted back to the car. The rest of the journey was uneventful, I got a bit irritated with the sat nav because it wanted me to go a different way and I knew that my way was better. That woman gets a real edge to her voice when I don't follow her directions, in fact I am fairly sure that she sighs when she says 'recalculating'. My ideal sat nav would have the voice of David Attenborough, I would follow him anywhere. To be fair the sat nav is a whole lot better than Robbie because it doesn't shout out when it sees a train, it doesn't fall asleep when it should be looking at the signposts and it doesn't time every journey according to rail times!

We got home safely at about 2.30pm, so we made reasonable time. Sam insisted on being dropped off at his girlfriend's house and as soon as we got back Laura went dashing off to uni to see her friend before she goes home. I was too tired to face unloading the car, we just took the essentials inside and after a welcome cup of tea I went to bed for a well earned nap - I love my bed. I had been looking forward to seeing Emily, but I had to wait until the evening to see her. Meg (the dog) and Dave and Oreo (cats) were pleased to see us, but I think it will take Dave a few days to completely forgive me for abandoning him, he thinks he is my shadow.

Trying Their Luck!

Robbie left for work before I got up this morning, he had an early start because he was going to the 'deep north' for a meeting. When I got up and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea there were three faces looking up at me, two cats and a dog. When I took no notice of them Oreo the greediest animal on the planet began to meow loudly and Dave the brains of the pair went and sat next to the cat food container. Meg made sure that I noticed her by making me step over her each time I moved and she had a hopeful hungry look on her face. Clearly they were trying to tell me that Robbie had not fed them. I thought it was odd because he hadn't mentioned it, so I rang him to check, they had been fed, the little devils were just trying their luck! If they can act like that maybe they should think about television work!

Robbie, announced this morning that he is going out to play again tomorrow! I'm sure he promised that he would be at home this weekend. Oh well if he prefers to spend his time chasing after trains, I will have to find something to keep me occupied.

What Did You Say?

I think there is a conspiracy in our house. The children insist that I am going deaf and they never miss an opportunity to make jokes at my expense. I am not going deaf, I can hear perfectly well if they speak properly, but most of the time they have their music blaring out making it more difficult to hear. It would help if they didn't mumble, sometimes when I hear them talking to their friends I wonder if they speak English at all, it seems like a spoken version of text language and teenage boys seem to converse in a series of monosyllabic grunts. I find Robbie hard to understand partly because he talks constantly about trains and partly because he speaks far too fast and I still find his accent challenging at times because he uses regional words that I have never encountered before.

Our cats are very good communicators, there is just one problem - they lie! This morning they put on an Oscar winning performance to try to convince me that Robbie had not fed them, but I knew that he had and their efforts were wasted.

On the subject of deafness I think it is the children who have trouble hearing – selective deafness. Any instruction, to pick it up, clear it up or switch it off seems to fall on deaf ears.

A Sweet Tooth!

We have a gang of thieves targeting our house, an unlikely gang of trouble makers, one rather dim but determined dog and two clever cats. Dave is the mastermind, he is very agile for an old chap, so he can balance precariously while seeking out treasures from inaccessible places, and he uses his larger than average nose to sniff out stuff worth stealing. His nose also comes in handy to open tins and break into boxes. Oreo is not as subtle, he knows that he can open tins and containers by knocking them off a surface onto the floor, but he is skilled at opening cupboard doors by putting his paw under the door. Meg the dog is just an opportunist, she tags along with the daring duo in order to clear up the leftovers. On Monday they managed to open a tin of Roses chocolates and knock it onto the floor, so Meg had eaten a large quantity of chocolates (and wrappers) for breakfast. She had a severe telling off and spent the rest of the morning walking around with her tail under her chin, but the cats showed no remorse at all as they continued their usual morning routine of eating, sleeping and bird watching. Meg had obviously developed a taste for chocolate because when I went out to the supermarket she broke into Sam's bedroom and tucked into his stash of Christmas sweets, another telling off followed and she spent the rest of the day pretending to be invisible. The biggest mystery is why she wasn't sick!

A Peaceful Night

Robbie seems to have got the message, he didn't cause any disruption at bed time. He had fallen asleep downstairs (again) and I think he was almost sleepwalking when he went to bed, so he was asleep again as soon as his head touched the pillow.

On the subject of sleep, I wish I was a cat, our two seem to have a very comfortable life!

Getting There

Friday passed in a blur of activity, we were packing and preparing for our holiday and it all seems to take so much more time than you anticipate. We took Meg to the kennels after lunch, it is not the nearest but it has a very good reputation and Meg seems to like it there, she loves ball games and as long as they play with her she will be happy. The cats are staying at home, Emily will look after them at the weekends and grandma (my mum) will be in charge during the week. Fortunately Dave's eye is better now so he will not need any more medication, that is just as well because he is not the most grateful patient and I don't want mum or Emily to be scratched to bits.

By 7pm the car was packed and the house was more or less acceptable, after a quick meal I retired to bed so that I would be well rested for our early start. The alarm woke me at 2am, bed seemed very attractive but I forced myself to get going, it took drastic measures to drag Robbie from his bed, but after a shower and 3 Weetabix he was a little more human. It always takes longer to do those last few jobs than you expect, and Robbie kept us all waiting, but by about 3.50am we were on our way. Robbie promised to stay awake to talk to me, but he was snoozing before we had left Northamptonshire!

With three slumbering passengers and only a talking book to keep me company I had a quiet drive towards Oxford and then down to the M4. I wanted to make the most of the early start so I drove on until the second services on the M4 before making a comfort stop, they all moaned when I woke them up and turfed them out of the car. After a quick visit to the facilities and a walk around in the cool morning air I felt sufficiently refreshed and awake to continue. Sleeping Beauty was nodding again before we had rejoined the motorway but it was a good drive, I didn't see any road works or traffic cones at Bristol (there is a first time for everything) the M5 would have been better without the multitude of caravans, but there were no delays and before long we had passed Exeter and headed into Cornwall on the A30. At last I could turn off towards Camelford, Wadebridge and the Atlantic Highway, I love that bit of the journey. By 9am we were parked by the quayside in Padstow enjoying a very welcome hot chocolate, for me this is the best place in the world.
We spent the day in Padstow exploring the shops, enjoying lunch at our favourite restaurant and watching all the activity around the harbour. We booked into the caravan at 3pm and by 5.30pm the luggage that had taken almost a week to gather together and pack was unpacked and put away and I could finally relax and enjoy the amazing view across the bay. I will add some photos later.

It is hardly surprising that I was exhausted, but I stayed awake long enough to see Graham Norton's continuing search for a Nancy and then the beginning of the Eurovision Song Contest. I don't usually watch Eurovision, but I really like Andy Abrahams and I wanted to see the British entry. Thankfully it was very near the beginning and after watching several more increasingly bizarre entries I retreated to the bedroom and the relative sanity of Radio 4! That was the last I remember until I was awoken this morning by a yell from the en suite – Robbie had burned his bum on the heated towel rail!

Do You Think They Make Straight Jackets for Cats?

Do you think they make straight jackets for cats? After last night they will be lucky if they survive for much longer. I have a really bad cold and I have been feeling like 'death warmed up' so I was glad to finally get to bed on Monday evening. I was so cold, I just couldn't get warm and I struggled to fall asleep. I awoke to feeling cold and confused and aching all over. There was a lead weight where my legs should have been and for a split second I thought I was dying from the feet up but when my brain woke up I realised that George the cat had sneaked upstairs and parked himself on my legs! He was despatched in the direction of his own bed and having regained the use of my legs I snuggled back into bed in search of sleep. I dreamed about rats (I don't know why) then suddenly there was a thump on the bed and I was jolted awake. It wasn't a huge rat with evil intent, it was Oreo was using the bed as a trampoline! By this time I was too shattered to do more than threaten him with extinction, but being male he is a slow learner and he and Dave continued with their boisterous game of tag for what seemed like an eternity in the end I dragged myself out of bed, captured the prisoners and left them downstairs feeling very sorry for themselves. By the time I had settled back to sleep again it was time to get up!

Bird Watching

Robbie managed to get home on time yesterday so finally able to get the tyre pressure and all the other car related jobs done. Not only did he get home on time, he also managed a whole day without tearing his shirt or damaging anything else, so that was a bit of an achievement by recent standards!

Emily Laura and Sam are going to London today so I was looking forward to a relatively quiet day to get on with my work, but things aren't looking good so far. Sam and I have had the usual battle about what he will wear and this has resulted in a bit of a strop from Sam. He favours the 'unironed' look, while I demand a minimum standard of basic hygiene and appearance, so it is always a bit of a challenge to find an acceptable compromise. Teenage boys really are unfathomable! Oreo is in one of those mischievous moods and he is already driving me mad. He has been charging around the house playing with an elastic hair band, it is hard to believe one young cat can create so much devastation. He played skittles with one of my vases and he knocked over a whole pile of ironed clothes, so he isn't a popular chap. He went to sit by Emily's bedroom door and I thought he wanted some fuss from her before she goes back to university at the weekend. I let him in, Emily was still half asleep but she soon woke up because Oreo wanted to use her window for a spot of bird watching, so he stood on her head to look through the window!!

Bin Wars.

I thought it was about time you were treated to another photo of Robbie in his PJ's! Don't worry there is nothing frightening. I took the photo of him last night, he was sitting in his usual corner glued to his computer with his headphones stuck in his ears. I had been talking to him without response for several minutes before I realised that I was actually talking to myself, he was watching a DVD apparently. I am going to try plugging him in again the next time I can't get a word in, I had almost an hour of peace this evening while he watched his DVD. There is just one drawback, when he had finished watching his DVD he provided me with a detailed (and I do mean detailed!) account of the plot. Somehow he misses the point, if I was interested in the plot I would watch the film myself, but you know Robbie, when he has something to say there is no stopping him!!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Robbie's determination to buy a new bin for the kitchen. As you may have guessed it wasn't as high on my priority list. The old one was perfectly adequate but Robbie sneaked out and bought a new one anyway, a very expensive one in fact. Why does something as basic as a bin have to create so much controversy? The existing bin had a swing lid and Dave the cat (who had been a stray before we adopted him) found it very easy to get into the bin in order to scavenge for scraps. The difficulty was that he couldn't get out again and he either curled up and went to sleep in there or he tipped the bin over in his struggle to get out. Robbie insisted that the new bin would be cat proof because it is metal with a press top lid that flips up to give access to the bin. It certainly looks smart - it should do for that price! It took Dave two days to work out how to open the lid, he seems delighted with the arrangement because he can still get in, but the lid stays open so that he can get out again. Robbie hasn't admitted defeat, he now intends to have a 'high rise' kitchen bin to be certain that it is cat proof.

Peace and Quiet - or perhaps not!

I had loads of work to do yesterday, it involved checking information and dealing with unfamiliar subjects so I needed peace and quiet to get on with it. As you can imagine I find it impossible to get much work done when Robbie is around because he is very distracting. Even when he is trying to be good he can't last more than ten minutes without one of his famous 'did you know .......' monologues. Even when he is not talking to me he talks to himself and that is just as distracting. Yesterday Robbie was safely despatched to work and Sam and Laura had been delivered to school so I hoped for a nice quiet morning to get on with my work but thanks to Oreo (our cat) it turned into the most chaotic sort of day.

Oreo is less than a year old and still quite playful, but usually he doesn't cause too much disruption. I had just settled in front of my computer when there was a clatter in the hall and I discovered a rather sheepish Oreo wearing a new stile in feline bridal attire - my net curtain from the hall window! Liberated from his apparel he scampered up stairs while I replaced the curtain. I settled back to my work, but Oreo, who had been doing a spot of bird watching from the hall window had found a better vantage point at the window at the top of the stairs. It gave him a brilliant view of the flat roof of the utility room and the little puddle where the starlings like to take a bath. Unfortunately for Oreo it involved perching on top of a large plant pot containing an equally large christmas cactus, which I would imagine proved rather a ticklish problem. Before many minutes had passed we had a feline Humpty Dumpty, Oreo and the plant came tumbling down making a horrible mess and ruining a pile of clean laundry that was waiting to be put away.

Finally I settled back to work, and Oreo kept a low profile. He amused himself by stalking his favourite quarry - elastic hair bands! It is comical to watch him chasing and sliding on the laminate floor and such an insignificant little thing can hold his attention for ages. After that he and Dave (the other cat) played a very energetic game of chase and managed to sound like a whole heard of elephants racing up and down the stairs. Eventually peace reigned when they both found a patch of sunshine on the hall carpet, the ideal spot for a cat nap. Oreo was soon up and about again, he decided to investigate the hearth and chimney, but finding that he couldn't get up the chimney he examined the vase standing on the hearth instead. The inevitable happened, his head got stuck and a vase with a cat in it rushed around the lounge in a panic, amazingly both survived unscathed. Even more amazingly I managed to finish all my work.

Finicky Felines (and Others) 07.03.08

A few days ago a friend delivered some car magazines that he had been saving for Laura. He had put them in a box, the sort that fruit is packed in; the magazines were soon spirited away leaving the empty box which was quickly taken over by the cats. Robbie put the cat blanket over the box and the cats became a permanent fixture in the hall. One day Dave the cat even moved it closer to the radiator! It was getting on my nerves so I bought them a cat igloo made of a nice cosy brown fabric I hoped that they would like it and then I could put the box out for recycling. The cats had other ideas, they have refused to use their new bed, and every time I try to take the box away they look at me with such sad eyes that I can't do it

Sam needed new school shoes - again, so last week we headed to the shoe shop to look for a new pair. It is not one of my favourite jobs at the best of times, but Sam was finding it especially difficult to stay 'on task'. He tried on several pairs, but the ones he liked didn't fit and the ones that fitted didn't suit him, finally we settled on a pair that he liked and I could tolerate and they seemed to fit very well. Suddenly Sam's eyes settled on a pair of Sketchers that he absolutely had to have. I am not sure why my children have a weakness for Sketchers, I can't see the attraction - maybe it is an age thing! Like Robbie, Sam and the girls have a passion for footwear. Anyway Sam was focussed on a pair of trainers that were hardy more substantial than plimsolls, but they possessed a price tag that made my eyes water. I explained the difference between 'want' and 'need' and as he already has two or three pairs of trainers he doesn't need any more. I don''t like having to say no and Sam doesn't like having to hear it, but it is a learning process and a necessary part of life. We bought the school shoes and Sam was not a happy chap on the way home, but when he recovered his temper he seemed please with the school shoes. He wore them for a couple of days, but now he is back to the old shoes 'because they feel better'. Why is life so complicated?

Caught in the Act. 10.01.08

Emily has been busy with her work for university for days now, obviously the boys thought she needed some help. They are supposed to be banned from her room but they are a cunning pair.

Doing a spot of research.

All this thinking is exhausting.

Taking Down the Decorations 06.01.01

Christmas is over and all the decorations have been taken down and packed away for another year. It is the part of Christmas that I like the least. When it is time to put up the decorations I have several willing volunteers, but taking the decorations down is a very different matter, suddenly everyone is very busy and I find that packing away the decorations is a lonely task.

I think Oreo will be very sad to find an empty space where the Christmas tree stood, he loved sleeping underneath it and when he felt energetic he would climb up and play with the decorations. At least he still has the fire, I took a lovely photo of him squashed as close as he could to the hearth so that he could soak up every bit of heat.

Dave the cat prefers a comfortable cushion, but he happily curls up with his mate Oreo, they have become good friends, not bad considering that Dave only joined our family in November.

Oreo is not too impressed with toys these days, but Dave had a squeaky mouse for Christmas and he loves chasing it all around the house before killing it with his four remaining teeth. I hope you like the photos.

Decisions 17.11.07

It seems that the size of our family is to increase. Just over a week ago we became aware that a cat had moved into our paper recycling box which is kept outside at the front of our house. At first we only saw the cat from a distance because it hid under the micra when we were close by. Gradually he let me get closer to him and I realised that he was in a very sorry state and he appeared to be injured. He didn't belong to anyone nearby and I thought the very least I could do was to feed him. On Thursday I was able to catch him, he stank of infection and he was so dirty that it was impossible to see the extent of his injuries. I was either brave or stupid, but I gave him a bath in warm salt water and I managed to clean off the worst of the dirt. His back paws were horribly swollen and bleeding, there had been some sort of injury to his face and his fur was matted in places. Despite all this he had a lovely nature and he was obviously house trained, I doubted that he had much chance of survival, but I had to do what I could. I rang the RSPCA and they arranged to fund his initial veterinary care, so on Friday lunchtime the cat and I headed off to see what the vet had to say. He has a condition called pododermatitis, this had led to ulcerated back paws that are badly infected, in addition he had an ingrowing claw, an old injury to his face, he was malnourished and he had fleas. The vet said that he was fairly old and he only had four teeth, but at least everything internally seemed to be in working order. The RSPCA agreed to fund treatment to his feet and he stayed at the vets to be sedated and to have his feet sorted out. I collected him later (minus the fleas!) and he seemed to have tolerated the experience quite well, he has to go back on Tuesday to be checked, but until then I have the challenge of giving tablets to a toothless cat twice a day. He is not chipped and we have done everything possible to find his owners, but it is looking increasingly unlikely.

If the cat is going to stay it needs a name and it has provoked considerable debate with the children. Sam chose the name Richard but I thought he should have a good strong name like George. Laura favoured the names Pedro or Dave (imagine explaining that to the vet!) and Emily mentioned the name Otis, I quite liked that but nobody else did. Robbie had some surprisingly wise thoughts to contribute to the debate, he said we should try not to give the cat a complex about his name because he has already had quite enough to put up with in his life. I think we will just have to wait and see what suits him best.