The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet - Aristotle

My son, who for the purposes of the blog wishes to be known as Will, went off to university a few weeks ago. He seemed concerned that there would be a tearful parting when we left him to settle in to his new halls, but I'm an old hand at this now, his older sisters thrived at university and I am sure that Will will do the same. He seemed a little disappointed when I reassured him that there would be no tears, just a hug and pleasant thoughts of a tidier house! 

The week before he went to university was busy uneventful - at at least that was the case until the Wednesday evening. We'd had a very nice family meal at the Chinese restaurant, to say goodbye to Will. I ate too much and by the time we got home I was starting to regret it but it had been a lovely evening and I felt happy and contented when we got home. 

I should have known it was too good to be true! Will vanished soon after we got home from the meal, he said goodnight, took his things and went upstairs leaving Robbie and me in the lounge. I thought no more about it until later on when I decided to go to bed. I'd been putting off going to the the loo until that point so I needed to go quite badly. I went upstairs with some degree of urgency and straight into the bathroom without putting the light on. As soon as I sat down I realised that the seat was sticky and I jumped up wondering what on earth it could be. When I turned on the light I saw what looked like the aftermath of a bad case of dysentery! On closer inspection I saw the tell tale signs that Will had dyed his hair, box sticking out of bin, container still on sink and dark brown marks everywhere! The white toilet seat was marked with abstract streaks reminiscent of zebra stripes and to my horror I realised that a mirror image of the design was imprinted on my rear end!! I tried my best to restore my skin to its usual colour but without success (it looked like a henna tattoo but it vanished after about a week) vanish very soon. I got Will out of bed to restore order in the bathroom. He had the good sense to be very apologetic so I managed not to harm him but it was a close call!

Will spent a large chunk of the next morning in the bathroom scrubbing, the marks clung stubbornly to the toilet seat, floor, walls and door. I had to deal with it myself, but it did me good to see Will scrubbing the floor!

Apparently these were essential supplies for uni! 

The remainder of the week passed in a blur. I ironed 13 shirts, 14 pairs of chinos, and countless t-shirts and sundry items. I replaced missing buttons, altered jeans, sewed decorative patches on his onesie, collected his suit and coats from the dry cleaners and folded and sorted all his clothes ready for packing. By the time the car was packed with food, cleaning stuff, iron, assorted gadgets and their chargers, books, stationary, bedding, clothes and random clutter I was exhausted. There were no tears as we drove away from the halls just a huge sigh of relief and a feeling that like Will, Robbie and I are also starting on a new chapter of our lives. 

The greatest gift is our own eyes, sense of smell, and abilities to deduce - Patricia Cornwell

I was dreading going home after our holiday, because I knew the house would be a mess, it was, but it was not as bad as it was last year. We had a nice surprise because my daughter had painted the bathroom and it looks very nice. When we opened the front door we were met by a very unpleasant smell and my first hour or so at home was taken up with trying to track it down. It wasn't animal related and it wasn't the bin, amazingly the bin bag in the kitchen was almost empty. I tracked the pong to the kitchen but I couldn't identify it, I checked for rotting vegetables, but there were none, I had a good sniff inside the fridge but the smell wasn't coming from there. 

In the end I had to leave it and get on with tidying the kitchen and doing the laundry. Then Robbie made me a cup of tea and I sat down in the lounge to drink it. I could smell an over-ripe banana in the fruit bowl and I took it out to the food recycling caddy and as I lifted the lid, the pong was revealed in all it's glory. The contents of the caddy which had morphed into a green hairy mass, had been there since before our holiday! When I had escorted the stinking mass to the outside food bin and disinfected the food caddy, the inquest began. My son was adamant that it was not on his list - a typically aspie response! My older daughter who has a poor sense of smell claimed not to have noticed it and her sister announced that she doesn't have anything to do with food recycling because it is gross. So, the combined intellect of two university graduates and an A Level student was not sufficient to cope with the 'complexities' of  emptying the food caddy. Next year I will leave the cat in charge!

All Good Things Come To An End

We are not going home until Sunday, but Saturday morning found me packing up most of our belongings and cleaning the bungalow as my mum and step father were coming to start their holiday. Every year i promise myself that we will take much less, but every year we break that promise. We were so busy before we came to Norfolk that packing was a rather hit and miss affair, but how did Robbie mananage to bring 28 Tshirts with him, did he seriously think he would wear two Tshirts every day? In reality he has only worn a handful of his favourite tops, because I have washed them so that he could wear them again.

Finally we were all packed up and the bungalow was clean and shining so we could get on and enjoy the day. Robbie was in a lot of pain and it was making him lose patients with his jigsaw, so I did a bit for him - it is so hard but I was determined that we would get it finished. I didn't do very much because Robbie took over again to finish it, it looked fantastic when it was completebut after taking a photo we had to break it up and pack it away.

we went down to the beach because I wanted to take some photos and as we stood there looking out across the beach a seal popped up directly in front of us, within seconds he was gone again, but for the next few minutes he kept popping up and then vanishing again. Robbie and I watched until he swam away along the coast. It was a very special way to mark our last day in Norfolk.

When we went to bed Robbie got me up to look out of the window at the moon and it's silver reflection on the sea -he can be romantic after all, he just hides it well!! 

Endings and Beginnings

Saturday

We were up reasonably early to get on with the cleaning and to get our stuff packed up ready to go home. We are not actually going home until tomorrow but in many ways this is the end of our holiday. My mum and step father arrived today to start their holiday, but they have asked us to stay until Sunday to help them with unpacking and such like. I love them very much and it is nice to spend time with them, but for me what made the last fortnight really special was that Robbie and I had time together on our own and I am really going to miss that closeness when we get back.

The things that stick in my mind about today are our three walks along the coast path to the shop. The first walk was in the morning when the bungalow was cleaned and our belongings were packed up. We went to get Robbie's newspaper and other bits and bobs. It was sunny and the happy sounds of children playing on the beach reminded me of the many holidays we spent here when the children were younger and the happy times they spent playing on the beach and splashing in the sea. It is lovely to have memories to treasure but it is important to live life to the full now as well.

Our second walk was in the afternoon, I can't remember why we went to the shop, I just remember walking back and sitting at the edge of the beach enjoying the sunshine and looking out at the sea. I will really miss that view and the walks by the sea. Our last walk was in the evening, we went out to buy fish and chips (you have to have fish and chips at least once when you are on holiday!). The view across the sea is totally different as it gets dark, it has a special sort of beauty. As we came back with our fish and chips the bats were flying over the gardens, we have really enjoyed watching them in the evenings, I hope we can make time to notice and enjoy the little things like this when we get back.

You Know You Are Having A Bad Day When ......

Today was one of those one step forward and two steps back sort of days, but the crowing glory of the day came in the early afternoon. Laura had cooked herself some spicy potato wedges for her lunch, but she decided that she was running late for her lecture so she ate a couple and dashed off to university. The first clue that she had given the remaining potato wedges to the dog came when she was violently sick in the lounge. Clues two and three were deposited in the hall and kitchen as I rushed her out to the garden. The worst was yet to come, as I was kneeling on the kitchen floor cleaning up the mess Meg put her head through the cat flap and vomited into the utility room! I give up! She was absolutely fine after that, but it left me feeling rather fragile.

First Catch Your Cat!

The wanderer has returned from his busy weekend playing trains and he is now sitting in the corner snoring and the dog is sprawled on the floor also snoring! I shouldn't moan at least while he is dozing it gives me a break from listening to tales of his wonderful trip to Swanage. He didn't seem so interested in my adventures over the last few days, I don't blame him it really.

On Friday I went to the dentist, only minor treatment needed, the pain was financial rather than physical! The trip to the dentist was followed by a trip to the vet for George the cat, he was also in need of dental work. He had all his teeth out soon after we got him because they were in a bad state and causing him pain, but recently a fragment of tooth or root has come up through his gum and it looked inflamed and painful. Typically the fragment came out on Friday morning before we went to the vet, George needed antibiotics to help with the infection. More financial pain for me and serious indignity for George.

Unfortunately George gets travel sick, on the way to the vet he vomited and on the way back disaster struck he had a serious bowel accident. When we got home I opened the cat box carefully because he was covered, but he shot out of the box and hid under the table – thank goodness we don't have carpet! I dashed to the kitchen for wipes and cleaning materials and by the time I returned George had managed to 'pebble dash' the dog as well. I was starting to lose the will to live, but after an entertaining hour bathing the cat and washing the dog I managed to get the house cleaned up. After that it was back to the same old routine, laundry, shopping, cooking, taking people here and there and then fetching them back again. There was also the little matter of getting the cat to take his tablets!

You never know when some seemingly innocent remark will start Robbie off. The television was on and I expressed my irritation at a stupid advertisement that involved a man doing a somersault across the bathroom in order to fit a rim block to the loo. How ridiculous, when did a (straight) man ever interest himself in cleaning the loo and whoever has enough space at the side of their lavatory for a grown man to do a somersault!

My comment was enough to start Robbie off on the poor design of the toilets at work. Apparently they are lopsided with too much space on one side of the cubicle, too little on the other and the toilet roll holders are placed inconveniently causing problems for people who are not double jointed. The ergonomic analysis continued with a detailed analysis of the dodgy design of the Network Rail toilets. It was at this point that I experienced déjà vu and relived an interminable and unnecessarily detailed account of the management of controlled emission toilets on Voyagers - he even described the smell and the problems with the seals!

Robbie is full of surprises and suddenly the conversation veered away from design and function to position and posture when using the facilities. I will leave the rest to your imagination ...... as Richard says, too much information!!