The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers - Thomas Jefferson

There are many things that I love about Robbie, but his choice of newspaper is is not one of them. I detest the thing I resent the waste of paper and I resent the waste of money, I would rather he spent it on a railway magazine, even if he spent it on  Lego or any of his other many and varied obsessions it wouldn't seem so pointless. I have managed to change or modify many things about Robbie over the years, but he remains stubbornly attached to his limp lefty newspaper, so I do my best to ignore it.

Yesterday evening we settled down in the lounge, me with my laptop and Robbie across the room with his newspaper. I was lost in my own little world writing the blog when I glanced up to see Robbie holding his phone out to the cat, and more worrying still the cat was looking at it as if he was reading a text! I asked Robbie what he was doing and with a totally serious expression he said that he was showing the cat the time to prove that he had to wait another hour until feeding time. 

I shook my head in disbelief and settled back to writing the blog. A little later completely out of the blue Robbie asked "How much does mum pay for David's socks these days". It seemed such an odd question that I had to ask him to repeat it in case I hadn't heard him properly. I told Robbie that I have never given a passing thought to the price of my step father's socks - but thanks to Robbie I have now! Once he get's started on a subject there is no stopping him and I heard all about the advantages of loose top socks, a very good deal he had spotted; the price, the colour, it went on an on until I begged him to stop.

Finally he was quiet and I went back to what I was doing. Peace reigned for a little while, then Robbie's voice rang out asking "Have you noticed that you don't often see radishes in the supermarket these days?" I thought about it for a minute and decided to try my luck with a one word answer - no! It was worth a try, but it just encouraged him to provide more radish related information. I listened for a while but I really couldn't summon up much interest in radishes. I asked if he had ever eaten a radish and he informed me that he hadn't. I informed him that he hadn't missed much! I told him that if he was that interested I would buy him some radishes, but he quickly declined and told me that it just was something he had been reading about. 

So now yo know why I dislike that dratted newspaper, it puts ridiculous ideas in his head!

Teaching an Old Cat New Tricks

I saw far too much of the station car park last week, Robbie was working impossibly long hours and he was in so much pain that getting home on his own really wasn't an option. Thanks to the 'rancid green machines' (which are the bane of Robbie's life) I had plenty of time to take in all the 'delights' of Northampton Station. In fact I could probably have read the whole of War and Peace during my evening sojourns at the station. So by the time we got home and and got a meal on the table, Robbie was nodding off before his fork reached his mouth, like the dormouse at the Mad Hatter's tea party in Alice in Wonderland. 

It seemed as if the fun and closeness of the week before was just a distant dream but when life is tough and stressful, you have to take pleasure in the little things and the fleeting moments of fun. One evening after our meal I came into the lounge and was surprised to find Robbie wide awake and sitting at his computer. I was even more surprised to see Dave the cat sitting on his lap with his front paws leaning on the table, apparently looking at the computer screen. I told Robbie to "get that cat away from the table" but both he and the cat ignored me - nothing new there. As I sat down I realised that Robbie was talking to the cat comments such as "look at that one" and "this one is even better". Curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to see what they were doing. To my amazement they were looking at pictures of ginger cats! One thing is certain, there is no one in the world quite like Robbie and I am proud of him for so many reasons, but most of all for being true to himself. 

Doing Battle

If my brain was like a computer I would be able to erase old files and junk to free up memory space. Instead I find myself struggling to remember what I went to the shop for but still able to remember useless chunks of information from years ago. On Thursday evening I found myself sitting in a parking space at the local Tesco which is attached to a filling station. As I waited for Robbie I glanced up at the signs above the fuel pumps Esso, and suddenly an advertising jingle replayed itself in my head. "The Esso sign means happy motoring, the esso sign means happy motoring, so call on the Esso sign", I dread to think how long that little gem has been lurking in a dusty corner of my brain. I looked it up when I came got home and YouTube alleged that it was from the 1950s, I will admit to being a child of 1960s but I wasn't even a twinkle in the 1950s!

Anyway by the time we got home I had skipped nimbly over the stepping stones of memory and recited a sizeable chunk of a Robert Browning poem to Robbie. I have probably mentioned before that Robbie is a man of varied and surprising tastes, but I may not have  revealed that he likes me to recite poetry to him. For some reason my maternal grandmother cropped up in conversation and I told him that The Pied Piper by Robert Browning was her party piece - she could empty a room with it! For those who are not familiar with it, it is a lovely poem but it is very, very long. She knew the whole poem by heart and as a young child I thought it was the coolest thing to get her to recite it for me, it fees as if I have known that poem for ever. Reciting it brings back many happy memories, but it is no practical use. 


Anyway, back to computers, I have been doing battle with my computer for some time, or to be more accurate, doing battle with the Blogger template I use for the blog. I have tamed most of the gremlins in the system or at least found ways to work around them, but when I wanted to change the layout slightly it started acting the fool. It left my text looking as if it was hanging in mid air, all I wanted to was to have a distinct dark coloured background with light text in my chosen font. It seemed like a fairly simple thing to do, but Blogger wasn't having it. I wasted hours trying every way I could think of to get it to do what I wanted without success. I don't like to be beaten and in the end I found a rather clunky solution, I created what I wanted elsewhere then turned it into a PDF file and imported it. It worked! There should have been a much better way of doing it but at least it is done. 


So now I have my next battle, trying to the make the 'contact me' button work. So far it has led me a merry dance, but if I am capable of keeping Robbie more or less on the straight and narrow, I am certainly not going to be defeated by a contact button!!
 

Lost

I had a very early start on Wednesday morning, I couldn't sleep and dispite my very best efforts I couldn't wake Robbie up either, so I got up at 6am and watched the sun rise over the sea. I had a relaxing couple of hours enjoying the sunshine while playing with Robbie's netbook - I am so glad he confessed because I have really enjoyed playing with it! There was still no movement fom the bedroom by 8.30am so I crept back to bed, determined to wake Robbie up, but I failed dismally, I must have fallen asleep because it was Robbie who woke me with a nice cup of tea just before 9am.

We had a lovely unhurried morning. Robbie made a cooked breakfast and we took things so steadily that by the time we got around to our after breakfast walk along the beach it was lunchtime. It was so nice on the beach, I was busy taking photos and paddling in the sea while Robbie strolled along the tide line doing his best to keep his feet (and his red converse trainers) dry. We walked a long way and by the time we got back we were both ready for a nice cup of tea, but panic set in as I reached the back gate and realised that I had lost my phone on the beach. We rushed back and retrace our steeps but even after a careful search we couldn't find the phone. It wasn't really the value of the phone that bothered me, and it only contained my pay as you go 'holiday' sim card, but I was sorry to lose it because there were a few special texts on it.

Hours later the loss of the phone was still troubling me and I decided to go and have one last look for the phone. It was small and grey and it would blend perfectly with the pebbles on the beach especially if it was face down. The tide was further in by now so it was hard to be sure about where I had walked and I decided to hust wander along the beach. Amazingly I had only gone a short distance when I spotted the phone on the sand, it was still working perfectly. I am so pleased that I decided to go back because if I had left it much longer the tide would have covered that strech of sand and the phone would have been washed away.

Confession Time

They say that confession is good for the soul, if that is true Robbie's soul should be in tip top form because he certainly gets himself into some scrapes and he has had to do a lot more confessing than most. His latest confession isn't such a big deal really, he bought himself a netbook without telling me then when he got it he couldn't pluck up the courage to tell me so for the last couple of months he has had to keep it hidden and he couldn't use it. I feel sad that he couldn't tell me, it is fairly trivial really compared to some of the things that I have had to get my head around, but I am so glad that in the end he told me rather than me having to drag the truth out of him. The bottom line is that I love him and nothing can change that, especially something as unimportant as a netbook. We are making up for lost time, since his 'confession' we've had loads of fun with the netbook.

What a Week!

I didn't have much time to get things done last week, my computer died and refused to be revived, then I had problems with the one I bought to replace it and I had to spend hours sorting it out. Then this week horror of horrors by beloved mobile phone took a dive into the toilet (clean water). I dried it straight away and it is now shut in a zippy bag full of rice to help absorb any moisture, but it is as dead as a dodo and I am devastated. I have a couple of very precious voice recordings on that phone and I can't face the thought that they are gone forever. If anyone knows how to recover those recordings and my contact list please let me know, it would mean so much to me.

The highlight of last week for me was seeing the worst prime minister in my lifetime walking out of Downing Street, if only I had confidence that the new government will do a better job. It seems odd to me that the Liberals can do so badly in the election but end up in the government. I was especially disappointed that the shifty looking ginger haired one was given a job in government, he looks dodgy. Oh well I guess time will tell.

On The Edge

Photo of Pitsford Water by Black Kite


I have had a whole week away from the blog, the longest time ever, and the cause of my absence was Robbie -he broke my laptop! He refuses to admit that it was his fault, but he had his hands on it (trying to install something that I didn't want in the first place) when it turned up it's toes. His denial is rather like the person who fired a gun saying that the gun was innocent it was the bullet that caused the problem! He then went on to make a bad situation worse by messing around with the hard drive when I told him not to, so now I have lost all my files. The title of this post could relate to me being read to commit murder, I certainly feel angry enough to harm him, but I am not dwelling on that, the title of this post is about my visit to the waters edge on Friday evening.

I have been abandoned once again, early on Friday morning Robbie packed his bags and informed me that he was going to play trains and he will not be back until Sunday, to say that I was unimpressed is an understatement! Later in the say I found that even the dog has a better social life than I do, she had been invited to a barbecue (with Sam) and she needed a lift. The barbecue was to be held at Brixworth Country Park at the edge of Pitsford Reservoir. Sam hurried me along and we arrived in good time for a 6pm start, unfortunately he had got the time wrong and we we over half an hour early. It was really nice to enjoy the warm evening and look out across the water while Meg investigated every smell and pretended that she was too sophisticated to play ball. It brought back so many happy memories, Laura's pond dipping party when she was about six, various events with brownies and bird watching with the children on lazy Saturday afternoons. I remember taking our old dog Jimmy for his last walk, knowing that he had to be put to sleep because he was in a lot of pain from cancer in his jaw, that was so very sad. Then when we got Meg, one of her first walks demonstrated her fear of sheep and her passion for chasing bicycles. She was re homed as a failed sheepdog and we understood why when a sheep looked through the fence at her and she hid behind me! She loves to chase wheels but footballs have always been her greatest passion, in her prime she was better at ball skills than Beckham!

Sam rang me to fetch him in 5 minutes, since it is almost half an hour away he must think I have a teleporter in the garage, but I got there as soon as I could. I found a talkative teenager and a very tired dog, she sprawled out and went to sleep on the back seat. Sam told me that she had been the centre of attention and had used her 'poor starving dog look' with such good results that she had eaten more than anyone else at the barbecue!

Fast Forward

We were up until 1am messing around with Sam's laptop, I wish people gave me that much attention when I feel overworked and under valued! Anyway poor old Robbie was nodding off in his chair and leaning at a precarious angle, I tried to send him off to bed, but he insisted that he was wide awake and he would wait for me. I gave up on the laptop in the end and left it to sulk, while Robbie and I got some much needed sleep.

Not surprisingly we overslept slightly this morning, so Robbie had to start the day on 'fast forward', but I think he still caught his train. He loves his job, but he has found the last couple of weeks hard going, even when he is at home he seems to find it hard to switch off. I understand, I've had similar times, but I'm determined that this coming weekend I will find a way to take his mind off work – even if it means going on a train journey!

The laptop is being a little more cooperative this morning, it is defragmenting, very slowly, but at least we are heading in the right direction.

Near Death Experience

Sam's laptop has had a nervous breakdown this evening, it had been asked to do too much, remember too much and store too much – I know exactly how it feels!! The computer just shut down and refused to respond to anyone. Sam was in the lounge sitting next to the computer looking totally distracted and touching the computer from time to time in a forlorn attempt to coax it back to life. Robbie took a different approach he swore at it menacingly until he finally got it to open in safe mode. It took forever but finally the disk clean up announced that there were 7,479993.00 temporary internet files to be deleted! Once that lot was gone the computer was a little more responsive. I had never seen so many programs installed on one computer! Robbie helped Sam to delete all the unnecessary programs, you could almost hear the computer sigh with relief! He still has a massive (and weirdly eclectic) collection of music, 4645 emails to be deleted, and other assorted junk to be tidied up and removed. When you think of it like that it sounds like the virtual version of his bedroom!!

I Blame Network Rail!

On Friday when Robbie left for work I asked him to promise not to be late home, and he assured me that he would be on time. He was with Network Rail, so before I put the dinner on I phoned him to check when he would he back, he said he would be on a later train, so I agreed to pick him up. I dropped Sam off at his friend's house on my way and then drove to the station just in time to meet his train. I sat there for a minute or two, then my mobile rang and Robbie announced that he was not on the train and would be an hour later!! He still hasn't explained why he didn't tell me as soon as he knew he wouldn't be on the train, it would have saved me a wasted journey. Maybe it is a Network Rail thing - never give anyone any useful information!

I picked him up later and he was full of apologies, he promised me his undivided attention for the rest of the weekend. That promise turned out to be like the countless Network Rail promises about the West Coast main line – all hot air! He went online and got into an argument with some lame brains about train overcrowding. I gave up and went to bed and he promised he would be there in a minute. Over an hour later he was still on his computer arguing about trains with those sad acts, so I gave up and went to sleep. This morning when he finally woke up, he cuddled up to me and told me in great detail about how he used to collect erasers when he was a child, that was a real turn on! Later when I was having a bath he came in and sat down to have a chat, I was pleased, at least he wanted to talk to me, but then he started a long discourse on his plan to partition the hard drive on his computer! He doesn't need a wife, he needs a robot! If this is the result of a couple of days spent with Network Rail I dread to think how bad he would be after a week with them!

The Big Cover Up

Exciting news – Robbie has bought new pants! Those people who were alarmed after my recent post on the subject of Robbie's alleged shortage of knickers can relax, he is in no danger of running out of clean underwear. He got a little over excited about his purchase (Marks and Spencer has that effect on him) and he waved his new pants at us just before we sat down to eat on Friday evening. Thank goodness other people don't have to look at them, they are loud and startling just like their owner! Sam claimed that it will take years of therapy to get the image out of his mind and the girls claimed that it put them off their meal.

I think that is more than enough information on that subject. I would like to be able to write about a little mishap that happened to someone who shall remain nameless the other day but I have had warnings about dire consequences if if I do. All I can say is that if you doze off while using your computer you should try not to allow yourself to slump forward, because if your nose touches the keyboard it can cause all sorts of unexpected problems!!

Things That Go Crunch in the Night

I went to bed at about midnight and left Robbie fighting a losing battle with his computer. His whole iTunes library has vanished without trace, apparently even artificial intelligence is offended by the stuff that Robbie calls music! I listened to my radio for a bit and then I settled down to sleep. Some time later I was was woken by a strange noise. In that semi sleep state I tried hard to make sense of the noise. It was rather like the noise of the filter in the big fish tank in the orthodontists waiting room, a sort of watery sucking noise. I knew we didn't have a fish tank and I could tell the noise was close by so I had to wake up and investigate. When I was fully awake it didn't take very long to solve the mystery, Robbie had given up on the iTunes and had come to bed and had decided to cheer himself up by chewing a chocolate toffee!! I put two pillows over his head but the chewing and sucking went on and on for ages, I'm sure a gobstopper wouldn't have lasted that long. Words were exchanged and I don't think he will do that again!

Ticks in Boxes

I didn't write much about the weekend mainly because I was on my own for most of Saturday, Robbie and Sam left early to spend the day with Robbie's dad and step mum in Norton Canes. It gave me a chance to catch up with some housework and to venture into the garden to tackle the hedge. Sunday morning was less busy and I was determined to relax and listen to The Archers Omnibus on the radio. You can always rely on Robbie for a Sunday morning quote and last Sunday was no exception. I hadn't seen much of him all week so it was nice to wake early on Sunday morning and know that we were in no rush to get up. We could have talked about anything under the sun, we could have just been quiet and enjoyed the luxury of time, but Robbie talked endlessly about the wonders of his dad's new cheese grater. Surely there is only so much anyone can find to say about a cheese grater - unless you are Robbie of course!

The Galaxy went back to have the break pads checked yesterday, they were fine but there is an intermittent fault on the sensor so I have to put up with the warning light and the very annoying alarm sound until it becomes a constant fault, then they should be able to identify which sensor is causing the trouble. I'm sure that car has a gremlin in it!

Sam went for his hay fever medication review at the doctors. It was such a pointless exercise, the nurse didn't ask anything about his symptoms she measured him, weighed him and asked if he smoked - no way will he smoke! How ridiculous, there would be some point to asking if it was part of a message to prevent young people from smoking, but it was just a tick in a box on the computer. That is the first time in his life that Sam has been weighed or measured at the doctors without screaming the place down. When he was younger he was extremely uncooperative when it came to developmental tests. He took particular exception to the wooden giraffe measuring stick on the wall, he wouldn't go near it and he screamed so much that people must have thought he was being tortured. Maybe he is like me, I object to being measured and monitored, and these days there is so much bureaucracy involved in health care that I don't feel like an individual anymore. It isn't the doctors fault, it is the system that is imposed by the government.

Missed

The weather has been lovely over the last few days, I love this time of year when the whole summer stretches ahead of us. I'm not sure my children would agree with me, Sam is suffering badly with hay fever, Laura is just about to start exam leave for her AS Level exams and Emily has exams looming at university. Sam has started on his medication, so hopefully his hay fever will improve soon. The oil seed rape is in flower and the countryside around here is a mass of yellow, I hate the smell and the pollen upsets my asthma so I will be glad when the flowers are gone. It really annoys me that I have asthma, I didn't develop it until I was an adult and I don't understand why, I have never smoked a cigarette in my life.

I had to go to town yesterday to buy birthday presents for Imogen, the youngest (and probably the loudest) of our children, she will be 9 later this month. Imogen looks so much like Robbie, she can be very strong willed but she has a lovely side to he nature, when asked what she wants for her birthday or Christmas she doesn't provide a long list of desires, she just says that she will be happy with anything. So we have spent the last few weeks trying to think of things that she will really like. I can't tell you what we have bought, that's top secret, but it involved me trudging around town until my legs almost dropped off. It was a successful trip and now I have plenty of wrapping up to do.

For those who are wondering if Robbie was forgiven after yesterday's blog entry, yes, I never stay cross with him for long. There was another points failure yesterday so he was late home again, it is so frustrating. He was home just long enough to eat his meal before dashing out to sort out Marion's wayward router again, it was an AOL server problem - again!. When I picked him up from Marion's house he said "I missed ..." and just for a split second I thought he was going to tell me that he had missed me (we have hardly seen each other this week), but it was something far more important - he had missed one of his favourite TV programs! It was late so I went to bed and left him watching the repeat of his program. Oh well at least I had peace and quiet!

Robbie to the Rescue

I always enjoy Friday evenings, the weekend stretches before us and I can look forward to not getting up at the crack of dawn. We had not been home for very long when the phone rang with an SOS for Robbie. My friend Marion was having problems with her router and she needed to borrow Robbie for an hour or two. After our meal I dropped Robbie at her house, which is not far from where we live, that left me free to pop to the supermarket and then to get on with some cooking. I was expecting Robbie to take ages because Marion's computer has proved stubborn in the past. I was wrong, it only took him just over an hour, so when he rang I was in the middle of cooking. I was making cakes for Robbie, as requested. When I collected him he emerged from Marion's house clutching a tin full of cakes! There is something about Robbie that makes people want to feed him, its the only way I know to stop him talking so perhaps it isn't so surprising.

Saturday morning is always a time for random statements from Robbie and this morning was no exception. After we had almost had an argument about the London Mayoral elections, Robbie cuddled up to me and announced that he was missing his contact from Network Rail at Leeds. She is off sick and Robbie said it doesn't feel right not having her at the end of the phone. Oddly enough I hadn't planned to spend my extra hour or so in bed talking about Network Rail, but it seems as if work is never far from Robbie's mind.

We had the usual argument in the supermarket when Robbie repacked the trolley just to prove that he was in control. I put it back how I wanted it and he stomped towards the cat food telling me that I could keep the trolley. I took him at his word but within seconds he was back to take control once more. When we got home again he was doing a lot of clattering around and sighing in the kitchen so I left him to it. I ploughed my way through the ironing, so Sam and Robbie have another weeks supply of ironed shirts - if I had my way men would be banned from wearing shirts!!

Finally I had finished the ironing, sorted out the cat tray and supervised Sam cleaning out his guinea pig. I sat down for a well earned rest while watching I'd Do Anything - did I mention before that Sam had to point out to me the irony of Graham Norton searching for a Nancy! I was enjoying the show when Robbie, who is not the worlds most effective window, stood between me and the screen and began a detailed account of the freezer contents and a convoluted explanation of the way he had reorganised the storage space. He got really cross when I told him to go away and leave me to enjoy the television. He is a control freak when it comes to the fridge and freezer, he even leaves post it notes to tell people what to eat first! I don't know why he bothers because we all do as we like anyway. Why does he have to be so exhausting?

High Speed Chase

When Robbie got home yesterday he was very keen to tell me about a link that his cousin Wendy in USA had sent him. It enabled Robbie to guide the cursor and view the road where Wendy lives. It isn't like google earth where you are looking down on the houses from above, it is as if you are driving along the street and you can look at all the houses. Robbie doesn't drive, and he wasn't very good at virtual 'driving' with the cursor either, one minute we were looking at Wendy's house then suddenly we went speeding off down the road into the next road, and the next - we were practically in the next state before he released the cursor! It is an amazing link and it was really interesting to experience, it was like being able to walk down a road in a country that you have never visited. Well, actually with Robbie in the driving seat it was more like playing The Simpsons Road Rage game, but you know what I mean. Robbie said he would look again later when he had more time, I think he wanted to practice his 'driving' skills in private.

I am rather glad there is not a similar site that allows people to have quite such a close look at our house, the front hedge needs cutting and the hedge cutter is still out of action after Robbie last escapade - he cut through the electric cable! We have a gardening weekend planned, Robbie plans to restore order to the back garden and I need to tidy up at the front. I think we will avoid the electrical gadgets for the garden as far as possible!

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.

Living Dangerously! 12.03.08

I told Robbie about my computer problem yesterday evening as we were on our way to the supermarket. I was astounded by his response especially as he had experienced his own computer troubles fairly recently. He said that he he'd been wondering where that collar stiffener had gone and that I would have to get it out as he needed it. He then went on to wonder out loud how he could find a replacement if he couldn't get the original back. I don't think he needs to worry about collar stiffeners, the sort of stiffness on my mind was rigor mortis, I felt almost murderous!

Robbie was in high spirits (despite the loss of his collar stiffener) because his new briefcase had been delivered. I think it was another birthday present to himself - it is his birthday on Saturday. He has almost as many briefcases as Laura has handbags, but I did manage to force a major concession - he has agreed to throw his old briefcase away!

The Revenge of the Shirt! 11.03.08

Robbie likes watching a dreadful television program on Monday evenings, and having endured an hour of 'TV to top yourself by' earlier in the evening (Emmerdale and Eastenders) and I didn't have the inner strength to tolerate Skins later on. I decided to retreat to bed with my laptop and Radio 4. I had hardly started writing when the laptop made a couple of very odd noises, then it carried on as normal. I thought perhaps I had imagined it, but when I changed position it made the noise again, so I turned the laptop upside down to look at the base and it started to make a dreadful noise, like the noise made by those clip things that boys like to put on bicycle wheels. On closer inspection the cause of the problem became evident, there was a little plastic strip like a mini plant label, and it was catching in the fan. I could see it well through the wire mesh below the fans, but I would have to open the back to get it out - not a job for 11pm. I had another look this morning, I haven't decided what to do yet, but I have identified the offending article, that dreadful rainbow striped shirt is taking revenge on me for being so disparaging about it. The little plastic strip came from the shirt collar! I think I have worked out how it got into the computer but getting it out will be a bit more complicated. I hate that shirt, it has caused nothing but trouble since he bought it.

Gremlins 08.02.08

My computer has been rather wayward in the last few days. My stored log on information kept getting lost and all sorts of odd or unexplained changes had really started to bug me. I began to wonder if my computer was possessed or if someone was hacking into it, so I decided to have an in depth look 'behind the scenes' to see what was really going on. It was a long and very boring job, but I traced the culprit - it was Robbie!! He obviously enjoys living dangerously! I have willingly shared my computer with him since his went wrong but I am not sure what led him to believe that he could fiddle with my settings! He had altered the configuration and I had stuff opening automatically at start up, he had even emptied my recycle bin. Allegedly all this was 'accidental' but I'm not convinced, he just cant resist twiddling with things. My computer is almost back to normal now, but I think Robbie's ears are still ringing, so hopefully he will not feel the need to twiddle with the settings in future.