Easter Eggs and Summer Holidays

This morning I found myself asking the cat what the world is coming to. He didn't answer, he was probably lost for words. I have to admit that every year I become a little bit more like my grandmother. As far as I know she didn't talk to cats, but she often told me that the world was going mad - I wonder what she would make of the way things are now. 

The reasons for my frustration were Easter Eggs and summer holidays. Our local co-op had Easter eggs on display on 27th December and I think the media began bombarding us with adverts for summer holidays at about the same time. Surely they could have waited until we had taken the Christmas decorations down! After all the hard work and expense of Christmas all I want is a bit of normality, with some peace and quiet. I don't even want to think about Easter or summer holidays for a while.

On the subject of Christmas decorations, we will be taking them down tomorrow and guess what everyone is too busy to help! After several weeks of decorations it is nice to see the room looking less cluttered, but I always have mixed emotions about packing away the decorations. Christmas is behind us,  another year has begun and I can't help wondering what sort of challenges the months ahead have in store for us. 

We have a large collection of Christmas decorations, some date back to my childhood and the children have their own decorations, I have bought them one every year since they were born and marked it with the year and a few words about milestones for that year. They make up a very special store of memories. Every year before the tree goes up there is a lot of debate about whose angel will go on top of the tree. My angel hasn't been anywhere near a Christmas Tree for years, but she still looks good despite her advancing age. When I was a little girl my mum used to help me to make a new dress and new wings for the angel every year. We made it from crepe paper, scraps of tinsel and foil and she looked just as good as the expensive shop bought angels that have taken her place. It is little things like that which make Christmas special, it doesn't have to cost a fortune to create happy memories.

All I Want for Christmas Is ................

Now that shopping and all the preparations for Christmas are in full swing I find myself thinking longingly of the days when I the children were little and shopping was so much easier. Back then money was still tight but almost everything wanted could be bought in one visit to Toys r Us, and when they woke up on Christmas morning their stockings were bulging. Now if their wish lists involve more effort in terms of shopping, have a bigger price tag and when the presents are wrapped and tucked under the tree they don't look very impressive, they certainly wouldn't fill a stocking! 

I still have younger children to buy for, three nephews and a niece and I have to admit that shopping for them has been the most enjoyable part of Christmas for me. My niece is 10, very grown up and very interested in fashion, so the main part of her present had a fashion design theme. She also loves reading, so I decided to buy her two books that I loved when I was young. It was hard to choose just two books, but it was very enjoyable to remember so many of the books that I enjoyed as a child. In the end I chose Charlotte Sometimes and Tom's Midnight Garden, both books had a similar theme, the connection between the past and the present. I hope she will enjoy them as much as I did.


My three year old nephew will be getting books as part of his present too. I bought him a set of Richard Scarry books and when Robbie saw them I thought he was going to burst with excitement. Apparently 'Cars, Trucks and Things That Go' was Robbie's favourite book when he was little, so I am sure he will enjoy reading the books with Oliver. The other part of his present also caused Robbie to reminisce, I bought him a Tonka truck. According to Robbie they were much better in the old days, but when he thought I wasn't looking I caught him admiring the new truck which makes realistic engine noises and has a special tool to change the tyres. 


I also caught my son looking longingly at my 5 year old nephew's present. I had chosen Transformers for him because he is car mad and I remembered how much my son liked Transformers. My son commented that it made him feel like adding a transformer toy to his own Christmas list - I wish he would, it would be a lot cheaper and less complicated than some of the things he wants!


It seems to me that part of the pleasure of Christmas comes from remembering the things and the people that made past Christmases special. I wonder what we will remember when we look back on this Christmas?

Lost For Words

Photo by ZoofyTheJi

It is not really true that I am lost for words. I could write about Robbie's missing pants (again), he got so wound up about two missing pairs of black pants yesterday. One pair wasn't missing at all, they were folded in the pile of laundry that I had taken up to the bedroom the previous evening. Apparently I hadn't folded them correctly and on the way to the station he patiently explained how to fold his underwear and amazingly he survived - I must be mellowing in my old age!  The other pair of favourite pants were not far away either, he 'found' them this morning and stood there waving them at me triumphantly in the style of a bull fighter - it isn't the best sight first thing in the morning! 


I could write about the roof leaking when we had torrential rain last Saturday night. It dripped through the ceiling on to Robbie's side of the bed, it ruined some of his precious railway books and it spoiled the covers of some of his vinyl records. He was so angry about it. After rescuing his things and finding a container to catch the water he stormed off to sleep on the sofa and I was left wide awake worrying about how much it is going to cost to fix the roof. It will be a huge amount because it will require scaffolding. 

Photo by Laura Jones

What I really want to write about is how much I love Robbie and how useless I feel sometimes. I am not a soppy, sentimental sort of person but I do care deeply about him and I have been terribly worried by the level of pain that he has been experiencing in recent months. Pain is exhausting and constant pain can be really lowering because it affects everything you do and it changes the way you feel about yourself. Robbie is so strong and so determined to be 'normal' (in his own unique way) but it gets him down when his back hurts and his legs misbehave. I can't take his pain away but I can be strong and help him to accept the need for more effective long term pain management. I can make sure he takes his tablets and help him to cope with the rather unpleasant side effects. The tablets make him very tired, waking him up in the morning is like trying to raise the dead. Sometimes he gets very cross with me and he has been known to tell me to go away in no uncertain terms, but I don't take too much notice of that. One way or another we will get through this. It will take a long time and a lot of trial and error to find the correct medication and the correct dose to manage the pain without devastating side effects. I need to be strong, I will not let him give up.

I Don't Believe It!

To borrow a phrase from Victor Meldrew, I don't believe it, I really don't believe it! Just when you think your life is much too difficult, another problem pops up and brings everything to a complete standstill. On Monday morning I took Emily to the other side of town to start her new job, all seemed to be going well, we got there in good time and after wishing her luck I headed home. It began to rain - that irritating sort of rain that forces you to keep turning the wipers on and off. There was not enough rain for the intermittent wiper function to be useful but it was still necessaries to keep clearing the screen. Suddenly the wiper flickered and then stayed firmly stuck in 'ground old Duke of York position (half way between up and down).

I got home and tried everything I could think of to rectify the problem. Nothing worked, so I had to make an emergency dash to see my mechanic. What I thought would be a quick repair turned into an over night job with a bill to match. I was car-less, but my step father saved the day by lending me his car over night.The Galaxy needed a new wiper motor and new linkage, but when my mechanic found out how much the new parts were he sent them back and set about making the most of the parts that were causing trouble. after stripping it all down and cleaning everything up he coaxed the wipers back to life. It still cost £170 because Ford insist on burying all their parts in impossibly tight locations, so it takes loads of time and effort to get at them. I hope this is more than a short term fix because new parts will cost about £700 and with labour on top it would be around £900!! I have had a stern word with the car, and warned it that it's days are numbered! I really hope no other problems rear their ugly head for a few weeks.

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!

An Attempt to Justify the Unjustifiable 29.11.07

The rail industry hit the headlines again today for all the wrong reasons. The latest fare increases were announced, and as expected they have increased significantly more than the rate of inflation. Some fares are capped by the government and they will rise by inflation plus 1% but the rest will increase by anything up to 11%. It seemed that every time I turned on the radio or TV a different selection of railway bods were squirming and stuttering in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable! I know the Prime Minister has been doing a whole lot of squirming for different reasons this week, but I think somebody ought to be asking him some probing questions about this too because it has his government's mucky fingerprints all over it. The government wants more trains, more carriages and more people to travel by public transport, great, but what are they doing about it? They are promising a 7% increase in the number of trains, but there is a 40% increase in the number of passengers! If they really believe all the stuff they spout about sustainable public transport and the need to reduce our impact on the environment then they really must put their money where their mouth is! Correction, I mean our money, tax payers money (they just like to pretend it is their money!). To have a coherent public transport system they have to bite the bullet and tax motorists, airlines etc and invest in the railways and in bus services.

I know it is hard for the government to understand, but you can't change things by just talking about it, they actually have to do something to bring about change. I am just an ordinary person and I don't know anything about the railways, but I know when I am being conned and the present situation is little short of exploitation. Many commuters have no choice about the train service they use to get to work and some have no viable option except rail transport, but they are still customers and they are entitled to expect a basic level of service which includes decent station facilities, accurate information, punctuality and a seat! I was amazed to discover that there is usually no penalty for trains being overcrowded and this is not included in the performance criteria of the train operating companies. It is ridiculous to expect rail passengers to pay extortionate fares, because many can and do vote with their feet. I enjoy visiting family in Devon and Cornwall and it is nice to travel by train rather than taking the car but the snag is that once we get there the public transport connections are almost non existent and the return rail fare would cost £548 for me, Robbie, Emily, Laura and Sam! If I drive I add a few miles to the car and I can get up to 7 people there and back on a tank of diesel (about £65). Until this ridiculous situation changes people like me will not use the railways!