To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect. Oscar Wilde

Look what I saw when I popped out to buy eggs on Friday! As I was walking back to the car I looked over into the paddock to see the donkeys and there it was just sitting there grazing. If I didn't know it was flightless I would swear that's what's been targeting my car in the last couple of weeks!! It is the strangest sight, two donkeys and an ostrich grazing in a field.

Robbie will be most put out that I went to the farm shop without him. He doesn't think I do anything when he is not around, one day I will really do nothing and he will soon spot the difference! He will also be disappointed that I didn't buy him any dripping. I was going to, but they didn't have any. It is probably just as well because it really isn't good for him; he only has it as an occasional treat. Not that I would consider it a treat, it looks absolutely disgusting and I have never felt the urge to try it. I will get him some next time I go to the farm shop. When it comes to food (and most other things) my grandmother's advice has served me well 'a little of what you fancy does you good'.

To the Farm Shop and Beyond

Robbie was really tired and in a lot of pain at the weekend, it had been a very long and challenging week. We didn't have the energy to go racing around finding exciting things to do, but it does you good to get out and do something different. So after dealing with all the routine household tasks we got in the car and took the scenic route through the Northamptonshire countryside to the farm shop. We are very lucky to live in such an attractive county, I always find the beautiful views and the happy memories associated with the little bit of the county that we visited on Saturday very uplifting. 


When we got to the Farm Shop Robbie went off in search of dripping and he was very excited when he found it because they didn't have any last time. We had a look round and chose some free range eggs (the main reason for our visit). Then as we approached the payment desk Robbie noticed some pork scratchings which he absolutely had to have. I thought he was teasing me at first, I didn't know that people actually eat them, I thought they were pet treats or something. Apparently I was wrong, according to Robbie they are a great delicacy but they don't look or smell like something I would want to taste! 


I tried to ignore the chomping noises coming from the passenger seat on the journey back to Northampton but it was challenging. Apparently it is not possible to eat pork scratchings quietly, and he was not amused when I suggested that maybe he should suck them instead! My disapproval didn't seem to spoil his enjoyment because the chomping was interrupted every so often by little expressions of delight and the word "Bostin". Not a word that we are familiar with in Northampton!


According to the Urban Dictionary Bostin means 'brilliant; fantastic; excellent; derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'bosten', meaning 'something to boast about' and now used almost exclusively in the Greater Birmingham area of the UK'


I can't complain too much about Robbie's treats, he bought me a can of Root Beer on Friday (as a thank you for supporting him through a very difficult week).
It was heaven, I love Root Beer, but I know it is not good for me. I also know that Robbie's treats are not good for him, which is why they are only very occasional purchases. 


I don't want to make it sound as if our whole day revolved around food, but later that afternoon we went out for a meal. Just something very ordinary, but it was special because we were together and for once we had a couple of hours without any other demands on our time.

If At First You Don't Succeed - Keep Nagging!

Robbie has a really annoying habit of asking my advice, nodding furiously when I offer my opinion and then doing as he likes. I don't (usually) expect him to do what I tell him, he would get a very direct answer if he tried to tell me what to do; but why ask me if he is going to do as he likes anyway? 


Sometimes I rely on ancient wisdom and I keep on offering the same advice. According to Ovid "Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence." In the end it is his life and he has to live with his choices, so I don't push too hard, I just hope that he will 'wise up' eventually. I could't push him anyway, he is a stubborn little devil, he would refuse to budge and the effort would kill me.

This week has been a bit of a high point for me because Robbie has finally decided to act on a piece of advice that I have been giving him for quite a few years. I am not sure why now is the right time, perhaps he is just a slow learner or more likely it was a difficult thing to do, but I am pleased that he has finally decided to deal with that particular issue.

According to my mum, if you want a man to do something you need to sow the seed and nurture it so that it becomes his decision. It has taken five or six years for this particular seed to germinate but I hope Robbie will think that 'he' has made a very good decision.

Animal or Vegetable 13.04.07

Many of you will know that Robbie loves to eat and many people have marvelled at his capacity to clear not only his own plate but everyone else's as well. He will eat unspeakable things that I can't even bear to think about such as black pudding and dripping and haggis. However even Robbie has his limits and the general rule seems to be that if it is 'animal' he will eat it and if it is 'vegetable' he probably will not. He eats some vegetables now just to please me but he is not very adventurous - when we first met he didn't eat any vegetables! This reluctance leads to occasional conflict within the family as the girls try to be healthy and eat their '5 a day' but when Robbie cooks he omits the vegetables entirely if he can get away with it. One such episode occurred on Wednesday so yesterday I ensured that we had good fresh veg with our meal, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli. Robbie was horrified and was scathing in his response, he reacted as if I was trying to poison him. He ate the carrots but he couldn't bear to look at the cauliflower and broccoli. It seems that it was almost grounds for divorce, thank goodness I didn't offer him sweetcorn (he hates it) that would caused an even worse reaction!

Male Bonding 07.03.07

Burger Man went out for one of his male bonding sessions at lunchtime. Apparently they went to the farmers market to buy an Ostrich Burger, why can't he just eat normal food like everyone else. It is his talk of kangaroo burgers that causes uproar at home, we have a vegetarian in our midst and the disapproval radiates through the house whenever Robbie mentions the repulsive and downright weird food he eats. We all disapprove of his black pudding and dripping, he isn't even allowed to mention them.

The girls think his lunchtime trips to town with a work colleague, they think it sounds a bit 'gay' and they imagine them going clothes shopping and searching for shoes - well as long as I don't have to, I'm not complaining. According to Robbie it is much more boring, they check out the latest music releases and they go food shopping - just mention food and Robbie will follow you anywhere!!

Robbie - by Sam. 16.01.07

Sam, has decided to describe Robbie from his point of view, he had a bit of help from his sisters too.

Robbie is a bit weird in some ways. He is very interested in clothes but he is really retro like he is stuck in the 80's. His favourite clothes are PJ bottoms, he calls them 'lounge wear' and he wears them all the time at home if he can get away with it. Mum makes him wear a T shirt with it because he is not allowed to eat meals without a top on, she says he is worse than Stan Ogden, but I don't know who he is (I expect he is dead, most people that she talks about are dead). Robbie also likes wearing the T shirts that he buys at gigs, but sometimes mum says "you can't go outside wearing that or you will get arrested" he tries to argue but he always has to change. There is a T shirt that he really wants but mum won't him buy it because she says it is blasphemous, that makes Robbie laugh, then we all laugh and mum gets cross. He likes big patterns and bright colours, you should see the shorts that he wears on the beach, they are very loud - just like Robbie really!

Sometimes I borrow Robbie's socks and that makes him really mad, and whatever pair I have nicked he always claims they were his best pair! He used to wear boxers but they bunched up and mum said it made him look like Gandhi (that is someone else who is dead, he used to wear a thing that looked like a big nappy). Now he wears trunks (Robbie not Gandhi) and he likes them better because they are more comfortable.

Emily says he has a sort of skater style and Laura calls him a 'geek with chic' but I think weird sums it up best. He has a thing about shoes too, he collects them, he loves Dr Marten's and he likes converse too, they have to be bright colours, in fact the stranger the better as far as he is concerned.

Robbie eats revolting things like black pudding and dripping, he dips bread in his gravy and sometimes he even eats ostrich burgers - disgusting! Sometimes Emily tells him off for keeping evil things in the fridge, she is a veggie so she gets a bit stressy sometimes.

In some ways Robbie is like me because we both like facts and details and we don't like people to mess up our routines. The person who is most like Robbie is our little sister, they look so alike and she is loud, noisy and totally mad too.