Man Stress!

Sam needed film for his camera and we needed a scart lead for the DVD player, so on Monday we look a drive into Cromer to have a look at the shops. In the end we abandoned Robbie in Jarrolds, I had waited for him for so long that I thought I would grow roots. They sell all Robbie's favourite things, books, DVDs, jigsaws and pens, so there is no hope of dragging him away. There was a sad gap on the main street, the old Woolworths shop remains empty and the town doesn't seem right without it. There is another bookshop and I enjoyed having a look around, Robbie did more than look, when he finally dragged himself away from Jarrolds, he found three railway books and a book about buses that he absolutely had to buy. We had a meal at our favourite restaurant overlooking the pier, but unfortunately Robbie had a man stress about something really trivial.

We went back via Tesco, just to pick up some milk and bread and a few bits and bobs, but Robbie was still feeling uptight and he argued about everything from the amount of milk that we needed to what kind of meat to buy. When he shouted at me about the kind of spread I wanted I knew it was time to make some changes. I gave him my purse and said that to avoid an argument I would go and wait in the car, but in the end he went and I finished the shopping. We drove home in smouldering silence, I really don't understand why he gets uptight about such trivial stuff. Oh well, I guess I can look forward to making up! Come to think of it the last time he was trying to make up he got sidetracked and started telling me about baby Deltics! Sometimes it is easier to just give up!

Something Close to Normal

Robbie is back in 'normal' mode – well, not normal exactly, Robbie doesn't do normal but he manages a fairly close approximation. He has been trying to make up for being a pain in the rear on Christmas morning, I have forgiven him, but he is still cross with himself. He invited me to have an early night last night, but I realised that it was just his one track mind getting the better of him when he said “just you and me and the new train DVD”. I like watching the DVD's with him, but sometimes I think trains are taking over the bedroom. The top of the wardrobes are packed with his model trains, he has piles of railway magazines on his side of the bed and his collection train DVD's is growing like a triffid. Most of his books have taken up residence in the lounge, but there are still plenty upstairs and some of them even find their way into the bed! I have to ask him not to read his books out loud when I am trying to sleep!! People told me that having a 'toy boy' would be exhausting, but I don't think this is quite what they had in mind, sometimes it would be nice to be just a bit more normal.
On the subject of 'normal' Robbie was in a fragile mood on Christmas Eve, not yet in a full blown strop, but working on it. All the family were at my mum's, just enjoying a nice family day together, but Robbie sat there reading The Grocer! What am I going to do with him?

This evening he is watching a scary film on his laptop, it is called The Strangers. It is comical to watch him, he's there with his headphones on looking terrified and making occasional terrified gasps and whimpers. At least it has given me a bit of peace for a little while.

Going Going Gone!

I was very sad to hear that Woolworths has gone into administration and it looks as if their stores will disappear from the high street. I know they haven't been doing very well for some time, but it is very sad, it is like losing an old friend. I have so many fond memories associated with Woolworths, I remember buying records from there in my teens and more recently cd's and dvd's, when we were on holiday it was a bit of a tradition to go to Woolworths to buy a few dvd's for the children. They owned the Ladybird children's clothing brand and and their designs were popular with parents and children, over the years we have bought party dresses, coats and casual clothes as well as all sorts of accessories. You could always depend on Woolworths for wellies, plimsolls, trainers and the like, I can remember when the girls were little we bought them some trainers that lit up as they walked, they loved them. My favourite area was the stationary section – I love buying stationary and you could always find something slightly different and we would often buy pens and all the bits and bobs the children needed for school. They didn't have a huge toy section, but the children liked to buy things from there, and they had no difficulty finding things they wanted, they own the Chad Valley brand of toys and it will be a shame to see that go. Like most people perhaps my strongest memory of Woolworths is the pick and mix sweets, when the children were younger they loved to be allowed to buy pick and mix when we went to town on a Saturday. I think we will all miss Woolworths.

The furniture company MFI has also gone into administration , but I can't summon up much regret, it was good in it's time but in recent years it had lost it's way. The last time I purchased something from them I received very bad service and and to compound my frustration the product proved to be expensive rubbish. I think the demise of MFI is long overdue.

A New Pastime 30.12.07

Well, I've had Robbie at home now for a full week and it's been great, but perhaps it's a good thing that his return to work is in sight. He says I wear him out, and there are a few tell tale clues that he is missing work. On Friday he couldn't resist ringing work from the fruit and veg section of the supermarket, and every hour or so he gives me an update on the state of the railways. Yesterday he went on and on about some charter or other having to be cancelled at short notice.

Robbie had some railway dvd's for Christmas and it has been nice to have the time to cuddle up together and watch them. I found the one about Brunel really interesting, I have already watched it twice. Robbie likes the British Transport Films series, I got him the most recent volume for Christmas but we still enjoy watching the old ones again. Robbie's favourite is a film about the Blue Pullman, but I like one called Farmer Moving South. It is amazing, it was made in 1952 and it records the complicated process of moving an entire farm from Yorkshire to the home counties - by train! Even then it must have been a huge undertaking to transport all the livestock, farm machinery and even the hen houses by train. I could watch that film over and over again. We haven't just been watching dvd's we have found a new pastime and we are finding muscles that we didn't know we had! I am referring to bowling on the Wii! I love it, I cant cope with the noise of real life bowling, but on the Wii you get all the fun without the noise and without the annoying people. We were still playing at 2am the other day!

I almost lost Robbie again on Friday, he was supposed to be outside sorting out the rubbish ready for a trip to the tip, but I glanced out of the window and noticed that he was chatting to the neighbours and was gradually straying across the drive towards their house. Much to his disappointment I went out to 'rescue' him. I think I will have to have him fitted with a homing device!