The Joys of a White Christmas

The snow that plagued us all before Christmas may have looked pretty, but it made everything that much harder - and when I was rushing around sorting out all the last minute arrangements I really don't need the extra aggravation. On the Wednesday before Christmas we woke up to a deep carpet of snow, I begged Robbie not to go to work because I was afraid of him falling over but he wouldn't hear of it. There were no buses running and there was no hope of a taxi so we took 20 minutes to dig the car out and I set out to get Robbie as close to the station as possible. It was a scary journey and I left him to walk down the station because I didn't want to risk it in the car. On my way back I skidded when stopping at traffic lights but I stopped just in time to avoid colliding with the traffic on the main road, it was so scary.

Robbie made it safely down the hill but when he was close to the station he slipped and had a close encounter with the ground. He must have hit the ground with a lot of force because the side of his knee and his thigh was badly swollen. He was in agony and struggling to walk, but he still got to work!

I had lots of errands to do but most important of all was a trip to the model shop to buy the Merseyside Express (prototype Deltic). As I walked back to the car I complemented myself on getting the last one in stock for a very good price when suddenly my feet started misbehaving and the next thing I knew the side of my head thudded against the low metal car park fencing and I was sprawled in the snow. I had to lay there until the ground stopped spinning, but eventually I got back to the car and safely home. My daughter later commented on the irony, I am teetotal, but I managed to fall down outside a pub, complain of blurred vision and struggle to stand up without a drop of alcohol passing my lips!

I rang Robbie to tell him what had happened but he was busy so it was just a brief call, then my daughter Emily rang and seemed concerned that I was not making much sense. I thought I was just a bit dazed but it seems I probably had concussion and Emily organised a succession of 'minders' until Robbie got home to keep an eye on me. Apparently I was talking rubbish and being very difficult about seeing a doctor, but I don't remember much about it now. I do remember noticing later that evening that Robbie could hardly walk and couldn't cope with the stairs at all - he was walking like Spotty Dog from the Woodentops and I about as coherent as a Flowerpot Man, what a pair!!

Still Not Smiling

When Sam was mugged in December he was in the middle of some dental work, but he was kicked and punched so badly around the head and face that all his teeth were unsettled and he couldn't tolerate anyone touching his face. We rescheduled his appointment for April to give everything a chance to settle down, but last week he started to get bad tooth ache and we had to make an emergency trip to the dentist. Sam hates to be touched at the best of times, but after all that he has been through he found the dentist a terrible ordeal. He was very brave, the dentist managed to deal with the aching tooth in the end but she had to keep stopping because Sam was uncomfortable. Why does everything have to be so complicated.

Pain and Suffering!

When I got home yesterday evening Robbie was nursing and injured finger. He had achieved a variation on a theme, and instead of hopping around with blood pouring out of his foot after stepping on something, he had sliced the top off of his finger instead! Apparently he had put his hand in his toiletry bag to find his razor and came into close contact with the blade. He pointed out countless times that it was his middle finger and he couldn't function without it. He spent the evening making a series of grimaces worthy of a Gurning Contest, and he cradled his hand with the middle finger stiff as if constantly ready to make an ungentlemanly gesture. As they say every cloud has a silver lining and at least the injured finger took his mind of his cold!

I am so annoyed with one of Robbie's colleagues, he has introduced Robbie to a new website that enables you to track ships, to see where they are, where they are registered and a plethora of other facts about them. Needless to say Robbie felt obliged to share his new discovery with me and for several hours he read out countless facts about every ship he came across. I think the creators of the site should market it widely as a soporific!!