Shopping for the Cat

Robbie has his funny little ways. I have written before about him talking to the animals and even attempting to teach the cats to tell the time, but it is becoming silly now. He has taken the Dr Doolittle thing one step further, he now claims to speak for the cats! He really doesn't need to, both cats are quite capable of making their feelings very clear. When Robbie is cross with Oreo he hides under the bath (the cat not Robbie, Robbie wouldn't fit under the bath!) but Dave stands his ground and swears back and if Robbie points at him Dave raises his paw to remind Robbie that what he lacks in teeth he makes up for in claws! Dave is my cat and as far as he is concerned Robbie should know his place. He hates Robbie to sit next to me or to hug me and if Robbie is brave enough to try Dave pushes his way between us and sits there defiantly until Robbie moves away. I accept that Dave can communicate eloquently with Robbie and I understand they both have more than a passing interest in food, but this is going too far. According to Robbie, Dave prefers me to buy his cat food from Tesco (not my usual supermarket), he would prefer it to be in a foil tray rather than in a pouch and he would like more of the fish flavours and less of the meat flavours. Apparently his lack of teeth makes our usual brand of cat food a bit of an effort for him. Really? I find that hard to believe, this is the cat who can steal and eat a whole sausage, he likes nothing better than climbing into the bin to forage for treats and when we bring the shopping home he will rip open anything that takes his fancy if we take our eyes off him for a second. I suspect Dave's sudden interest in supermarket shopping has more to do with Robbie's preferences than the cat's! 

Total Panic

I must have aged at least ten years last night. Sam went out to an event connected to his youth group, he left the house at about 5pm and everything seemed fine. He was getting a lift home with a friend and was due back at about 9pm but he didn't turn up. Robbie got increasingly worried and kept trying to call Sam, but he didn't answer his phone or reply to texts. Robbie rang me as soon as I left work, I was so worried, I tried to ring him but he didn't answer my calls either, so I drove around looking for him just in case he had wandered off after being dropped off. By nearly 11pm I was terrified, I went home to pick Robbie up so that we could go back and have another look at the church, it seemed to be in darkness but perhaps there was still someone there. I tried yet again to call Sam and this time he answered, he was on his way home, I was so relieved. He had turned his phone on to silent and lost track of the time, so he had no idea that we would be worried. His first question when he got home was "Am I grounded?"

After that episode we both needed a bit of time to unwind. Robbie sat in the corner with his headphones on listening to loud music on his laptop. I glanced across at him and almost burst out laughing, he was nodding his head and opening and closing his mouth he looked like a fish version of a nodding dog!

Don't Wake the Fish!

Yesterday wasn't the sort of day that you want to write about. It is always a bit of a bump when you get back to work and reality after a holiday and there is so much work to catch up on that it makes you wonder if it is worth going on holiday in the first place. Those things don't really matter, it is people that mean most in our lives.

There was one lighter moment during the evening, Robbie suddenly remembered that he hadn't been to feed the fish. I told him to go straight away, but he was worried in case he woke the fish up! I have never heard of a fish dying from lack of sleep, I think starvation was a much bigger risk!

Back to Reality

Saturday dawned impossibly early, we were all up by 5.15am and by 7am we were on the road. It was the Royal Cornwall Show and I wanted to be well away from Wadebridge before the queues built up. It was an uneventful but exhausting journey and we made reasonably good time. Something about the M5 always brings the worst out of Robbie, he spotted a train at the point where the motorway passes close to the railway line and for the next ten minutes he 'entertained' us with a medley of train noises - I think he has been missing work! My nerves were still jangling when there was a thump against the window behind me, I thought some debris had broken the window but it was only Sam recreating the legendary moment when grandad had thumped his hand on the side of the window to express his feelings to a particularly inconsiderate driver. Needless to say both 'boys' were silenced by a few words from me!

When we got home there was a note and a key from our neighbour, she had just left for her holiday and she wanted Robbie to water the plants and feed the fish. He takes his responsibilities seriously and he popped round to check on the fish and see to the plants. He was gone for quite a long time, and when he returned he had a puzzled look on his face, he had been searching for the fish. Apparently he expected them to be in a tank somewhere in the house, but when he couldn't find them he went out to water the plants and found the fish - in the garden pond! The following day he wasn't quite as long, but he still took longer than expected, apparently he was trying to count the fish to make sure they were all still there, but they wouldn't stay still!

The Oldest Swinger in Town

It was a lovely day for the beach today and it was extra special because Sam was able to spend the day with his cousins Charlotte and Jack. Sam enjoyed being the oldest for once and he was able to show Charlotte how to fish in the rock pools, the had a surprisingly good catch, 5 crabs and 8 fish. Jack is only 2 so he wasn't able to help with the fishing but he was fascinated by all the fish in the bucket. Sam loves skimming pebbles and the beach was fairly quiet so he was able to teach Charlotte how to do it. Robbie spent his time on the beach dozing in the sunshine he had obviously decided to conserve his energy for later in the day because when we took the children to the play area Robbie's inner child went wild. Have a look at the pictures and judge for yourself!

After the Rain

Monday was wet and miserable, it rained relentlessly all day and it was too heavy to venture far so we enjoyed a leisurely day in the caravan. It worked out quite well because I had some writing work to do and Laura had loads of revision to keep her occupied so that left the boys free to enjoy the television - such a hardship for them!

Today was a much better day, we went to Newquay in the morning to check out all Laura's favourite shops. Sam had his own ideas about shopping, but the things he wanted were either too rude, too expensive or downright dangerous, so I was not his favourite person. He has his heart set on a new hoody, but we haven't found the right one yet.

When we got back I went for a walk along the coast path, it was such a beautiful day and I never tire of the beautiful views around here. We enjoyed some time on the beach, it was low tide and I watched the children fishing in the rock pools. It seems such a short time ago that Emily and Laura spent hours at the rock pools with Grandad, they would come running up the beach with their bucket to show off their latest catch. Where has all the time gone?

There was an amazing sunset this evening. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Fighting Back!

According to Sam, he is perfectly normal and it is the rest of us who are a bit weird (his choice of words, not mine), maybe he is right. Living with a person who has Asperger Syndrome certainly tests the limits of my sanity at times; it can be frustrating, exhausting and isolating. I love Sam dearly and I am so used to his idiosyncrasies that I couldn’t really imagine him being just ordinary. He rivals Robbie when it comes to random facts; on Thursday he informed me that apart from humans, dolphins are the only other species that indulge in sex for pleasure. I will have to have a rethink, I’d always assumed that rabbits had all the fun! Sam is the only person I know who can talk more than Robbie, his specialist subject is films and comic books, but just like Robbie he will talk in detail about absolutely anything!

Shopping with Sam has always been ‘an experience’. Can you imagine a child with a compulsion for sorting being let loose in a supermarket, we could never get past the cereal section because he wanted to sort and straighten all the boxes. Shopping with Sam was a very time consuming activity! When he was three he went to the fish counter at Safeway (now Morrisons) on a behind the scenes visit with his nursery group and he has been fascinated by fish ever since. For years afterwards he would go up and look at the fish and `interview' the staff about what the various fish were and where they came from. I would attempt to ‘disown’ him and disappear to the next section but eventually I would have to drag him away. I really don't know what Sam found so fascinating about fish, perhaps it is his Cornish background showing through!

For years it was Sam’s ambition to be a trolley pusher at Safeway, but one day as we left the shop he spotted a sign displaying job vacancies, he said "Mum, if I can't be a spy I think I would like to work on the fish counter". Thankfully he has slightly different ambitions these days.

Shopping is still a challenge and it rarely passes without incident. Something about Tesco transforms him from a tolerable teen into an angry troll, come to think of it; the supermarket has much the same effect on Robbie! On Friday Sam and I had to pop into Morrisons for some bread and a couple of other items. Sam was being really helpful (there’s a first time for everything) and when we got to the bread section they had packed the bread on to the shelves so tightly that it was very hard to pick up a loaf without squashing it. I held the basket and Sam carefully eased the loaves off the shelf and checked the sell by dates. We were just selecting our second loaf when an old woman who was using her trolley as an offensive weapon came up behind us and shouted 'excuse me'. I looked behind me and checked that we were not blocking her way and Sam stepped a little closer to me. In seconds she shouted 'excuse me' again and attempted to shove Sam away from the bread with her trolley. I was incensed and told her she was a very bad mannered old woman. I pointed out that Sam was helping me, she had plenty of room to go past us and if she wanted to buy bread she should wait her turn. She was very offensive and threatening and as I walked away I told her to learn some manners. I was so angry that someone would treat Sam like that, especially when he was being so well behaved.

Sam was shocked into silence for a while afterwards; I think he was really shocked by the woman’s behaviour. As we drove home he told me I was ‘awesome’ and he said he didn’t know I could be so cross. Maybe I wouldn’t have stood up for myself as much, I am not a confrontational sort of person, but I couldn’t stand by and let Sam be treated like that!

Introducing Sam

I think it is about time that I introduced you to my son Sam. He is a very unusual young man, bright, funny, knowledgeable and totally obsessive. He has Asperger Syndrome, it makes life hard for him because he struggles with personal organisation, he hates his routines to be disrupted and he is not good at calculating risk. At his worse he is like an angry troll, but at his best he is charming, friendly and interested in absolutely everything. Does that sound like anyone you know!
When Sam was a little boy aged about three, he went through a phase when he insisted on wearing a shirt and tie at all times. He looked like a mini professor. His nursery was doing a topic on food and they took a group of children to visit the fish counter at Safeway’s. The children were able to see behind the scenes and Sam was enthralled with the whole experience. He talked about it for weeks afterwards until I was in danger of dreaming about wet fish!
Sam’s passion for dead fish, grew and every time we went to Safeways he would head off to the fish counter, pick a likely looking victim and interview them in detail about the origins and intimate details of the fish. Before long Sam knew more than they did. When he approached the fish counter I kept a discreet distance and tried to pretend he wasn’t mine, while the long suffering staff ran for cover! My mum thought it was cute; she claimed it was in his blood because her father had been a fishmonger. I knew it was well weird!
Sam is almost 12 now and many obsessions have come and gone. Thankfully dead fish are a thing of the past, his present ‘mastermind subject’ is Superman – the extent of his knowledge is terrifying. So you see I have no problems coping with Robbie because after Sam Robbie is a doddle!