Having Robbie in my life means that I am used to strange questions and not to be out done, my son has spent his whole life bombarding me with questions on every imaginable subject. Believe me there is never an easy answer where my son's questions are concerned. Here are two diary entries, my son was 9 or 10 at the time.
...........He was almost back to normal, asking his usual stream of questions. Among several other things he wanted to know how exactly it is possible to kill 2 birds with one stone!
...........My son questioned me in detail about the ageing effect of space travel, it made my brain hurt. He said that if there were identical twins and one went into space while the other stayed behind, one would end up older than the other. Having thought about it, he must be right, I saw William Shatner on TV not so long ago and all that space travel has clearly taken its toll on him!
Usually my older daughter is more likely to tell me the answers than to ask questions but yesterday she was even more 'random' than Robbie. When I came back from work she came into the lounge and said "Mum, why didn't you tell me about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore?" I was lost for words, there are so many things that I have tried to pass on to my children, but I am fairly sure that Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were not on the list. She went on to tell me that she didn't know that they used to be a double act, but having come across clips of them on YouTube she had discovered that they are very funny. I don't think forgetting to tell her about Pete and Dud makes me a failure as a parent, but it has left me wondering what else I should tell her about.
Robbie didn't have the best start this morning, he arrived at the station and realised that he had left both his blackberries on the dining table, so I had to make a mercy dash to reunite him with his phones. I wasn't best pleased but when I saw his guilty grin I couldn't be cross with him. When he leaned into the car to give me a kiss and to say thank you, he mentioned that he had a strange pins and needles type pain at the top of his leg, just below his buttock. He said it felt a bit like when the injection is wearing off after dental treatment. I was worried because it did not sound like his usual sort of pain.
When I checked on him a bit later on he mentioned that the discomfort seemed to be moving down his leg and it was very itchy. I didn't hear from him again until later that morning when the cause of his problem had been discovered. He was out until late last night and when he came home he decided that he had wash his 'smalls' because he wanted to wear his favourite pair the next day. I was tired and left him to it. Apparently he didn't check the dryer before he put his items in to dry. I had washed all my kitchen cloths earlier in the day and somehow a small flat scourer found its way unnoticed into Robbie's pants! By the time he had got to work it had worked its way down his leg and as he made himself a cup of coffer it fell out from his trouser leg!
I don't know if I just have an odd way of thinking or if this sort of thing happens to everyone. Sometimes I spot something seemingly insignificant, but the memory of what I saw stays with me and takes on an unexpected significance. Some years ago I used to work in a village called Long Buckby and the journey between my home and my work took me through what I consider some of the most beautiful countryside in Northamptonshire. One year in January as I drove along a country road I saw some tinsel caught on the hedge. It was a frosty morning and the tinsel looked tawdry in comparison to the natural beauty of the frosty hedge. Yet just weeks before we had been excited by the prospect of Christmas and tinsel just like the piece stuck in the hedge had adorned our Christmas trees and added sparkle to our lives. Even now when I drive along that road I often remember the tinsel in the hedge. There is no man made 'sparkle' that can compare with the natural beauty of the world around us.
This week I took a close look at my front garden, it looks wintry and bare with just the first hints of life showing through. The trellis next to the front door that is covered in big purple Clematis flowers in May and June, is covered in the pretty yellow flowers of winter Jasmine. Last time I looked the winter Jasmine was in the far corner of the garden, but I guess it had other ideas and now I stop to appreciate it each time I unlock the front door. The green shoots of daffodils have pushed through the soil. They were in the garden when we moved here, for 20 years they have been ignored and neglected yet still they come to brighten the garden each spring. The tubs are empty now, their summer glory long forgotten. The stones around the base of the bedraggled rose bushes looked dull and unattractive. Each one had been lovingly collected by me over the years because I found the colour, shape or something else about the stone attractive, but now they looked dull and boring, a few even had moss growing on them. It looks as if we will need to get the power hose on the stones to restore their sparkle - but I am not sure that I want to arm Robbie with a power hose!
Perhaps this is a good lesson, sea washed stones only look truly beautiful when they are sea washed! Seeing the tinsel in the hedge made me appreciate the natural beauty of the hedge, and it made me see the beauty in the world around me. Perhaps everything (and everyone) has a place where true potential can be seen and appreciated.
By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower. ~Rabindrath Tagore
Believe it or not there was yet another chapter to the trouser saga! Just in case anyone reading this has not read my recent posts I will recap briefly. Some time before Christmas we agreed that Robbie needed a new suit so he did his research, which included several trips to Marks and Spencer - his favourite shop. He chose the suit that he wanted but our local M&S had no stock in the size he needed so it was necessary to order the items online. They sell the jackets and trousers separately and much to Robbie's annoyance they had the jacket that he wanted in stock, but the trousers were not available in his size. So we decided to order the jacket and wait for them to get more stock of the trousers. Christmas came and went and Robbie (who had been checking the website twice a day) had almost given up on ever getting the trousers. Then finally the great day came, they were in stock and Robbie placed his order, he knew what size he needed and he ordered exactly the same size as the trousers he already has. He collected his trousers on a Friday from M&S in Birmingham, but he got distracted when leaving work and he managed to leave his trousers on his desk. The trousers had to be 'rescued' the following day but when he tried them on he found that they didn't fit, they were a bit on the tight side. It didn't make sense, they were exactly the same size as the ones he already has that fit him perfectly. He ordered the next size and when they arrived he said they were much more comfortable so he wore them to work.
Sadly that was not the end of the matter, he claimed they were too loose even with a belt and they kept slipping down. I don't want him to be arrested, so we will need to take the waist in a bit, next he said that they are too long and he is afraid of treading on them as he walks so we need to do something about the leg length too! I am sick of the whole trouser issue and Robbie seemed deeply affronted that he may be a non standard fitting. Anyway after weeks of constant complaint about trousers I have come up with the perfect solution - a kilt! It would certainly turn a few heads!!
When it comes to excuses my family have always been more imaginative than most, but Robbie is in a class of his own. When he asked me to brave Birmingham on a Saturday he knew very well that I would say no, the thought of visiting Birmingham at any time fills me with horror. So he needed a good excuse to persuade me to join him on a trip to Birmingham on a Saturday. He announced that he had left his trousers at work and he needed to go and fetch them. It was not as worrying as it sounds, the railways were not brought to a standstill by the sight of Robbie in his 'smalls', the trousers in question were his long awaited new M&S trousers and he'd left them on his desk. They could have waited until Monday, but having waited weeks for them to have his size in stock he didn't want to risk them getting lost.
Robbie's track record when it comes to losing contact with his clothing is careless at the very least. His raincoat made an unplanned trip to to Plymouth without him last year when he left it on a train, he has previously left trousers, a hoodie, other sundry garments and his notebook on various trains. He has even dozed off and left himself on the train before! So rescue missions to recover missing items or a stranded husband are not uncommon. I grudgingly agreed to accompany Robbie on a trip to Birmingham to collect his trousers and we decided to make it a fun afternoon (not that 'fun' is a word that I would usually associate with a visit to Birmingham).
It was interesting to visit Robbie's office, it is rather nice. We also visited a couple of shops, Muji where I bought a set of nesting dolls for my next art project and Cybercandy which is amazing. I have bought items from their website before, but it was nice to visit the shop and see all the confectionery products from different countries. I was most tempted by the cans of 'soda' they sell root beer and I love root beer! They also sell Tab, just seeing that can brought memories flooding back. Robbie promised me a visit Starbucks, I prefer Costa because they do much nicer tea, but Robbie likes Starbucks and I have to admit that their fruit toast is rather nice.
Robbie had a very busy day ahead of him, so he was up before the birds in order catch a very early train to work. He wanted to get well ahead with his work today because he has a deadline to meet and most of tomorrow will be taken up with his friends funeral. He left the house bright and early ready to face another week, all was going well until he was just yards away from the station when with a sinking feeling he realised that he had left his bags (including his laptop) at home. He has been suffering from very bad back and leg pain in recent months he has been trying to carry less to and from work in order to reduce the problem. Using a rucksack instead of a briefcase has helped a little bit, but it has put Robbie out of his routine and I think that is why he didn't pick up his laptop. At least it proved that I have my uses, I was able to make an emergency dash to the station to reunite him with his laptop!
Robbie rang me on Saturday morning at around 10am, he didn't have much to say except a load of drivel about trains, but he did mention that he would get home late on Saturday night rather than Sunday morning because he could get a lift. I gave him very firm instructions not to wake me up but I forgot to check that he had his house key. He didn't ring me again on Saturday, he forgets that I exist when he is 'playing trains'. Evening came and before I knew it was past 11pm and still no word from Robbie. The question of locking the front door bothered me, I couldn't go to bed and leave it open, I could lock it but not put the chain on, but there was a good chance that he didn't have his key because he didn't take his briefcase on Friday. I decided to wait up for him, so I kept myself busy with jobs until after 2am, when he rang to say that he was just going to bed! He embarked on a long and contorted story to explain his change of plan, the short version was that the train was seriously delayed. I wasn't interested in the detail, I just wanted to know why he didn't let me know earlier. He spluttered a bit, he even attempted to think up an excuse, but simple truth is that he forgot. I waited up until past 2am for nothing, I want overjoyed about it. Robbie will certainly not go down in history as one of the worlds great communicators.
On Sunday morning Robbie and I were chatting when suddenly he gasped and said "Oh no!" in a tone that indicated that he had forgotten something really important. I couldn't imagine what was wrong and I begged him to tell me. He eventually said "It was yesterday, but I forgot!""What?" I almost shouted with frustration. He looked me in the eye and said "The new Argos catalogue was out yesterday, but I forgot to get one!"That man is impossible!!!
