Longing for Normality

I was so angry with Robbie last night that I shouted at him. He didn't have much to say during the evening because he was glued to this laptop. I was busy too and by the time I went to bet at about a quarter past midnight 'Noddy' was dozing with his head resting on the computer keyboard. I woke him up, but I knew that he would be dozing again within moments, so I left him to it and went to bed. I was woken by a thumping and bumping in the bedroom and Robbie spoke to me in a sergeant major sort of voice. What he said was a bit 'out of focus' because I was sleepy, so I ignored him and tried to cling on to sleep. The next thing I knew something sailed past my face and thumped onto the pillow, I don't know what it was but it was intended to wake me up and it worked. Robbie informed me that he had been talking to me and with menace in my voice I asked what was important enough to wake me up. I am used to Robbie, but I couldn't believe the answer - he wanted to tell me that CrossCountry had produced a blow up guitar to celebrate the Reading Music Festival. He had seriously woken me up to talk about a blow up guitar! I did a spot of 'fortune telling' and all was silent until Robbie's voice broke through the darkness to inform me that it was a limited edition blow up guitar. How do I make him understand that I have absolutely no interest in blow up guitars, not even limited editions!!

I thought he would try to be a little more more 'normal' this morning, but he only had one topic of conversation - the pros and cons of the new hybrid FGW season ticket. it almost made blow up guitars seem interesting.

Moved By Music

The children had Guitar Hero (for the Wii) for Christmas. They love it, but it is not exactly designed for spectators, so why can't they take the Wii upstairs and play it in one of their bedrooms? The root of the problem is Robbie! The songs on Guitar Hero have reminded him of all the 'wonderful' music that he has not listened to for a while and he encourages them to try out new tunes (I use the word 'tune' in the loosest sense). So for what seems like hours on end we have someone strumming away, then when they finally lose interest and peace is restored, Robbie starts. He clamps on his headphones and listens to 'music' on his laptop, it wouldn't be a problem if he didn't feel the need to sing along! Robbie has many attributes but his singing voice is not one of them and wearing headphones enables him to achieve new extremes of tunelessness. He sounds like a warthog in distress, then he wonders why I take myself off to the bedroom for some peace and quiet with my radio!