Staying Upright 06.11.07

Robbie went for his hospital appointment yesterday, to find out why he keeps falling over. The consultant wanted to do an MRI scan to find out what was going on, but Robbie suddenly announced that he suffers from claustrophobia and could not possibly cope with an MRI scan. Instead he has to have a CT scan and some other tests.

I was surprised to hear of his claustrophobia, he has never mentioned it since we have been together and I felt that if he had coped without it for this long, he should be able to cope for a little longer in order to have an MRI scan. He has showed no sign of claustrophobia when travelling on the sleeper train, in fact he is very keen to repeat the experience! When I challenged him about his new found phobia he was insistent that it had bothered him in the past. He claimed that once years ago when he shared a tent with the Wild Woman from Walsall he felt claustrophobic. Silly man, that is not a phobia, it is a perfectly natural reaction, I feel claustrophobic if she is in the same county!!

Like Father, Like Son. 20.09.2007

Robbie arrived home just after midnight saying that the concert was really good, but he was starving - nothing new there, he's always starving. If eating was an olympic sport, Robbie would be a gold medalist. He had been to the concert with Sebastian and I had several texts throughout the evening suggesting that Seb was talking him into submission - sounds familiar! They are like two peas in a pod, not just in terms of looking alike, but in mannerisms, interests and the ability to talk the hind leg off a donkey! Robbie can't see the similarity, but they really are very similar. Seb is a bit of a legend, he has his own special interests including trains and computer games, but he really can talk about absolutely anything. The other day it was the price of eggs, yes seriously, he was talking about the best place to buy eggs - not exactly a high priority for most 16 year olds, but as I said Seb is a legend!

Of course, being the oldest boy in the family he has taught Sam a few things over the years, things like washing with 'dry' water, how to have a shower without getting wet, not to mention how to clean your teeth without touching the tooth brush! The pendulum has now swung the other way and now the men in the family are worse than the women for monopolising the bathroom.