People Who Don't Know Where They Are Going......

I have mentioned before that for many years I had a poster on my office wall that said 'People who don't know where they are going usually end up somewhere else'. It seems that Robbie is living proof that the poster is correct, he went to a meeting earlier this week, but he hadn't checked the venue and he found that he was in the wrong place! Fortunately he wasn't too far away and he was able to get to his meeting, but he has suffered a bit of teasing about it. I hope these little slips don't happen more often now that he is officially 'old'. No, he hasn't had a birthday, but his son Seb, will be 18 next week and that makes Robbie feel very old!

Confession Time

Yesterday Robbie rang me at about 8.30am, he usually phones at around that time. He said that he was in London and he wanted to say hello before dashing off to his meeting in Cambridge. I asked him how long his journey to Cambridge would take in total, it was an innocent enough question but t elicited some interesting confessions from Robbie. First came the rather sheepish question "What, including breakfast and meeting friends?" He had been to visit his old friends at Euston, and apparently his three Weetabix wasn't sufficient to sustain him until lunch so he had to have a second breakfast! Then came the confession, he made me get up in the middle of the night and miss the end of my dream because he wanted to go on a Voyager! He could have travelled over an hour later but the lure of the diesel apparently justified the early start! In an attempt to distract me he told me what we could have for breakfast when we go on a Pendolino. That man, if he isn't thinking about trains he is thinking about food!!

How will Ireland Cope with Robbie?

Robbie got to Ireland safely and when I spoke to him last night he chatted excitedly about the meeting he'd attended. Apparently they were given a cardboard cut out train, if only I had known that a cardboard cut out and a couple of pens would cause such excitement I could have saved a fortune on his birthday! He will be home this evening, and no doubt he will talk incessantly about trains for the next couple of days. Never mind, I will be glad to have him home despite the ear ache.

Robbie chose the right time to be away. I was woken last night at about 1.30am by a car alarm going off, it continued until well after 2am by which time Meg the dog had started to whine and make a fuss. Shortly after 2am I was out in the garden with Meg who proved very reluctant to return to the house. For the rest of the night she moaned and whined and scratched at the bedroom door asking to go out. I spent more time in the garden than in bed and it became obvious that she had a tummy upset. I wished Robbie was here, because at the very least he would have kept the bed warm! Meg seems a bit better this morning, but I am feeling rather tired.

Robbie phoned again told me about his breakfast in much greater detail than was necessary, he then provided a detailed account of the room layout and the performance of the shower, then just in case I was not already bored rigid he launched into a detailed synopsis of this weeks Archers storylines. It left me wondering how Ireland will cope with Robbie - they probably can't understand a word he says!

Parting With Memories 02.02.08

Robbie was late home again on Friday, but not so late that his dinner was in the dog. It wouldn't have matter because the very first thing he told me about was the buffet at the meeting he went to today - I am sure people must think I starve him at home! He said that they were expecting several more people to stay for lunch, but for various reason the other people had to leave early so there was a lot of food. 'Was' being the operative word because it sounds very much as if Robbie did his famous locust impression by eating everything he saw. No wonder he wasn't able to hurry for the previous train!

Now that we have hot water again I have been reorganising the airing cupboard. I have lived in this house for almost 17 years and every couple of years I have had a sort out and tidy up in the airing cupboard. Usually we reach a point where the airing cupboard door refuses to close properly and then I reluctantly sort through and rearrange the piles of bedding and towels until looks a little more orderly again. We had to empty the whole cupboard for the hot water cylinder to be replaced and yet again I marvelled at its tardis like capacity - how did all that stuff fit in there?

Robbie said that I simply had to get rid of all the old or unused items. People who live in glass houses......he is a terrible hoarder. Anyway, I spent much of yesterday sorting though piles of stuff trying to decide what should stay and what should go. There was Emily's Thunderbirds Duvet set - she was a great Thunderbirds fan when she was tiny. I asked her if I should keep it and received a resounding 'YES'. Laura still uses her Noddy set, but we also have her 101 Dalmatian's bedding and there is NO way she will part with that! Sam proved less sentimental, but somehow I couldn't quite bring myself to part with his old covers either, they are a record of his different interests as he grew up. Dennis the Menace, Sharks, Super Heroes and Simpsons. I packed them all neatly into a storage bag to be stowed away at the bag of the highest shelf - just in case.

Sheets were sorted in to double and single piles and I found it a little easier to part with a few sheetsthat were looking a bit shaggy. I even added 2 or 3 double duvet covers to the bin bag, but it is hard to be ruthless. I found the duvet set that I had at college and with considerable reluctance I added to the bin bag, it hadn't been used for 20 years so I don't need it, but it feels like throwing away memories. The towels are even more difficult, they are like old friends. Some were wedding presents (the first time) some where collected along the way at significant events. We still have the towels I made for the children to go over their heads and make it easier to get dry after swimming lessons, they refused to part with them. Then there are the pets towels, am I the only one to demote towels to dog towels when they get a bit worn? Ok, I admit that we have quite a lot of pet towels - but when Robbie baths Megan he always ends wetter than her and the bathroom looks as though there has been a tidal wave.