Changed dimensions

Robbie has bought a new mug, and he spent most of Saturday evening holding out his mug for me to admire. It is a very nice mug (it should be at the price he paid for it!) but I can't get excited about a mug. On Sunday morning he sat down next to me to have a serious chat, he said he had measured the capacity of the new mug and as it takes more coffee he will require more sweeteners. He now requires two and a half sweeteners! I will not repeat my response in detail but I left him in no doubt that I have better things to do with my life than cutting sweeteners in half!!

An Emergency Coffee Cup

Mornings in our house have a nasty habit of starting too early and even when we are up on time (5am) it only takes one thing to go wrong to mess up the whole day. That was the case last Friday, everything was going well, Robbie dressed only in pants and socks trotted into the kitchen clutching his trousers to flick the kettle on before vanishing into the lounge. He emerged 'suited and booted' a couple of minutes later and headed back to the kitchen to make his coffee for the train. He took the milk from the fridge, reached for the coffee and then stopped in his tracks. There was a missing ingredient - his travel mug! Suddenly the tune Yakety Sax began to play in my head as Robbie jumped into fast forward mode (Benny Hill style), darting around the house in search of his mug. It was not there, and now Robbie was running late. I chased him out to the car and drove him to the station as fast as the speed limit would allow. He was devastated, his favourite mug was gone, probably left on the train the night before! He dashed off into the station with just enough time to console himself with a quick visit to the coffee shop before boarding the train. 


Later that morning as promised I set out in search of an emergency replacement mug. I managed to get one just like the missing one, it was the last one in the shop so he was very lucky. Robbie has checked, but the other mug has not found it's way to lost property. Perhaps it got bored with travelling to Birmingham every day - I certainly would!

Man Stress 14.12.07

Robbie suffers from what Laura calls 'man stress'. It can be brought on by the most seemingly trivial matter and unlike PMT it is unpredictable in onset and duration. By the time he arrived home yesterday he was in a foul mood - thanks to Network Rail! To make matters worse he found out that I had committed a terrible sin, I had used his railway mug. He doesn't mind me reading his railway books, I can even play with his trains (under supervision) if the mood takes me, but he is soo possessive about his railway mugs. It got worse a couple of months ago when someone kidnapped his Bombardier (train) mug, that apparently had great sentimental value. He searched everywhere but the mug was lost for ever. Anyway last night he came home with 'man stress' and when he attempted to make a cup of coffee, he found that his mug was in the bowl to be washed up. I was busily cooking and washing up, but rather than use one of the countless other mugs he stood behind me, sighing and fidgeting, until I had washed his cup. He came so close to wearing it!

The mug didn't cure the 'man stress', but it relieved the symptoms for a few minutes. He was impossible for the rest of the evening, he tends to slap his thighs in exasperation, he waves his arms about, he sighs so loudly that you could hear it in the next town and he even breathes disapprovingly, he thunders around making twice as much noise as usual (yes really!). He spoils the whole effect by the way he stands, he usually has one hand on his hip and that changes the whole effect from menacing ogre to camp troll!!

Do you think I could claim compensation from Network Rail for the stress they cause?!