I had a very interesting discussion with one of my offspring when we were driving in the other day. It is worthy of note because most of the time all I get is one grunt for yes and two for no, so it is reassuring to find that they can manage more than a growl when the mood takes them. The subject under discussion was teenage angst, I have to be fair, none of my children have given me too much grief during their teens, it is just that teenagers are hard work. I joked that I had missed out because I was too well behaved in my teens, so I plan to enjoy a mid life crisis instead. There was a deep sigh from the back of the car, "Mother, you have already had it, it's called Robbie!"
When I clicked on the list of blog topic suggestions that I sometimes use, the subject that I was given to write about was was Guilty Pleasures. At first I thought no way, I can't write about that, but I don't give up easily and I decided to to take up the challenge. Robbie doesn't have any guilty pleasures, he has plenty of pleasures but he doesn't really do guilt. I will not list all his pleasures it would be a mix of X rated and terminally boring stuff, and I have I have written about most of them on the blog in the past. So it is confession time, I am the one with guilty pleasures.
Dave is my greatest pleasure, in some ways he is a lot like Robbie, he is warm and affectionate, and he is very determined. They both love their food and come to think of it they both have some pretty disgusting habits! They have a number of differences too, Dave doesn't abandon me in favour of a train, he always has time for me and he likes nothing better than to snuggle up next to me. He may be just a cat but he is very special to me.
I think most of my other guilty pleasures involve spending money that I can't really justify. I am not high maintenance when it comes to clothes or shoes (that's Robbie!) and I don't spend a lot on having my hair cut or styled. I can't waste my life messing about with my hair, I prefer a practical easy care style. Books are my weakness, I cold spend a fortune on books and I get very possessive about my books, I will not part with them.
I have a passion for paints too, not the sort that you paint walls with, I mean artists paints. I love to paint and always want the best quality paints, I could never have enough paints, brushes, paper or any kind of art/craft materials. Good quality paper is a must, it is an extortionate price, so yes buying art materials is a guilty pleasure.
I often write about Robbie's love of Polish Jaffa Cakes, dripping and various other types of food. I must admit that my likes and dislikes are a bit unusual too. I love liver and bacon with rich thick gravy so much that sometimes I have a craving for it. I am the only one in the family who likes liver, so having it seems rather self indulgent, but from time to time I give in to my cravings. It seems that Robbie has had a life long aversion to anything green or healthy, so he is completely mystified by my love of runner beans, spinach, swede, beetroot and tomatoes.
I do have a few other guilty pleasures, but you can't expect me to tell you everything. The only one that I am willing to admit to is John Major, I have a bit of a soft spot for him. It is true that he has a face best suited to radio, but I like the way he speaks, I think he is a powerful and sincere speaker. I have to confess to a sneaky admiration because he got his own back on his critics, misbehaving with Edwina Currie shows that he wasn't such a grey man after all!
The Burgess legs have had their first outing of the summer, on Saturday morning Robbie appeared in the lounge wearing his very loud patterned shorts and a summer T-shirt. He was heading out to the garden to remove a small tree so that we can replace several of the fence panels. He wasn't out there for very long before he returned claiming that it was all done, I think the tree took one look at his shorts and surrendered!
Saturday morning was a rare luxury, it was nice not to have to get up and start rushing around at the crack of dawn. Robbie was tired after his adventures on Friday so when I woke up there was only the radio to keep me company, but I enjoyed the luxury of doing absolutely nothing. Eventually Robbie woke claiming that he needed a cup of coffee before he could face the day. Finally he returned to bed with his coffee and I had his undivided attention or so I thought. It didn't take long before his mind had wandered and he started talking about an interesting article in Model Rail magazine. I don't suppose I will ever change him, but it doesn't stop me trying! Having worked extra hard to get his full attention, I thought I was winning until he suddenly announced that there was a long article about CrossCountry in Modern Railways! I know when I'm beaten so I asked if I could read the article, he wasn't too keen on that because he hadn't finished reading it himself, but eventually he relented. I'm glad I read it, there were some very good pictures of CrossCountry trains and a truly scary photo of Andy Cooper MD of CrossCountry - he looked like a very angry bank manager. The article made a lot of sense and it made him sound considerably more human than his photo would suggest. I'm still a bit of a sceptic about some of the changes that CrossCountry are committed to, especially the removal of the shops on their trains, but I must admit that Andy Cooper puts forward a very convincing business argument for the changes. The whole article made a lot of sense, perhaps it is just my interpretation but I got the feeling the moderate language used to describe the abject failures of Network Rail was a little unnatural.
Over the years my children have got me involved in all sorts of tasks and I have acquired the strangest skills, I still remember struggling to make a lion costume at short notice because Sam insisted on dressing as Aslan for Book Day at school. Until yesterday I had never been called upon to paint a teapot! Emily returned from town with a teapot and explained that she needed to paint a design on the side for her friend's birthday. Apparently her friend wanted a teapot and Emily wanted it to be unique. Emily began the painting but before long I found myself in the hot seat and I spent a pleasant couple of hours painting a parrot on to the side of a teapot. The end result was surprisingly successful and I must admit that I enjoyed doing it, I really should allow more time for my crafts.
So far on the blog I have talked mainly about Robbie's interests and the various ways that I get involved in the things he likes. Robbie has also learned to like some of my favourite things too. I have already mentioned Radio 4, he loves it, and despite his initial scepticism he even become an avid Archers fan.
I like art too and Robbie has become interested in some of the artists I like. Robert Lenkiewicz is one of my favourite artists, his work is not always comfortable to look at or to think about, but Robbie has become quite interested in his work. I suspect he is much more comfortable with my other favourite artists, Martin Taylor and Nicholas St John Rosse. I enjoy painting and drawing when I have the time, but Robbie is realistic about his own rather limited artistic abilities.
I enjoy poetry, but I didn't expect Robbie to share my enthusiasm. Oddly enough it has been easier to introduce him to poetry than art. I was sneaky and found all sorts of railway poetry for him, and once he got used to it he was willing to discover other poetry too. One of my favourite poems is Adlestrop by Edward Thomas but I think Robbie prefers John Betjeman. He listens to Poetry Please on Radio 4 and he has been introduced to a variety of styles and voices. You can imagine my disappointment this evening when he announced that his favourite poem is the Tay bridge disaster by William Mc Gonagall - this is one of the worse poems ever written and it doesn't even have brevity to recommend it! I blame Billy Conolly (another one of my heroes) for all thisbecause it was him that introduced Robbie to the Mc Gonagall poem. I suppose there is no accounting for taste!
