Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow - Swedish Proverb

Today was very frustrating, one of those days when everything seems more difficult than it should be. I had a hospital appointment this afternoon, I'd been looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. I badly needed some answers but I wasn't sure that I was going to like what I heard, so I felt very anxious.

Robbie came with me and since parking at the hospital is challenging at the best of times, I decided to park in a nearby car park and walk the short distance to the hospital. We still have snow but as the hospital is very close to the town centre I was fairly sure that the pavements would be gritted - they weren't! We slipped and slid towards the hospital very slowly indeed, but we made it without any serious problems. The road and pavement leading to the hospital main entrance were treacherous, it beggars belief that the local authority take no responsibility for making sure that roads and paths leading to hospitals, schools and the like are cleared and made safe. Having negotiated the icy pavements I had to pass a huddle of smokers who blocked the pavement just outside the hospital grounds. I was on my way to the chest clinic and the last thing that I needed was their second hand smoke!

I didn't really get the answers I wanted, just lots more questions, more medication. To be fair he did take my problem seriously and he understood how debilitating this cough is, it makes every aspect of my life so much more difficult. He requested lots of tests including an MRI scan, blood tests (I think they took a whole arm full of blood!) and various breathing tests. I have to see the consultant again in 2 months, I really hope the increased medication will help because the thought of putting up with this for another two months makes me feel like giving up. 

We had to go to a different part of the hospital to get my blood tests don so we walked back towards town a different way, but the paths were just as bad and our progress was slow. We walked through St Giles churchyard, it is beautiful at any time of year but the snow against the white snow-laden skies made it look magical, for some reason it made me think of Narnia. I have happy memories of walking through the churchyard with my aunt when I was a child and it looked so beautiful today that I asked Robbie to take some photos for me with his new phone.

Robbie took me to the Cordwainer for something to eat because I had been too anxious to eat much at lunchtime. He likes Wetherspoons food but it didn't really 'float my boat' and it was so dark in there, I like to see what I am eating. It is scary, but I have to admit that I sound more like my grandma every day!
   

Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem. ~ William Hamilton Gibson

We woke to find that a dusting of snow had covered our world during the night. By the time I looked out and noticed the snow it was almost 7am and the morning traffic had already reclaimed the road which had a slushy grey appearance in contrast with the white pavements and gardens. The parked cars were still swathed in blankets of white, the snow gave the street a gentler magical appearance but it would not last. Soon the world would be awake and the unspoilt snow would be crushed underfoot and reality would chase away the magic. 

I thought about my daughter who was just leaving the house to drive to her teaching placement in Corby I hoped that she would have a safe journey. My other daughter did not have very far to drive so I was less worried about her and thankfully Robbie was working at home today so I could keep an eye on him and hopefully make sure that he stayed safe. He fell over in the snow just before Christmas when he was working in Darlington and he hurt himself quite badly so I can't help worrying about him.

At about 11am snow began falling again, at first it was not very much but before long it was snowing heavily and it looked as if it had come to stay. I had an earlier start at work than usual,so I had to get all my errands done despite the snow. The roads were a bit slippery but not too bad and I managed to get everything done. The snow seemed to give Robbie a wanderlust and he asked if I could drop him at the station on my way to work. He said he wanted to mix business with pleasure and spend a few hours 'out and about' on the railways. I couldn't say no, I just hoped that he would stay safe and not fall over. He returned safe and sound with some lovely photos.

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.  You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?  
                                                        J.B. Priestley

Relaxing on the Railway

We had decided to get up early and drive to the North Norfolk Railway on Wednesday, but even the prospect of trains didn't encourage Robbie to get a wriggle on. We set of quite a lot later than we planned, but as it was Cromer Carnival I hoped that people would be heading to Cromer rather than Weybourne. As it turned out everyone seemed to have shunned Cromer in favour of the railway and we couldn't park at Weybourne. We drove to Holt instead and we found a fairly convenient parking space, it had the added bonus of giving Robbie the chance to take countless photos of Holt Flyer, the old Routemaster bust that runs between the station and the town centre.

Holt station is nowhere near as nice as Weybourne, and the toilets are disappointing but Robbie likes Holt because it has fairground rides and a little museum, which gives Robbie the chance to take lots of photos. We made lots of trips between Holt, Weybourne and Sherringham and there was the inevitable and very long visit to the railway bookshop at Weybourne. I don't know where we are going to put all his new books and magazines when we get home!

We had taken a picnic lunch with is and we ate it in the sunshine at a picnic table at Holt Station. The forecast was for strong wind and torrential rain, but it did not materialise, there was a brief shower which only lasted two or three minutes in the early afternoon, then it was calm and sunny again until we were back at the bungalow and we had a sudden heavy shower which lasted for less than five minutes. We have been very lucky with the weather it has been dry and sunny every day and I don't think I have worn a jacket or cardigan for the whole fortnight.

A Boy Called Sarah?

Robbie has been promising (or threatening) for weeks that he would take me on a charter trip so that I could experience the ‘wonder’ of Sarah Siddons, the oldest electric locomotive still in traffic. Today was ‘the day’ but when I woke up at some ungodly hour, I told Robbie that I would rather stay in bed. He was not a happy chap, he stomped off and came back bearing a cup of tea to find me still half asleep. When bribery didn’t work, he stamped his foot like Rumpelstiltskin. I am not sure if it was a war dance or a rain dance but it got my attention. Somewhat reluctantly I left my lovely warm duvet and prepared to face rush hour on the railway.

We had no problem finding a parking space at Northampton and after a quick visit to what turned out to be by far the best station toilets all day, we were on our way, heading towards Milton Keynes. We changed there for a Southern service to Harrow and Whealdstone, it was an OK sort of journey except for the catastrophe when I visited the toilet. It was compact in the extreme, I put my hands under the hand wash thingy and it dispensed a large dollop of soap onto my hands, then nothing at all, I tried everything but there was no water! I tried to wipe the soap off my hands with toilet paper, but the paper just stuck to my hands. I returned to my seat leaving a trail of soapy finger marks and attempted to clean my hand with hand sanitizer and wet wipes, but the soap made the wet wipes lather and it got worse rather than better. By the time I was able to wash my hands in the shopping centre at Harrow, there were stinging and sore.

When we reached Harrow and Whealdstone we had to get a bus to Harrow on the Hill. We found a bus with a driver who did not speak English, judging by the price he charged us he must have thought we wanted to buy the bus rather than travel the short distance to Harrow on the Hill! I expected Harrow to be rather posh but the places we saw looked a bit grim and ‘unloved’.

We got to Harrow on the Hill Station to find that the ‘the socks and sandals brigade’ were out in force and wearing their ‘winter uniform’ – I have never seen such a display of dodgy footwear in my life! In fact when I saw such a large gathering of the the gathering of the ‘weird and wonderful’ I had an almost irresistible urge to run . They ranged from the quietly confused through various categories of weirdness to the downright odd. Robbie had to hold on to me to stop me making a dash for freedom. Sarah Siddons was late, but eventually it arrived – I refuse to call a loco that turns up late and breaks down a lot ‘she’ when it is so obviously male!

We found some seats in a compartment and soon we were joined by a chap with a big simile and thankfully few words who liked class 37s. I could have cope with him but my ‘weird magnet’ was working overtime and two seriously strange bods from the South West came to sit next to me. They talked incessantly about quail maps and sections of track that they’d ‘had’. They made it sound like notches on their bedposts! It did not surprise me that they both turned out to be single! I did what any sane person does in such circumstances; I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep.

At Amersham I was entrusted with everyone’s bags, it was like lemming year! There was a mass exodus of men and cameras all hoping to get the perfect shot of Sarah Siddons. As I gazed out of the window at crowds of men milling around carrying cameras with formidable lenses, I couldn’t help wondering if train spotters like trombone players are over compensating for their deficiencies in other areas. After two trips from Harrow on the Hill to Amersham and back I was allowed to escape to the relative sanity of a normal service to Aylesbury. I hadn’t really enjoyed the experience, I was bored and trapped and I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Robbie said that perhaps I just don’t like electric locos, perhaps not, to me it just felt unreal and uninteresting, like a theme park ride with added weirdness. I think I prefer proper rail tours with interesting people and (preferably) diesels.

Aylesbury offered the worst station toilets of the day, they seemed fairly new but they were so badly designed that you had to straddle the toilet in order to shut the cubicle door. The tap that claimed to be the cold tap produced such a powerful burst of uncomfortably hot water that it soaked my top! Why is it so had to provide clean adequate toilet facilities? It may not sound important but passengers remember when companies/stations can’t even get the basics right.

We came back via Marylebone on a Chiltern service. That proved to be the greatest disappointment of the day. It was rubbish, the toilets were in a disgraceful state, no toilet paper, filthy seat, overflowing bin, floor flooded and a broken dryer. Also there was no air con and it was so uncomfortable when we were delayed by about an hour that my asthma played up. There was no wifi, some of the sockets were not working, there was a distinct lack of useful announcements, people had to get refunds for their tea and coffee because the milk was off and the train manager failed to apologise for the delay. The seats were very badly designed, impossible to get in and out of and very uncomfortable. I will steer clear of Chiltern from now on.

The best bit of my whole day was the Virgin Pendolino that we caught on the way home, it was absolutely perfect. We had to get the London Midland service from Rugby, but for once London Midland excelled themselves, it was one of the more comfortable ‘blue’ trains, the toilets were working and it was a pleasant trip back to Northampton.

All Good Things Come To An End

We are not going home until Sunday, but Saturday morning found me packing up most of our belongings and cleaning the bungalow as my mum and step father were coming to start their holiday. Every year i promise myself that we will take much less, but every year we break that promise. We were so busy before we came to Norfolk that packing was a rather hit and miss affair, but how did Robbie mananage to bring 28 Tshirts with him, did he seriously think he would wear two Tshirts every day? In reality he has only worn a handful of his favourite tops, because I have washed them so that he could wear them again.

Finally we were all packed up and the bungalow was clean and shining so we could get on and enjoy the day. Robbie was in a lot of pain and it was making him lose patients with his jigsaw, so I did a bit for him - it is so hard but I was determined that we would get it finished. I didn't do very much because Robbie took over again to finish it, it looked fantastic when it was completebut after taking a photo we had to break it up and pack it away.

we went down to the beach because I wanted to take some photos and as we stood there looking out across the beach a seal popped up directly in front of us, within seconds he was gone again, but for the next few minutes he kept popping up and then vanishing again. Robbie and I watched until he swam away along the coast. It was a very special way to mark our last day in Norfolk.

When we went to bed Robbie got me up to look out of the window at the moon and it's silver reflection on the sea -he can be romantic after all, he just hides it well!! 

Every now and then go away and have a little relaxation. To remain constantly at work will diminish your judgement. - Leonardo DaVinci

Robbie had a plan to get up early and drive to North Walsham to catch the train to Sherringham to spend another day on the North Norfolk Railway. All this rushing around to catch trains is getting suspiciously like our normal routine, I would have liked our holiday to have been less 'timetabled' but I guess that life with Robbie means that almost everything is timetabled! I was very pleased when late on Saturday evening he decided that he would rather go out for Sunday lunch than go to the railway. Like Scooby Doo he will do almost anything for food..

It was a lovely sunny day and we had a leisurely morning listening to the Archers and enjoying the luxury of time. By midday we were at a restaurant in Mundsley having Sunday lunch. The vegetables were served in a dish, cabbage, peas, carrots and leeks, but Robbie rejected all of them and tucked into roast pork, apple sauce, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes and lashings of gravy. Oh well, at least I enjoyed the vegetables!

After lunch we decided to go for a drive and I surprised Robbie by driving him to Weybourne so that he could visit the station bookshop. I let the sat nav guide me to Weybourne, it was a lovely journey but there were lots of twists and turns and it was scarily narrow in places. We got a lovely view of a windmill and there were beautiful costal views.

Robbie spent an eternity choosing books and magazines and he darted around taking photos of the trains. He was like a kid in a sweet shop, books, magazines and trains, he didn't know what to do first! We came home with a bag of magazines, books, maps and catalogues, and Robbie has spent most of the evening reading.

Every Picture Tells A Story

When Robbie goes on a rail tour I get sick of hearing about it. Before he goes he talks about the route, the engines, the arrangements and what he plans to wear. When he is there he rings me to tell me where he is, what he is doing and being Robbie he makes absolutely sure that I have all the details. When he gets home he shows me the photos and tells me about it all over again and just to be absolutely sure that he didn't miss anything! He is always tired when he gets home because according to him he works very hard during a rail tour, but thanks to a photo taken by one of his friends I know just how exhausting it is. As they say, the camera never lies!!

I am not usually overjoyed about Robbie going off on rail tours leaving me on my own for the weekend with all the routine chores to do. I would rather spend our weekends together because weekdays are very busy and we have very little 'us time'. I guess the moral is to be careful what you wish for because Robbie has arranged a 'special treat' for me - he is taking me on a rail tour. I told him that I wasn't keen on going but he said that he loves Deltics and he loves me so I should love Deltics too! When that didn't work he pointed out that we are a similar age so I should like Deltics - that certainly didn't work!! I do quite like travelling by train but I would rather travel on a proper train with an electrical socket to plug my laptop in. As it was my treat it should have been my choice, but there was no way that Robbie would miss the chance to see his beloved Royal Scots Grey.

In the Sea

It was so hot today that the beach was the best place to be. I loved going into the sea, and eventually Robbie broke his own rule and paddled, and surprise surprise, once he tried it he liked it and he wanted to do it again!

We found several wishing stones on the beach (stones with holes going all the way through them) and I took lots of photos of the beach and of Robbie. I had to make him put his bag down while I took some photos, because he looked like Roy Cropper (from Coronation Street) standing there on the beach with his bag!

I have put a number of holiday photos on the blog and if anyone has noticed that Robbie seems to wear the same clothes on different days. Don't worry, he doesn't smell, I have washed his clothes every day because he and Sam both like to to wear their favourite things over and over again – yet another of Robbie's Aspie traits!

The T Word

Wow, we had the most amazing last day on holiday. It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky. Robbie had breakfast outside while I went for an early walk to get some photos while it was quiet and the sun was in the right position. We had a nice day on the beach, the sea was a bit cold but once I was used to it I enjoyed paddling in the shallow water as I wandered along the beach. Robbie doesn't paddle, he just sat in his chair enjoying the sun and reading railway magazines. We had a nice walk this evening and I thought I had his undivided attention, but something set him off and he was back on his favourite subjects, trains, rail tours and railways in general. It would have been nice to have one day without the T word, but I guess you can't have everything!

Choices

I have such a bad back, I can hardly sit down to write this because it hurts so much. I don't know how I hurt it. Anyway on to more cheerful subjects, Sam has been notified of the subjects he will be able to study next year. He expressed his preferences a couple of months ago and he has been waiting anxiously to find out if he got his chosen subjects - he did! He was very lucky and he got everything he asked for, triple science, history, French and photography. He loves photography and he really wanted to study it so he is very happy that he can do photography GCSE. He already takes nice photos and he edits them in interesting way, here are two recent pictures that he took.

How to Measure Time

Holidays are measured out in toilet roll, we start with a large pack tucked into the cupboard under the sink and gradually the pack becomes smaller until only a single roll remains and the holiday is almost at an end. We glance at the contents of the fridge and wonder if we will manage to eat it all without wasting food and we make absolutely certain that we don't run out of tea bags or coffee! However there is one cupboard whose contents has not diminished, in fact what started as a little pile of magazines has grown significantly over the fortnight. Robbie loves his magazines and newspapers and he is extremely reluctant to part with them. He promised me yesterday that he would sort through his pile and get rid of as much as possible, but unsurprisingly the pile remains un molested and Robbie is finding every excuse under the sun to avoid 'doing the deed' and if I'm not very careful he will sneak the whole lot into the car to be taken home. What possible use are copies of last week's Guardian, in fact more to the point what use is today's Guardian! They are certainly not going to be taken home with us!

Robbie has been busy with his jigsaw and hopefully he will finish it today. I enjoyed taking photos yesterday, I managed to get some shots of some of my favourite shops and landmarks in Padstow, then in the afternoon when it was low tide I got some lovely shots of the beach. I love taking photos, and it is lovely to look at them later and relive all those happy holiday memories.

The Tardis

This caravan has tardis like qualities, it does very strange things with time. In one sense the holiday flies past but in another way time stands still and we don't deal with normal every day things like post and normal everyday commitments. I love it here and I would happily stay longer, but when it is time to go home it will be lovely to see my family - and my dog!

I have been coming to this part of Cornwall for over 20 years and when I sit on the beach or walk along the coast path or wander around Padstow there are so many memories. When I was relaxing on the beach all on my own yesterday it felt very odd because I have spent so many years with the children gathering shells, fishing in rock pools, digging in the sand and watching them surfing or swimming in the sea. There are so many memories and fortunately there are lots of photos to keep those memories alive.

Padstow

We made a relatively early start this morning, by holiday standards. I was the first up, but when I went to have a shower I had to clean first because I found that we had our own private beach in the shower basin - Sam! He had showered after going to the beach yesterday and (being a boy) he didn't notice that he had deposited half the beach in the bathroom. It is a brilliant shower, I could stay in there all day.

By 10am we were in Padstow ready to take a leisurely look at the shops. Laura found a lovely fair trade jewellery shop called Uneeka on Saturday and she wanted to go back to buy a couple more items. We looked at lots of other shops and I took advantage of the early start to take some photos while Padstow was relatively quiet, nothing opens until 10am. It was a dismal morning, but not raining and not cold, it brightened up later in the day so we can't complain.

We stopped at a nice little cafe for a bacon roll and a cup of tea. Poor old Robbie was really struggling to walk today and it was obvious that he was in a lot of pain, but he enjoyed his bacon roll. I hope you like the photos of Padstow.

Later in the afternoon we went for a walk along the coast path. We walked towards the lifeboat house because there is a bench where we can sit and watch the sea birds and surprisingly we can get an excellent phone signal there, there is no signal in the caravan. The lifeboat had gone out earlier and as we looked out at the sea we spotted it coming back, so we watched as it made the approach and was winched back up the ramp to the boat house.

Padstow Lifeboat

I was sad to hear that one of my favourite artists Beryl Cook has died. I loved her larger than life characters, they always seemed to have great confidence and to be enjoying life immensely, with just a touch of wickedness. She had a unique style and she will be much missed.
Beryl Cook Paintings

Northamptonshire Countryside 06.10.07

Robbie and I had an 'us' day on Friday. We had planned to go for a day out on a train, but after a very busy week I wasn't keen on an early start and a long exhausting day. In the end we had a lazy morning, we went out for a nice lunch and then we went for a long walk to enjoy the Northamptonshire countryside. Not far from our home is the Brampton Valley Way a lovely rural walk along the route of the old railway line between Northampton and Market Harborough. It has the added attraction of running alongside our local preserved railway so Robbie has plenty to keep him interested. I like it too, but Robbie and I are interested in different aspects of railway history, I like freight and I like railway architecture. I enjoy taking photos from unusual angles and I like the fact that I can walk at track level and I am able to see bits of the 'under carriage' that would normally be hidden from sight by the platform, I am not sure that photos of bogies and toilet controls are of interest to many people, but I have already admitted to being boring! There was a very nice newly painted coal truck, but my favourites were all in need of some serious TLC, a horsebox, a cattle wagon and a very sad looking newspaper van.