Let your fingers do the walking

I am sure that my children could come up with a very long list of things that I do which they find annoying. Somewhere on that list would be my habit of recalling old advertising jingles, if I attempt to sing them my son runs for cover. Come to think of it, if I attempt to sing anything everyone runs for cover, I do not have a musical bone in my body. 

Unlike Robbie, I am not a shopper I do not enjoy going to town and I especially don't enjoy buying clothes. I go to considerable lengths to avoid shopping whenever possible so for me shopping online solves a lot of problems. The idea of shopping in the sales fills me with horror (I don't do crowds!) but this year I decided to have a look at a couple of online sales. I told my son that I was 'letting my fingers do the walking' he looked horrified and told me not to say that because it sounds disgusting. I was just borrowing a phrase from the old yellow pages adverts, my son is too young to remember those adverts and it seems that the world is less innocent these days.

My purchases were delivered this morning, I felt sorry for the delivery man because the box was mostly full of books and it was very heavy. It was exciting to open all the items and look at them, but most of the books and other bits and pieces are for birthday presents etc so I had to pack them away. I bought the coolest present for my younger daughter's birthday, but I have a long wait to give it to her because her birthday is in June!      

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store - Dr Seuss

Well Christmas came and went and if I'd blinked I think I would have missed it. It seems as if it passed in a blur of activity, I was so busy at work prior to Christmas and Robbie was away a lot because he also had a very busy period work wise; it was busy at home too because I had lots to do to get ready for my son's 18th birthday on 20th December so it was a challenge to get ready for Christmas at the same time. It all worked out well in the end, somehow everything got done in time, my son had a lovely birthday and we enjoyed spending time with our family over Christmas. I would have been happier if I didn't have to work on Christmas Eve and on Boxing Day, but that's the way it works out sometimes.

Robbie had lots of nice presents including a couple of new additions to his weird and wacky collection of cufflinks, boxed sets of the first three series of Ice Road Truckers, an assortment of railway books (including a very nice book of then and now railway maps) and several items to add to his Lego collection including a Lego train set with a Lego station. Unfortunately he wasn't very well on Christmas Day so his inner child was more subdued than usual - but he made up for it in the next few days!

I had lots of lovely presents too. I had perfume, a David Attenborough dvd (he is one of my all time heroes) and a dvd set that I have wanted for years, The Victorian Kitchen, Victorian Kitchen Garden and Victorian Flower Garden (one of my all time television favourites). I also had a five year question and answer  journal, it poses a question every day but the answer may differ from year to year. Robbie bought me a very thoughtful and generous present, and I was very pleased with it, but I had ethical objections to the brand. I really didn't want to tell him, but he worked it out and he was very understanding about it. After Christmas he took it back so that I could buy from a different (better) company. He wasn't brave enough to tell the Apple Store why he was returning it, but I guess if it is that important I can write and tell them why they lost the sale. I haven't quite decided what I am going to buy yet, I don't want to make my mind up too quickly because I am really enjoying 'window shopping'.

I'm not 40, I'm eighteen with 22 years experience - Author Unknown

Today is the day! The big 40 has finally caught up with Mr B. It may be his birthday, but it is also a normal working day so we had to get up even earlier than usual to allow Robbie to have a few minutes to open his cards and presents. He had chosen to have money for his birthday, but he had lots of nice presents too. A couple of pairs of cufflinks, aftershave, a retro mug based on the old Ladybird books, Lego minifigures, Lego books, a reproduction of an Eagle Annual, as well as various other bits and bobs. He also had two pairs of Dr Marten Shoes, one pair chosen by him and so hideous that they defy description, the other pair chosen by me and much more sensible. They are red 1461's (made in England!) he seemed to be very pleased with them - and almost as pleased with the Dr Marten carrier bag that they came in!


All too soon it was time for him to get ready for work. It would have been nice to have a long lazy day together, but the 'real world' dictated otherwise. Before long Robbie was dressed in his dark suit with a smart white shirt and his new 'keep calm and carry on' cufflinks. He had stashed his Lego minifigures in his briefcase along with a set of farm themed novelty erasers. I had bought them to remind him of our trips to the Farm Shop and he seemed delighted with them, apparently he used to collect erasers - why does that not surprise me!


He was careful to reassure me that he isn't going to change just because he is 40, I don't think he is very keen on the idea of becoming old and sensible. He needn't worry, according to Jerry M. Wright "The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left." If that is true there is danger of Robbie becoming more mature that any time soon, he still likes his music loud and annoying. 

You can't turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again. Bonnie Prudden

Finding the Magic of Christmas

I often think that we have got it all wrong when it comes to Christmas we get so tied up with buying presents and   Christmas food becomes an ordeal from start to finish - shopping for it, to storing it, cooking it and digesting it! Despite all my good intentions Christmas crept up on me and I was as disorganised as ever. I had been stashing presents away for months, just little things for Robbie, he is a big kid when it comes to Christmas and it makes me so happy to watch him opening his presents. I had been reasonably organised about presents for other family members, our children provide lists now, so that's easy and buying for my young niece and nephews is a pleasure. Finding the money is a bit more of a challenge, but that is the same for everyone. 


The bits of Christmas that I find challenging include getting the Christmas tree and decorations out of the loft, putting the tree up - and tidying up the mess afterwards! Arguing about where best to put the tree and acting as referee in the annual argument about whose turn it is to have their angel on top of the tree this year. The food shopping is probably the biggest headache, affording it, making sure that we have enough food while trying not to buy so much that it will be wasted. It is just such an effort tackling the supermarket, unloading the shopping and packing it into the fridge and freezer. Then I have to cope with Robbie huffing and puffing because the fridge is not packed correctly and things are in the wrong place in the freezer. Last but not least is wrapping, I quite like wrapping up presents but suddenly everything has to be wrapped at once and however well prepared I think I am, I find that someone has 'borrowed' the scissors, or the sellotape - or both!


This year was like every other year,  by Christmas morning I was exhausted and it was a real struggle to get up and join in the fun of present opening, but the excitement of gift giving works it's magic and memories of other Christmas mornings fill my mind, distant memories of my own childhood when Santa always left shiny new coins at the bottom of my stocking. Then there are the special Christmas memories of my own children when they were little. One daughter asked Santa to bring her a sheep - that was one Christmas wish that didn't come true. There was the time when I was filming both daughters singing Christmas carols for their grandma and the little one (age 4) kept stopping to tell her older sister off for singing her part, it was so funny. My favourite memory of my son at Christmas was when he was a shepherd in the nativity play, he was 3 or 4 at the time and he walked up to Mary and Joseph swinging his knitted lamb around by by it's tail!


Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance - each beautiful, unique and too soon gone. ~Deborah Whipp

In the end the food and the presents don't matter so much, it is being together that counts, family time taking pleasure in the special people around us. Christmas may be hard work but this year just as every other year, sharing the day with all the people I love made it all worthwhile.

Every Beetle Is A Gazelle In The Eyes Of Its Mother.

The title for this post is a Moorish Proverb, I like the imagery and it seemed like an ideal title for a post about Mothers Day. I had a lovely day on Sunday, the girls (with a little help from their brother) cooked a roast beef dinner and it was really nice, the carrots were fantastic and I am not usually a fan of carrots. They bought me a beautiful locket too, so I felt extremely spoilt.


In the afternoon we all went to see my mum, spending Sunday afternoon with her and my stepfather has become a bit of a family tradition. My brother and my nephew usually pop in too and it is lovely to have an unhurried couple of hours with all the people that I love most. My mum takes pleasure in feeding people, and she and Robbie have developed a mutual admiration, he loves her cakes and she is pleased that her baking brings so much pleasure. On Sunday he tucked in to her legendary pineapple cake, but he likes everything that she cooks. I think almond tarts are my favourite, mum makes amazing pastry. We bought mum a CD and a book for Mothers Day, and the girls bought her some lovely flowers, she loves flowers, but I am not keen on having flowers in the house, I don't like watching them die.


My mum and I are different in so many ways, she loves fashion and always wears bright colours, she is passionate about jewellery, she likes having her hair done, she wears make up always because it makes her feel good, she loves to shop and she likes going out. Those who know me will know that I am not like that, I couldn't be less interested in fashion, and I don't like bright colours. I like blues and greys and I tend to stick with colours I am comfortable with. In my late teens I remember having a brief phase when I liked brown, my mum was horrified, she said "you can wear that when you are dead!" but she has always respected my right to express myself my way. I would rather have my teeth drilled than tolerate anyone messing with my hair, I hardly wear any make up and I detest shopping. Given the choice I prefer to be at home rather than going out. We are different but in the things that matter we are very similar, family always comes first with mum and she has always been there to share our joys and our sorrows. She taught me that women can do anything they put their mind to and they can do it better than men because women read the instructions first! She taught me to keep trying and never to be beaten by circumstances, she gave me the confidence to be me , to stand up for what I believe and not just follow the crowd, and she gave me values and standards to live by. So you see we are not so different after all! My mum is not really the sort of mum to give advice, she just teaches by example, but I do recall one little gem of wisdom from around the time of my first marriage "men are like dogs, if you don't train them young you will always have problems" - so that's where I went wrong with Robbie!!


It's not easy being a mother.  If it were easy, fathers would do it.  From the television show The Golden Girls

A Family Christmas

We have had such a busy few days that we are both exhausted. We spent the day before Christmas Eve with my mum, stepfather, and my brother and his family, it was such a lovely day. My nephew is 20 months old now and he is so much fun, he was the centre of attention and he enjoyed making everyone laugh. We spent Christmas Eve at my mum's house, it is a family tradition to have steak and chips on Christmas Eve and it was wonderful. When I saw how much Robbie managed to put away I thought he would never walk again, but like the bumble bee he defies the laws of nature!

The evening of Christmas Eve was a mad rush of getting the house ready and the last leg of the wrapping up marathon. I seem to have been wrapping presents for weeks, why does it take so long to wrap everything up and such a short time to unwrap! On Christmas morning I think Sam broke the record for the fastest ever present opening and the girls were not far behind. Sam had a coat (the type he wanted), a graphics tablet, very expensive photography books (from his wish list), various DVD sets and a whole ocean of smellies - we will need breathing apparatus for months! The girls had GHDs, DVDs, books perfume and countless other things.

My mum and stepfather spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day with us, the cooking was hard work but we all had a lovely time. Robbie behaved himself except for the little interlude on Boxing Day afternoon when he has a tantrum about somthing so trivial that I can't even remember it. He sat on the kitchen floor with his arms folded an his lip sticking out, he looked just like a toddler with an attack of the 'terrible twos'. We just closed the door on him and enjoyed a cup of tea while he regained control of his inner child. I have just remembered what caused the strop, it was because we wanted to make a cup of tea before we did the washing up and it messed up his routine!!

I have to make a bit of a confession, I bought Robbie two railway books because I wanted to read them! I knew that he wiould like them too. I scoured the town to find his favourite aftershave for him and I also bought him some other things, but I think he will write about that later.

Grounds for Divorce!

I'm finally starting to feel better after the swine flu jab, it made me feel really rough, but I expect it is a lot better to have the jab than to risk getting swine flu. I really need to get organised now, I still have so much to do before Christmas and it seems as if the days are just rushing past. I have Sam's birthday to think about too, poor Sam, it is no fun having your birthday and Christmas in the same week. I asked him for ideas about what presents he would like and he presented me with a neatly typed page of A4 paper with his wish list neatly divided into categories - if only he put that much effort into his homework! So now I know what he wants, but I will need a second mortgage to afford it all! Robbie's wish list is truly scary among other things he wants some Dr Marten boots with union jack toe caps - no way! I put up with him wearing bright colours and lurid patterns but the union jack toe caps are a step to far, it would be grounds for divorce! He will have to settle for something a little more sober, after all he is not far off 40, it's time he grew up!

Shopping for Men

Why is it so hard to buy presents for men? It is my step father's birthday today, and I really struggled to find a suitable present for him. In the end I bought his favourite aftershave and a book of old photos of our town and the surrounding villages. He loved the book so at least the effort to find the right thing was worthwhile. At least I don't have that problem with Robbie, he is very easy to buy for. I find the easiest thing is to stick with the train theme, there are lots of options, a ride on a train, a model train, a visit to look at trains, a book about trains, maps showing train routes, paintings of trains, train DVDs, train pictures, train jigsaws, in fact he even likes bits of old trains! In the unlikely event that I ran out of train related options there are other possibilities, Dr Martens, gadgets or anything that he can eat - he loves to eat!

Happy Birthday Sebastian

I just wanted to say Happy 18th Birthday to Seb, I hope you have a good day and I really hope you like the present. Suddenly I feel very old, three of our children are over 18 now!

Sam was really funny when he was writing Seb's card, I wanted him to put more than his usual 'Sam' on the card so I told him to put 'love from....' He gave me a defiant look and said "Mum, he is having a birthday, not coming out!"

A Challenge

Laura had a lovely birthday with lots of nice presents, I will write more about that later. This morning my post is about going out for a meal last night. We had all agreed to go to Aroma, a Chinese restaurant where you can help yourself to whatever you want. Robbie saw this as a challenge and he managed about three plates of main course food and about the same of afters, by then the rest of us had admitted defeat and had given up on eating in favour of people watching (great fun) so we didn't notice Robbie sneak away from the table again. I was speechless when he came back with a huge plate of curry and I couldn't imagine how he could eat anything else, but he made short work of it. He admitted to feeling full after that and we hurried him home before he made himself ill by eating more food. I don't think he will need to eat again for a couple of days!

A Special Birthday

I think Robbie wishes he was still on holiday, I had problems waking him up this morning. I had to get cross with him before he would get moving so he has been issued with an ultimatum, from now on I will wake him up once, if he doesn't get up that is his problem not mine and I will not change my routine to help him out.

This morning was really busy, it is Laura's 18th birthday and she was really excited about opening her presents. We bought her a ring, she also had clothes and DVD's they were all things that she wanted. This evening we are going out for a family meal. Where have all those years gone?

Christmas Day - by Robbie

Well it was Xmas Day, and yet again I was being the usual mardy-arse (nothing new there I here you all say..........), so Christine got up and went down to see the children open all there presents. In hindsight I should have been there for this and felt EXTREMELY guilty afterwards, as I do not see my own children much these days, let alone be part of such an important essential Xmas activity!

As I had been such a bar humbug I had to wait until the evening to see if I had even got any presents, and to my total surprise, a stocking appeared...

Gosh Santa has been good to me yet again.........I have been commenting (more like moaning.....lol..) to Christine for a while now that I would really love a digital camera, something that is small enough to take anywhere, even to work, so what a surprise to get a rather nice Fuji 8.2 mega pixel camera....its GREAT!! Small, fast, brilliant pictures, just perfect............but this was just the start of my presents!!

As you may know from previous postings, I have collecting the 'British Transport Film Collections' since they have been released, and for Xmas I had Volume Eight 'Points and Aspects' & Volume Nine 'Just the Ticket'. They are a great collection of various films all produced by the in-house production unit of the British Transport Commission that was originally set-up in 1949. Even if you are not that mad on trains, some of them can be really enjoyable to quite a wide audience.....

The rest of my Xmas stocking contained a number of GREAT DVD's, Spooks Series 1 box set, Shameless Series 3, Branchlines of Britain (a box set of three DVD's covering all branchlines of the UK, although I have not had chance to watch this yet, this does look GREAT!!), and also a very interesting BBC DVD called 'A Picture of Britain' presented by David Dimbleby, based on the TV series. Oh and I could NOT forget the 2009 edition of Who's Who in The Archers, as I have been dropping Christine hints for a couple of years now, and finally I have a copy, although I bet I know who will be reading it more than I will............lol...........:)

The Incredible Sulk!

I have been feeling really rough, I just don't seem able to get better despite antibiotics, steroids, inhalers and various other pills and potions, I am so frustrated with it. I would have liked to postpone Christmas, but it wasn't to be. I wasn't as organised as usual and we had a number of last minute preparations in order to be ready for the big day. Robbie had a strop because he wanted to set the kitchen out slightly differently and I wouldn't let him because it just wasn't practical. Robbie is so closely in touch with his inner child that he is capable of a 'terrible two's' style strop whenever the need arises, and since I have no need of an extra child I usually just leave him to it until he manages to recapture his inner child and behave like a human being again.

Unfortunately when Christmas Day dawned Robbie was still in a strop, he had most of the bed, and the whole duvet with covers pulled over his head and his rear end sticking out. My attempts to communicate were rebuffed so I left him in bed while I went down to watch the family open their presents. I knew it was going to be one of those days when I found the treat left for me downstairs – a pile of dog sick! Meg had stolen some chocolates the day before and obviously it didn't agree with her. Not only had she chosen to target the only piece of carpet on the ground floor, but everyone else seemed to be wearing blinkers, they managed to avoid stepping in it without even seeing it. After that glorious start to the day I stank of disinfectant as I settled down to watch them open their presents, but it was still very special. I had put hours of effort into wrapping everything up, but in a matter of minutes everything was unwrapped and the lounge was a covered in wrapping paper – more cleaning up! When sanity was restored to the lounge I plodded upstairs to see if 'the incredible sulk' had become human again, but he was still talking out of the only visible part of his anatomy so I left him to it and after a bath to get rid of the disinfectant smell, I got on with the cooking.

We had my brother and my parents with us for the day and we had a lovely time. It was tiring and by the end of the day I was so fed up with listening to Guitar Hero on the Wii, but it was a very special day and there is nothing nicer than being surrounded by your family. Thankfully Robbie got his act together by lunchtime, and he joined in with the day. He had to wait until everyone had gone home to get his presents, but I think they were worth waiting for. He gave me several nice things including a signed copy of Pete Waterman's book A Train is for Life. It is nice to have the adult Robbie back!

A Question of Taste

Robbie informed me on Friday that he had bought me some amazing presents and a really original card for my birthday. I had asked for money, because Robbie doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to choosing presents, but if he was pleased with his choice I was prepared to at least try to like it. The box looked suspiciously like a train set, that would have been OK, but it wasn't a train, when I opened it I was confronted by a truly hideous clock with lines and blocks of clashing colours. It wasn't much use as a clock as it didn't have numbers on it and I couldn't imagine what possessed Robbie to choose it. He explained that it was the test card, why would I want the test card on a clock with no numbers? Robbie's answer was because it is retro and I can remember the test card – I can remember castor oil, it doesn't mean I want more of it!! I was still trying to like the clock when Robbie started asking about where we could put it, when I said no to the lounge he wanted to put it in the bedroom, I couldn't cope with that it would have given me nightmares! I think I will get my revenge on his colleagues who encouraged him to buy it – he can take it to work!

Missed

The weather has been lovely over the last few days, I love this time of year when the whole summer stretches ahead of us. I'm not sure my children would agree with me, Sam is suffering badly with hay fever, Laura is just about to start exam leave for her AS Level exams and Emily has exams looming at university. Sam has started on his medication, so hopefully his hay fever will improve soon. The oil seed rape is in flower and the countryside around here is a mass of yellow, I hate the smell and the pollen upsets my asthma so I will be glad when the flowers are gone. It really annoys me that I have asthma, I didn't develop it until I was an adult and I don't understand why, I have never smoked a cigarette in my life.

I had to go to town yesterday to buy birthday presents for Imogen, the youngest (and probably the loudest) of our children, she will be 9 later this month. Imogen looks so much like Robbie, she can be very strong willed but she has a lovely side to he nature, when asked what she wants for her birthday or Christmas she doesn't provide a long list of desires, she just says that she will be happy with anything. So we have spent the last few weeks trying to think of things that she will really like. I can't tell you what we have bought, that's top secret, but it involved me trudging around town until my legs almost dropped off. It was a successful trip and now I have plenty of wrapping up to do.

For those who are wondering if Robbie was forgiven after yesterday's blog entry, yes, I never stay cross with him for long. There was another points failure yesterday so he was late home again, it is so frustrating. He was home just long enough to eat his meal before dashing out to sort out Marion's wayward router again, it was an AOL server problem - again!. When I picked him up from Marion's house he said "I missed ..." and just for a split second I thought he was going to tell me that he had missed me (we have hardly seen each other this week), but it was something far more important - he had missed one of his favourite TV programs! It was late so I went to bed and left him watching the repeat of his program. Oh well at least I had peace and quiet!

Sea Birds 01.06.07

Today is the first day of Laura’s birthday celebrations, her birthday is actually tomorrow, but we will be travelling home tomorrow so she decided to start the celebrations today! She chose three of her presents and all her cards to open today and she has saved the others until tomorrow morning. She chose well and found her main present – a new mobile. She spent the rest of the morning relaxing on the beach keying all her vital data to her new phone. Gone are the days Barbie and Sylvanian Families, it was so much easier when the birthday shopping could all be done at Toys R Us.

It has been a lovely day. I went out for a walk first thing the light is so good for photography on a clear morning. I am sure I could stay here for ever and never tire of the view and the feeling of being connected with the world around me.

We spent most of the day on the beach followed by a quick trip to St Merryn and then to Tesco to collect Laura’s birthday cake – a rich chocolate cake covered in slivers of grated chocolate.

Robbie and I walked along the coast path towards the lifeboat house this evening, it is so beautiful just sitting there looking out across the bay. We saw two of those black sea birds whose name reduces Sam and Robbie to the worst excesses of school boy humour, and usually results in a list of the rudest combinations of bird names they can think of. I wonder if Robbie will ever grow up!

Even later in the evening it was warm enough to sit outside and enjoy a cup of tea. Oh well, back to reality tomorrow.

A Busy Christmas

We are both exhausted after the demands and excitement of a family Christmas. Santa was very kind to Robbie, he got several railway DVD's (by some fluke Santa had chosen the ones that I was quite keen to watch) so I predict some early nights cuddled up together watching railway DVD's. He also got some speakers for his ipod and a brand new ipod video. He was speechless - a rare occurrence for Robbie!!! He also had some of his favourite, expensive aftershave so breathing apparatus will be required when using the bathroom after he has applied his aftershave! Even on Christmas day he couldn't resist the call of the computer and he had a ready made excuse, he was setting up his new ipod.

As you can see from the picture above, Robbie was a real party animal! He hasn't touched anything alcoholic over Christmas, not even a wine gum - so why does he look sozzled in most of the Christmas photos?