And So To Bed

You know that lovely feeling when you settle down in bed and pull the coves around you ready for sleep? Well it doesn't last long with Robbie around! Last night I was just ready for sleep when Robbie bounced in like Tigger, giving a running commentary along the way. He let all the heat out when he got into bed, then I couldn't get warm again because he kept doing that 'Kenny Everett' thing where he waves his legs around like a dying fly. I was wondering if a couple of bricks in the duvet cover would solve the problem when he settled down and started to list all the railway magazines produced in the UK. It was 2am and I wasn't really interested, but I got all the information, date started, frequency of publication, publisher, price, size, and details of regular content. He went on and on until he got back to the pressing problem of the size change of the Rail Express, I couldn't stand any more so I used the only weapon available to me – I recited poetry to him! My first choice, The Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan just made him laugh, so I knew I had to bring out the 'big guns'. Next came Nicholas Nye by Walter de la Mare, that left him quietly confused, so I plunged in with On The Loss of the Royal George by William Cowper. That did the trick, he was begging for mercy. I threatened him with every verse of the Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning, if I heard one more word about trains, so he made the wise decision to turn over and go to sleep.

Midnight Madness 17.07.07

So Asda have settled their dispute with Bloomsbury the publishers of the Harry Potter books. The had to issue a grovelling apology for their earlier press release which suggested that Bloomsbury were exploiting young readers by setting a high cover price of 17.99 for the latest book. As the parent of an avid Harry Potter fan I am feeling rather exploited myself. In fact my good nature is being exploited beyond human endurance, I can put up with the high cover price, I can even put up with all the hype about the latest adventures of the boy wizard, but why do I have to drive into town and queue up in the middle of the night just so that my child doesn't miss out on the 'Harry Potter Experience' - it's madness!

Emily is a great fan of the Harry Potter books and I have had to endure the midnight madness a couple of times before. As soon as she has the latest book her nose will be buried in it every waking hour until she has finished the whole book - and then she will read it again! She has even read one of the books in French, but that took her considerably longer.

Emily will be in Poland when the new Harry Potter book is released and the prospect of having to wait until she gets back to England to get her hands on the new book is torturing her. I was secretly delighted because there would be no pressure on me to drive her into town at midnight to get book. Laura isn't really bothered about Harry Potter and Sam is fairly interested, but not enough to put himself to any great inconvenience, so you can imagine my reaction when I found out quite by chance that Robbie and Laura have planned another midnight venture - and guess who is the chauffeur!!