Spiral Archive

Robbie was very excited about Saturday, he had looked forward to it all week, but if I'm honest I wasn't keen. We were going to the Spiral Archive, record shop which is also a bookshop. I love books and the idea of spending ages checking out all the books in this shop was very attractive. However the shop contained two of the things that I really don't like, music and coffee, so I was apprehensive. I am not good with the smell of coffee, I really can't cope with loud Robbie type music and I knew that Robbie would be in there for ages. 

As it turned out I coped better with the smell of coffee and the music than I expected. I really enjoyed sorting through the books and I found a few treasures that I absolutely had to have. I have to admit to getting bored long before Robbie was ready to go, but that is not surprising because he was there for almost 3 hours!! I think he could have easily spent our whole annual budget, but in the end he came away with a bag full of treasures and a huge grin on his face. His purchases included Hatful of Hollow, Veruca Salt (7"), Altern 8 Activ-8 (7") and Altern 8 various remix's (12") as well as a couple of 1970s Hornby catalogues. It really was Robbie's idea of heaven, a shop that sells railway books as well as a huge selection of vinyl records. 

The sea hath no king but God alone - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

According to the forecasts Friday was to be wet and miserable but Norfolk weather has a mind of its own and the ominous dark cloud was chased away by the sun leaving a lovely bright sky. We decided to make the most of the nice day and had a wander around the car boot sale, Robbie bought a cd but apart from that we enjoyed looking at all the goods on sale without giving in to temptation. By the time we had finished at the car boot sale Robbie’s tummy was rumbling so we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the beach café in Mundesley. There were lots of people on the beach and we enjoyed looking out at the sea as we ate our lunch. To my considerable relief Robbie passed on the onion rings this time, I can’t stand the smell of onion.



After lunch Robbie suggested that we should take a drive to Horsey Mill. It is a nice drive and it takes us past the lighthouse at Happisburgh as well as several beautiful churches and other buildings of interest. Horsey Mill is rather spectacular and Robbie darted about taking photos before his attention was taken by the shop – they had several interesting railway books! We took a gentle drive back towards Stalham so that Robbie could buy supplies for a packed lunch. He was determined to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to go and play trains – again. I was equally determined that I wasn’t going, but I didn’t mind dropping him off at the station.

Robbie's Piles!

Usually, I don't see much of Robbie during the week, by the time he gets home from work I have already left, so it is about 10.40pm before I see him. Yesterday was different, he had been to a meeting in Cambridge and he arrived home half an hour or so before I left. I was worried about him because his leg had been misbehaving and I would have liked to stay at home with him, but we can't always do what we want. By the time I left, Robbie was busy reorganizing his bookcase and making the case for yet another bookcase because he cant fit all his railway books on the one he has – one day there will be no room for me because of his books! He told me that he was going to sort out the collection of books and magazines that he had amassed at the side of his bed, so I was hopeful that I would come home to find a little more space in the bedroom.

When I returned later that evening, I was tired and hungry and I had forgotten all about Robbie's books, his bookcase looked much the same and I didn't go up to the bedroom until it was time for bed. I was late heading up to bed and when I came out of the bathroom I was looking forward to a few hours sleep, but that was to prove difficult. Robbie had piled all sorts of junk on the bed – it was his junk (except for a pile of my books that had been displaced by his railway books and were now homeless). I love my bed and taking liberties like that was not a wise move by Robbie. I rescued my books and piled the rest of the junk on Robbie's side of the bed, then I got in and settled down to sleep. I vaguely remember him waking me up to apologise for the mess on the bed and he must have moved it because when the alarm went off this morning Robbie was in bed and the junk was gone.

Something Close to Normal

Robbie is back in 'normal' mode – well, not normal exactly, Robbie doesn't do normal but he manages a fairly close approximation. He has been trying to make up for being a pain in the rear on Christmas morning, I have forgiven him, but he is still cross with himself. He invited me to have an early night last night, but I realised that it was just his one track mind getting the better of him when he said “just you and me and the new train DVD”. I like watching the DVD's with him, but sometimes I think trains are taking over the bedroom. The top of the wardrobes are packed with his model trains, he has piles of railway magazines on his side of the bed and his collection train DVD's is growing like a triffid. Most of his books have taken up residence in the lounge, but there are still plenty upstairs and some of them even find their way into the bed! I have to ask him not to read his books out loud when I am trying to sleep!! People told me that having a 'toy boy' would be exhausting, but I don't think this is quite what they had in mind, sometimes it would be nice to be just a bit more normal.
On the subject of 'normal' Robbie was in a fragile mood on Christmas Eve, not yet in a full blown strop, but working on it. All the family were at my mum's, just enjoying a nice family day together, but Robbie sat there reading The Grocer! What am I going to do with him?

This evening he is watching a scary film on his laptop, it is called The Strangers. It is comical to watch him, he's there with his headphones on looking terrified and making occasional terrified gasps and whimpers. At least it has given me a bit of peace for a little while.

A Moving Experience

I think I have mentioned before that Robbie's company is moving to new offices not far from their present building. He has known about the move for months and he has played an active role in the planning and preparation of the new environment. For months he has talked of little else. I know about the proximity of the post office, the kitchen arrangements, the layout of the toilets and the exact distance and route from New Street Station, I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Now we have moved on to the next phase, Robbie is in nostalgic mode, he keeps telling me how much he is going to miss Meridian. This morning when he got up he announced that it was his last ever Friday in his present building and he sounded so sad. As you would expect he has told me about the arrangements for packing in considerable detail, but I can't help wondering if they have really taken account of the Robbie factor. That man has taken hoarding to a new level, the house is bursting with train books, old timetables, railway maps, magazines, ancient catalogues, mementos from open days etc and assorted train related debris. I am fairly sure that his office will be much the same. I keep asking him to bring his junk home to make the move easier, but it hasn't happened - yet. They have only allowed a day for packing, but in Robbie's case it will probably take a week! I don't think we will ever be able to move house because the removal costs will be more than the price of the house!!

Father's Day

It was Father's Day on Sunday and in our house that is a day of very mixed emotions. My own dad died when I was still at school, and I still remember the pain of Father's Day without a father to buy a card for. I have a step father, he is not a substitute for my dad, but over the years he has become special in his own right and he has been a fantastic grandad to my children. The mixed feelings are much the same for my children, Robbie is a brilliant step dad and he has a good relationship with each of them but that does not replace their dad. Being a step parent is always a challenge, and in my case there was no vacancy to fill, they have a mum and a dad, so I needed to find a different sort of role with Robbie's children, more like a grown up friend than a parent. Of course from the other angle it is difficult to accept a step parent, how dare your parent inflict this person on you without giving you any choice in the matter and apparently without taking your feelings into account. My own stepfather didn't always get it right in the early days, but because of him I know that a good step-parent can make so much difference to family life.

Robbie misses his children when he is not with them especially on Fathers Day and birthday's, but we have some happy times when we are all together. Robbie's main present was the latest in the series of British Transport Films DVD's but it hadn't arrived on time so he is looking forward to getting that later in the week. He also had a couple of books, a big glossy book about railway blunders and a little book packed with railway facts. He loved both books, but by the end of the day I was getting a bit fed up with all those facts. That little book has a section on timetables and lots of information about Bradshaw's, he is bad enough as it is without a little book of facts to encourage him to bombard me with random railway information!

Running Late

I nearly had to put Robbie's dinner in the dog yesterday evening, he got delayed at work - again! Just being an hour later throws our whole evening into confusion, it gets very complicated to try to provide the whole family with a meal at the same time, usually there is always someone who has to eat later, it drives me mad.

When he finally got home Robbie got a bit huffy because I had bought myself a book, it was about railway history in Northamptonshire, it's really interesting, but he seems to think that all train books in the house have to be chosen by him. He was bursting to read it, but he wouldn't because he kept stressing that it was my book - what nonsense!

We overslept this morning, I remember waking Robbie up, but he must have gone back to sleep because he was racing around on 'fast forward' trying to get out on time to get his next train. He rang me later to say that he got the train with 2 minutes to spare. I am used to him giving me a detailed account of all his journeys with accurate timing, but it wasn't until this morning that something triggered a distant memory in my mind. Reginald Perrin! He used to entertain the women in his life with mind blowingly boring detail about his daily journey's to and from work. At least Robbie is rather less predictable than Reginald Perrin, but he is irritating sometimes, I have to beg him to stop talking!

Normal Service Has Been Resumed

I am pleased to report that normal service has been resumed, Robbie is his usual cheerful self again after a very challenging weekend. It was his birthday on Saturday, he was 36 and he was an absolute pain. I'm not sure what got into him, he said he wasn't happy about getting old and I came very close to solving that problem for him - there is only so much moaning one person can take in a day! He had some nice presents and cards, two expensive railway books from me, binoculars from the children, another railway mug and money. He'd asked for money because he is saving up for an a camera, not just any old camera, the one he has his eye on does everything except make a cup of tea - and it has a price to match, so he will have to save up. We had a lovely afternoon at my mum's, she spoils Robbie, she cooked him his favourite meal and she made him a lovely birthday cake, so he managed to feel a little better about getting old by the end of the day.

On Sunday I put him in a bad mood by listening to the morning service on Radio 4, I was enjoying it but Mr Moan announced that it was too 'happy clappy' and he sat up in bed with his arms folded and his bottom lip sticking out like a toddler having a strop. He irritated me so much that I was almost tempted to sing along and join in with the service, but maybe that would have been too much for him to bear. I had a couple of errands to do, but I when I got back I made sure that I had some peace and quiet to listen to the Archers. Robbie was kept busy with mending the fence (just the job for a rainy day) and then building his new bookcase (at last).

So now it is Monday evening and the bookcase is positioned neatly in the corner of the lounge with just two books on it. Having waited weeks for Robbie to build it, I thought it would be a simple matter to put the books on it, but there appears to be some delay. He says he has to work out how to arrange the books but I think he has suddenly realised that he will not be able to read his Quail Maps in bed anymore. I have a feeling that this isn't going to be as easy as I thought!
Favourite Railway Books