In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back - Charlie Brown

Robbie is a fan of Charlie Brown, he particularly likes Linus. Linus always reminds me of my son, not just because of his attachment to his security blanket, because he is clever, spiritual and a deep thinker. He has his own view of the world and it doesn’t seem to bother him that other people see things differently. I guess there is a bit of Linus in Robbie too, but instead of a security blanket he has a rucksack!

The one thing that both Robbie and my son have in common is that they don’t always understand me. This week has been a bit of an uphill struggle for me, my asthma has been playing me up which makes everything so much more of an effort. It makes me feel scared, struggling to breathe is horrible. It felt as if I was plodding through the week with diving boots on! My son, who probably hasn’t noticed that I have been feeling off colour this week, added to my burden by breaking the habit of a lifetime and delivering all his washing to the washing machine without being asked  - how many clothes does that boy have!! Later on he saw me trying to compare an old photo with the present day image on Street View. He asked what I was doing and I explained that I was trying to work out exactly where the photo had been taken. He was quiet for a minute or two, then he posed a deceptively simple question, “why does history matter?” I think the answer to that could be a blog post all on it’s own, but it gave me plenty to think about.

Robbie did his best to cheer me up, he made me a lovely meal on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately his efforts to cheer me up tonight fell on stony ground. He sat at the side of me with his ipad, he wanted to show me train pictures. I thought it was quite sweet until I realised the grim story behind what he was showing me. He made a hasty retreat to the other side of the room with my words still ringing in his ears!

The only person who knew instantly without being told that I wasn’t feeling very well was my best friend – and we were only speaking on the phone. It made me realise how lucky I am to have her. It is the strangest thing, it was a very odd situation that brought us together and no one would have expected us to become friends because we are very different. I think it surprised us both, but there was an instant connection between us from the very first time we met. It feels as if we have been friends forever.

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart & can sing it back to you when you've forgotten the words

Stranded Without a Quail! 22.02.07

Robbie phoned me from the train this evening. He told me that there was a speed restriction in place, but he was stranded without his quail map, so he couldn't check the signalling to work out roughly how late he would be. Imagine being stranded without a quail map - what a predicament!!

When he got home it wasn't long before First Great Western got him into serious trouble. They had driven him to the limit of frustration with timetable issues and he used a very unfortunate expletive to explain the situation. After a severe telling off we decided to adapt our family code so that FGW has become a swear word in its own right, minimising the need for other expletives.

As well as being caught out without his quail map, Robbie has lost his pager, it has been missing for a few days and despite searching frantically he can't find it. I don't know what he could have done with it. I hate the thing, it is bad enough that it constantly vibrates in his pocket, but he even takes it to bed with him! It is like a security blanket and he is lost without it

Security Blanket 29.01.07

This afternoon found us heading off in the car to see my mum. Robbie sat in the passenger seat engrossed in the National Rail Timetable which he had decided to bring out for a ride. Kids have teddy bears and security blankets, Robbie has Quail maps and timetables! His excuse for reading it on this occasion was to work out the best route to Leicester because Emily has to go for a university visit in a couple of weeks. He could easily have looked it up at work tomorrow, but he uses any excuse to drag that massive timetable around with him. The good news was that we don't have to go via the dreaded Birmingham New Street, the bad news was that Robbie plunged himself into despair when he recalled that he will soon have to survive without his beloved timetable in book form, as in future it will only be available online. I had not thought of Robbie as a Luddite before, but he is certainly not happy with this particular manifestation of progress.