What goes on in his head?

It was 8.30am on Saturday morning and I was tired of waiting for Robbie to wake up, so I decided to wake him up. He seemed oblivious of the first two or three prods, then suddenly he turned over and said "That's a surprise, there were no announcements". I asked what he was talking about and he said that he dreamt that Google had a new operating platform and he was trying to work it out. Not for the first time it left me wondering what goes on in that man's head. I have never knowingly had a dream about Google, in fact I haven't given it a passing thought. What sort of person  dreams about Google for heaven sake!!


We had to go shopping for a gift for Robbie's new nephew. I was tempted by the usual sort of baby designs but Robbie was attracted to the more colourful designs. We couldn't agree, but then Robbie spotted a blue all in one with a Thomas the Tank Engine design and his mind was made up, apparently you are never too young for trains!! I know when I'm defeated, but I made sure that we found a cute cuddly elephant for the baby too.


Robbie spent most of the day planning and re planning the best route to south Staffordshire. I wondered why it was proving so hard to plan a train journey, I know it was a bank holiday weekend, but surely it shouldn't be that difficult. Eventually all became clear; he could take a more direct route and have time to eat with me before he left, but if he took the more contorted route via Walsall he could do a bit of bus spotting as well! If time had been on his side I think the buses would have won, but in the end he chose to spend a little longer with me so that we could go and eat.


I dropped Robbie off at the station in good time for his train and I drove off to do some shopping and to enjoy a few hours of peace and quiet. The peace and quiet didn't last long, when I got home my son had taken control of the television and I had to endure his viewing choices all evening. Well I didn't have to, but it would have been unkind to object when there was nothing that I wanted to watch. I occupied myself with family history research on the internet and before long I had 'zoned out' the junk on television. Meanwhile Robbie was at a family party to celebrate the wedding of his nephew (a different nephew, not the newborn one!!) according to his texts he was having a great time, but he had to admit that he is getting old - the music was too loud!! Maybe it wasn't such a hardship to put up with junk television after all, at least I could control the volume! 

Customer Service? 16.11.07

It was a surreal sort of day, as I drove Sam towards school I noticed that the all the girls heading for Laura's school were armed with large soft toys. Laura explained that to support Children in Need they were having a 'take your teddy to school' day. I asked why she did not have her teddy bear with her and she said that the sixth form were doing something different, they were having a 'wear your pyjamas to school day' but she had wisely decided that she would rather pay not to wear her pj's! It wasn't until I watched Children in need tonight that I realised that a number of companies were also doing a 'wear your PJ's to work' thing. Thankfully Cross Country have been too busy getting on with the first week of the franchise, so the travelling public were spared the horror of encountering Robbie in his PJ's on his way to work. You know what he's like, any excuse to take his clothes off, he would ha jumped at the chance to go to work in his pyjamas - scary! It has been so cold at Northampton station in the last few days that he would have had a serious case of frostbite - imaging explaining that at casualty!

Well, it didn't take long did it? we are still in the first week of the new franchises and there is already fighting talk from East Midlands Trains passengers at Kettering and Wellingborough. EMT found themselves on the TV news this evening, in their infinite wisdom they have withdrawn the option of seat reservation for season ticket holders and the passengers are furious. It seems obvious to me that people who pay an arm and a leg for a season ticket would expect something as basic as a seat, but apparently East Midland Trains didn't foresee the consequences of their action. Clearly they haven't got a clue about customer service, one traveller described the service as the worse she has experienced in 20 years. I am tempted to suggest that they may as well abolish the coaches and replace them with cattle trucks so that they don't need to bother with seats at all. The irony is that if they packed cattle in the train in the way that they pack people in, they would be breaking countless laws and regulations, it seems a shame that the welfare of passengers does not merit that much attention. Déjà vu, it could be FGW all over again. Another own goal for the chinless wonders at the DFT who make these batty decisions about franchise changes. My anger about this issue extends far beyond the Cross Country situation, I still haven't forgiven them for merging Wessex trains with FGW last year, the date they chose for the merger speaks volumes - 1st April!!!

A Bundle of Energy 03.10.07

Oreo was a pain yesterday evening, I'm sure a monkey would be easier to cope with than a naughty kitten. He still seemed to have a grudge against the iron and he managed to jump up at the bit of flex visible over the work top, he caught it and pulled the iron down almost on top of him. He survived unscathed, but smelling a little sweeter as he was sprinkled with ironing water as the iron fell. The iron wasn't so lucky, it is a write off!

Having fought the iron and won he stalked off in search of more mischief. He must be missing Emily because he had obviously sneaked up to her room and he crept back into the lounge with his prey. It was grey and about the size of a hamster, I was startled at first, but when he started to play with it I realised it was a small Eeyore soft toy from Emily's vast Eeyore collection. Laura took it away from him and he scampered off in disgust to return minutes later with more treasure, the tail of a larger Eeyore. I will not dwell on the reasons why Eeyore has a detachable tail! More stern words from Laura and he left the room minus the tail but looking defiant. When he returned he was carrying a pink fluffy bear, clearly he thought this was a good game, but it was easily solved -we shut Emily's door. Finally he was exhausted by all this activity and he settled down for a rest.