Normal Service Has Been Resumed

Probably those words will not mean anything to younger people, but they will be very familiar to my generation. When I was a child it was fairly common for technical difficulties to interrupt television programmes (there were only three channels back then) and the when things went wrong they would put up the test card and play music until they could fix the problem. The announcer would tell us that "normal service will be resumed as soon as possible" and we would wait hoping that the break in service wouldn't last very long and even normal broadcasting was about to resume the announcer would say ".... Normal service has been resumed"

From the point of view of the blog 'normal service has been resumed'. I stopped writing the blog several months ago because I was unwell and my stamina levels were extremely low. It was a real struggle just to cope with the essentials of life. I was determined that the blog would not become a miserable tale of woes, but it was such a struggle to keep my writing bright and up beat when I had been feeling unwell for so long that I was losing hope of ever feeling better.

The good news is that after attending a lot of hospital appointments and seeing three different consultants I am finally getting better. I am not coughing anymore - well not much anyway! More importantly I have reason to hope that this is not just a temporary calm between bouts of illness, but a sign that we are dealing with the  causes of the problem rather than the symptoms. There is still a long way to go but I feel so much better.

So what has been happening with us over the last few months? I suppose there are lots of things that I should have written about, but I will catch up with some of those over the next few weeks. Robbie has been working in Darlington for the greater part of each week. Surprisingly it is an arrangement that suits us both fairly well, Robbie enjoys the work and staying in Darlington is better than a long commute every day. I miss him of course but it is nice not having to get up before the birds every day to take him to the station. I'd better make the most of it because his contract ends in mid September and his next contract will involve a daily commute. He is really looking forward to a new challenge and it will be nice to have him at home again. My daughter obtained her post graduate qualification in June and she is now a fully qualified geography teacher. She has a job at a school about half an hour away from our home and she is looking forward to the new challenges that the September term will bring. 

Robbie and I are getting ready to go on holiday to Norfolk, so I will do my best to update the blog every day, but the Internet connection in Norfolk is precarious that I will not make any promises! I probably will not be able to add any photos I get home again.

Beware of Surprises.

Next week is my birthday, it is not an event that I look forward to for all sorts of reasons, but there is one thing that really scares me - surprises. I don't like surprises and I especially don't like the sort of surprises that Robbie dreams up. He always asks what I would like for my birthday, I don't really need anything but I give him a few ideas, but he always says that he will surprise me. Last year it was the clock, the one with the test card on it, it was more of a shock than a surprise. I tried really hard to like it, I even put it on the wall but it felt as if it was taking over the room, it was either me or the clock.. I have spent the rest of the year trying to loose it! I even suggested that he should have it at work, but apparently he doesn't have anywhere to hang it. It is a huge thing, and it would swamp any normal sized room, so before you decide that I am a horrible, ungrateful person, ask yourself if you could live with a clock like that. I would have much preferred a day with Robbie instead of a present.

About Time

We took the decorations down today, so Christmas is well and truly over. It feels very bare without the decorations but it will feel a lot less cluttered when all the boxes are safely back in the loft. Robbie must have caught me in a mellow moment because I let him put that clock up, you remember, the birthday clock with the hideous pattern. Our lounge is painted in coffee and cream colours, the clock has every colour except those two! If I manage to tolerate it for a week I think I will have done very well. Maybe I will make him take it to work to terrorise his colleagues, if not I suppose there is always ebay. Anyway I have added a picture of the clock so you will be able to decide how attractive it is for yourself.

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!

A History Lesson 07.06.07

The conversation at home somehow strayed on to the new HDTV test card featuring Myleene Klass. Despite appreciating the finer points of Myleene, Robbie was quite vocal in defence of the 1967 version with the girl and the clown. I suppose it is a bit sad to get nostalgic about a test card, but maybe we are not exactly the most usual household!

http://img243.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testcarddo6.jpg

Prompted by our conversation about the test card Sam and Laura decided to tell me about TV in the 'olden days'. According to Sam his teacher told him that in the days before Star Treck they used to play the national anthem at bedtime, then TV would close downand there would be a blank screen with a white dot in the middle with one long bleeeeeep to tell you to switch the TV off. He was particularly appalled by the knowledge that they didn't have remote controls in those days and people had to walk to the TV to change channels. He looked at me with a mixture of incredulity and disgust as he told me that they didn't even have breakfast TV! I find it rather alarming that I lived through Sam's 'olden days', yet he treats it as ancient history filed away in his mind somewhere close to the Stone Age!

Robbie was late home tonight, so he hasn't had much opportunity to get into trouble (yet!) last night his capacity to fall asleep got him into trouble so he is trying to be a little more alert tonight.