Moving On

There has been a long silence on the blog, over a week of saying nothing I wasn't able to talk about something that was happening, hence the reason for my silence but at last I can speak again. Robbie made the difficult decision that after almost fifteen years it was time to leave the company that he works for and set his sights on pastures new. It has been a very big decision and it has occupied our thoughts for months, but it was very important to do things properly and I couldn't mention it on the blog until everything was agreed with his employer and his departure had been announced. He is still technically with the company for a few weeks longer, but he is now using up leave, his last working day was last Friday.

In the weeks leading up to his departure there were several important jobs to be done including emptying his cupboard and his desk. It sounds simple enough doesn't it, but this is Robbie that we are talking about! It took a huge amount of effort but thanks to the effort of two wonderful 'helpers' his cupboard was emptied - it is just as well that my Ford Galaxy has the rear seats removed because the contents of his cupboard filled the car. I thought that was the end of it but more bags and boxes followed as he emptied his desk - even a tardis couldn't hold that much 'stuff' so we now have a a lifetime of timetables that were taking up house room. It seems that he has several copies of every leaflet ever published by a train company, he also has the largest mug collection known to man and other sundry 'junk' that will fill at least 20 archive boxes!! By junk I mean old tickets, reservation slips and assorted stuff that 'normal' people would throw away. I have tried to be understanding but it is difficult, I feel as if I am drowning in clutter. I am ashamed to admit that you can't actually see our garage any more, the utility room has become a store room and all things railway related have invaded the bedroom!! Just occasionally I crave a a bit of 'normality'. When I told Robbie how I felt he told me that in 100 years time it will be an important historical archive. I wasn't as reassured by that as he expected, after all in 100 years (or even 50 years) I will not be around.

To dare to preserve the randomness of mind which in children produces strange and wonderful new thoughts and forms - Gordon Webber

Robbie has been keeping up his reputation for randomness, this afternoon he asked me if it was true that gooseberries were green. When I told him that they were he expressed amazement and said he had never known that. We have been together for quite a few years now and I am certain that the subject of gooseberries has never cropped up until today, the odd thing is that he went on to tell me that he doesn’t like them!

Robbie showed a marked reluctance to get up this morning, so we didn’t go to the North Norfolk Railway, we went to Cromer instead. Cromer is not very big, but it has two very nice book shops and both have a good selection of railway books so it will not come as a surprise that Robbie bought a couple of books, one was about buses and the other is about British industrial locomotives. We also bought a board for Robbie’s jigsaw, he has brought two jigsaws on holiday with him and predictably both have a railway theme.


This evening I haven’t been able to get two words out of him, he has been busy reading his Bus book and reading bus timetables that he picked up in Cromer. There is no hope when he is not train spotting he is bus spotting and when he runs out of buses he stands at the window with his binoculars spotting ships!

To dare every day to be irreverent and bold. To dare to preserve the randomness of mind which in children produces strange and wonderful new thoughts and forms. To continually scramble the familiar and bring the old into new juxtaposition.

Gordon Webber

Target Practice

I can't cope with the shower not working, yesterday evening with Robbie was not a joyful experience, it was like Bazil Fawlty crossed with The Tasmanian Devil! It was so bad that I even offered to take him to my mum's to have a shower. He refused because he has to have his shower at 5am, he allows three and a half minutes to shower and one and a half minutes to dry himself so he can't fit the journey to my mum's house into the timetable! He'd better get it sorted soon because I really will harm him if he is not very careful!

Anyway after his bad behaviour yesterday, he had to make a bit of an effort to get back into my good books, but only Robbie would use a line like this as a sign of affection. His exact words to me this evening were "did you know, today was the start of the partridge shooting season?" If I had a gun I can assure you it would not be trained on any partridges, I have a much larger target in mind!!

Timetable Chaos

Robbie was absolutely evil this morning, the shower had put him in a bad mood - it has died! Ge was like a gorilla in a rage, charging around the house thumping and bumping and growling with frustration, not to mention the string of expletives that we were treated to. I can understand him being frustrated but it is not the end of the world, we have plenty of hot water and he can still have a bath until the shower is back in action. When I tried to point out that it wasn't an insurmountable problem he almost bit my head off, but it became obvious what the problem was - it has messed up his timings and thrown his whole morning timetable into chaos! The shower is not quite 5 years old, surely it should last longer than that!

The Wrong Kind of Balls.

For a man who spends his working life dealing with timetables, Robbie's record of keeping to any kind of timetable in his private life is dismal. Yesterday he rang me at work to announce that he was still at work and wouldn't be back until 9.30pm, and he needed a lift. I couldn't express my annoyance adequately because I was at work, but he got the general impression.

When he finally got home, I expected him to be tired and just a little bit sorry for messing up our evening routine. Instead he appeared in the doorway of the lounge, hands on hips complaining that I had not discussed an important purchase with him. He complained that I had bought the wrong kind of tumble dryer balls, because the last ones eventually cracked. I told him that the previous ones had lasted for almost 3 years, not bad for 99p! He was not convinced and he said that he wants nothing to do with the new balls because they are the wrong brand. Oh well, he has two choices, he can either put up with it or manage without any balls!

Too Much Information

I haven't had too much to say to Robbie in the last few days because he is still in the dog house, but I happened to mention to him that I saw a train when I was driving back from Stratford the other day, it was near Warwick I think. I told him it was high up on a viaduct type thing. It was a bad move on my part, Robbie bombarded me with questions about the livery. At the time I was trying hard not to get lost and focusing on road signs and roundabouts not trains! That didn't bother Robbie, he didn't give up until he had identified the toc and worked out the time of the train, where it came from and where it was heading. He can remember whole chunks of timetable, if he could apply his mind to something other than trains he could probably take over the world - so maybe it is a good thing that he restricts his attention to railway related matters!

A Lot of Nonsense

Some things just feel right, but it isn't possible to explain why. I feel like that about Virgin trains, I love travelling on Virgin trains, I feel comfortable and relaxed, but it is hard to explain exactly what it is that makes me feel like that. I was so sad when Virgin lost the Cross Country franchise and like many others I had serious misgivings about the future of Cross Country. Time has proved me wrong, my fears for Cross Country have not been realised, in fact I have been pleasantly surprised. I don't think much of the livery and they lack the Virgin 'flair' but Cross Country is OK, in fact it is better than OK. There is just one thing I can't work out, why does Barry Doe have such a grudge against Cross Country?

In the latest Rail magazine Boring Barry posed the question “Why not avoid Cross Country altogether?” He seems to have taken great exception to Cross Country's attempt to get people to change trains at places more suitable than Birmingham New Street. I have shared my thoughts about Birmingham New Street previously, so I will be brief, I detest the place, I would rather visit the dentist than change trains at New Street! So if the company can suggest ways to avoid New Street, I'm interested. In fact I would be willing to accept a slightly longer journey if I could avoid that god forsaken place. Barry Doe gave an example, apparently the Cross Country leaflet advises passengers from Reading an the South Coast travelling to Scotland and the North East to change at Leamington Spa if a through train is not available. Boring Barry calculates that it would add up to an hour to the journey time and it would involve two changes. It may come as a surprise to him but he is not the only person in the country who can read a timetable and he is not the only person capable of comparing journey options - but I must admit few of us are as anal about it as him! I consider that I am a fairly ordinary passenger, if I needed to make that journey I would check the timetable, consider the options available and plan my journey accordingly. I do not blindly follow advice in leaflets without checking the facts.

He also claims that he can do Bournemouth to Edinburgh via Waterloo and Kings Cross in seven hours, so he can not imagine why anyone would use the Cross Country service. If he was a little more in touch with reality he would know that negotiating London stations and the the underground is challenging for anyone, but for passengers with heavy luggage, disabled travellers and people with children, it is almost impossible! Even the dreaded New Street is preferable to that!

Avoiding the complication and trauma of a journey across London would be one of my top priorities, so the temptation of lower walk on fares, more frequent services, more comfortable trains and and better on board services would not tempt me to travel via London. I am just an ordinary traveller, but I am not stupid, I would plan a trip like that and I would not pay a walk on fare anyway. As for longer more comfortable trains, someone should really explain to Barry that bigger (and longer) does not necessarily mean better!! I find Cross Country services comfortable, and judging by the number of people who use their services, so do many other people. What Barry doesn't seem to understand is that most people travel on trains because they are going somewhere, it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. They want a reasonably comfortable, trouble free journey, but to them it is just a journey and their main aim is to get there more or less on time. There are plenty of obsessives and rail enthusiasts who focus only on the journey, the route or the rolling stock, but the great majority of the travelling public use the railways for the purpose intended, to travel from one place to another. Barry Doe does not seem to understand that his myopic nit picking shows no understanding of the needs and aspirations of ordinary travellers.

Hopefully Barry will follow his own advice, and avoid Cross Country altogether. It should be a great selling point, passengers would flock to Cross Country services to avoid Boring Barry. I don't know what caused his rancour and resentment but I am sick of him having a pop at Cross Country and he would be doing us all a favour if he would stay away He is like a buzzing wasp - an annoying irrelevance!

Mr Angry!

Robbie's trip to Leeds turned out to be a bit of an endurance test, he had to be up at 4.30am in order to be at the station in time for his train and he didn't arrive home again until nearly midnight. He was very tired but he was still talking about trains, he went on and on ...... and on about his December 08 timetable and the various problems he has to resolve. I am not that interested in the intricacies of timetable planning at the best of times, and I'm even less interested after midnight! I tried to get him to shut up, I even asked if he had mistaken me for Barry Doe, but that proved to be a big mistake. The mention of his name provoked a torrent of loud and very angry speech, I didn't understand the individual words, it sounded as if he was speaking 'Klingon' but the meaning was obvious - Barrie Doe was not in Robbie's good books! It was past midnight, but Robbie presented me with the offending article in Rail Magazine, Barry Doe was scathing about the pricing structure of Cross Country tickets. More words of 'Klingon' followed, then someone must have flicked a switch and Robbie lurched into fast forward mode and he began what promised to be a very long tirade about the inadequacies of the franchise process. I keep emergency supplies to cope with this type of crisis, there is only one proven way to make Robbie stop talking – feed him! Soon afterwards peace was restored and Robbie was tucking in to ham and mushroom tagliatelle. As for Barry Doe, I think he is quite funny when he has a rant, he is a bit like a Jack Russel terrier, he can't resist biting whichever ankle happens to be nearest. He may say that he wishes that Virgin had not lost the Cross Country franchise now, but he as been fairly nasty to them in the past.

Timetable Error

Robbie was late home last night because he'd had a very busy day, but he was looking forward to indulging his passion for trains with an 'out and about' day today. Not surprisingly trains seemed to be his main topic of conversation - nothing new there! He even showed me a detailed timetable that he had written for his train journeys today, now that really is sad! He was so proud of his timetable that he insisted that I should take a closer look at it, it was three pages long but it may as well have been in Greek as far as I was concerned. This morning he realised that he had made one basic error which made the timetable pointless - he'd left it at home! I recieved a series of frantic phone calls from Robbie insisting that I dictate the information to him over the phone. It wasn't as straightforward as it sounds, but he seems happy enough now, so hopefully he will leave me in peace to get on with my work!

One Track Mind!

I forgot to mention that when we were in bed on Sunday morning, after Robbie's little gem about Argos he strayed onto the subject of trains. I was quiet for a few moments after his comment about the stretch mark, he really knows how to make me feel good! For some reason Robbie chose to fill the silence with a detailed account of the platform arrangements at Nottingham Station. He mentioned Sheffield and I commented that when I worked in Sheffield I used to travel there by train. He asked what route I took and I told him what I could remember, it was 1983 so I could hardly be expected to have total recall! Robbie insisted that I was mistaken about the route and he sat up and started to get out of bed. Talking more to himself than to me he said that he wondered if he had a timetable for 1983, and he was going to have a look. I fixed him with one of my best Paddington Bear stares and without a word he got back into bed and put his arm around me. With a tone of defeat in his voice he said he would look later. That man really does have a one track mind - a railway track!

A Con Trick 20.12.07

When Robbie finally got home from work yesterday it was almost 10pm, he was in a horrible mood and ready to fall out with his own shadow. The cause as usual was the dreaded Network Rail, I will spare you the details of their latest madness, but it comes as no surprise that their failure to communicate efficiently and their lack of understanding of the wider implications of their actions has caused considerable extra work for everyone - including themselves. It has also caused endless earache for me! At times like this there is only one way to shut Robbie up, feed him! Once he had been fed he recovered his equilibrium sufficiently to apologise for his strop and to help me with the final preparations for Sam's birthday, he is 13 today. He was still chuntering about Network Rail thinking he must be a fool, but I ignored it. This morning it turned out that we have both been made fools of in our own home! We finally worked out that Oreo, Dave and Megan have all been having two breakfasts everyday. It seems that they have been getting one meal from Robbie at 6am and then at half past eight they were getting a second meal from me. They are real con artists because they all acted as if they were starving and they ate every bit of their second breakfast, I had no idea that they had already eaten.

Robbie's Rant 17.12.07

On Friday I went to collect Emily from university. She has to completely empty her flat at the end of every term so we came back with the Galaxy packed to capacity. I don't know where we are going to put all! As we get closer to Christmas I seem to be getting further away from being ready. Robbie is usually a great help at busy times but his mind is elsewhere at present, he goes through the motions of ordinary household tasks but he pauses in the middle of making a cup of tea or sorting out the laundry to resume his rant about Network Rail. I am becoming quite skilled at 'tuning out' but every so often the odd phrase intrudes into my consciousness, 'train paths' seem to crop up with monotonous regularity along with some unflattering observations about the mental capacity of the population in general and Network Rail in particular and there are the inevitable expletives. I find that my best 'Paddington Bear' stare silences him fairly effectively, but within an hour or two he is back on the old familiar theme again. He has loads of work to do on the next timetable this week, I think I may as well send him to work with his sleeping bag, because I don't expect to see much of him before Christmas!

He did find time for an illicit shopping trip on the way home on Friday. He smuggled an M&S bag into the house under cover of darkness. I thought it may contain Christmas presents but it was just another tie, when I asked why he needed yet another tie to add to his vast collection he claimed it was because this tie was like his blue tie that I had liked so much. I don't remember being especially impresses by a blue tie, but I am fond of blue, so I can't quite work out why he thought I would like the new tie, it is puce with multicoloured spots! Oh well, I have bought him a fun Christmas tie and that is predominantly blue and considerably more sober than his latest acquisition

Timetable Trauma! 09.12.07

On Saturday we had to get up very early to make the long trip by rail from Northampton to Plymouth (via Birmingham). I don't like getting up in the middle of the night especially on a Saturday, but by 6.55am we were on the train and heading towards Birmingham. We had a very tight connection at Birmingham but we made it and finally we could sit back and relax. I like long journeys because I have plenty of time to relax and read my magazines without feeling guilty. The first part of the journey passed with Robbie lost in the latest edition of Rail, Sam in his own little world reading a film magazine and me reading my family history magazine. I reserved the last section of the journey for looking out of the window and enjoying the coastal views, I love the section around Dawlish where the track runs so close to the sea that the waves batter the trains on rough days. Some very rowdy football fans joined the train at Newton Abbot, but they were at the other end of the train and they didn't bother us. When we arrived in Plymouth the police were there in considerable numbers, they took the fans off the train and out of the station with the minimum of fuss, it was a bit scary but it was a very well organised operation.
We delivered our Christmas presents and had a happy few hours in Plymouth before heading home again. The journey home was not exactly tranquil. Some rowdy foul mouthed people travelled back as far as Bristol Temple Meads, they had been to Plymouth to see Argyle play Bristol Rovers and while perhaps not drunk enough to fall over they were far from sober and still drinking (they brought a huge pack of cans onto the train). It made the journey very unpleasant.
I managed to wrestle the Rail magazine away from Robbie. I have to admit that I enjoy reading the 'fare dealer' column by Barry Doe. I always have to read it more than once because it makes my brain hurt, but I have the sort of mind that enjoys that sort of detail. I was in my element this week because it seemed as if Barry Doe had taken over the magazine, as well as his usual column he popped up in various other places. His contribution included a whole page criticising the Cross Country timetable. I am not sure that he intends his writing to be funny, but he had me laughing out loud much to Robbie's annoyance. He is not a fan of Barry Doe, but I am unable to share his opinions with you because it would almost certainly get me sued! Robbie had one of his famous rants which lasted all the way to Cheltenham Spa, I bet Barry Doe's ears were burning! To be fair he made some very reasonable observations about the timetable and I am sure by next time it will be more user friendly. I have to agree when he says that 'green on green looks worse than it sounds' hopefully next time they will choose colours that don't induce nausea. To be fair to Cross Country if the nit picking about the timetable is all he can find to criticise Cross Country are not doing so badly. I think they have made a fairly good start all things considered.

Too Much Detail? 04.10.07

I always try to be honest and to tell the truth in my dealings with other people, but there have been times when the effort has nearly killed me. I remember an older relative would occasionally ambush me with 'what do I look like in this?' and I had to go to great lengths to find something honest but not hurtful to say. I would comment on the colour or the length rather than the general appearance! I am usually fairly good at thinking on my feet, but Robbie caught me off guard a few days ago, he asked me if he was boring! He detected the moment of panic before I had time to compose my face and searched for a non committal answer. He pursued the issue saying 'you really think I'm boring don't you?' and I had to admit that there are times when that would be true. To be fair it is not so much that he is boring, just that he provides an excess of information about subjects of limited interest.

Robbie was stung and countered with claims that I was also boring, an accusation which I freely admit. I am not a going out sort of person and I have my own particular interests, but in an odd sort of way Robbie and I suit each other very well. I will leave it to others to decide if Robbie is boring, I will just present you with a review of the evidence Sherlock Holmes style. Recent conversations have included such gems as who created the theme tune for the comedy To The Manor Born - do I care! It was Ronnie Hazlehurst actually, but knowing that has not made a huge difference to my life. A recurring theme for the last week has been the pressing question of the M in the Morrisons logo, have they changed it or not? It doesn't matter to me one way or the other but for some reason it is vitally important to Robbie. The performance of the new tea towel has been 'in the news' for a couple of weeks now, I'm not sure why it bothers him so much. There is also the vexed question of the M&S Hornby train set, will they issue one for Christmas this year and if so what will it be? I am not holding my breath on this one, but I get daily bulletins anyway. Then there is the daily update on the Christmas catalogues coming out, it was Boots yesterday and Robbie kindly told me in excruciating detail about all of the 3 for 2 offers, yes I do mean ALL the offers! The little matter of his work trousers has been of 'burning' importance recently, but for Richard's sake I will not mention the details again, however it did cause him to wonder why everything 'goes south' as we get older! Gravity! I know exactly what trains he caught to and from Preston, I know what route they took, if they were on time, who worked on them, I even know who he sat next to on the train this morning and what they talked about - I could go on but you get the idea! He regularly wakes me up to ask me if I'm asleep, so he is not too good at picking up on visual clues and I he is always surprised when I suggest that he provides too much detail!

A New Career Option 27.09.2007

After our meal yesterday we settled down to a quiet family evening, I hoped for pleasant conversation and perhaps to hear a little about Robbie's day. Instead he parked himself at the table with his laptop, his new noise reducing headphones in his ears and his head was bobbing up and down like a nodding dog. There are times when words simply will not do, but my best Paddington Bear stare seemed to get the message across eloquently. He realised that he was required to take a more active part in proceedings, and when he thought I hadn't noticed, the music went off and the headphones were no longer evident. Shortly afterwards Robbie embarked on one of his 'did you know' conversations and my heart sank. For the next hour of so he told me all about the alterations to the December 08 train timetable for the route he travels on. I'm not sure if I can cope with that level of excitement!

I hear that the National Rail Enquiry service is being slated in a survey published today, apparently a large percentage of the information they provide is inaccurate. They didn't need a survey, I could have told them that for free. Maybe Robbie should set up an independent rail enquiry service, it would be far more accurate and there would be a free offer included - a guaranteed cure for insomnia!

A Brief Glimpse into the Future 16.09.2007

I have had a brief glimpse into the future and I don't like what I see, in fact it makes me want to run as hard as I can in the other direction. The thing that caused such terror was a blog entry by the wife of a newly retired MD of a train operating company. I had never seriously thought about retirement before and at 35 Robbie has a while to go, but I really don't think I could tolerate it.

She spoke of her husband driving home on the day before his retirement with his car crammed with his accumulated possessions, hoarded over many years. She wondered if they should open a museum or create a railway room. She described such delights as a locomotive nameplate, DMU heating panel, various pictures and models. I think we are already well past using just one room, in fact the only room with no significant railway presence is the bathroom! Having a house stuffed with railway related 'junk' causes unexpected problems. When the most recent BT man came at the end of last week he spotted some of Robbie's model trains displayed in the hall, it turned out that he was also a railway crank and he chatted happily about trains for an 'eternity' while he mended our phone line.

She went on to describe the most pressing problem on the first day of her husband's retirement - NO PAGER! She wondered if he would have withdrawal symptoms and how she would cope. Her desperation was such that she asked is there a pager users anonymous? There certainly should be. Robbie is intolerable without his, he has been known to check it at the most intimate of moments, and if he ever misplaces it you would think it was a national emergency!

Role reversal was mentioned and my heart sank. I love Robbie dearly but when he tries to supervise what I am doing or even worse tell me how to do it, it makes me want to harm him! He is obsessive enough about minor things as it is, I couldn't cope with it all day, every day! She also spoke of the luxury of structuring their own days and her husband's need to know the exact agenda for the whole day - a withdrawal symptom from having a detailed diary. Robbie already times everything in intricate detail, I couldn't face having him timetable my entire retirement. There again, according to him he is married to an 'old woman' so I will probably have turned up my toes by the time he retires! Back to the present day. Robbie dragged me out of bed early this morning to take him to the station, he is going to a railway open day near Manchester. Having had a disturbed night I decided to sneak back to bed for half an hour, however Robbie didn't think I deserved t sleep. His first phone call was to tell me that the replacement bus was running 8 minutes late. The next call was equally essential, he was disgusted by the slack standard of journalism in his railway magazine, apparently they had started a sentence with the word 'and'. Hopefully he will meet up with some of his railway buddies, I really don't need an update every half hour

Off The Rails 21.06.07

So Silverlink lost the West Midlands franchise, I can't say I am too sad about that, they didn't exactly sparkle and they had some devastatingly miserable staff. On the other hand my 321's will go and I am pretty sad about that, I can't explain why I like them, I just do. The livery reminds me of the old style Cadbury's dairy milk wrapper and it seems comfortable and familiar. OK, 350's may be more comfortable, but it will not seem right not seeing the 'Dusty Bins' at Northampton.

Robbie came with me to pick Emily up from the Music Centre. On the way home we were chatting about the change of franchise when Emily said that she needed to tell me something. She told me that I was getting as bad as Robbie - that's impossible!

I see that First Great Western are still getting it spectacularly wrong in the South West. The latest fiasco defies belief. FGW produced and sent out a map indicating a direct rail link between Falmouth and Redruth, just one slight problem, no rails! There is no rail link between those towns so sending out the info as part of a cheap fares promotion was a bit of an oversight to say the least. No wonder their passengers call them Worst Late Western!!

Perhaps the fictional track was intended to complement the non existent seats and their fantasy timetable!

Time Traveller 15.05.07

Well, I have more evidence that Robbie is losing touch with reality. At the weekend when I was feeling unwell he was very attentive, making sure tat I had frequent cups of tea, etc. He could see that I needed cheering up so he brought me his latest treasure to look at - a 1966 Rugby to Euston timetable. I suppose if I ever work out how to travel back in time I will at least know when to expect the next train!

This evening, having promised me his undivided attention he was busy chatting online to one of his colleagues about Volume 3 of LMS Coaching Stock - scintillating!

White Knuckle Ride 20.02.07

One of the things that Sam and Robbie have in common is there ability to take you on a white knuckle ride through the English language. Just when you think you are heading in one direction you are suddenly careering out of control on a totally different track.

Sam goes back to school tomorrow after half term, so being a typical man he was busy dashing off some last minute homework this afternoon. He told me it was English homework and he went on to explain that he needed to finish on a cliff-hanger, but he was having difficulty finding the cliff!!

This evening I was busy typing a letter when I became dimly aware of Laura and Robbie talking about underwear. Suddenly Robbie turned to me with a magazine in his hand and said "I know these are women's, but I wouldn't mind some of these". I could feel my hair standing on end, was my husband telling me he was a tranny. No, he had simply changed subject mid sentence and he was showing me some truly hideous spectacles!

When Robbie came home from work this evening we shared a brief intimate moment and Robbie manage to swerve mid sentence from us to a two minute discrepancy in his train timetable for May. He followed this up with a brief explanation of difficult periods - I knew he was in touch with his feminine side but this was over the top even for him! Guess what, we were back on timetable problems again.

Bob the Bagman 15.02.07

Bob the Bagman has been in Leeds all day and he will not be home until after 9pm, so we haven't had any opportunity to disagree today. He is back in my good books and fully restored to his usual sunny self.

There really isn't much to tell you today, unless I tell you what he does in his sleep, or about the incident with the brush. The girls wickedly suggested that I should write about my weird taste in men, but maybe one day Robbie will write about that. I don't see why they find it so funny that I like David Attenborough, he's a hero not a pin up!

It will not surprise you to know that Robbie talks in his sleep! Sometimes he does journey enquiries or timetable stuff, but the other night he kept shouting out that he had his hand full, I dread to think what he was dreaming about. He has a little handicap that tends to get him into trouble, he answers questions in his sleep - truthfully! It's amazing! Being a slow learner he still tries to get away with the odd 'porky' but he doesn't get away with it for long.

The incident with the brush was quite funny. He was in a strop and while we were in the car Sam told him that earlier in the day we had brought a new brush. I hasten to add that it cost £4.99 and didn't exactly break the bank, but I could see by his face that he had taken an instant dislike to the brush. I could see him counting on his fingers the reasons why it wouldn't be fit for purpose. I wanted it to pick up dog hairs, it does the job, no problem, but Grumpy spent ages trying it out and disapproving of it. I had to restrain myself from finding a completely different use for the telescopic handle! I don't think he will ever look at that brush without feeling slightly insecure!