An Emergency Coffee Cup

Mornings in our house have a nasty habit of starting too early and even when we are up on time (5am) it only takes one thing to go wrong to mess up the whole day. That was the case last Friday, everything was going well, Robbie dressed only in pants and socks trotted into the kitchen clutching his trousers to flick the kettle on before vanishing into the lounge. He emerged 'suited and booted' a couple of minutes later and headed back to the kitchen to make his coffee for the train. He took the milk from the fridge, reached for the coffee and then stopped in his tracks. There was a missing ingredient - his travel mug! Suddenly the tune Yakety Sax began to play in my head as Robbie jumped into fast forward mode (Benny Hill style), darting around the house in search of his mug. It was not there, and now Robbie was running late. I chased him out to the car and drove him to the station as fast as the speed limit would allow. He was devastated, his favourite mug was gone, probably left on the train the night before! He dashed off into the station with just enough time to console himself with a quick visit to the coffee shop before boarding the train. 


Later that morning as promised I set out in search of an emergency replacement mug. I managed to get one just like the missing one, it was the last one in the shop so he was very lucky. Robbie has checked, but the other mug has not found it's way to lost property. Perhaps it got bored with travelling to Birmingham every day - I certainly would!

Too Hot to Handle 02.10.07

Robbie had a disastrous morning. His very last job before leaving the house is to make a big travel mug full of steaming latte. He has often told me in excruciating detail exactly how much the travel mug holds, but for ordinary people like me it is sufficient to say that it holds the equivalent of two normal mugs. He left the house armed with the travel mug, but he was so distracted by the few words of greeting that he exchanged with our very attractive neighbour that disaster was only seconds away. I am still so cross about it that I will not dwell on the details, but due to his lack of attention he managed to drop the cup and scald his legs very badly. He yelled because the pain was so bad, the milk in the latte made it cling and his trousers stuck to his legs. He was hardly in the house before tearing his trousers off and dancing around in his pants. I made him stand in the shower and run cold water over his legs, but he didn't do it for long enough. He was so worried about getting to work because he had important meetings. I'm afraid it will blister and I know he is in agony, but he has gone to work anyway. I am not sure what the others at the meeting will make of him because he his struggling to walk and has a gait reminiscent of John Wayne. I am starting to think that Robbie's trousers are jinxed!

Spotty Dog 27.09.2007

Robbie is still walking like Spotty Dog from the Woodentops after his fall yesterday morning. He is feeling battered and bruised and his grazed hands prevented him from doing the washing up last night - I must make sure that I buy him some washing up gloves today! He headed to work this morning in his only remaining pair of suit trousers, making a huge effort to stay upright. I told him to order some new trousers today in case anything happens to his last pair of trousers - I am not sure the world of work is ready for the sight of Robbie in shorts (or worse!).

A few months ago he was 'economised' and now he takes his own travel mug of latte on the train with him. He adapted to the change well, but he misses his women at the coffee shop! Knowing how resistant he is to even the most simple change I was unsure when I saw Douwe Egberts latte on offer at the supermarket, but I took the risk of changing brand. I wish I hadn't, he talked for over 10 minutes this morning about exactly how many spoonfuls would make the perfect mug of coffee - help!