I always look forward to spending weekends with Robbie. Weekdays are so hectic that we hardly see each other so weekends are very special and those rare Saturdays when we can just be lazy and take life at our own pace are extra special. Last Saturday we had been enjoying some 'us time' when Robbie said "Mrs J, there is nothing better than cuddling up an a Saturday morning and listening to Kate Adie on the radio". I told him that it may have been better to have left that little gem as an unspoken thought, but he didn't take the hint. He went on to tell me why Kirsty Wark was even better than Kate Adie, well I guess I should be grateful at least I always know what he is thinking!
A little later Robbie was contemplating his navel when he looked up and swore. I was startled and asked him what was wrong. He told e that his long held theory had been disproved then he held up a small quantity of red fluff fro his belly button. He said that he had believed that belly button fluff was always blue but this proved him wrong. I shrugged (wondering why Robbie has to waste so much tie on trivia) and said that it must depend on what colour clothes you wear. Later I noticed that he had made a facebook post on the subject, and one of his 'wicked' friends had decided to encourage his already unhealthy interest in the subject by sending him the link to a website about belly button fluff. He managed to put me off my meal by showing me pictures of jars of fluff - Ewwwww!! Just in case anyone is interested, this is the link http://www.feargod.net/fluff.html. Why can't he just be 'normal'!!
It hasn't been much of a weekend. I was kept awake by the wind last night (the outside kind) it rained all night and the wind was very strong. It woke me up and then I couldn't get back to sleep because I was worried about the roof, it felt as if the wind was strong enough to dislodge tiles from the roof. I got increasingly irritated with myself because I was tired and I really needed to get some sleep. Then this morning I really didn't feel very well, I am cold and shivery and I ache, I really hope it is not a bug, I haven't got time to be ill.
This morning Robbie was anxious about the state of the railway, it seems it took a bit of a battering last night and fallen trees and such like have caused problems today. I was more anxious about feeling unwell, Robbie brought me a cup of tea to make me feel better. Then he cuddled up next to me and talked about the weather (and trains). He was surprisingly perceptive in noticing that I am sick and tired of 'weather'. It seems to have rained every day since I they declared that we are in a drought area! I have to admit that Robbie managed to cheer me up with his next topic of conversation. Only Robbie could cuddle up in bed on Sunday morning and talk excitedly about his childhood collection of erasers. Apparently his favourite was one in the shape of a cassette tape which fitted into a cassette player shaped case.
We went out briefly this afternoon to see my mum, there were floods on several roads and our lovely park is flooded; we saw the ducks swimming along what should be a footpath. We were glad to get back to the relative sanity of home. I was still feeling out of sorts, so I wasn't that bothered when Robbie asked to watch Get Carter for the second time this weekend. I had my head buried in the computer when Robbie gave a shout of excitement. He said he had seen a Deltic and he insisted on rewinding it so that I could see it too. He sat there on the floor rewinding it and watching it over and over again. It seems he is easily pleased!
The weekend had slipped past far too quickly, so when we sat down on Sunday evening I wanted to enjoy what was left of the evening. The demands of another week would be upon us all too soon. It is nice to just be together, we don't have to talk all the time - and even Robbie can be quiet sometimes! Unfortunately yesterday wasn't one of his quiet times. I was working on updating the blog layout, but every time I started to concentrate on it Robbie started to talk to me again. Not just normal conversation, it was mostly 'did you know' type questions and a rather too enthusiastic sharing of information from the newspaper.
I thought I had made it clear to Robbie that I was becoming exhausted by too much trivia, but it seems he hadn't got the message. He called my name yet again and asked if I knew that Sainsburys are changing the size of the cardboard tube inside their own brand toilet rolls. I asked him why he would expect me to know that, we don't even shop at Sainsburys! My lack of interest didn't seem to bother him; he went on to tell me the exact dimensions of the new style toilet roll. He seemed disappointed that I still wasn't interested, so he made a final bid for my attention by telling me that there was a circle printed in the paper that we could cut out. With the aid of the circle we could find out if the new style rolls would fit our toilet roll dispenser. He got upset when I told him very bluntly that we don't use that brand of loo roll, we don't even shop in that supermarket so I don't need to know! I know Robbie loves detail, but honestly, that is ridiculous, there isn't enough free space in my memory for all the things I need to remember, I certainly don't have room for nonsense like that.
I always look forward to the weekends, it is good spending time with Robbie, and it is nice to take life at a calmer pace after all the demands of the week. On week days we are out of bed by 5am so the luxury of a lazy morning with Robbie is one of the best bits of the weekend. Generally we have things planned on Saturdays so Sunday is our lazy morning but one way or another Robbie always manages to burst my bubble. On Sunday morning we were cuddled up in bed just enjoying the moment when Robbie announced that he had rearranged the meat draw in the fridge. I asked if I was so boring that he had to think about cleaning the fridge, he looked a bit confused and after a brief sorry he cuddled closer. All was well for a few minutes then at the point that I should have had his full attention he announced that he wanted to wash the car later on! Needless to say that the moment was lost. I despair of him sometimes.
Why does the weekend go so quickly when the week seems to drag on forever? Robbie and I planned to go shopping in Birmingham on Saturday but when it came to it neither of us had the strength to tackle Birmingham on a Saturday. Our week days are long and challenging and at the weekend it is nice to take things slowly and relax.
We had a nice lazy day we enjoyed a meal together and got some shopping done, but we didn't tackle any Christmas shopping. We really need to get organised because time is marching on. I really enjoy having young nephews to buy for, but as our own children have got older it is harder and more expensive to buy for them. Even my (almost) 11 year old niece seems frighteningly grown up all of a sudden - I must be getting old!
When Robbie goes on a rail tour I get sick of hearing about it. Before he goes he talks about the route, the engines, the arrangements and what he plans to wear. Wh
en he is there he rings me to tell me where he is, what he is doing and being Robbie he makes absolutely sure that I have all the details. When he gets home he shows me the photos and tells me about it all over again and just to be absolutely sure that he didn't miss anything! He is always tired when he gets home because according to him he works very hard during a rail tour, but thanks to a photo taken by one of his friends I know just how exhausting it is. As they say, the camera never lies!!
I am not usually overjoyed about Robbie going off on rail tours leaving me on my own for the weekend with all the routine chores to do. I would rather spend our weekends together because weekdays are very busy and we have very little 'us time'. I guess the moral is to be careful what you wish for because Robbie has arranged a 'special treat' for me - he is taking me on a rail tour. I told him that I wasn't keen on going but he said that he loves Deltics and he loves me so I should love Deltics too! When that didn't work he pointed out that we are a similar age so I should like Deltics - that certainly didn't work!! I do quite like travelling by train but I would rather travel on a proper train with an electrical socket to plug my laptop in. As it was my treat it should have been my choice, but there was no way that Robbie would miss the chance to see his beloved Royal Scots Grey.
So far Tuesday has been much nicer than Monday was, but everything turned out well in the end, so I can't really complain. Why do Monday mornings come round so quickly? One minute it is Friday and the whole weekend stretches ahead then you blink and it is Monday morning again. We had a nice weekend, but it just didn't last long enough. I think my favourite bit of the weekend is Saturday morning, it is so nice to wake up and realise that you don't have to be ruled by the clock. Cuddling up to Robbie while listening to Radio 4 on a Saturday morning is so special, but it is a struggle to get his undivided attention. I am used to his rather unique ways, but even I can't cope with some things. It irritates me when he notices every bus that goes along the road and then recites the complete timetable for that bus; I get even more irritated when he sits there reading a Quail map and forgets that I'm there, but when he chooses Saturday morning in bed to tell me about his colleagues and their train spotting obsessions I know that it is time to give up!
Robbie managed to wreck the weekend again, I don't think it is so unreasonable to look forward to spending a whole weekend with him, but one way or another it never happens. I was annoyed that he went out on Friday evening and I was asleep before he got home. True to form when he found himself in a hole he just kept on digging, it was like living wit Mr Angry. It took him until Sunday afternoon to apologise for being so impossible and by then the weekend was gone. I knew the old Robbie was back when in the evening we had one of his famous random remarks, he informed me that a certain type of sloth only needs to go to the toilet once every four days. My life is so much better for knowing that! The girls are almost as bad as Robbie, he went on to say that the sloth moves so slowly that moss grows on it. Emily then informed us that there are no green mammals, but Laura insisted that poorly people go green! I give up, I'm outnumbered!
Robbie is having trouble with his knees - no it is not another post about his legs misbehaving, this time the cause is crystal clear - groveling! In the past I have called him a slow learner, I was being generous his behaviour this week suggests rank stupidity. He waited until Thursday morning to ask if he could 'play trains' at the weekend. I am not at my best before 6am so it was stupid to ask me when I was still half asleep. To add insult to injury he then tells me that it will only be a day and I will hardly notice that he isn't there. A little more digging illicited the information that he would leave for work on Friday morning and arrive home late morning on Sunday - since when does Friday to Sunday equal one day? Last night he sat there with a face like a pig's bottom (not that I am over familiar with the nether regions of pigs) and a little black cloud of doom hanging over him. I was so angry with him, this is our last weekend before going on holiday, there is loads of work to do getting things ready and I don't see why I should do all the hard work while he is out having fun. It didn't help that he had his headphones in and spent the evening doing 'train stuff' on the computer. This morning he tried the 'poor pathetic me act' and it made me feel like breaking something - his neck probably! I decided to let him go for his own safety and because I will have a nicer weekend without him, but he needs to watch out, he is going to be a very busy boy next week!!
It hasn't been the most wonderful weekend. Robbie has been struggling with a bad back and an uncooperative leg for a while and he found last week especially challenging. We planned to go shopping as soon as he got home on Friday, but I could tell as soon as he walked to the car that all was not well. He was not walking very well at all and as soon as he got into the car he complained about the pain in his leg. He then sat in the car and had a serious word with his foot telling it to behave itself - I was expecting the men in white coats to turn up at any minute! It is the sort of situation when whatever you say will prove to be the wrong thing. I could tell there was something on his mind and before long he told me that a casual remark by a colleague had really got to him. He hates to give in, and accept that he has a problem, but occasionally he has to take things a little more steadily. He still meets his deadlines, but sometimes he just needs to do it his way.Shopping wasn't a joy Robbie insisted that we should still go but he was ready to fall out with his own shadow. He may not have had much control over his wayward leg, but he was going to make sure he controlled everything else. We nearly came to blows when we got to the checkout because it had to be done Robbie's way and he got really assertive about it. I left him to put the shopping in the car his way, but when I dared to put something in the fridge he declared war and ordered me out of the kitchen. When I went back a bit later to do some washing up he tried to take over and when I resisted he stood behind me telling me I was doing it all wrong!It was no surprise when later in the evening we had an argument because he was being totally controlling and unreasonable. I look forward to the weekend all week but I don't know why because something or other always comes along to spoil it.
Robbie is back home after his railway weekend. He said he was really looking forward to being home because he had missed me, but he may as well still be away because he is sitting in the corner watching footage of trains on YouTube!!I was quite looking forward to seeing him, but within half an hour he was seriously annoying me. I had been cooking him a nice meal, but he came and staged a takeover bid, I was getting increasingly irritated, but I kept my temper as he informed me that I had cooked the wrong kind of potato, I was making the gravy too soon, I had the plates in the wrong place, the milk in the fridge hadn't been rotated correctly and I have bought the wrong kind of cat food etc, etc. The final straw came when he accused me of setting the food out wrongly on the plates, apparently the peas were in the wrong place. It took a supreme act of willpower to resist the urge to throw it at him. He is impossible, if I had to spend more than ten minutes in the kitchen with him I would kill him.It seems it wasn't just me that was out to get him, the Scottish midges got there first, he is covered in swollen itchy bites. Those midges certainly mean business, they reached parts that other midges can not reach!
I was a little unnerved when I got home on Thursday evening and Robbie invited me to feel how sweaty he was. He was trying to prove to me how hard he had been working on the housework so that I would let him go out to play trains at the week end. I declined his offer and accept the evidence of my eyes, most of the jobs he promised to do had been done so I didn't need to 'touch and feel' option as proof.Robbie was a little evasive about his plans for the weekend, I knew that he was leaving home on Friday morning and not coming back until Sunday. He admitted that he would be leaving at a stupidly early hour on Friday but it was hard to pin him down on the the time he expected to return. When pressed he said 'tea time' - that is extremely vague for Robbie who always uses the 24hr clock and tell me his time of arrival to the second. I didn't want to have another 'dinner in the dog' episode, so I pressed him to define tea time and I found that we have yet another communication issue , clearly 'tea time' in the north is very different to what I understand as tea time. Robbie will be home in the early evening, assuming that he manages to improve on his track record and actually turn up at the time he said he would.
When I finish work on a Thursday evening I look forward to the weekend, I don't have work again until Monday so if Robbie gets home at a reasonable hour on Friday we can enjoy the evening together and we have Saturday and Sunday to look forward to. The problem is that one way or another Robbie always manages to snatch defeat fro the jaws of victory and our weekends often turn out to be miserable. But this weekend Robbie had promised not to be late home from work and I knew he had a dental appointment on Saturday so I hoped that this would turn out to be a nice couple of days. On Friday lunchtime when I went to Morrisons I was anticipating a good weekend - until I got a phone call from Robbie. He said he'd had an email offeringhim the chance to 'play trains' the following day, so he was ringing to ask me if he could go. For the first time ever I said no, not this time, because I wanted to spend some time with him.
He told me that he would be home on an earlier train and when I saw him I knew instantly that he had ignored me and agreed to go out to play. It took a bit of prodding but eventually he admitted it. It didn't create a very harmonious evening, he was gone before I woke on Saturday morning and I had no contact from him all day. I waited up until well past midnight because I thought he would be home and I didn't want to lock him out. In the end I gave up and went to bed, when I woke up he still wasn't home and there was no contact from him all day. I didn't know where they had gone on, but I thought he had mentioned going north, either the north had been annexed by a foreign power that was blocking phone signals or Robbie was avoiding me. I decided not to worry about it, I knew he would be home when people stopped feeding him! I was right, after two days of silence I had a series of texts as he summoned the courage to ask for a lift from the station. I'm still not overjoyed with him, more about the lack of communication than anything else. I have another week stretching ahead of me and I'm not going to bother looking forward to the weekends!
Robbie left at 6am as usual and I will not see him again until Sunday evening. He had to choose between me and a train and it was no contest – the train won! He promised me that after this weekend I will have his undivided attention until February, I doubt that somehow but we will have to wait and see. He was funny yesterday evening, he knew he was pushing it a bit by going away for another weekend , so he was trying to be helpful by doing a few jobs without being asked. It was much appreciated but he spoiled it by getting the words wrong. He said, “I have done a few jobs for you so that you don't have to do them at the weekend” he didn't spot the warning look on my face and he went on “I have done a couple of loads of washing for you, I did my shirts and a few other things”. How is that for me???? I don't have a contract making the housework my exclusive responsibility, and if he decides to wash his shirts he is doing it for him not for me! I think he was expecting me to be grateful, but if he thinks I am going to spend my weekend doing housework while he goes out to play he is deluding himself - poor Robbie! Now if he would finish mending the fence I would be more than grateful, I would be overjoyed!
I always look forward to weekends but they seldom live up to expectation, this weekend was a bit fraught because I had loads of work and a tight deadline, but I managed to get it all done. Robbie was an absolute pain for most of the weekend, he was ready to fall out with his own shadow, it felt as if he was wandering around under his own personal rain cloud. The cause of all this doom and despondency – he had left a bag with 4 new and unread railway magazines on the train!
Robbie and I finally had a weekend together without having to rush around, and at long last we are both feeling a little more human again after the flu bug. There is nothing nicer than waking up on a Saturday morning and not having to rush to get up. I had almost forgotten how good it felt, I had also forgotten Robbie's unfailing ability to spoil the moment - this week his thoughts strayed to the hand dryers in the gents toilets at Leeds Station! Why would he imagine that I would be interested at all, and why choose that moment to share such 'exciting' information? I don't suppose I will ever be able to change him, but there are times when I wish he could be just a little bit more 'normal'.
Robbie has abandoned me again. He headed off to work this morning with his weekend bag ready for a weekend ‘playing trains’. He did try not to look too eager to go, but he failed dismally and he darted off into the station like a greyhound. OK, I know that comparing Robbie to a greyhound is a bit if a stretch of the imagination (or pure fantasy) but you will just have to use your imagination.
On the subject of animals Sam asked me a very odd question the other day. Sam has an incredibly wide general knowledge, but I sometimes wonder where he gets his information from. He wanted to know how they got Mr Ed the Talking Horse to move his lips. The Mr Ed television show was before my time so I have no idea how Sam knows about him. That boy could be a genius if he didn’t fill his head with so fascinating (but useless) facts. The answer to his question was that they used to put peanut butter on his lips to get the ‘talking’ movement. When I was a child I had a pony that did a very similar thing if he had jam on his lips (we found out by accident when he took a jam sandwich out of someone’s hand).
I had a very odd encounter with a courier delivery man yesterday. He annoyed me before I had even opened the door because he knocked on the door in such an aggressive manner that my neighbours must have thought it was a police raid! When I opened the door he shoved a box into my hand, I glanced at it and realised it was yet more ‘junk’ from Robbie’s union. The man then demanded to know my name and address; it left me speechless for a moment he was standing on my doorstep and the number is on the front door, surely his one brain cell could work out my address. I told him that I would willingly sign his machine, but I was not prepared to give him any personal information. Usually they give you their little machine to sign and print your name, that is no problem but he insisted he had to fill it in and it all felt very odd so I refused. Robbie and I don’t have the same surname, and an unsolicited pile of papers from his union does not give anyone the right to demand my personal information. The man got really aggressive so I gave him the package back and shut the door on him. It was a very odd encounter and it still doesn’t feel quite right
Help he is driving me mad! No, I don't mean Sam, Robbie is doing my head in. We finally have a weekend together without him dashing off to play trains so I hoped we could have a nice lazy family weekend. Our 'us' time on Saturday morning was spoiled by a dispute about 'the human windmill' waving his legs around and taking all the duvet. When I finally thought I had his undivided attention he chose exactly that moment to cut his toe nails! I retreated to the bathroom for a nice relaxing bath, with Radio 4 providing a little sanity in the background.
Saturday passed with Robbie eulogising about the marvels of Northern Ireland Railways. He went on and on about their various systems, I will spare you the details but top of his list of was that they don't have to suffer the tyranny of Network Rail! That makes him want to move to Northern Ireland right now! A bit later on he was sitting at his computer when he started to make strange roaring noises, I was just about to call for the men in white coats when he explained that he was making the noise of Castle Class 450's. Mistaking my horror for interest, he went on to explain the subtle difference between them and Thumpers - Im none the wiser, but if it pleases him to snore while he is awake I don't suppose I can do much about it.
Sunday morning was cold and snowy, I don't remember having snow on Easter day before! I decided that I was in no hurry to get up. Robbie put his arm around me, looked into my eyes and said "Argos tomorrow, they have a really good kitchen bin at half price". Great, looking into my eyes obviously makes him think of the kitchen bin! Sadly Robbie has never followed the adage 'when in a hole stop digging'. He continued to cuddle me and after a couple of minutes he said, "oh look, I've found a stretch mark" - It wasn't lost, unfortunately! I hope he has good health insurance because he makes me feel murderous at times. I wonder if anyone could train him, or maybe he is just unique!
At last a weekend without Robbie dashing of to 'play trains'. It was nice to have a bit of time to ourselves without having to dash around. After so many very early mornings and late nights it was nice to have a lazy start to Saturday morning, but Robbie's dad had other ideas, he phoned soon after 9am and was scandalised because Robbie was still in bed! We were awake and listening to Radio 4 (with a cup of tea of course!) and I was determined to read my family history magazine before tackling the next round of the laundry marathon and all the other jobs that seem to compete for my attention. Sometimes it is nice just to have time to talk without having to watch the clock.
Robbie did his usual 'wrong time wrong place' thing when he announced that there was an interesting article in one of his railway modelling magazines about buildings for a railway layout based on shops in Northampton - I could hardly contain my excitement (yawn). It wasn't quite such a turn of as when Barry Doe popped up in conversation, I like reading his column in Rail magazine but I certainly don't want to think of him when I am in bed! I am probably doing the poor chap an injustice but something about his head and shoulder photo in Rail always makes me imagine him wearing bicycle clips. Usually the mention of his name causes Robbie to swear so it was a shock to find Robbie conjuring him up at the most inappropriate time.
Yesterday I took some time to work on my family tree and after months of frustration (and with a bit of help from a friend) I have managed to trace back another two generations. I may have mentioned before that I have been researching someone called Jones who married someone called Johns, his father it turns out married someone called Jones so it has been like looking for a needle in a haystack when tracing this particular line, but I have now got back to 1790's so I am quite pleased.
Robbie promised to build the bookcase that we bought several weeks ago to house his massive collection of railway books. I am certain he said it would be done by Saturday evening, but his words proved about as reliable as Network Rail promises, it is now Sunday evening and the bookcase is still in it's box awaiting the attention of Bob the Builder!
We had tea at my mums today because it is Mother's Day. Mum seemed very pleased with her presents, plants for the garden from my brother and DVD's from us. I had nice presents from the children too, but the nicest thing is to be together and to enjoy a few hours of family time.
Robbie has been 'walking on thin ice' this weekend. We both had an unexpectedly chaotic day on Friday and I was looking forward to a quiet weekend with Robbie, with no rushing around. I was speechless when he announced on Friday evening that he was going to Newquay on Saturday as it was his last chance to go on a Virgin HST. I expressed my intense disapproval but I knew that given a choice between me and a train, the train would win every time, so there wasn't much I could do. Robbie has picked up one of the Children's tactics and he alleged that he had told me about it ages ago, but I must have forgotten - whatever! He left the house at 6.30am and arrived home after 11pm, but he had enough sense not to talk about trains all night. In fact he would have probably survived unscathed if he hadn't slipped into the conversation this afternoon that he had to make an early start next Sunday and he would need a lift. It seems he 'accidentally' booked tickets for an open day somewhere near Mancehster. I haven't plotted my revenge yet, I prefer to keep him guessing!
