Elephants in Norwich!

Guess what we did today – we went on a train! We got up moderately early and drove to North Walsham to catch a train to Norwich. I wasn't too keen on getting up early because I was summoned from my bed by Sam shortly after midnight to watch two moths mating on the bathroom window. I found myself feeling sorry for the moths, the process didn't seem to be very exciting and it certainly wasn't quick so it didn't have much to recommend it. When I returned to bed I was just settling down to sleep when Robbie woke me to inform me that they are opening a new Morrisons at Wednesbury. It wasn't even of passing interest, I try to avoid going that far north.

Anyway we got to Norwich in time for Robbie to have the 'foot long' he had been promising himself for weeks. Robbie and Sam both love eating at Subway, I can't see what all the fuss is about but at least they can't talk while they are eating so I get a few minutes peace. Norwich had been invaded by over 50 brightly coloured elephants, they were all over the city centre and they certainly brightened the place up. They are part of a creative arts project, but the intention is also to raise money for two charities, CLIC Sargent and the Born Free Foundation. I loved the elephants and I took lots of photos. I even got a nice picture of Sam in the Costa Coffee shop, but he wasn't too pleased about it.

We had a nice day in Norwich visiting all our favourite places, but the big disappointment was Norwich Station. I had always liked Norwich Station in the past, it seemed to be well run and friendly, but this was my first visit since National Express took over the running of the station and I was very disappointed. The station was disorganised, the announcements were unhelpful, the place was a mess and horror of horrors the toilets left a lot to be desired. At least they provided entertainment outside the station, the National Express coordinators were attempting to manage the parking and despatch of replacement coaches. I say attempting because they were proving beyond doubt that they could not coordinate their way out of a paper bag! The sad thing is the station is supposed to be providing a service to the public, but instead no respect or consideration is shown to the passengers.

Rainbow

Our first day was lovely and relaxing, there was a breeze but it was warm and bright and it was nice just to enjoy our freedom. There were a few spots of rain this evening and then suddenly there was an amazing rainbow with a fainter rainbow at the side of it. This is the view from our back garden.

Alarm Call

I got the car packed and ready on Friday evening, and only a few last minute bits and bobs were left to do on Saturday morning. I wanted to hoover and tidy up before we left because things always get a bit chaotic while you are packing. It was too late to hoover that evening so Robbie said he would get up early in the morning to do it while I finished packing the car. When the alarm went off Robbie turned over and ignored it, I prodded him, poked him, pinched his bottom and his only response was a scattering of obscenities I let the alarm go on and on, but he just buried his head under the duvet so I took the duvet away and he curled up in a ball. I was so tempted to go and get a bucket of water, but I restrained myself, I just yelled at him instead. He finally plodded off to the shower still muttering obscenities I was so cross, and I was determined that I wasn't going to do all the work, after all he could sleep through the journey, but I had to do all the driving. I blame his job, they work him into the ground with early starts, late nights and impossible deadlines, then I'm left with a useless wreck. Well, they'd better watch out – the fight back has begun!

Robbie survived his difficult start to the day, but he had his fortune told in no uncertain terms. We didn't leave quite as early as planned, but when we finally got on the road we had a good journey. It is so nice to be in Norfolk again, I love the bungalow and it is really special to be so close to the sea.

Pants!

I was so mad with Robbie on Friday morning that I threatened to go on holiday without him. I woke him up as usual and he embarked on his usual morning routine. I only became aware of a problem when I went downstairs and he announced “That's it I can't go to work, I haven't got any pants!” I knew that was nonsense and I went back to the bedroom and returned carrying a pair of his Next trunks. Instead of being grateful he claimed I was trying to injure him because 'I know very well' that that pair chafes him. I'm sorry to disappoint him but I'm really not so interested in his knickers that I know each pair individually! I suggested that instead of ranting he should look more carefully but he stood there rooted to the spot like a naked gnome insisting that I had wilfully deprived him of his pants. He even insisted that there were none of his pants in the house. I can't imagine what he thinks I have been doing with them, if he thinks I am making a fortune selling second hand knickers on ebay he is sadly deluded! The truth is much simpler, they were not missing, he just didn't look properly! It didn't take long for me to reunite him with his drawers, the world looked a little better when Robbie finally put some clothes on, but I was still far too mad to talk to him and he left for work in silence.

I went shopping later that morning and I bought him a new stash of knickers, I'm sure he has enough pairs to last him a month but if it saves me from sites like that first thing in the morning it is worth it. If Eddie Grundy (from The Archers) is thinking of adding a new design to his range of naughty gnomes, I can recommend a very good model!

The King of the Slugs

We had some fencing delivered yesterday. It was just three sections, three posts and three post holders, to patch a gap where the fence got damaged. I got the small items inside but I couldn't cope with the fence sections so Robbie said that he would do it when he got home. What he omitted to tell me was that he wouldn't get home until 10.30pm, so it was past 11pm before the fencing was brought in. I was feeling exhausted because I had just got back from work and Robbie was exhausted and hungry, so he said that he would leave the fencing in the hall until this evening. When I walked through the hall on my way to bed I realised that Robbie had brought in more than just the fencing. There was a giant slug sitting on top of a piece of fence looking at me! I am not frightened of slugs but I don't want one as a house guest so I asked Robbie to escort it outside. I went off to bed so I don't know if Robbie had a close encounter with the slug, but it or one of it's mates must have spent the night in the hall because I have spent this morning cleaning snail trails off the hall carpet. There is no sign of any slugs so either they escaped or one of the cats helped them on their way!

You Can Lead A Horse To Water But .............

They say you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, that does not sound anywhere near as impossible as getting a teenage boy to deal with his laundry! Sam doesn't like people to encroach on his bedroom and he thinks I am totally unreasonable to make such huge demands on him. Demands like changing his bedding regularly, being able to see the carpet (not to mention seeing enough of it to be able to hoover) and the most irksome demand of all – to bring his washing down to the washing machine when asked. How hard can it be for him to put his dirty washing in the laundry basket and then bring it down when asked? I achieved a major triumph yesterday after three attempts Sam managed to bring all his dirty washing down (almost all anyway) but it took 3 days of constant nagging to achieve it. I would probably have more success trying to train the cat to keep the house tidy!

Getting Ready

We are going on holiday on Saturday to a remote corner of Norfolk where mobile phone signals are non existent and (hopefully) all the hype about the Olympics will pass us by. I know it hasn't even started yet but I am absolutely sick of hearing about the Olympics, am I the only person in the world who doesn't car a jot about it?

I always vow that I will be more organised next time when it comes to holiday packing, but when 'next time' comes I still find myself rushing to get everything done at the last minute. I have pages of lists, things to do, things to buy, things to find and of course things to pack. So far there are a pitiful number of ticks on my lists, I have to shift into a higher gear today otherwise we will never be ready on time. The boys 'Robbie and Sam' have a few new DVD's to take with them, but my favourite part of planning for a holiday is going off to buy a selection of magazines to take with me. No doubt Sam will want Empire magazine or something similar packed with information about films and DVD's. Robbie will choose a stack of railway magazines and perhaps he will throw in a railway magazine to keep me quiet, but my choice will be family history magazines and perhaps one about scrapbooking – I love scrapbooking.

Talking of family history, we have managed to get a bit further with Robbie's tree, we have found that relatives from another branch of his family went to USA too, and Robbie was delighted to find that one of his ancestors worked on the railways. His obsession with trains must be in his genes!

Missing Out

As if being bought flowers by another woman wasn't bad enough, the plot thickened at the weekend when another member of his fan club phoned to invite him out for a first class lunch trip on his favourite Deltic next Saturday! Just one problem - we are going on holiday that day. I said that Robbie could go if he wanted to, but he decided not to, he thought that being allowed to go off for his rail tour on the middle weekend of the holiday was enough, but he hasn't stopped moaning about missing out on the Deltic

A Bit of a Rant!

Robbie started ranting as soon as the latest edition of Rail magazine went on sale last week and he is still ranting. The cause of his irritation is Barry Doe – nothing new there! By Friday I was so sick of hearing about it that I thought I better read the article, and I could see why Robbie was so vexed. Robbie gets cross when anyone has a pop at Cross Country but when someone doesn't bother to get his facts right it is even more annoying. The main thing that had caused Barry Doe to get his knickers in a twist was the Cross Country fare restrictions on their cheap day return tickets. He had a scandalous headline which I will not repeat because I hope someone will sue him!

He sited one example where a senior conductor apparently made an error about the validity of a ticket. He may (perhaps) know about ticketing (he is not always right) but it seems he doesn't have much idea about anything else, he called the senior conductor a guard – what century is he in? He made the valid point that commuters find restrictions hard to understand and it is not clear from the tickets who sets the fare or what the restrictions are. But he then went on to blame all the wrong people, in particular he called the Cross Country management stupid. He has obviously been contemplating his own navel for so long that he is too myopic to see the bigger picture! What he doesn't seem to understand is that the franchise was awarded to Arriva by DFT in a competitive process. You can not blame Cross Country for railway privatisation, they have to fulfil the terms of the franchise agreement an they have to act in the best interest of the company (just like every other TOC). With regard to cheap day returns, they are free to set whatever restrictions make sound business sense, so if you want to blame anyone blame the government for allowing unregulated tickets! As for ticketing, yes we all agree it is out of date but you can't blame Cross Country for that either, ticketing is the responsibility of ATOC under the rail settlement plan – but of course being such an expert he knows that already!
As for his complaint about the Voyager shop not being open between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh, if he'd bothered to check he would have known that this was also the case when Virgin had the franchise. So why blame Arriva?

He's a bit like a wasp really, very annoying, not much of a sting and absolutely no practical use! I suggest that the next time he wants to have a rant he should grab his bicycle clips and ride around the block a few times to get his thoughts in order before committing a lot of inaccurate rubbish to print!

Say it With Flowers!

When I got home yesterday I found a vase of flowers in the kitchen. I assumed they had been given to Emily or Laura. I'm not keen on cut flowers, I prefer to see flowers growing in the garden, so people don't usually buy me flowers. I went into the lounge and asked Robbie about the flowers, I got a sheepish smile and an admission that they had been bought for him by 'one of his women'. The girls found it hilarious. Life with Robbie is rarely dull!