Finding The Right Words

Those of you who know Robbie will know that words are the one thing he is never short of. If fact the opposite is true, it is almost impossible to get him to shut up, he can talk endlessly about anything under the sun and you can rely on him to lower the tone whenever there is the slightest opportunity. He talks and talks and talks - he can fit more words into a minute than anyone else I know.

Being lost for words is a new experience for Robbie, but in the circumstances I am not surprised that he is struggling. He has been asked to speak at his friend's funeral, there is so much that he wants to say, but putting the feelings you have deep inside into words is not so easy, and finding exactly the right words to express how much Chris meant as a friend and colleague is difficult. It is almost impossible to sum up the qualities of a close friend in just a few brief sentences, but one thing is undeniable Chris knew how to live well. He loved his work, but it didn't rule his life, he filled his leisure time with all the things that were important to him. He packed a lot of living into not quite 40 years. I don't know if Robbie's words will adequately paint a picture of his friend, or express how keenly Robbie feels his loss. I can't do much to help, but I can at least make sure everyone will understand his words - I have be making him practice speaking slowly!

Paddling

I had big plans for Friday, I don't go to work on a Friday so it feels like 'my day'. I always look forward to Fridays but almost every week something happens to spoil it, but this week I really shouldn't have bothered to get out of bed.

Sam was grumpy as he got ready for school (which is nothing unusual) but we managed to leave the house on time. We had only got as far as the drive when Sam 'split his difference' and had to go dashing back into the house in search of more school trousers. Thankfully it didn't take him long to change and he got to school in good time. That is the third pair of trousers he has written off in the same way this year! I don't know how he does it, the trousers are not too small and I haven't noticed Sam waving his legs around like Kenny Everett so I guess it will remain one of life's unsolved mysteries. Oh well at least M&S have a 3 for the price of 2 offer on school uniform.

When I got home after dropping Sam off, I walked in to find that the washing machine pipe had come out and it had flooded the kitchen. I felt like running away. I spent the next couple of hours paddling as I mopped up the water and tried to sort out everything that had got wet. It was like fighting a loosing battle, I thought I would never get back to normal. The water had even got into one of the kitchen cupboards, I had to take a break before dealing with that, but I was still scrubbing late into the evening - it would have been easier to go to work!

Ups and Downs

Several weeks ago I wrote about the mishap I had with my mobile phone, it took a tumble into a (newly cleaned) toilet. I dried it straight away and then took it apart and placed it into a zippy bag full of rice to draw the moisture from the phone. It stayed in the rice for a fortnight, but when I tried the phone it still didn't work, so it went back in the rice for another couple of weeks then I too it out again, but the phone was still dead. Before I had a chance to put the phone back in the rice, Meg (the dog) stole the bag of dry rice and ate it all, I was scared she would get badly dehydrated but she survived with no ill effects, I guess I should be grateful that she didn't eat the phone!

The phone was an old friend, it belonged to Eric my first husband, he bought it in 2002 and when he died in 2003 I kept it. I know it is silly sentiment really, but it helps, there was a voice message on it that Eric left when he was messing around with his new phone and I was so sad to lose it. I had also lost lots of texts, my birthday calendar and loads of important numbers. I had another phone but it just wasn't the same. I had given up hope of recovering the data, but a friend said she would take it to a place that had helped her with her phone. Amazingly they got the phone working again, and when I got it back I had a huge grin on my face. In the next few days I will be backing up all the data! It has been a difficult week, but getting my phone and all the data back has means a lot to me.

A Day We Had Been Dreading

This turned out to be the day that we have been dreading for what seems like a very long time. Robbie's friend Chris died this morning. We knew that this would be the ultimate outcome, and no one wanted to prolong his suffering but when the time comes none of that makes it feel any better. This is a terrible loss for his family and for his friends.

Chris was a very good friend to Robbie, in fact he probably understood Robbie better than anyone else ever will. They shared an interest in music, they would often go into Birmingham at lunchtime and come back with vinyl records and cds. They had a similar or at least an overlapping taste in music and they liked to go to gigs. Their shared interests didn't end there, they both shared a passion for the railways. For Robbie, Chris was the sort of friend who comes along once in a lifetime, he will be deeply missed and he will never be forgotten.

Fitting A Quart Into A Pint Pot

Robbie abandoned me in favour of a Deltic at the weekend so it was very quiet, but I had no time to relax. On Saturday morning I was up bright and early and before 9am Sam and I were heading for Leicester to perform 'mission impossible'. We had to transport three years worth of Emily's accumulated belongings back to Northampton. I may have a seven seater but a Pickfords lorry would have struggled to cope with that lot. Finally everything was crammed in somehow and we headed home. We are still facing the problem of how to fit all the stuff from the car into the house. Emily was very sorry to leave uni and say goodbye to all her friends, it is the end of an era, it really does seem as if those three years have gone past in the blink of an eye.

A Blind Eye

Robbie and I are different in many ways, he is louder than me in every sense, this is most obvious when it comes to clothes. I know what I like and I know what suits me and I tend to stick within my comfort zone, this doesn't usually involve loud colours and patterns. Anyone who knows Robbie will know that he is the exact opposite, he likes colour and he loves patterns, the bigger and bolder the better. It annoys me when Robbie tries to tell me what to wear, especially when he starts to offer advice on underwear. When it comes to fashion advice he is more Homer Simpson than Gok Wan!

I really try to live and let live, but it takes a super human effort not to comment on some of his more challenging fashion statements. This morning he headed off to work wearing a shirt that almost stopped me in my tracks. He must have had a whole shop to choose from so I can't understand why he chose that one. It is difficult to describe but he looked as if going to an audition for the Wurzels! I'm not going to change him so it is just a question of of perfecting a 'blind eye'. I am short sighted so when I take my contact lenses I don't see the detail, that makes him a little easier on the eye!

Anti Cat Device

The sound of silence didn't last very long. The house seems very busy during the day as both girls have finished university and seem to be constantly coming and going. Robbie is struggling with very painful and disobedient legs, it seems as if there is no let up to the pain now and he finds it hard to cope at times. We have reached the point where it is restricting the things he can do, which is very frustrating for him and it is hardly surprising that it gets him down. I wish I could put it right somehow.

When I was at the supermarket on Tuesday I bought an air freshener for the lounge. It was one of those that produce a puff of smell every little while, they were on offer. I decided to put it on top of the television to prevent the cats from sitting there. Before long Oreo was back on the TV with his head leaning on the air freshener, when it produced a puff of perfume he arched his back and spat at it then turned his back on it. Before long Dave had replaced Oreo on top of the television and the puff of perfume surprised him so much that he fell off the TV!!

The Sound of Silence

Sunday was taken up with doing the washing and getting everything back in order ready to get back to reality on Monday. Robbie really should have tackled the garden, we have only been away for a week but the hedge seems to have moved half way across the drive and the back garden looks more like a scene from Sleeping Beauty - wild and untended for 100 years! He promised that he would deal with it during the week, but I spotted several pigs flying past!!

Monday was strange, Robbie was back at work and Sam was back at school and when I sat down to make a start on my own work I realised that I had missed something while we were away - the sound of silence! I wonder if Robbie's colleagues noticed that their peace had been shattered when he got back on Monday morning?

Red and Green Not Fit To Be Seen

Oh my goodness, he gets worse. We were heading out to the supermarket and then to my mums and I happened to glance down to see the horror at the end of his legs. He was wearing red patterned shoes and lurid green socks with bright blue tops, a truly scary sight! to borrow one of my mum's sayings, it made him look 'half sharp' but he refused to change, so I was forced to walk around the supermarket with him. The other shoppers gave him some funny looks, they probably though he had escaped from somewhere!

Oh well it will be back to work tomorrow, back to reality. I will miss Robbie, but at least it will stop us arguing about silly things, last week we almost came to blows about Boris Johnson of all things and today his insistance on rearranging the trolley in the supermarket almost led to divorce!

All Good Things Must Come to An End

On Saturday morning we made an early start and after packing the car we were on the road by just after 8am. It was refreshing to get on the road again after the very narrow (and sometimes scary) Cornish lanes. I was very sorry that our holiday was at an end, but since we had to go home I just wanted to get the long journey behind me.

It seemed to take forever to get to Exeter but eventually we were on M5 and Exeter was behind us. We stopped at the services and managed to lose Robbie. Sam Laura and I had all got back to the car, as sat there enjoying a long awaited cup of coffee and a snack I saw three trains go past, but still no Robbie. I thought there must be something seriously wrong if Robbie was missing out on trains, they were only FGW but even so trains are like magnets to Robbie. I tried to phone him but there was no reply, I seriously considered driving off without him because I didn't want to lose the advantage of an early start. Eventually he appeared and all became clear, he had been to Mc Donalds to by breakfast and there was a massive queue. He knew better than to buy anything for me, so I drove of as the others tucked into stinky breakfast snacks. I wish I could train Robbie not to hum when he eats, it really drives me mad but he claims he doesn't know he is doing it.

Robbie survived and we made steady progress towards Bristol and then on to the M4, we made a brief second stop at a service station, this time Robbie only escaped my clutches long enough to buy a Rail magazine before being escorted back to the car. The rest of the journey was uneventful, I got a bit irritated with the sat nav because it wanted me to go a different way and I knew that my way was better. That woman gets a real edge to her voice when I don't follow her directions, in fact I am fairly sure that she sighs when she says 'recalculating'. My ideal sat nav would have the voice of David Attenborough, I would follow him anywhere. To be fair the sat nav is a whole lot better than Robbie because it doesn't shout out when it sees a train, it doesn't fall asleep when it should be looking at the signposts and it doesn't time every journey according to rail times!

We got home safely at about 2.30pm, so we made reasonable time. Sam insisted on being dropped off at his girlfriend's house and as soon as we got back Laura went dashing off to uni to see her friend before she goes home. I was too tired to face unloading the car, we just took the essentials inside and after a welcome cup of tea I went to bed for a well earned nap - I love my bed. I had been looking forward to seeing Emily, but I had to wait until the evening to see her. Meg (the dog) and Dave and Oreo (cats) were pleased to see us, but I think it will take Dave a few days to completely forgive me for abandoning him, he thinks he is my shadow.