It seems that I was wrong, 'monsoon season' is not over. After a perfect week of sunshine last week a very hot weekend and a hot sunny days at the beginning of the week the rain came back with a vengeance yesterday evening. It was uncomfortably hot and late afternoon we had a brief shower which cane as a relief, it was so hot that I wanted to go and stand in the rain to cool down, but unfortunately I was busy at work so I couldn't do that . At about twenty past eight I was at the station waiting for Robbie because he was having a bad day and struggling to cope with the pain in his legs. The sky darkened and the heavens opened, it only lasted for about twenty minutes but it came down so hard that many roads including those in the station car park flooded (the water soon soaked away afterwards). By the time Robbie came out of the station the rain had more or less stopped. I thought his pain and the bad weather would have put him in a bad mood, but I was wrong. He was very happy, because lots of people had admired his new and rather splendid pink Lego brick cuff-links.
As we drove home we encountered huge puddles and several flooded roads. The road where we live is quite high up and not prone to flooding but the drains couldn't cope and when we got home the road was flooded just beyond our house. The people from the houses opposite were all out trying to stop the traffic because the water from the road was flooding down into their houses. Thankfully our side of the road was fine.
My charm bracelet is one of my treasured possessions, I have had it since I was about nine and it has lots of charms which remind me of various events and special times in my life. I had previously told my friend about the bracelet and when we went to see her last week I took the bracelet over to show her. She was fascinated by all the charms especially the ones that opened, but the one she likes best was the flying pig. I told her that that was a fairly new charm, I chose it because it reminded me of Robbie. I worked out long ago that there is more chance of me seeing a whole heard of flying pigs than there is of getting Robbie to change. I think he will still be train spotting and listing to loud indie music when he is 90 - but by then I will be too old to care!
On the subject of flying, the other day I told Robbie that I had evidence that a flying train had once visited Northampton. He was convinced that I was trying to trick him and he thought up all sorts of explanations, but he couldn't work it out. He was most impressed when I showed him the photo of a Thomas the Tank engine balloon flying over the rooftops of Northampton in 1996.
Who would have thought that the simple act of erecting a gazebo could cause me to have homicidal thoughts! Now that the monsoon season appears to be over my mum wanted us to put her gazebo up so that she and my step father can have a bit of shade in the garden. I had my first encounter with that gazebo last year, it is allegedly a pop up gazebo. It weighs a ton and the one thing it doesn't do is 'pop up' it needs a lot of attention and encouragement and if you are very lucky after half an hour of hard labour the thing will be up. It is absolutely huge, my mum has a big garden, but that thing takes up a lot of room.
This was Robbie's first experience with the gazebo and when I asked him to help he had a 'how hard can it be' look on his face. It didn't take him very long to find out exactly how hard it could be! Simply getting the enormous box out of the shed was a challenge. Then when we got it out of the box there were no instructions, so my mum went off to sort through her vast collection of instruction manuals (for everything that she has ever owned in her adult life!). A little thing like no instructions didn't bother Robbie he began the task with enthusiasm until I pointed out that he was assembling the frame upside down. Why do men think that possessing a 'third leg' gives them superior ability in such matters? It is rare for Robbie to come over all macho and I didn't like what I saw. Undeterred by his error he took charge, barking instructions at me, do this, hold this, fetch that. I kept my temper with great difficulty, he had conveniently overlooked the fact that I had erected this thing before - he was the novice!
To compound my irritation, every so often he would walk across to me and kiss me on the forehead. I could hardly contain my annoyance and when my mum returned with the instructions and a mallet (to peg it into the ground) the temptation was overwhelming. I stood there obediently passing him the parts according to his instruction, but in my head I was considering other uses for that mallet!
Despite his irritating ways I was very grateful to him for helping to sort out the gazebo. Hopefully my mum and step father will be able to enjoy lots of sunny days in the garden.
Well we certainly chose the right week to take leave, the weather has been amazing. On Friday we planned to meet a special friend but we wanted to make the most of the day so we planned our journey carefully. We drove out towards Rugby through some of the most beautiful parts of Northamptonshire, it is always beautiful but the bright sunshine on Friday made it perfect. The next part of our journey was not as beautiful, but Robbie loved it because he was able to spot a lot of Stobart lorries - the things I do to please that man!
Our destination was Astley Book Farm in Bedworth. I have been there several times but it was Robbie's first visit, I had told him how good it was but when he had a chance to explore he got so excited that he even took photos of the loo! I pointed out the railway section (which was conveniently close to the bus and tram section) and there he stayed for at least an hour. When I went to find him later he was sitting on the floor surrounded by a growing pile of books, he still had so much to see but I was finally able to lure him away with the promise of coffee. We went to pay for his pile of books and he talked excitedly about how wonderful the loo was (sometimes I really wish he had an off button!).
He loved the coffe shop. Our friend came to join us and we had a lovely time. The coffee shop counter is awesome, it is covered in pictures of children's book covers and i was pleased to find that I had read most of them. Eventually we had to drag ourselves away from the Book Farm and we went back to our friend's house, it was a really lovely day. Robbie went home with a big smile on his face, a big pile of railway books and he was able to do more Stobart spotting on the way home, what more could he possibly want.
Robbie abandoned me again on Wednesday because he'd had a better offer. How can I possibly compete with his beloved trains, especially when it is something a bit unusual that can't be put off until another day. It would have been nice to have spent the day with him, but he bribed me with the promise that if I let him go he would take me out for lunch on Thursday. I had a nice time without him, I visited one of my favourite shops (but I didn't spend too much!) then I went to the park with my daughter. We bought an ice cream from the van, Gallone's make the best ice cream in the world! It was lovely in the shade of the big horse chestnut trees, we watched the children in the playground and reminisced about how much better the playground equipment used to be before 'health and safety' spoil the fun. She will be 21 in a couple of weeks, I couldn't help smiling when she said that things were so much better in 'her day'. I wonder how she will feel when she is my age.
Robbie kept his promise and took me out for a carvery lunch, it was lovely. We ate outside in a shady spot in the garden, after all those weeks of rain it is lovely to have some sunshine. I waited until after lunch to break the news to him that the cats had scratched his Dr Marten boots! His initial reaction was calm, especially when I offered to take him to the Doc Shop. He was over the moon with his new purchases, some English made pink shoes and some English made black 1461s with yellow stitching. He was more vocal when he got home and spoke to the cat, he called him a fat, furry, fatherless feline (among other things!).
What am I going to do with Robbie? We are both on leave from work and we had big plans for our week together, in fact we had something planned for every day, but at the end of last week Robbie expressed a burning desire to travel to Weymouth on Monday. When I asked why he wanted to go to Weymoyth he looked at me as if I was mad and told me "that's where the train goes". It was the train that was the attraction not the destination. To be fair he said I could go with him and he offered some sort of explanation about it being a new route or a new timetable or something like that. I had switched off by then, the idea of another marathon train journey did not appeal to me after our trip to the South West on Saturday. He seems to have had a good time but I wasn't best pleased when he announced (from a safe distance - he didn't tell me until he got to Weymouth) that I had to stay up until after midnight to go and fetch him from the station!
While Robbie was away I shopped for a picnic lunch for the next day because we had planned a trip to the National Railway Museum. We didn't need an especially early start, but after the late night Robbie had difficulty getting himself into gear, so in the end we decided to have a more relaxed day and stay local. We needed to go and pick up a parcel from the sorting office so we decided that we would pop into the farm shop as well. They didn't have any dripping for Robbie, but we bought a couple of other treats instead. The farm shop is part of a small outlet centre attached to the garden centre, so we had a look at the other shops too. I had forgotten that they had a clothing outlet there, but it didn't take long for Robbie to spot the Weird Fish stuff. He found so many T shirts that he liked, I guess they were OK but they were all very loud, so I wandered off hoping that he would follow. I was looking around a jewellry shop when Robbie came bounding in to tell me that he had seen some nice shorts and he wanted me to look at them. As we went back towards the shorts he said that I would like them because they were a bit more subtle than his usual choice. They were black and white in the loudest pattern imaginable, I didn't like them at all but according to Robbie's logic they were subtle because they didn't contain any bright colours!!
I spent most of Friday getting ready to go out on a train on
Saturday. So by Friday evening we had a massive picnic ready to take with us,
my netbook was packed in my rucksack, my camera was charged and everything was
ready for an early start. At least I thought everything was ready, but there
was just one thing I had overlooked – Robbie! He was still awake when I went to
bed but when the alarm clock went off at a stupidly early hour he was sound
asleep next to me and he refused to wake up. I tried and tried but it was
impossible, he didn’t wake up but when prodded he produced a selection of grunts
and insults. In the end I gave up and let him sleep. When he woke up he was
very cross with me. We were too late for the train we planned to catch but we
made the best of the day and with a trip to Plymouth on an HST. I always enjoy
the views as we pass the sea wall at Dawlish. It was a very exhausting day, we
didn’t get home until almost 11pm and by then the roles were reversed, I was
asleep on my feet but Robbie was wide awake!
Robbie didn't have the best start this morning, he arrived at the station and realised that he had left both his blackberries on the dining table, so I had to make a mercy dash to reunite him with his phones. I wasn't best pleased but when I saw his guilty grin I couldn't be cross with him. When he leaned into the car to give me a kiss and to say thank you, he mentioned that he had a strange pins and needles type pain at the top of his leg, just below his buttock. He said it felt a bit like when the injection is wearing off after dental treatment. I was worried because it did not sound like his usual sort of pain.
When I checked on him a bit later on he mentioned that the discomfort seemed to be moving down his leg and it was very itchy. I didn't hear from him again until later that morning when the cause of his problem had been discovered. He was out until late last night and when he came home he decided that he had wash his 'smalls' because he wanted to wear his favourite pair the next day. I was tired and left him to it. Apparently he didn't check the dryer before he put his items in to dry. I had washed all my kitchen cloths earlier in the day and somehow a small flat scourer found its way unnoticed into Robbie's pants! By the time he had got to work it had worked its way down his leg and as he made himself a cup of coffer it fell out from his trouser leg!
Mr B has been doing his Dr Dolittle act again. On Sunday evening he had a word with me on behalf of the guinea pig. According to Robbie she is not as satisfied with the new carrots I bought because they are the wrong shape! I told him that she is a guinea pig and as long as she has enough to eat she is not bothered about size, to her three small carrots are just as good as one large one. I could tell by his expression that he wasn't convinced, he told me that he was sure that she found the larger ones more satisfying.
Usually I buy 'saver' carrots for her, but last week they had some small 'finest' organic carrots on offer. They were cheaper than the saver carrots so I chose those for the guinea pig along with her curly kale and other vegetables. I am fairly sure that she didn't even notice the difference, I think it is Robbie who has the problem not the guinea pig! Why do men have to obsess about size all the time?
Sunday mornings are special, but this week I was not best pleased with Robbie when I woke up on Sunday morning because he had woken me up at 3am when he came to bed. Does he seriously think that I want to chat at that time in the morning? He always knows how to get around me, very sensibly he didn't try to make excuses he just apologised and then plodded off to make me a cup of tea.
When he came back to bed he cuddled up next to me, looked me in the eyes and said that he had something to tell me. I wondered what he could possibly want to say, he looked very serious, then he announced that he had run out of marmalade! I told him that this wasn't the moment to be talking about marmalade, but he just gave me that lost little boy look that he does so well. Then he snuggled up closer and told me to make sure that I choose thick cut Golden Shred when I buy his next pot of marmalade. Sometimes words fail me!
The title for this post comes from the poem The King's Breakfast by A A Milne.
