Changes are afoot

I could have blogged about my daughter trying to break her toe/foot by kicking my college bag but there's no point as this is not an unusual occurrence - she is dyspraxic and her propioception is a little off.

I could have blogged about starting back at college but, although it's all new stuff for me this year, it's just as easy as last year - so far.

I could have blogged about father-in-law's (FIL) move down to be near us and the extra workload on us but I won't because most of the issues are to do with his health rather than the bureaucracy and, therefore, personal.

This extra workload means I have even less time to keep 3 blogs running, as you will no doubt have noticed by the shortage of posts on any of them this month.  Therefore I intend to amalgamate them all into one blog.  This is very much a work-in-progress as I have yet to decide which of the 3 titles to keep, and which of the blog-hosting sites to use.  Each has their pluses and minuses.  So, it will be a week or so before I get to it.

I do have a new hobby that is eating into my spare time.  I've switched off the AUTO functions on my camera and am learning to do-it-myself.  This is a lot of fun, especially when friend J comes with me and we spend time over tea/coffee and cake going through the day's efforts.  So, I'm going to end this post with some of the shots I took on Wednesday at Swanwick Nature Reserve.

More crazy days

The last couple of weeks have seen us running about the country - to Nottingham, place of us grownups birth - on family business.  Father in Law has been offered a sheltered flat in Park Gate, after being on the local council waiting list since March.  So, two weeks ago, we had to go up to Nottingham to fetch him to have a look at it.

Fortunately he approved, so the council and the Housing Association whose property it is have also been busy getting the paperwork filled in.  Last weekend (a bank holiday) I took him back to Nottingham to start packing and generally closing his life down up there.  K came with me to help, and came back with some new bruises due to failing to use the door way as an entrance to a building.  Dyspraxia rules!

We then spent all week packing up what he wants to bring with him, and taking piles of rubbish and old magazines/newspapers up to the tip.  There's still plenty of tip work for us and a few more things to bring down but that will happen over the next few weeks.  On Thursday I realised that K was due on scout camp at Thorpe Park this weekend (as in the following day).  Needless to say, it didn't happen.  I sent many apologies to the leader and explained what had happened.  K wasn't overly distressed, especially after I promised her a day out at half-term to make up for being a sieve-head.

Father in Law seems to live 'in the now', with very little sense of urgency to plan ahead or remember chronology, so it has been very interesting.  I left him a pile of paperwork to sort through and file - even bought a file and plastic baggies for him - but I ended up chucking it all in a box yesterday.  Then, yesterday, he starts deciding what he'd like packing from upstairs.  He's had all flippin' week to tell me that but waits till the van's outside (driven up from here by A, accompanied by D) and nearly all full.  Minor grrrrr.

Once the van was loaded, and an early lunch was had, we all set off back down here.  I tell you, my car could do the journey without any input from me; it's certainly done it an awful lot this year as we tried to sort him out.  Father in Law slept most of the way down, and most of the time since he's been here.

Today we are moving into his new place.  K & I have a hot date at Curves first thing - they're starting their weight management classes today so we can't put it off - then we'll head back; by which time most of the heavy lifting will be done and A will be done in.

We have to go and order/buy a new fridge/freezer for Father in Law.  He assures me he bought it in the 60's, except that a) I know that style didn't exist then, and b) A can remember it being bought when he was about ready for secondary school (late 70's).  Either way it was in no fit state to be taken anywhere but the tip.  There was rancid milk accumulating on the bottom and going a lovely shade of blue, the drain pipe at the back was black with gunk, and it really needed a good scrub.  It also stank.  And don't get me started about the bag of cabbage that had turned to a vile, green liquid.  Father in Law says he has no sense of smell and I believe him.

Before anyone berates us for letting things get that bad for him, it wasn't through lack of effort on our part.  Up until the past 6 months or so we have been told politely but firmly to 'butt out'.  There's not a lot you can do about that without alienating him completely.  Six months ago he decided that he couldn't cope any more and that he thought he was becoming a bit forgetful (we'd been noticing it for a few years).  Since then we have been making enquiries, plans, and generally scheming to sort him out.  The local council here were happy to put him on their waiting list for somewhere suitable.  I am organising an Occupational Therapist assessment to see what else 'adaptive' he'll need to make life easier - I'm hoping to get a Dementia Screening person in at the same time so he doesn't twig on.  There will be plenty of home-made food in his freezer, and he WILL eat it - another issue caused by poor memory and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (too tired and breathless to eat) - as he hasn't got to walk far or use stairs to get to the kitchen any more.  I will also be taking care of the laundry, making sure the pots are washed properly and the place is clean

Life is about to get a whole lot more busy for us.  I'm hoping we'll see an improvement in his general health or, at least, a slowing in the decline of it.

When I got home yesterday there was a letter from the local college, where I'm going to do the Level 3 AAT qualification.  Basically it was a 'you can get your course books from us on these dates, oh and by the way there was a mistake in the brochure.  Your course day is a Thursday, not a Tuesday'.  The brochure came out in June and it takes them till the beginning of September to tell us that we're coming on a different day.  It's a good job I don't have other, unavoidable, plans for Thursdays, or have childcare to sort out.  I've had issues before with this college's admin 'skills' but this is just pathetic.

HOLIDAY!!!!

Before you all get excited I'm not actually departing Dark Corner for anywhere else.  We are staying at home and having some days out.  Today we went to Brighton & Hove (both bits).  A parked in Hove and we walked along the very nice promenade to Brighton.  Hove seems genteel and really unspoilt by the tourist tat, preferring to save that accolade for its sister town Brighton.  We found a nice little cafe in Brighton, The Bucket, where they make their burgers by hand from scratch.  A bit of a wait but well worth it for the taste.  The weather was very 'Mediterranean' with lots of sun and a blue sea, which looked very inviting. 

We then mooched around the shops for a while.  I managed to get A into an Ann Summers shop but we only looked at the lingerie.  Nothing really took our fancy.  Some of the phone shops have some appealing offers in right now.  We might investigate those this week.

On the way back we followed the A259 and passed through Worthing.  It also looks like somewhere we might like to visit for the day.  There was an interesting-looking restaurant that served Chinese, Japanese, Singapore, Malay, Thai, Indian & Italian cuisine.  That just about covers our family's culinary desires, so we will definitely give it a try.  I'll let you know the name and a review afterwards.

Later this week we intend to go over the the island (Isle of Wight) for another day trip.  In between all this galavanting around we will be doing more mundane things like finishing up in the garden (spray painting the shed and the rest of the fencing, moving a couple of bushes, taking out some ivy that is encroaching, reminding the clematis and the jasmine that it grows in THIS garden and not over the wall by the footpath, etc), making a start on getting rid of the carpet moths (not nice as they loosen the pile in your carpets, leaving bare patches - their favourite places are in the dark and rarely disturbed), and de-cluttering the study (just how many old PC towers can a man need?)

K & I will continue to fit in 3 visits to Curves each week.  Our exploits there can be followed at another one of my blogs.

Been a bit busy

Partying, that is!  The weekend saw a birthday here in Dark Corner so I saw it as my duty to give my liver a good workout.  It has now forgiven me.  A bought me a Bon Jovi DVD.  The jury is out as to whether I am in heaven or not.  The lip synch seemed a bit out in places, some of the instruments hit the odd wrong note, and Jon sounded more out of tune than in.  All in all, not the best DVD of theirs I own, and I own plenty.  We did wonder if it was recorded at the end of the tour (Madison Square Gardens 2008) and if they were all tour weary.  However, I did my best to make it rain, yodelling along to the tracks and thoroughly annoying the rest of the household.

Last week, friends of ours left to go home to the US (waves madly at Ann).  Hopefully they will soon find a house and life settles down again.  They'll be missed.

D goes on camp next weekend for a week.  Unfortunately K chose not to so we parents won't get as much peace as we deserve.  We are having the week off and will be alternating between de-cluttering the house and doing day trips.  We might head to the island for a day.

My parents came down for the weekend.  I now have a tidy back garden - thanks, folks.  I need to go and buy a job lot of slug pellets and growmore, as well as a bucket of long-acting weed killer for the patio and drive.

On the job front, my official finishing date is the end of August but, as per usual here, I may be needed a bit longer.  I'm not bothered either way but it'd be nice to have something concrete.  Oh the joys of being a temp!  I've applied for a few jobs but not heard anything back.

Roll on tomorrow.  No work for 2 weeks.  My job share fellow temp wanted to swap some days with me so I am working Monday - Wednesday this week.  Then I'm off next week before returning to my normal Wednesday - Friday the following week, so for 3 days off work I end up with 1 day short of two weeks not working.  Excellent!!!!!

Let them be bored

I know some of my readers are home-educators but there may be some of you out there who are dreading the next six weeks, having to listen to your little angels scream "I'm bored!!!" all day long.  Either that or they're making your life a misery because you won't take them to a theme park twice a week, as well as swimming, bowling, ice skating, a trip to the beach, and other money-consuming wants. 

Today's children seem to have the instant gratification bug, wanting everything today and more tomorrow.  To their parents I say this, did your parents do all that for you when you were a child or were you encouraged to make your own entertainment.  And that didn't mean being stuck in front of the TV (or in this age, a computer or game console) all day, every day either.  Tell your parents that you were bored and I'd lay odds on the response being "tough!" or "so what?".

If you are already wilting at the thought of keeping them entertained and amused all holidays without having to take out the mortgage required to cover all what they'd really like to do, I have a few suggestions.

• Let them be bored.  With a bit of luck they might actually (re)discover their imaginations and make up their own games.
• If they say they're bored, give them a household chore to do and make them do it.  Next time boredom strikes they'll either ask if they can help with anything (you can hope) or they'll have hated it so much they'll put more effort into finding something to do that's more fun.
• If they ask to go somewhere and you are willing to consider it, tell them that there are certain things around the house that need to be done first.  If they leave it all to you it will take too long and you won't be able to go.  If they help it will all be done very quickly and you'll have more time to spend doing that fun thing.
• Limit those big days out to one or two for the whole holiday.  They'll appreciate it so much more (eventually).
• Explain to them how much all these days out and activities cost and that you don't have all that money just lying around waiting for them to spend.

• If they're old enough suggest an 'entertainment budget' figure for them for the entire 6 weeks.  If they go and blow it all on a day out, DON'T GIVE THEM ANY MORE.  This is a life lesson about budgeting and will do them good in the long run when they start to live an independent lifestyle.  You are doing them no good whatsoever by encouraging them to think that what they want is the only thing worth spending money on.

A good number of children expect their parents to just hand over cash for anything, and unfortunately there are a good number of parents who do - whether that be from guilt for both parents working, or to keep the peace because of the temper outbursts that follow if the parents say no.  If this is your child, ask yourself how they learnt to kick up a fuss to make you give in.  That's right, it's because that is what you have been doing since they were tiny.  "Ah, it's not nice to see him/her so upset" so the child gets rewarded for making a scene.  Whereas if you had stuck to your guns when they were tiny they would now understand and accept that no means no.

This is not a dig at anyone in particular, but a kick up the backside that some parents need to remember that their children are just that, children, and that whilst their wishes will be considered, the FINAL say is the parents.

Another first

My daughter's first love is now, as of this week, her first ex - which explains why she has moped around the house in her pj's all week.  She is a little upset about it and has had a cry in my arms.  Now she's downstairs eating my best chocolate (with my permission) and watching Harry Potter (No.6, I think) with her Dad.

The perennial question

It's heading towards that time of year again and A, being the caring, thoughtful husband that he is, has asked me what I want for my birthday.  As usual there are two sets of answers to this.  One runs to 'ha ha, stop kidding around' things like finish revampin en-suite, a new kitchen, a 'no snoring ever again' medication so we can share a bed every night (ok, so this isn't kidding around but no-one has invented one yet), my very own Ferrari 360 F1 Modena (with flappy paddle gear box), or a sprawling house in the country with acres of land between me and my next door neighbours ('cos I'm the sociable sort, you know).  The other usually goes something like 'dunno, nothing's really took my fancy'.  This is not strictly true as there's always ONE thing that takes my fancy  ;-) but why wait till my birthday  hehehehe.

I'm after a new camera BUT as I know absolutely nothing about digital SLRs I am going to make a nuisance of myself at the camera club in September and see if the some of the boys will let me play with their toys.  The new camera will have to wait till next year some time.  It would be a VERY expensive mistake to get the wrong one.  (We are talking £500+ here so I need to be very sure I'm getting the best one for me).

So, I've settled for a serious session at a hairdressing salon.  The goody bag that I brought home from the Ball on Saturday had a 20% off voucher for somewhere that charges silly money (to me who would make Scrooge look profligate with money for things like clothes or hair) to do even the simplest of things.  I want a new style and some streaks of colour putting in.  Just the sort of thing to make me feel summery and cheerful.  It has to be low-maintenance as I don't have the time or the inclination to spend more than 10 minutes each day making it look presentable.  It would also have to look good whether I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt or formal business wear.  Picky, picky, picky.

I've already shown the kids what I want and, between them, it comes in under budget.  Let's hope they remember.

Common sense is beginning to prevail

I was going to post yesterday about the Wrestling World Cup Final except that Blogger wouldn't let me in for some reason.  As most of the world has already commented on it I won't waste time.

Instead I'll turn my attention to this.  The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is considering banning self-certification mortgages.  About time too!!  When these 'modern' mortgages were announced a few years ago I said that it would all end in tears.  I mean, where is the sense in lending people hundreds of thousands of pounds without them having to prove they can pay it back? 

The 'old-fashioned' multipliers were there for a reason.  They made sure that you had some money left to live on after paying the mortgage AND made sure you could continue to afford the payments if the interest rates rose.  These days people have mortgages that they can barely afford, let alone heat their property and feed themselves.  I don't know what they're going to do when interest rates do rise again - and they will.  A rise of 0.5% is going to catch a lot of people out and start a whole raft of repossessions.  When we got our first mortgage interest rates were about 10%. We asked our advisor to work out what the repayments would be if rates rose to 15%, something he said wouldn't happen.  Well it did, and we could still afford it (just).

Look at what has happened to energy and food prices in the last couple of years.  Prices have rocketed, beyond what most people (experts and jo public alike) would have expected.  It isn't just the traditional poor and/or working class who are having to decide whether to eat or heat their home.  This is spreading upwards through the other social classes too.  I wonder if this is what Labour meant by 'social mobility'.

More sensible mortgage lending will have a downward impact on house prices as less people can get a mortgage to afford the current silly prices; though there may be an increase in price as less people can afford to move (supply and demand at work).  Hopefully, prices will settle to levels that are affordable for our young people.   

Let's look at an example.  Average starting salaries for graduates are between £20,000 and £25,000 (and assume that those without a degree will have an average start of much less).  The average price for a one bedroom shared ownership flat (part buy-part rent) seems to be about £40,000.  Owning your flat outright averages at about £100,000.  This would be unaffordable to the graduate under the 'three times your salary' rules.  The graduate would need a very large deposit AND have some to pay the legal fees.  Like I said, prices are probably going to come down until they reach a level that people can sensibly afford.

I'll be honest and admit I have no idea how the part buy-part rent system works.  Obviously the total outgoing must be considerably less than the mortgage would be on the true value of the property, but I do wonder how the difference is made up.  Rents can only be lower than the mortgage outlay if the money borrowed (by the housing association) to buy the property is much less than it's value. 

The rise in the number of properties available by this method shows how unaffordable property has become to vast portions of society.  Maybe we should be doing like our continental cousins, where renting is the norm.  It's only in the past 50 years or so that owning your own home has been attainable by the vast majority of the population.  Before then this was only for the rich.  Are we back to this?  Do we want to be back to this? 

I must admit that, having sampled renting and ownership, I prefer ownership.  We can decorate how we want, rip out a fireplace that we don't like (or a kitchen or a bathroom) and, unless we are being repossessed (or compulsorily purchased to make way for a new road), we are not beholden to our landlord's whim as to how long we can stay there.  My home is my security blanket (apart from my family, of course).  It is here waiting for me when I get back from work.  It is somewhere I can shut the door and keep the world out.  I can put my feet up and relax.  It is comforting, and I'd hate to lose it.  That doesn't mean I'll never move from here.  Far from it, I have some very definite ideas of where I'd like to live.  It's that I am not constantly aware that the next letter from the landlord could be the 'adios' letter.  This place is mine for as long as I want it.

Well, this has been a meander through the world of property possession, hasn't it.  I hope you followed it.

What's going on at the moment

Yesterday afternoon I had another session with my life coach friend, R.  We talked about my future plans with particular respect to job-hunting.  I told her that it was on hold for now as I was having difficulty dealing with the constant knockbacks/no replies.  She helped me to see that there is nothing wrong with making big efforts to find a job then taking a few weeks off when the constant failure gets too much.

We also discussed my personal brand - or, the image I need to project to get what I want.  We have made plans to go shopping in a couple of weeks to look at, and maybe buy some 'sharp and professional' business attire.  Needless to say, A is already going a bit pale at the thoughts of it all.  I have promised to be good and be more Primark than boutique.  I am also considering getting my CV professionally done. 

The plan was to start job hunting towards the end of September, assuming that my current contract finishes at the end of August.  Well, this afternoon I got a call from an agency asking if I was prepared to look further afield for jobs - as in Poole or Andover - and the answer was 'not that far'.  Anyway, the job they sent me for 3 months ago (the one I never heard back from, and they never phoned me back about) became a different role, one which I wouldn't have gone for (and neither did anyone else who they interviewed).  This business have decided to fill this vacancy in-house from their sales ledger team, leaving a vacancy.  So, I asked this job agency to get me in for that one.  This agency don't generally handle jobs paying less than £14K (lucky them that they can be so choosy).  I explained to them that this is an unrealistic wage for someone with AAT Level 2 but no proper work experience; somewhere around £12K is more appropriate.  I repeated that I was interested in the position and could be negotiable on salary - apparently the company likes a bargain.  We'll see what happens.  I might just go on to the company's website direct and see what's what.  Looks like I'm in the job market again.

Hi there

I've been very busy living life - again.  Sorry, but it keeps getting in the way of the blogging.

Anyway, I have news on the job front.  I have lowered my hours to 3 days per week.  Now the balance feels right; I can get my housework done, see friends, not feel guilty for vegging on the sofa for a few hours if the mood takes me, etc.  This has made me much happier in myself, though I still get stroppy at the others if they don't pull their weight.  (It took me a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get them this far.  I'm not letting it slide now).

I also have news on the studying front.  After much discussion with my nearest and dearest (and his dad) I have decided to go back to college in September to do AAT Level 3.  I'm even going back to Fareham College!  Some of my friends from this year's course are going back so I decided to join them.

Oh and my dad turned 70 on the 18th.  I'll put up some photos when I get a chance.

Thank goodness for that!

I shall probably get lynched for this but can I be the only one who thinks that the standard of play by England at the World Cup was abyssmal.  Everyone seems to be calling for the coach's head.  Yes, it was his tactics and strategy planning, as well as some questionable squad selections, that didn't help but, at the end of the day, there were 11 men on that pitch, wearing the England colours, who are supposed to be the best this country has to offer.

Don't make me laugh!  I've seen more enthusiasm at a Saturday afternoon kick-around on the local park.  They all looked as though they had better places to be.  I suppose when you earn tens of thousands of pounds each week no matter what the result is there's not much incentive to put heart and soul into it.  I wonder what sort of win bonus would get their attention.

The people I feel most sorry for are those fans who spent thousands of pounds, possibly that could have been better spent elsewhere, to travel to watch the squad.  I bet some of them spent as much as one of our 'footballers' earn in a week, PLUS these fans had to make their own travel arrangements - none of this first-class all the way malarky our boys expect and receive.

The media have their part to play.  Not, though, for criticsing the team - because that was right and proper given the display - but for whipping up the public (like they do with every British sports man/woman/team who show even a hint of ability) into believing that the World Cup is ours for the taking.  England were very good during their qualifiers so maybe this hype was deserved this time.  The only criticism the media made that I think was out of order was their castigation of our poor goalie who fumbled the save against the USA.  We all make mistakes.  Do you hear them making the same hoo-haa about Wayne Rooney, who can't find the back of the net (his primary role in the team) with a map?  No, of course not.

And who in their right mind picks players who are still recovering from injury, or are injury-prone?  It's hardly rocket science, is it, to pick people who are on top of their game.  You have to wonder what was going through Capello's mind:- let's pick strikers who haven't scored in 3 months; let's pick a goalie whose team has just been relegated - and as the last man before the net must have had a part to play in their losing so much; let's pick players who haven't played for their country in a while - because they have loads of international experience.  If those sort of decisions are the 'right' ones then here's a quick note to the FA - if you would like to save a shedful of money AND allow the coach to make howlers like this, then pick ME.  I promise not to ask for more than £50,000 per year plus expenses.  I also promise to drop the big names if they play like they did in the World Cup, I don't care who they are.  You'll find that this will give them an incentive to do the job they are paid to do. 

Out here in the real world we get sacked or demoted if we apply ourselves to our jobs in that way.  Maybe there should be a (very) basic salary with the rest of the pay made up of performance bonuses.  That would also provide an incentive to 'get on with it', and would make the vast majority of the rest of us feel a little less aggrieved when, once again, our team is made to look less than ordinary.

The things you see

This week hubby and I took a walk along the sea front at Hill Head.  We parked near Titchfield Haven and walked right round to the main carpark and back.  On the way back hubby spotted a hawk hovering just behind some beach huts.  By the time I'd got the camera switched on, zoomed in and the focus on the hawk it had dived.  Muttering naughty things under my breath I put the camera away only to have the hawk fly not 10 feet from me, with its prey, and land about 50 feet behind me on the stump of a breakwater.

Being the brave soul that I am I got the camera out again, switched it on and started snapping, moving forwards 5 feet or so after a few shots.  Eventually the bird spotted me and shot me a nasty look so I stayed still and took a few more shots.  Here's the best one - if you don't like to see half-eaten corpses don't look.

This image has been much fiddled with, using Paint Shop Pro, to bring out the clarity and sharpness as my camera lens isn't powerful enough to get up close. 

I'm beginning to pine for a camera with changeable lenses, so that I can get really close to nature.  At the moment the blue tit parents are feeding their fledged babies in the trees around my garden.  Those birds NEVER keep still for more than a second or two, barely long enough to focus in.  And it's a pain trying to get close enough to get a close-up without them seeing you and flying off.  Anyway, here are my best efforts.

The top image was taken just as the parent bird took off.  The bottom image is of a baby.  Amazingly, the babies can fly but still need their parents to feed them.

Then to cap it all, yesterday I saw this.

They flew right past me, far too busy playing at piggy-backs to notice my presence.  The one on top was really buzzing his wings.  The pitch kept changing and got quite high at one point before stopping completely for a few seconds before starting again.  All I can say is, lucky them!

Good things come to those who wait

Today, amongst other things, I decided to make a start on 12 gallons of home-made wine.  That's right, 72 bottles of the stuff for less than £20.  I didn't have enough demi-johns to put all 12 on at once but figured I could get 6 under way.  I started 4 gallons about a year ago and kind of fell out of love with the whole idea so left them to their own devices.  Today, two of them had no water in their airlocks - important for keeping the air out and stopping the contents turning to vinegar (wine + oxygen = vinegar).  So imagine my suprise when all 4 gallons are perfectly palatable!  They do need racking (filtering) off their sediments and leaving to settle for a few weeks, then bottling and leaving to settle for another week or three.  Should be ready for drinking by end of June.

The ones I started today are 'quick' brews, meaning about 8 weeks from start to finish.  So I should have at least 35 bottles to see me through July/August.  I will have to get some more demi-johns to make a start on the remaining cartons of fruit juice.  A friend has a birthday in mid-August and I have been asked to provide the booze!

Between a rock and a hard place

Please bear in mind that I have a cold and am feeling less than 100%, and the knock-on effect on my ability to ignore/dismiss annoying people.

There is someone at work who is getting on my nerves.  This has been getting worse over the past week (which is roughly how long I have been coming down with/suffering from this cold).  She is constantly whinging about how she doesn't like her job now her team have merged with ours; this, that or the other isn't right; doesn't like all the phone answering/door buzzer answering/myriad other things that interfere with her ability to concentrate on what she has to do.  However, she doesn't whinge when the current acting Admin Co-ordinator is in the office.  She, and her colleague from the same previous office, can't cope with all this so when they have something that requires total concentration they go off to a different office for some peace and quiet. 

Now yes, to a point, I can understand it BUT not for one second does she consider that we others are in the same boat (and by buggering off like that our disturbances are increased).  There have been times that I have been doing something that I could really do without having to deal with incoming phone calls.  Does that count?  Does it hell!  I still have to deal with them and then try to re-focus on what I'm doing.

This morning I was doing something clerical with some client files and she knew I wasn't at my best.  However she was far too busy whinging to her colleague about how she hates her job now and doesn't want to come in (interspersed with actually doing her work), whilst I was answering the phone, taking messages AND e-mailing said messages to the correct recipients, all the while with a client's file 'in bits' all over my desk (burying my keyboard/mouse/pen/paper to boot).  Let's just say that by lunchtime I had had enough, burst into tears, played on feeling rotten and asked to come home.  We all have gripes about the 'new order'.  It doesn't help when the senior manager keeps taking systems that work and making changes, without considering the knock-on effect to our workloads.  If I'm honest my workload is the least hectic - it has its moments though - as I am not fully trained on all the in-house systems and therefore cannot do some of their work for them.  Plus my primary role is as phone answerer.  But I have just about had enough of keeping my mouth shut when she starts her whining.

I really don't want to go back there, purely because of this.  Yet it looks so much better when applying for jobs if you already have one than if you are unemployed, so I don't want to quit.  It's a temp position which will last for who knows how much longer and I'd really like to see it through to its conclusion if I don't land a permanent role elsewhere first.

So, do I stay and try my best not to blow a fuse big-time or do I walk and, although still with my temp agency, deal with maybe being between positions when applying for jobs.  I don't like the idea of walking as it can be seen to be taking the easy way out, plus what do you say when asked at interview, but it's playing havoc with my nerves.

I think Spring is here

Finally!  The weather has chosen to be more seasonal this week.  I have been going on walks at lunchtime as I always feel in a better mood after.  This afternoon all 4 of us got stuck into some gardening.  Earlier K and I had decided that some big planters would go nicely under the kitchen window.  They're big enough for me to put carrots, lettuce and peppers into.  The carrots and lettuce are sewn directly into the planters.  The peppers are in seed trays in the house - in my new plastic mini-greenhouse.  It's too cold at night to put them outside.

Speaking of the mini-greenhouse (which K managed to put together pretty much single-handedly today), the kids planted broccoli, tomatoes and French marigolds earlier this week, along with the peppers.  The broccoli are already through.

I'll probably have too many plants so if anyone locally has too many of their plantings and would like to swap form an orderly queue - otherwise known as LET ME KNOW.

And to round off a lovely day A got the BBQ out to cook tea on.  Mmmmmmmmm.  Did I ever tell you how much I love that man.

Follow up

Remember my post from a couple of days ago about drowning my mouse?  Well, today we tried it and IT HAS DRIED OUT AND IS NOW ALIVE AND WORKING!!!!  Forgive the shouting but at least the management will now have one less excuse to be mad at me.  (They do have one or two - lack of reverence to their position being the main one (just because you're a manager doesn't mean ALL your decisions are righteous).

I did a silly thing today

I drowned my mouse at work today.  I managed to tip a full mug of tea all over my desk, and my mouse and keyboard got most of it, closely followed by my trousers.  The mouse is now defunct.  The keyboard and my trousers are redeemable.  So, it turned out, was the new employee information that was on my desk ready for posting to personnel by recorded delivery.  Fortunately the ink didn't run, making it illegible, and the Senior Management type who had given it me to take care of wasn't unduly upset either.  PHEW!

I call it the flip side to me having a bright idea and acting upon it, receiving praise all round.

A fairly quiet half-term (or at least for part of it)

I'm down to one child till next Saturday (20th).  K has gone skiing with Explorers.  They left last night and will arrive in resort - Bad Kleinkircheim - some time around now (5pm).  I have my fingers very crossed that she manages to stay upright at all times and I don't get an emergency trip to Salzburg.  K is dyslexic and dyspraxic so the chance of her misinterpreting an instruction or just plain falling over her own shadow are reasonably high.  However you have to let go sometime, and the scout leaders are all fully aware of her uniqueness, so I'm doing my best not to worry.  No doubt she'll have a blast.

I'm taking D up to Nottingham this week.  We're going to visit family and have a big family lunch on Wednesday.  Why?  Well D turns 18 next Saturday (20th).  OMG where did the time go!!!!!!  In the blink of an eye my little boy went from this

 

to this

He doesn't want a party so we're giving him some money to go out with some of his friends.  I am getting OLD!

Harlie

Harlie is a sweet little girl who has so much going against her.  At birth she had only a 5% chance of surviving but she's still here, proving everyone wrong.  Her heart stopped during her latest surgery on Thursday but she was revived.  Please could you keep her in your thoughts.  Click on her name to read more about her.

MPs Expenses - or one rule for them........

Some years ago, when we were living in Nottingham, A got a job in Hastings.  The money wasn't to be sniffed at and the bungalow we found to rent was none too shabby either.  He asked the tax office if he could claim the rent back as a legitimate business expense and was told that it would be ok.  So we did.  We all lived there as a family (not that it would make any difference).

Several months later the tax office decided that claiming back this rent was NOT OK and they'd like us to pay the tax on what we'd claimed back from our business and they wanted it NOW.  I don't know about you but suddenly laying our hands on about £2K just like that was impossible.  The tax office begrudgingly gave us 3 months to pay it.  We were understandably upset but managed to do so.

We had to rent somewhere so that A could carry out his work.  He was then, and still is, an IT contractor so, to all intents and purposes, employed himself.  So we ended up paying a mortgage on our property back home - we didn't want to rent it out as it gave us somewhere to stay on our regular trips back to visit family and friends - and rent on this other property, AND two sets of bills - all out of our personal money.  None of it was claimable. 

So tell me, why should our MPs be able to get all expenses paid for their second homes?  We had to have a base for work-purposes 200 miles from our current house, yet WE had to fund it ourselves.  MPs don't need some flash pad in a posh area of London.  Westminster should build their own hotel with 600+ identical flats in there.  That should keep things down a bit.

And, yes, I think those 4 MPs/Lords members should be prosecuted.  If something feels morally wrong then, despite someone saying it's OK, you really shouldn't do it.  Their defence, that the Expenses Office approved them, is really no defence.  After all, we didn't let all those SS guards from the concentration camps use that sort of thing as a defence in their trials, did we.