Rain, Rain, Go Away

It’s bad enough not being able to get a really good night sleep without howling wind and lashing rain.  Just turned 3 o’clock in the morning, I was wide awake, tossing and turning.

The thought that in about three and a half hours time the alarm would be ‘waking’ me up just seemed to make it worse.

Knowing that I would be extremely tired at work, I set my game plan in motion.  I started the day by inputting a load of sickness forms.

Everyone is entitled to be off work if they feel poorly.   Some people really go to town with their reasons for illness almost as though they need to justify themselves and they shouldn’t have to.

By the way, if you like stats, then colds and flu symptoms are top of the league at the moment with good old sickness and diarrhoea running closely behind (no pun intended).

If I take one thing away from this temping role, it’s that I have learned how to spell diarrhoea.  In my naughty moments I want to type in that they’ve had the sh**s, but good old common sense prevails. 

I always check the dates the forms have been signed as well, to make sure  there has been a sufficient gap between the illness and signing the form to ensure that no bugs are left on the forms. 

Not that I’m a germ freak or anything!  Okay am I the only one who understood why Michael Jackson wore an oxygen mask!

Anyway, I decided that the rest of the day should be divided between answering the telephone and filing.  

We get sent a lot of paperwork to file and had accumulated a lovely pile from one of the managers.  I decided that it had to be done, only to learn that another 200 records were due to land in our filing room any day!

Although I really don’t like the windowless, stuffy filing room, it was a great escape from stress today. 

Plus somebody really does have to get it sorted and I have been told I’m the fastest filer in the West which is a great accolade - I think!

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Tetchy Cow!

Feeling a bit tetchy tonight.  I’ve had a shower to wash away the day and must admit I feel a bit better now.

The day didn’t start too well, when we all overslept.  This meant we didn’t get out of the house earlier enough for me to be taken to the door at work.  So I started off a bit of a scarecrow head.

I just felt grubby and lacking in confidence because of it.  Does that sound daft?

One of the women I work with said she didn’t know how I coped working full time with a family and the other stuff I do.  A younger colleague piped up "my mom worked full time".  My other colleague defending me said "you were at school".  To which younger colleague said well " two of her children are at school".

I could feel my hackles rising at this point.  Younger colleague has no real responsibilities, yet manages to make everything into a drama anyway.  I’m not criticising, I remember it with other younger colleagues where I used to work, it’s all part of growing up.

It’s just that as you get older you start to appreciate life differently and when you’ve lived a little you don’t tend to get as uptight.  You start realising that when things happen, you deal with it and carry on.

Plus I’ve noticed that policemen are looking younger!!

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Affairs Continued . . .

I’m not going to go on about affairs (well just a bit more then), but after writing about it in brief yesterday I went on to the fantastic blog written by Anne Brooke, who is a brilliant author. Just off the top of her head she had written this 50 word piece which not only fit in with my blog entry yesterday it made me want to read more . . .

Bathtime secrets
Janine watched the water as it swirled down the plughole. When it was finished, she lifted out the matted hairs from its tiny eyes. Dark strands mixed with auburn. Such a shame then that she was blonde. Downstairs, she heard the front door open. ‘Darling, I’m home,’ her husband yelled.

Anne has a  brand new book out called A Dangerous Man which is receiving rave reviews and also check out the review on here for Pink Champagne and Apple Juice.  A totally different type of book that shows her versatility.

Okay enough sucking up, but if something’s that damn good, I believe in shouting about it!

So back to affairs and broken relationships.  Through chatting with my friends we discussed the different stories we had heard about how the news got broken.

In one case it was just a conversation in which the partner knew there was something not quite right in their relationship, but nothing serious and after backing the man in question into a corner, so to speak, he turned round and just came out with it. 

She had not had an inkling.  What a shock.

There was also the case of a woman learning of her husband’s infidelity by finding a box of receipts in the boot of his car.  Isn’t that just shouting to be found out? 

But just what would you do in that situation?  And what would you do if you met the ‘other person?’

Years ago I remember a friend who had been in a relationship for a number of years and was due to get married.  The church had been booked, the reception had been booked, the dress bought and plans were all in place.

A few months before the wedding my friend realised that something had changed in the relationship and finally, one night, he admitted that he couldn’t go through with it.  When she asked him what he meant, he couldn’t give a definite answer as to what he wanted to do.

He then left my friend hanging on for a few days while they tried to sort it out and he still wouldn’t give her an answer.

In the end during a phone call to him, she asked him straight.  "Are you telling me it’s over?"

Do you know the answer she got? - he just used one word - "basically".

She calmly put the phone down and then the rage set in.  She described it as growing feeling in the pit of her stomach that became so overwhelming she had to go and confront him.

Apparently she stormed out of the house, got in the car, drove round to his parent’s house to see him.

She was so angry and wound up by the way he had ended it with that one word, that her own parents had followed her in their car to make sure she didn’t punch his lights out and on the way back home his parents followed her to make sure she got home safely.

She does say now that in this case, although it deeply hurt at the time and she never found out if there was anyone else, she is so glad it ended then and that they hadn’t gone through the process of actually getting married.

NOW, she can say he was brave to end it when he did.

But boy if you knew my friend, who never loses her temper, I would loved to have been a fly on the wall when she drove round to see him!

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33

There are times when I’ve changed a diaper, handed the baby to somebody, then walked onstage.

Lee Ann Womack

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Curtain Rods

Another great email.

She spent the first day packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.

On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things.

On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candlelight, put on some soft background music and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar and a bottle of Chardonnay.

When she had finished, she went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimp shells dipped in caviar, into the hollow of the curtain rods.

She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.

When the husband returned with his new girlfriend, all was bliss for the first few days. Then slowly, the house began to smell.

They tried everything; cleaning, mopping and airing the place out.

Vents were checked for dead rodents and carpets were steam cleaned.

Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which they had to move out for a few days, and in the end they even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting.

Nothing worked. People stopped coming over to visit. Repairmen refused to work in the house. The maid quit.

Finally, they could not take the stench any longer and decided to move.

A month later, even though they had cut their price in half, they could not find a buyer for their stinky house. Word got out and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls.

Finally, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place. 

The ex-wife called the man and asked how things were going. He told her the saga of the rotting house. She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly, and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back.

Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad the smell was, he agreed on a price that was about 1/10th of what the house had been worth, but only if she were to sign the papers that very day.

She agreed and within the hour his lawyers delivered the paperwork.

A week later the man and his girlfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home . . .

. . . including the curtain rods.

DON’T YOU JUST LOVE A HAPPY ENDING ????

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Putting the World to Rights

What do nipple piercings, skiing, gay policemen and affairs have in common?

Not at lot you may think. Well these and many more topics were covered during a get together with a group of friends recently.  We haven’t seen each other for some time and spent a wonderful evening together truly putting the world to rights.

And how fabulous to know that we could talk about anything and everything without anyone taking offence. 

Isn’t that what good friends are for?

We really did cover some diverse topics and I won’t be able to cover everything in the blog but here are some edited highlights . . . . . .

Okay so what would you do if after over 20 years of being in a relationship with someone, they told you they no longer wanted to be with you any more, what would your reaction be?

For many, apart from thinking about some kind of revenge, it would probably be a makeover of some kind.  Perhaps buy new clothes, have a new haircut, just transform yourself in general.

But would you have your nipple pierced? 

We were intrigued by a story we had heard about someone who did just that.  While we could understand the rebellious side of someone’s nature urging them to do something outrageous, in practical terms what would it be like?

None of us would have entertained the idea, but we were more than a little fascinated about how you cope with clothes etc - wouldn’t it catch, wouldn’t it show through your clothes and lets face it, unlike a pair of earrings you can’t exactly show someone your latest piece of body jewellery. 

And that’s without thinking of how much it must hurt to get it done!

We imagined the conversation in the office on the Monday morning following having it done. "Morning, did you have a good weekend?"  "Yes thanks"  "Did you do anything nice?"  "Yes, I had this done" whilst lifting your top up.

Cue the coffee being sprayed from people’s mouths.

This also led on to another conversation about affairs.  Again, we were amazed by how many people around us were either separating, divorcing or having affairs.  We’re talking seemingly normal relationships where people have just grown apart.

What turns people from having loving relationships into wanting to move away from each other?  Is it that we expect too much from our partners?  Are we living in such a stressful society that we want everything to be sorted immediately, therefore our tolerance level is lowered.

Do we only care about ourselves and not those around us? 

Is it that we have this idealistic view on how things should be because of what we see in films or on tv that we are sadly disappointed in real life?

After reading a lot of books by Alan Pease who is an expert on body language and relationships maybe it boils down to the fact that we don’t understand each other properly.

More on this later . . . .

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Affairs of the Heart

Crikey, where has this week gone.  I can’t believe it’s Friday again tomorrow.  Not that I’m complaining as it means the weekend.  They used to say time flew as you got older, as well as policemen looking younger etc.  But I think everyone feels the same these days, young and old.

Well today I had some nice news.  The company I have been temping for have asked if I would like to stay on for another couple of months.  I am currently in negotiation over hours to be worked, but it’s a good feeling that they want me to stay.   And if I can reduce my hours it will solve a lot of problems for me.

I have a project I am trying to get off the ground at the moment, which will be revealed slowly over the next few weeks, but the only time I am getting to work on it is at night.  This isn’t a problem at the weekends, but during the week I really need to be alert at work.

I think I also uncovered an office affair today.  Sometimes just by listening and watching you pick up more.  And to be honest, being a temp people don’t tend to want to get close to you, as you’re not there for long.

I’ve remedied that by listening and then going and talking to people and asking them questions about themselves.  Not prying questions, but about things that are talked about openly in the office.

The affair is a fairly new one but I spotted the signs when I first started and I happened to catch the pair holding hands at lunch today, which were quickly dropped when they saw me.

Being the diplomatic kind of person I am, I said nothing, inwardly smiled and pretended I hadn’t noticed.  I would imagine they will be more concerned about me saying something, but of course I won’t . . . . .

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The journey begins

S is now two years old and we are paying our first visit to a speech therapist. He is not talking or understanding, but we don’t really know why, except that he does have glue ear. The paediatrician who tested him for the glue ear had mentioned the words developmental delay, but had not elaborated and I had been too stunned to ask.

I have been to this community clinic before and know that it is not child friendly. Parents are not allowed to take buggies inside and there is no parking on site, so it is a choice between finding some way to secure the buggy to the railings outside with a bicycle chain, or park in the street around the corner and carry or drag your toddler towards the clinic. I choose the latter.

The speech therapist works in a room on the first floor, with a small waiting area attached. S is even more impatient than your average toddler and I have, as always, bought a large bag of essentials, drinks and snacks. He starts to eat his way through a packet of custard cream biscuits, pulling them apart to bite out the cream and then discarding the biscuit on the floor.

The speech therapist is welcoming. It is a warm late spring day and the window is ajar to ventilate the room. As she tries in vain to attract the attention of a screaming S with toys, bubbles and shaving foam, he fights his way out of my arms and heads manically straight towards the open window. I catch him just in time and he sinks his teeth into my arm.

‘He must be very hard work for you,’ she says. ‘I think I need to refer him to a colleague at the hospital.’

We never see her again.

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Week 6

Apart from the usual:

*  Vegetable peelings

*  All my milk bottles that I have delivered

*  Paper

I have also sorted out a whole bag of clothes for the Samaritans, a bag of clothes for a friend, plastic to take to the work’s recycling bins and a bag of garden rubbish.

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Yummy Pancakes!

I was really impressed with myself today.  I was browsing the BBC website during my lunch hour (there isn’t really anything else to do) and noticed they had a recipe for pancakes.

It was none other than Delia Smith’s and the reason I’m impressed with myself is because it’s the same recipe we use for pancakes.  Although, I tweak it slightly and they are very light and yummy.

So not only is my hair fashionable, I am up to date on food matters (yeah right).  Oh and did I tell you about my eyebrows.  They are fashionable too.  Apparently thicker eyebrows are in at the moment.  Well mine are thicker and I’m proud to say never been plucked!

My sister has tried for many years to get them, but she’s always had an obsession for picking and plucking things.  I just kept saying Brooke Shields has big eyebrows and she’s famous.  Sounds a bit childish now, but they are my eyebrows and they suit me.

I’ve never liked seeing eyebrows that have been plucked to within an inch of their life and then having to be drawn in.  Just not the same is it?

So, back to the beginning of my story.  How many people does it take to make pancakes?  Well in our house last night it was four. 

I’ll spare you all the details, but in summary, one to crack the eggs, one to mix the milk and water, one to just have a bowl of their own and pretend they’re making pancakes and everyone to have a go at tossing them.

We had a fun, if not messy time and very full tummy’s.  Yum yum.

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