It was lovely to have snow on my birthday, really it was. I had a lovely day and felt really special. I’ve had gifts that showed me that the giver had thought of what I’d like and shopped accordingly.
I even got a couple of texts from two people who know reminding me that it was snowing on the day I was born!
We had bucks fizz followed by a full English breakfast, and after a quiet but enjoyable day we went out and had a meal at an Italian restaurant, which was really nice.
The journey home was a bit of a nightmare, my train broke down, so I had to wait over an hour for the next and missed my connection, and only caught the next train to my destination by virtue of the fact that it had been delayed by 5 minutes.
I walked to work 3 days last week, and my hips and knees protested for the next 4 days, I really could do without any more snow now til spring, but no, there’s more falling as I type. Wonderful. Hopefully this batch will only be a thin layer and will melt away soon and leave is with the crocuses and snowdrops we like to see!
Now, right this minute, I’m going to collect a cup of coffee and hang up some clean washing, probably in the reverse order, but that’s next!
Take care and stay safe.
At the end of a cold and damp week, Ted and Dan come down to Bedford to pick me up for the weekend. I only just got home in time because I thought I had time to make one final trip to Tesco before they arrived, and I did, but only just! We threw my bags of goodies including mulled wine in the car and left, just as it started to really rain! We made reasonable time and got back just after nine including stopping for chips on the way.
In the morning after bacon sandwiches, Dan and I washed up while Ted and Dee went shopping, and then we sat on the riverbank and watched the tide – until it started to rain! Dan managed to aquire a headache during the morning, so he was sent to bed with tea and paracetamol. Dee and I entered “major bonfire build mode” which entailed finding loads of scraps of wood and a few pallets and other bits, putting them together in a big heap and then packing them with newspaper, odd offcuts of wood and any other garden prunings we could lay our hands on.
Karen and Colin the neighbours came over with their firepit, Ted located and wiped off a load of garden chairs and set them on the bank ready – all while Dan slept off his headache! We got everything sorted just as the sun really started to go down, then went in to warm up and get ready for a big evening by the river.
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Bedford’s Mayor, Frank Branston, died recently. This sparked the need for an election to find a new mayor.
My question, maybe more of an issue, is this: how can I be sure that the person I just went out and voted for is actually going to deliver on what they’ve said will be their priorty? I can’t stand over them and crack a whip – no one would pay me to and I can’t do it for free.
Maybe it’s just that I’ve got a heightened sense of what I see as wrong or unfair at the moment. I’m not really sure to be honest, but my faith in politics is really being shaken and my general faith in human nature has taken a huge slap lately.
On the bright side, I got some grocery shopping done yesterday and this morning I’ve got some laundry out of the way. This is a pretty good sign, because if I can’t buy food and do laundry it’s next stop – anti depressants. Maybe the fact that the weather is stable is helping, I’m not totally sure.
I do have something proper to look forward to, Dan is coming for a long weekend. My house will get clean and tidy (always does when I’m expecting visitors I care about!) and I’ll actually find the energy to cook proper food again. Anyone else fancy dropping by? You might get met at the door with a duster and a cup of tea though!
It’s been an odd week. I’ve been up and down so many times, not sleeping properly, almost depressed at times. It’s largely to do with having to face the reality of the fact that my job is actually going, and I have to get out there and find a new one. The knowledge is so hard to live with; sometimes it feels like physical pain. I often want to cry, and at the same time I feel that I can’t, that I have no right to.
Yesterday I got very low indeed, right down to tears; and then that Lily Allen song “it’s not fair” came on. For the first time I had to conclude that I agreed with Lily. It does feel unfair that so many of us have to lose our jobs because of someone else’s management choices and decisions, that so many of us struggle day to day now.
For those who have never been made redundant, it feels like a bereavement. I’ve had this job for eight years now and I’ve enjoyed doing it. I’ve worked with a huge variety of people and done wide variety of tasks within it. The day I heard the announcement I felt as though I’d been kicked in the stomach. Some of the people around me had to walk around the carpark to calm down after hearing the news, there was a fair bit of anger and disbelief, and a general feeling of betrayal all round.
I’ll get through this, I have to. After every funeral life continues and it will for me, but right now it is a bit hard to comprehend. I do have a loving and supportive family and a large and helpful circle of friends. I’ll find a new job and get a new set of colleagues and make more friends.
We had a very long day indeed on friday. We had to drop off our hire car before 10:30 in Helston which meant a fairly early breakfast and a fast packing of the van. Final checks of the cottage complete, we drove out to Helston and dropped the car, then on to Hayle to get pasties for lunch later and from there up the A30 past the 3 windfarms in Cornwall.
We took some time out in Devon to visit Glebe Cottage garden, the preserve of Carol Klein. Well, we had our pasty lunch, and then Dee and Ted went to look while Dan and I relaxed by the van in the sunshine. [More]
Monday was an unmitigated disaster. Thank you Network Rail, and East Midlands Trains. Between you, you screwed up my entire day. A train journey that should have been one change and two and a half hours turned into a three and a half hour nightmare that made me late for work and tired beyond belief.
It started as a nice day. It was sunny, everyone was in a good temper, Ted got me to Lincoln train station with lots of time to spare. Going through the ticket barrier I was advised there was a signal failure on my route and I’d have to get a bus link from Nottingham to Leicester. Annoying but not major in itself. On arrival at Nottingham the station staff were helpful, pointing us straight away to the rail replacement bus, so there was no hanging around confused.
Except that the bus link took ages and I got impatient and forgot my suitcase when I got in to Loughborough and had to run back for it. Then once on the platform the train I was supposed to catch was late by over half an hour and was announced that it would only stop at Leicester and London. The system failure was so great that even the station staff could only say to keep listening for announcements. [More]
I’m over at Dan’s again, and gladly so. The week felt like it had gone on for ever, for all that I’ve enjoyed it; I was very ready for the week to end. It’s gone well, but as seems to be tradition, it didn’t get the best of starts.
Things didn’t go well though,in the getting to Dan. I got up at 5am as is normal for a day when I’m going to stay with Dan. I left at 5:45 since I was ready and walked to the train station. I do quite enjoy walking down that early, there’s not too many cars and I have the place to myself, and I can set the world straight before it goes wrong.
I got to the train station, and that’s where it all started to go wrong. I was very early anyway, so I settled in to wait for the train… except it didn’t come, and the display board showed that the train was on time, even when it was obviously at least ten minutes late! At this stage I decided enough was enough and called across the tracks and asked what the heck was going on with the train, it was showing as on time but was obviously late. Finally there was an announceent that the train was cancelled due to a technical fault and had been reinstated as the 08:10. All very well, but this meant I missed the connection at Nottingham and had to get the next one, which meant I went from catching a train that was 25 minutes later than the original train to arriving in Lincoln 75 minutes late. Very unimpressed, and I spent the time on the connection from Leicester trying to decide how best to word a letter of complaint and who it should go to. It did help me calm down a bit. [More]
I’m watching the news as I type this. A huge military plane has just flown home four more soldiers lost in action.
I’ve heard the comments from the families involved, the pride they have in thier son or thier husband for going out and doing a very hard job.
My thinking is that if those people who are grieving can still be proud of the armed forces and the job they are doing, how dare we as unrelated civilians complain because we think a particular war is wrong? Surely they have more of a right because they have and had more to lose for the war?
I intend to make it my mission to be there at Wootton Bassett to welcome those heroes home sometime very soon.
They do a very hard job, and risk death so we don’t have to. If we do not want to risk being killed because the war has come to us, we have to let them do their jobs, and we should be proud of them for doing it. I know that I am.
*and breathe*
There. I’ve said my bit, and you can comment if you like, but this is one thing I do feel very strongly about.