paper stars

Danz and Jeff at the station.....

post strike

Ridiculous, old fashioned, idiotic.
BUT....

"Flexibility is the main issue at stake," he said.

Earlier, the CWU had said that some of its members would come to work at 6am, do a full day's work and at the end a manager could arbitrarily say whether they had worked hard enough for them to go home.

"I call that slavery," said Dave Ward, CWU General Secretary"

Bloody heck, sounds like my place.

(Steve better get his new hoody in time for Switzerland you damn postmen!!)

superstorm

Hartcliffe Superstorm.

master carpenter

One man and his shed and a little help from his friends


Bailey watches the progession.

Heidi ever helpful. She's got massive with the fluffiest tail ever.

DJ Yay

Lyn's party 18/8/07. Danielle, Ali and a friend show us how it's done!!! Crikey!

update

Sorry guys esp Jude. Seems life has overtaken blogging. My birthday was ok. We did a disco for a friend which was fun and met Lenny Savage who was cool and had a great voice. She did a set for Lyn my mate whose birthday it was AND she sang me Happy Birthday.
I still hate work but it's a bit less traumatic. I'm more empowered and it's a bit more interesting... and wow am I brilliant at taking blood from 3 day old babies now!
We booked THREE holidays before the wedding... Switzerland next month, Budapest in December (a floating hotel on the Danube) and Prague Valentines week. Decadent or what?
The wedding is all booked and sorted. The receptions in Bath now at Browns. Much classier and less hastle for me than that train station.
I'm still very much in love. He rocks my world. He's kind, clever, generous and lush. I am a very lucky girl.
See? good things come to those who deserve it.
Loves you all
xxx

A Tale Of Metatarsal Proportion

ALIEN


vs


PREDATOR

Dear Mr Young

I am very sorry I wasn’t in to receive your telephone call today. I was at work at the hospital. Thank you for calling. Abigail informs me that Danielle is allowed to wear the ‘Trainers’ for one more day then we HAVE to purchase new shoes.

The whole situation amuses me greatly. I drove past Colston’s Collegiate School today on the way back from Frenchay Hospital and observed their shoes as they left school. Most of the girls are wearing the dolly type shoe chosen by so many girls nowadays.

It seems ironic to me that when I went to Hartcliffe School many years ago I used to try to creep in wearing 4 inch high cork wedges and Danielle is being reprimanded for wearing black flat enclosed shoes that my mother has a similar pair to.

I enclose some research from Clarks about shoes that may educate you about children’s feet. "Trainers are considered to be good footwear for kids because they are supportive, and well cushioned".(Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists 2007 http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/health/heat_medi/heat_medi_08.html)

Dolly shoes "Cause stress to the structures of the sole of the foot and back of the leg resulting in pain and inflammation."(Soc Chiropodists & Podiatrists 25th May 2005)
Considering most of the girls at school wear this type of footwear in preference to an enclosed trainer type I really think the school is not promoting health at all.

But who am I to say? School policy is school policy after all and all shall conform.

So Danielle, as you may note is wearing her old Dolly shoes today to school. Finances do not allow a single parent to buy another pair of shoes so soon after the first pair.

I wonder what will happen way in the future when research has shown that schools, by not allowing children to wear sensible trainers, have damaged children‘s feet irreversibly. I wonder whether schools will face litigation?

You may think I am OTT. No, I’m not. I just think that education doesn’t hinge on what my child has on her feet, rather the type of teaching, educator and individual approach that inspires and fills the mind of all things brilliant.

Incidentally. Mr Crocksford’s comment that my child’s shoes had a logo on? Well so do Clarks Shoes as illustrated by my enclosed picture.

Maybe they should be banned as well?

I am, however not saying at all that a shoe free for all should commence with huge garish trainers with sequins, glitter and flashing lights. Just a little bit of common sense and an individual approach.

Hope you have a wonderful start to term. I look forward to a very good year 9 for Danielle.

With best regards



(So? which shoes do you think are more sensible? Crazy crazy old world this is........)

Ashley Kate

Newes Steve's cat loves it here!!
We've renamed her Ashley-Kate as she is a hybrid of Mary-Kate and Ashley. Stays in Danielle's bed all day and night, loves TV. Disco Music, dressing up and lipstick.
The two other cats aren't quite as easy. Elvie wants to be the boss. Hisses and cries at my cats and is mean as mean can be. She seems to love me though.
Pye is the worse. Cat sick all the time so bad that we took her to the vets. They said she had Colitis and gave her a steroid jab. Then she went all kitteny, running around and went missing outside (she'd onl moved her 2 weeks). Eight hours that cat was gone. We walked the streets of Hartcliffe calling her and getting worried. Then 10 o clock at night she turns up in the lounge happy as can be.
But she has to have food from the vets, pre digested or she pukes everywhere.... hmmm cats are great ;)

cornwall

A week at a naturist resort in Cornwall and it was brilliant. Hot weather and no stress. Perfect. There was a funny happening though. The man in the next caravan to us only stayed one night. Seems he booked in with his family without knowing it was naturist and spent the night squirming behind the closed curtains till they could escape. Silly lot!!

stuff

We are all very tired. Since we got back from France the kitten seems to have gone weird. She won't leave us alone. Follows us from room to room and wakes us 6 or 7 times a night to be petted... you think she missed us?
Back at work now... same old crap basically... I'm thinking of applying for another job... 'cept I don't want to let people down.... what ever to do!!?
Just been to see Harry Potter with those girls.... hmmmm it was ok... bit too lacking in humour for my taste.

Josselin

Josselin, France

Steve and Danz showing off.

Abby sunbathing

picture postcard village. Josselin

Well we're home and we had a brilliant time. The best holiday I've had I reckon. The villa was so gorgeous with huge rooms, dishwasher, the most wonderful cooker, white leather sofas and a lovely pool.The weather was ok. We had no rain and about 4 days of sun... one of which was actually hot. They all burnt except me.
Josselin was very pretty and my most fav place on the planet. I was at home there. I got to speak french and eat masses.
So now we're back... it's dark and rainy and England really doesn't seem terribly inviting. Sigh.

smoke no more

Britain goes smoke free... and it hasn't come a day too soon. The thought of actually being able to go out without the hideous smell smoke is just pure joy. We've had fun driving past those little shelters with the losers outside puffing away on their cancer stix bemoaning about the hardship they are suffering.
Hope the poor little souls don't catch a cold in this wonderful summer we're having.... tee-hee
ps... tut tut Lady P... remember the days when even the puppets on TV used to smoke.

over and over and over... like a monkey with a miniature cymbal

Thanks to Mrs Woman for her really nice comment the other day. However things don't seem to be getting better and I'm quite worried about my ability to burst into tears at various times during the working day.
I think it's because I've lost the control I had. Before if I wasn't happy, they'd say 'OK. We know you're good and wouldn't take advantage... so it's fine. Don't do what you can't do'. Now they just repeat over and over... 'but this is what you are meant to do'.
Every time I lose control I think I can't cope and I had a few times when I really thought I was going to just walk out and come home.
I just don't want to let my two bosses down who really are trying to support me.
Things are OK here though, Abby was camping the weekend in Southampton.. yep in the rain. Yeuk, can't think of anything worse.
We're off to France on Saturday for a week. Please let it stop raining for a little. The grey skies are not helping my mood at all.
Hope my baby kitten will be OK.... she'll miss me. When we get back we're moving Steve's cats up here permanently. Should be an experience. Anyone got any advice on rehousing 16 year old cats in a house already infested with moggies?
S'il vous plait.
x

still sad... tut

I arrived at work today got out of the car and immediately had tears streaming down my face. As I walked towards the place I was getting so cross with myself for being so stupid. It's been 3 months and still I can get like this?
The day was ok though and I came to the conclussion that I really do like some people who work there. There are some I don't really know yet.
I reckon I'm still a bit bereft for my old place. It wasn't like work... more like home. Steve laughed at me tonight... yeah I know I'm silly. But I guess I never did change too well. That's why I stayed there 21 years.
It's really hard to go from somewhere where you're in charge. You call the shots, to somewhere where you have to report in the office at 08.30 and be told where to go, what time to go for dinner and what time you can go home.
Maybe it's time to go self employed. Any one want a mobile nurse?

creature features

At present Steve has our lives dominated with horror movies. But not just any old horror movie. Oh no, the silliest and most ridiculous ones ever made. Recently I've sat through Raptor, which was about a man cloning T Rex's to end the world, the monster was a plastic dino with a plastic red mouth and a Grrrr that made Heidi's meow seem scary.
Then Carnonsaur which was a woman implanting T Rex embryos into women. When they gave birth the little monsters ripped through their tummies like some Alien Joke. Worse thing is the fully grown T Rex was the exact same plastic toy used in Raptor... but wait. Even worse the scenes were the same. They cut the raptor film and used loads of scenes but with a slightly different story line.
Then we had to suffer Minotour. Every 5 years teenage virgins were sacrificed to the legendary monster dear dear dear... what a bunch of tross.
We sat through 3/4 of Leprechaun until I could stand Steve saying "I'm gonna fucking kill them" in a slightly crazed Irish accent anymore.
Tonight we have "The Snake King". A 5 headed monstrous snake that silently slithers around surprising people. Then some film about crazed zombie nurses..... bet we have to watch THAT one... help

apologies to trin

Well seems I was wrong in some aspects. I did write a letter of complaint...well of distress really about last Friday's party.
I really didn't expect a reply and in my last post I did consider that the place was chav because they were unable to deal with a complaint in a decent manner.
It seems that they received my letter and were very concerned about it. The shouty man wasn't in charge at all. He wasn't the committee head. He'd just said he was.
The actual person in charge rang Steve. He did apologise and was very amenable and concerned about our experience. He said no one had ever complained before. So I guess we did have just a bad night.
However, just to spoil the apology he did say that somehow?? No idea how. (Read Grumblemag's post about online exposure) They'd discovered the blog and were appalled at my small piece about the place. He said they'd contacted their solicitor as it was probably slander.
As you know Slander has to be something written that is untrue. This blog expresses my opinion on things. I live in a free country and can say what I like. I told the nasty man on Saturday morning that we shan't be recommending it to my friends. He said quote "He didn't care"
Oh dear, it seems he wasn't speaking for the management at all when he said he didn't care because they do care.
At least that at given me faith in them. I'd always liked the centre and found it friendly and welcoming before.
If only he hadn't said he was the big boss. Then none of this would have happened.
As for a solicitor? If they thought that would worry me, that was really unkind. After all the trauma I had last week. I'm sure the publicity that involves such a case of an employee being so nasty to us, especially with Wulf with us, would be very interesting.
I'm dropping it now. They won't ever see us there again. I am very pleased they rang and discussed it and said sorry. That's the right way and they obviously are run by people who are decent.

the party

Never give Abby a Mic

Ooops upside your head.... lol

Least they enjoyed it

The cha cha slide in progress

the weekend

Steve and Wulf at a BBQ we went to Saturday night at an old friend of mines home. Daryl is just lush. These are his carp... big buggers they were!

Deb and Dave. Deb is my oldest friend.... umm not in years lol. We known each other since babies

Abby strutting her stuff

Danz, Hollie and Grace.

stuff, nasty and mediocre

These last few weeks have been weird. I've had several people tell me I'm not very nice... not to my face of course but it got back to me. The railway has been a huge headache. I seem to have put in a lot of work to no avail. The management are pleased, the workers hate it. They are rude and obtuse. They make comments about my size, my personality. I had an apron on with a cat on the front and they laughed about stroking my pussy.
Now I took this in good humour but after a long day serving the ingrates you begin to wonder if it's all worth it.
It ended up with Steve tendering his notice at the Railway and all hell let loose. They say it'll fold without him... well and me but I really don't think my input matters.
So it's on hold for a while and we shall see what happens. But for the time being the coach is closed and we need some well earned space from it.
Friday night we had a 17th party for Abby. I can't go into the trauma of it because I'm sick of it all but the venue was the Hartcliffe Community Centre. If you live in Bristol and are thinking of a venue keep well away from that chav nasty and vile dump.
We arrived and this vile man immediately set on me shouting that I hadn't told them it was a 17th. They didn't do 17th. They always ended in fights. Despite my reassurances that my family certainly didn't 'do fights' he continued with his nastiness and we packed up early and went home. The next day we went to collect our deposit with Wulf. This man was there again and once again he yelled and was completely vile. He shouted at us to "Go away" which upset Wulf.
I cannot understand why anyone would book a party there and feel if they have people like that working there they should be closed down. I write a letter of complaint but I expect it'll be trashed.
I think Abby enjoyed it though and Shannie said it was the best party ever.... love her.
Seems I managed to hide all the upset.
Work has been ok. Very dull and tedious but at least it's settled down and I don't cry every night.
We go to France in a few weeks. I forgot to renew the passport but was well relieved when it came this morning. It's got a chip in it...cook huh? Well £66 cool hmmmm.
Hope you're all OK.
Loves u
Tx

random

That bloody train station in the rain. This place has given me so much grief lately. Seems you can't please everyone... in fact you can't actually please anyone truth be told. Today the chips are too thin. Last week the menu was dull, the week before 45p was too expensive for a hot cup of tea.
Maybe when the sun shines again we'll see some happiness there? I got Mivvi ice lollies after all.
This is the girls and Paul and John under the leaky gazebo.

Hollie Marie and her mum's home made cakes at the coach. Hollie is exactly the sort of person we need at the coach. She's strong sassy and gives as good as she gets. Hollie will go far (btw I asked her to be a bridesmaid. We got 5 now. Water, earth, spirit, fire and air. Very pagan)

Wulf, Shannie and Danz at Pontins. We took Wulf swimming the other day at the gym. It was kids time and they had old ladies doing bloody aerobics in the pool. He couldn't move anywhere.
I complained and he got a free guest pass for his best mate and he choose Shannie... awwww

Steve's picture. The girls and Wulf on the big ride at Pontins. Very clever and lucky shot Stephen.

This weekend in Clevedon. For some reason I've been in a such a down mood this weekend. So pissy and miserable. Why do I get like that? Hope Steve doesn't leave me ever. This was a good evening though with a long walk on the front and drink in a sea front pub. Danz poses everywhere!

Abby moaned about having to walk so far.. as usual.

Our Sunday times wine rack. How I love wine. Isn't it pretty?

Danz at the Harvester in Littlehampton. I wasn't impressed with it at all. Food was dull, service was good though but quite expensive and hot and packed. Littlehampton was a trial this time. It's so far from Bristol. Took nearly 4 hours to drive there and 3 1/2 back. Almost 8 hours in the car for a couple of hours seeing family... oh yes it was good to see them but I was so tired afterwards.

bridesmaids

 
Practice posing.... oh help

car cat

Heidi loves the car!

hair needs cutting

This is at a pub in Horningsham... the Bath Arms. My hair badly needed cutting, had it done today along with all the other girls in this house. Steve's unwell. He stayed at home and played on his computer. My dad's got a Linksys router for his new laptop but can't connect the damn thing. I had to go down and assist but I couldn't work out why it wasn't doing it either. We ended up on a help line in India. They couldn't understand him and he got all cross. I think I know what the problem is now though. Going to see what I can do Monday. Things are ok here. Wulf's mother called a truce and things are happier. I dislike nastiness. Got to work at that damn coach tomorrow though. It's going to be wet so hope it's quiet.
Danz isn't well so she won't be able to help..... just me and a mountain of washing up no doubt.
We watched Idiocracy on DVD last night. A truly terrifying comedy about how in the future the dumb people survive the clever ones. If you watch it you'll see the point. If you're out there with an IQ of over 110.... have kids. Lots of them
lol
x

tues and all's coughy

I'm sick of being ill. Seems I haven't felt well for weeks now. Think it may have originated from stress initially but this damn cough isn't in my head.... it's driving me nuts.
It was payday today. I however, didn't get paid as someone in payroll accidentally terminated my employ and she happened to be on days off. No one else can apparently work the computer. Bloody great hey? So no money.
Abby is searching for a part time job. She had an interview in Asda and passed but then they didn't have a job to go to. I think she wasn't all that happy anyways. Think we'll move on from Asda to smaller more personal places. She did get onto the next college course for next year, she's passed this course so well done Abby.
Steve's Landy failed the MOT majorly. Looks now like the MOT he brought the thing with was dodgy. Oh well, we were getting rid of it anyways.
I have a lovely new car stereo, with regards from Steve's ex auntie Edie's legacy. A Sony Xplod with Bluetooth to answer the phone through the speakers. I'm so excited. I never had a decent car cd thingy before.
Seems life is quiet now. No traumas to blog. Abby's having a 17th birthday party in 2 weeks. We've booked a room at the community centre... mainly so we can DJ. I miss djing. Gone so quiet ATM.
Hope you're all ok out there.
Loves u
x

bebo

Don't forget to check out my Bebo... I love it
Trin's Bebo

bad bad NHS

Sometimes it's embarrassing working for the NHS. My mum had major surgery last week. She was so unwell she had a private room post surgery. She spent a week in hospital. The care she got was appalling. She was in a private ward. She said if she'd have had to pay, she'd refuse.
One of the main things you learn about nursing and post op pain is you never let it get hold. Pain is easier to avoid than to get rid of when it gets bad. After surgery the nurses were giving her some lovely pain killers... yep just paracetamol. What a bunch of useless crap. It's a very mild painkiller used for a slight headache maybe.
Worst was they didn't even give her it on time. She had 2 paracetamols at 5 am and asked for more at 10 am. They didn't bother until gone midday.
Then there was the discharge procedure. There wasn't one. Thursday the consultant came, said she was too unwell to go home Friday. She'd had her catheter out and it didn't work so had to have it put back in. Friday morning a junior doctor came round and sent her home. They shoved a few spare catheter bags in a carrier bag and off she went. I got round there Friday night when I got back from holiday and she was in a right state. She hadn't been washed for a whole week, even with a catheter in that's meant to be kept very clean and no one cleaned it once. I helped her shower. I was shocked at how bad the catheter smelt. Come on, where is the nursing care gone?
Over the weekend she was in such terrible pain she had the emergency doctor out. He gave her some proper painkillers not the small box of paracetamol they's sent her home with.
On Monday my dad went to see the district nurse to ask for help. The DN was so cross. They'd not had notification she'd gone home. They'd have been into her every day over the weekend if they'd known. She rang the hospital to ask if she could take out the catheter herself. No they said. With that type of surgery it wouldn't heal for 2 weeks and they wanted to do to themselves. After all it had to be done properly. The area had enormous potential for infection. It had to be kept extremely clean and treated carefully.
So... why did the fuckers take it out Thursday? Why did they not keep it clean? And why did they send her home with no support and no clear instructions. They told her if there was any trouble to turn up at the BRI casualty dept and sit and wait.
If anything happens I have a good mind to sue. But the worse bit is those nurses who so say 'looked' after her. They are total crap.

growing up

Wulf, Danz and the lovely Serena last weekend. Wulf has grown up so much this last few months. He looks older than 13 here.

swanage and what steamy fun!

Steve on the steam train that took us to Swanage. It was so cold and rainy though. I was chilled through to the bone. Only had sandals on and no coat. Coat in May? Well I needed one. Why do I get so cold all the time?

The steam through the carriage window.
Swanage front. I'd have loved it if it wasn't so fecking wet.

See the mist and rain sweeping across the bay. Not a soul in sight. I hadn't realised how pagan Swanage is. There were loads of shops and this wonderful pagan vegetarian cafe we found by chance where I warmed up and started to feel a bit better.

bloody long bluebell walk

Remind me whose idea was a long walk in the woods? Hmmm mine apparently. Like Hansel and Gretel on a very dull and boring Bank Holiday Sunday we drove out to Portbury and the bluebell woods. I think we went about two weeks too late as the Bluebells although pretty were just turning, probably due to lack of rain. The walk was so long though, I hadn't realised how far up hill it was and the next day my legs suffered. Steve said I was a wimp as apparently he suffered no ill effects from the mammoth session.... bastard.
There was a nice pub at the bottom of the hill that had rather nice ice cold cider on tap, so all was not lost I guess.