Quick Update

Posted on 18th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

Work: busy, tiring, challenging, fun.  Crush on boss, not good nor helpful.

Concert: fantastic, loud, amazing, 2 hours, can’t wait for them to come back as I’ll be at the front of the queue.

Friends: keeping me afloat.  Thanks for coffee, L, I needed that tonight x

Home: hard.  Up and down.  Stressed, frazzled, worried, scared.  Taking it out on each other.

Me: coughing up a lung and wheezing like a 70 year old on 40 a day.

More soon when I have more of my faculties about me.

Filed under: just stuff | 12 Comments »

Musical Monday #21

Posted on 17th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

I’m going to see The Feeling at Manchester Apollo tonight!  So, in honour of their wondrousness, here is my all time favourite Feeling song.

The Feeling - Sewn

Filed under: musical monday | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

Day 3

Posted on 15th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

Really enjoyed my day at work yesterday (until the final five minutes when I took the call from SH).

I had public transport problems yesterday morning - my train was 15 minutes late and of course there’s no tannoy system or electronic boards at my station so we had no idea, and then it was totally packed.  I jumped off at Deansgate station rather than at the end of the line (Oxford Road) in order to catch a Metrolink tram (which stops almost outside my office) but that took 10 minutes to arrive.  I start work at 8.45 but I didn’t get in till 9.05 - although I did phone in to let them know.  I was so stressed I bought myself a grande latte from Starbucks to make up for it (last time I was working one of those cost £2.15 - now they’re £2.40!).  When I walk to work from Oxford Road station, I pass a Caffe Nero and a Coffee Republic as well as numerous independent coffee shops, but not a Starbucks.  The nearest one to my office is only two minutes in the opposite direction, right by the tram stop, but I’m trying to avoid walking up there to save money.  We have perfectly good tea and coffee facilities in the office.

Yesterday, Carrie and I went out for lunch to All Bar One.  Being a Friday and very busy we ended up waiting over 45 minutes for our food and by then we’d both downed a large white wine spritzer.  I was feeling tipsy - just shows how unused to lunchtime drinking I am now!  But the huge burger and fries helped me feel a bit better, especially as I had to minute a 2 hour meeting when I got back!

The work that this company does is totally different to the recruitment style I’m used to and I’m having to learn different procedures and new terminology but I think I’m doing OK so far.  I can see lots of areas that have room for improvement and can already see that I’m going to be beating my head against a brick wall with lots of things that I have to get Head Office approval for, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.  Having a boss who is also new to the company (Ed joined at the end of September) also helps, as there are a lot of areas that he wants to change and I think, with the two of us being as enthusiastic as we are, we’ll get there.

Carrie also told me that when Ed first saw my CV he handed it back to her and said “decision made” because of the name of my previous employer.  That was an ego boost!

Just a shame about the other news of the day, but we’re working on that.

Filed under: gainful employment | Tagged: , | 8 Comments »

End of the week

Posted on 14th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

SH is being made redundant.

I have nothing much to say.  My dad has offered to help us out with the mortgage for a bit, but we just don’t know at the moment what’s going to happen.

For a start I’m going to give up my blog hosting.  I’ll either return to Vox or WordPress.com - I haven’t decided yet.  It also means I need to move Eat Some Lose Some to a free forum host, which I’m looking into at the moment (not that anyone uses it lately - but once I’ve moved it, then I’ll start promoting it again).

I’m not after sympathy or anything - far from it.  I have nothing to say at the moment so I might be a bit quiet for a bit, but once I’ve moved the blog I’ll of course tell you all where it is.  Nothing secret, just a lack of funds.

Thanks for coming here and reading this nonsense.

xx

Filed under: gainful employment | Tagged: | 23 Comments »

Day Two

Posted on 13th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

A better day.  I actually did some work!  And answered the phone - although I managed to cut two people off, including one of the new directors (to whom I’ll be PA).  But on the whole, a good day.

Commuting continues to be interesting.  I caught a later train this morning; one I thought would make me late but it turns out I walk quicker than Google Maps would give me credit and I got to work with five minutes to spare.  I will need to get to work earlier on Mondays as I have to do payroll on a Monday morning, plus we have a big company meeting that I must minute, but other than that I think this is my train.

Some things I have learned about commuting up north:

  • People talk to each other.  Trains are absolutely buzzing with chatter, totally unlike London trains where, if someone coughs, everyone looks up to see where it came from.
  • You always get a seat.  My train is only two carriages long but there are always spare seats, even in rush hour and even when there’s only two bloody trains an hour.  People seem to prefer buses that take an hour to do the same journey (I actually have a bus stop at the end of my road, so this is always an option in times of desperation).
  • You never know if a train is on time or not.  Last night, when lots of trains were cancelled or delayed, I asked a member of station staff if my train was going to be delayed.  He replied that you never know until it arrives.  Helpful.
  • All trains have conductors.  When you get off the train, you must thank the conductor.  It’s not like he does anything other than fine you if you don’t have a ticket; he’s not exactly driving the train, but thank him you must.  But they’re always polite and always say “have a good evening” or “enjoy the rest of your journey”.
  • Nobody wears trainers when commuting.  My suit/trainer combo attracts no end of amused/bemused glances.
  • Southerners are not popular.  I am attempting to perfect my Northern accent as soon as possible.
  • My train ticket only costs £16.40 a week.  Unlike London, where my ticket used to cost me £44.60 per week, although that included buses and tubes, whereas up here buses and trams are separate.  And in fact there are about five different bus companies doing the same route, all of whom charge you different prices and with different tickets.

Filed under: gainful employment | Tagged: , | 8 Comments »

Day One

Posted on 12th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

I’m so tired that I’m almost asleep writing this so it’ll be quite a short post.

A good day mainly.  I didn’t do much other than reading a shedload of handbooks and manuals, trying to remember names, avoiding answering the phone and emailing Nutty Mummy.  They’re a great bunch of people (so far) and I know I’m going to enjoy working there.  The commuting, however, might take a bit longer to get used to.

Although my journey itself is shorter than my London commute (22 minutes - comprising: 2 mins walk / 10 mins train / 10 mins walk as opposed to 50 minutes:  5 mins walk / 10 mins bus / 30 mins train / 5 mins walk / 10 mins tube / 2 mins walk) it’s going to take me a while to come to terms with the fact that even in rush hour there are only two trains an hour and that for the rest of the day they’re once every TWO HOURS.  When we’re only 10 minutes from the centre.  I can’t get my head round how bad the public transport is up here.  If I miss my normal train, I’m stuffed.  Tonight all train services were disrupted by up to 40 minutes.  It took me over an hour to get home, and even then I got off at a different station and SH picked me up.  Like I say, that’s going to take some getting used to.

And then I came home and had a good cry.  Not because I don’t like my job; more than I missed my son and it hit me that I’ve changed everything forever.  And I’m dog tired.

More tomorrow, when I’ve done actual more work.

Filed under: gainful employment | Tagged: , , | 13 Comments »

Take Two

Posted on 11th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

OK, so I’m a little perkier now.

The gas man came back, fitted some other new part and hey presto, the boiler is working again.  He hung around for half an hour just to check it was definitely staying on this time (although I think it was more to do with my fantastic tea brewing skills).  While he was here, my neighbour (he of the loud television) knocked on my door.  It went like this.  What I thought is in grey and italic.  What I actually said is in black.

Neighbour:  Ow’ do.
Me: Oh God. Hello.
Neighbour:  [points to large British Gas van parked outside my house] Have thee got gas man in?
Me: No, I just nicked his van. Yes…
Neighbour:  Have thee got a problem wi’ gas?
Me: No, I just thought he looked like he might want a cup of tea. No, just my boiler.  My gas is fine.
Neighbour.  Because I can smell gas in my porch.  Right where the meter is.
Me: Well I don’t think it’s the same problem, my gas fire and my hob are fine, it’s just that the pilot light in the boiler won’t stay on.
Neighbour:  Well I can smell gas in my porch.
Me: OK, well I’ll go ask him but I think he’s just a boiler repair man, I doubt he’ll deal with leaks.

I go away to ask Gas Man.  He doesn’t do leaks and tells me Neighbour will need to call British Gas Emergency number.  Gives me the number.  I go back to the front door and give this to Neighbour.

Neighbour:  But I can smell gas in my porch.
Me:  OK… well you still need to call the emergency line.  Or you could just try lighting a match…
Neighbour:  But there’s gas.  In my porch.
Me: *stare*
Neighbour: *stare*
Me: *stare*
Neighbour: Could you just ask him again to take a look at the gas in my porch?
Me: *stare*
Neighbour:  There’s definitely gas in my porch.
Me: *sigh*  I’ll ask him.
Neighbour:  You’re a good ‘un, you are.  A good ‘un.

Gas Man went round to Neighbour and… told him to ring the emergency line.

Is it me?!  Do I just attract them?

In other news, this evening I went to give blood for the first time.  Me, fearer of all things needly.  Katya happened to mention that she was going this evening and it’s something I’ve often thought of doing but never got round to, so I went along. How brave!

The first thing they do is check your haemoglobin level.  The nurse pricked my finger then put the tiny drop of blood in a phial of blue liquid.  “If it falls within fifteen seconds, you’re fine to donate,” she told me.  “Oh… yours has risen!”  She tried again, and the same thing happened.  Instead of my little droplet of blood floating slowly down the phial, it went UPWARDS.  So then I had to have a blood test so they could put it into a little machine for a more accurate reading.  This had to be done in my bad arm (i.e. the one with the least showing vein).  Joy.  The reading was 125 - the lowest level at which they will accept you for donation.  I had forgotten to mention that it’s THAT time of the month which can affect your iron levels (obviously).  So they let me through.

The donation took all of seven minutes.  As the nurse disconnected me, he looked a little concerned and told me I looked a little pale.  I felt fine!  No lightheadedness, no nausea.  Absolutely fine.  But before I knew it, the bed was flat, I was flat, and I had a cold compress on my forehead to help the clamminess I wasn’t aware I had.  I had to stay lying down for about five minutes but then he helped me up again and it was off for a glass of juice.  No tea because it was my first time (apparently tea can make you queasy the first time) - plus their urn was broken.  I was disappointed because I only went for the tea, but I consoled myself with about 27 custard creams and three cups of lemon squash.  I have a plaster on my finger and one in the crook of each arm, and I’m sure if I peel them all off I will leak.  But I did something amazing.  I helped save lives tonight.  Go me!

ETA: oh and in case you’re wondering, they let me donate despite my cough.  Apparently as I wasn’t coughing up furballs or phlegm I was good to go.  I neglected to mention the eleventy jillion doughnuts I ate this morning.  When my card comes through the post I fully expect it to say I am blood group KK pos.  Krispy Kreme positive.

Now I’m off to bed, an hour later than I had planned.  Early start tomorrow.  I know I won’t be able to blog at work, so I shall update you on my first day tomorrow evening.

Filed under: howdy neighbours, me, me and more me | Tagged: , , , | 10 Comments »

T-1

Posted on 11th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

I’m feeling incredibly low today.

It hit me last night that today is the last time ST and I get to spend a whole day together without having to plan it weeks in advance.  I had great plans of doing something really special with him today.

Instead?

We’re camped out in the kitchen with the gas fire on, in pyjamas, fleeces and scarves, waiting for the gas man to come back and hopefully fix the boiler.  He came yesterday and thought he’d fixed it but while he was tidying up his mess afterwards, it went off again.  He *thinks* he knows what the problem is, but if the new part he’s bringing today doesn’t work then it’s a new boiler for us.  He couldn’t tell me what time he would get here today, which annoyed me intently as we pay for British Gas HomeCare with TimeChoice which means they guarantee to give us a two hour slot, but apparently that only applies to the first call-out.

I’ve had a terrible cough all week (which is odd, as I’ve been practicing it all night every night) and woke up in my freezing cold bedroom under two duvets this morning with tonsils the size of golf balls and no voice.  I am dosed up on cold and flu tablets, drinking tea till it’s coming out of my ears and attempting to swallow porridge in an attempt to warm up from the inside out (perhaps I should try microwaving myself).  Even if I wanted to pack ST off to the Dragon’s to keep warm, I can’t because she’s having her house decorated and the place is a bigger tip than usual a mess (seriously, if it wasn’t for the fact that she has a dining table in her hall and no wallpaper on the walls, I’m not sure I’d actually be able to tell the difference).  I can’t go out because I don’t know when the gas engineer is coming back.

I’m starting to worry about work tomorrow.  I am more nervous about my first day than I was at either of my interviews.  It is four years, almost to the day, since I worked in an office (I went on maternity leave on 16th November 2004).  What if I can’t cope?  What if I have forgotten everything I used to be able to do with my eyes closed?  What if I’m totally useless?  Also, from tomorrow I have to get up at 6am.  In the dark.  Possibly with no heating.  And a bad cough and cold.  I can hardly phone them and take a sick day on my first day, can I!  So whatever happens today I have to go in tomorrow, ill or not, showered or not, with functioning brain or not.  I suppose they might see it as dedication…

To add to our woes, SH has been put on redundancy consultation.  His company is likely to fold before the end of February.  They’ve set out a list of criteria for making redundancies, and SH meets most of them, for various reasons which I don’t want to go into in a public post, but I may vent more later in a password-protected one (the password will be the same as last time).  Yes, I will be earning a salary from tomorrow, but SH earns three time what I do and without his salary, we’re fucked.  Our household bills (mortgage, insurance, utilities - nothing we can do without) are more than my monthly salary will be, and that doesn’t include childcare which is going to cost over £600 a month, or the car loan (car is currently in negative equity - the downside of buying brand new cars - so even if we could manage without a car we can’t afford to pay it off).  We are going to sell my car anyway as we don’t need two cars now I have a job that’s commutable by public transport, but it’s only worth about £3,000.

Yet again, one step forward, two steps back and we’re in danger of losing our home once more.

Forgive me if I’m not in the most jovial of moods right now.

ETA: I’ve decided to close comments on this for now, just because I’m full of woe is me and self-pity and I don’t want you all to feel you have to comment to make me feel better.  Thanks to those who already have commented, and thanks to those who’d like to but can’t.

Filed under: gainful employment, root of all evil | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

Musical Monday #20

Posted on 10th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

I love this song, Radio 1 is playing it a lot at the moment.  I’m dedicating it to my mum and uncle, who both claimed to have seen strange lights out to sea last week which was backed up by a story on the BBC website.

Sneaky Sound System - UFO

Filed under: musical monday | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

The Name’s Mum. Suburban Mum.

Posted on 8th November 2008 by Suburban Mum

Last night we ordered pizza and a baby sitter and went off to see the latest James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace”.

The film was due to start at 8pm, but during the adverts the projector kept switching off and we ended up having to sit and wait till gone 9pm for the main feature.  Luckily once they got it working for the film it stayed working and at the end we were given refund vouchers.

Anyway, of course I enjoyed the film.  It was 106 minutes of Daniel Craig!  But seriously, I loved it.  The film starts where Casino Royale left off, literally within an hour.  It begins with a great car chase before the opening credits with Jack White and Alicia Keys’ song “Another Way to Die”, which I didn’t like when I first heard it (a James Bond rap theme?!) but it totally worked with the usual Bond style graphics.

One of the biggest criticisms of the film that I have read is that there is no plot, but I disagree.  Although Bond denies it, he is out for revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd and to find the group who blackmailed her into betraying him.  Along the way he meets Camille who also has a vendetta to settle.  It’s fast-paced, dark and gritty with some quite violent fight scenes, so very different from the James Bond that Sean Connery used to play.  Personally, although the cheesiness of his 007 is fun and lighthearted, I much prefer this deeper, darker Bond, not just because of Daniel Craig.  To be honest, I wasn’t sure when they first announced he was the new Bond, but in my opinion he’s earned the title of the best Bond ever.

There are no gadgets, no one-liners, only one bit of sex (and that is implied) and he doesn’t even say the famous Bond line.  My only criticism would be that in a couple of the very fast action scenes it was quite hard to tell what was going on and who was who, and there is so much double-crossing that it’s quite confusing at times as to who’s on who’s side.  But I will definitely be adding it to my Bond DVD collection when it comes out.  Eight out of ten from me.

Filed under: entertainment | Tagged: , , | 12 Comments »

Next Page »