Memorygirls - The Matrix Reloaded

OliveOyl_2

aaaaaaargh I could weep
I've been sending daily (sometimes more ) e-mails to my contact about getting the K4K stuff collected tomorrow.
Finally I spoke to her.............................................

The goods need to be transferred to a State Warehouse, sometime next week :eek::eek::eek: (they've been promising that it's about to happen since 6th March) and then they will unpack everything and work out how much requires duty to be paid :(:(

I now wish I'd removed the plastic from the Reading shirts, they are obviously new even if obsolete
2,500 items of easily pilfered and popular stock in a government warehouse, in my experience that is a recipe for "shrinkage" :mad:

clairewop

Fingers crossed everything will turn out ok OO.

On that note I'm off to get dressed and get my nails done again all that washing of hands yesterday (a bit paranoid cause I was making for someone else, I was washing my hands everytime I picked up a spoon lol) So my nails need tlc

Memory_Girl

OliveOyl wrote: »

aaaaaaargh I could weep
I've been sending daily (sometimes more ) e-mails to my contact about getting the K4K stuff collected tomorrow.
Finally I spoke to her.............................................

The goods need to be transferred to a State Warehouse, sometime next week :eek::eek::eek: (they've been promising that it's about to happen since 6th March) and then they will unpack everything and work out how much requires duty to be paid :(:(

I now wish I'd removed the plastic from the Reading shirts, they are obviously new even if obsolete
2,500 items of easily pilfered and popular stock in a government warehouse, in my experience that is a recipe for "shrinkage" :mad:

Aaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh:eek::eek:

Been on the phone to an ex SA who I used to work with, he is due back in a couple of hours but I have a couple of questions.

1. Does SA have have the equivalent of the "Charities Commission"? A Government body.

2. Would getting a letter from Reading stating that the shirts have "no economic value and are a donation" help? Perhaps even getting the Reading Press officer to lean on your contact lady a lady (looking for photos of the kids perhaps)

3. To that end - could we ALL email someone there in the media who may be sympathetic to our cause. Something along the lines of a group of women who have very little, got up and asked for old kits to make the kids Christmas. Four months on they are still being held by the Governement, the kids stll haven't had their Christmas presents and now the charitable donation is being held hostage subject to an extra duty payment?

Obviously don't want you to make a stink over there (you still need them on side) - but we can be pests from this end if you think it would help?

Anyone else got a creative head on about this - remember this is not about dealing with a Government that has "rules" like ours - SA may be a "western country" but its Government is still an African one IYSWIM. It still works on "African Time" and "African Rules" - not trying to be controversial - but realist Here we could just "embarass" the relevant Minister and it would be swiftly resolved.:cool:

Memorygirl

OliveOyl_2

You're so right about the way these departments work!
On another matter for the Orphanage I pointed out that we had done exactly what the (official) documents had asked us to do re Registering the Day Care centre. Yes she said with a friendly smile, but the manager won't accept that unless you do this (an additional form) :rotfl:

You really can't argue with an implacable, polite person :cool:

However I'm phoning a friend........retired lawyer here -fingers crossed!

thriftyscotslass

Thanks for the lovely welcome back everyone .

Sounds like I've missed a bit of a drama with Crickett's work ???

How cute about your nephew Claire.

Sorry to hear about your government troubles OO, fingers-crossed it gets resolved soonish.

Oooh a new conservatory Bitsy - definitely room for a crafting corner there.

MG good news for your two rooms and for moving forward with ds2's room :T.

Still very wobbly here - mornings are worse but it does improve as the day goes on. Nothing more exciting planned than a trip to Mr T's this afternoon. Later peeps.

OliveOyl_2

I interrupted her Bridge game :rotfl::rotfl:

She's suggested that I request that 3 of us are present for the unpacking to ensure that none of the goods are stolen and they are re-packed properly. Popeye and she have both suggested that they don't really want to unpack everything, this may be why our boxes have been at the bottom of the pile, and this may persuade them to sign it through..........

maryb

MG

I've got two spare lampshades for bedside lamps. They're conical ex John Lewis and still good just the wrong colour for me - they're a sort of oatmeally cream and I needed ivory.

PM me if you want them

greenbee

Memory_Girl wrote: »

Will have to have a think about whether desks etc can fit in small room and see what I can find around and about.

SO not looking too bad for kitting out the downstairs rooms - total spends should be about £50 all in.

:TThat is Sooooooo much better than I thought it would be. You know how these things grow in your imagination.

A friend made a great desk by putting a length of kitchen worktop across an alcove, and then putting some storage under one end of it (remember, you'll need chairs to go with desks, but students will be happy with old kitchen chairs, or second-hand office chairs). Also, if they're going to be living in the rooms, then you don't want them too cluttered, but they may want a comfy chair to sit in (they may also bring TVs etc with them. An impression of space is probably the most important thing. You'll also need to think about rules for using the kitchen/living space/washing machine/garden, having friends over, doing cleaning etc (you could offer to do cleaning, laundry, ironing etc for an extra fee...). Talk to other people who are doing the same thing to see how they manage it. But you don't want a student who has never used a WM to break yours, so unless there is a laundrette close by, you want to think carefully about this!

clairewop wrote: »

Yep it was I did have help from next door, but neither of us has done one before, we are thinking of having a look for a cake decorating course

How about a picture on here? And let me know if you want any help - I spend my retraining grant from my last redundancy on cake decorating classes... LOTS of cake decorating classes!

Been to the gym, been to massage... am now shattered, but need to do some admin and get to grips with some work

maryb

I did a 5 day intensive cake decorating course at Squires in Farnham - absolutely brilliant and great fun. I was doing it for fun but most of the others were doing it to start a new business. Our tutor was Paddi Clark who has written a book on sugar flowers. She teaches evening classes in her home town in cake decorating which lead to an NVQ and we asked her how the evening class would compare with the intensive 5 day course. She said that the two years of evening classes covered essentially the same as the 5 day intensive but that she would spend a lot more time on the various stages. Students would have to do some work on colour theory etc and they would have to learn how to mix their own royal icing whereas she just showed us how to judge when it was right.

Obviously evening classes would be a lot cheaper than the Squires course but it would also take a lot longer to get to the same stage. If you think you could make a business out of it it would be worth doing something like the Squires course. There were women from all over the country there and they stayed in a local B&B during the week.

This is the link to their cakecraft supplies - hours of fun browsing
http://www.squires-shop.com/ibf/index.php?p=home


and this is the course link

http://www.squires-school.co.uk/?gclid=CLv_6uygnqgCFUEb4Qod1n7nHg

fantasia322

MG, just asked OH and he said No Worries.

ETA He also said its not just a possibility he'll help you make it happen yay