Horace's Biting the Bullet Diary

Horace

Have had quite an eventful evening. I was persuaded to go to the DDBC meeting to get me out of the house (I live in flat lol) so I took the minutes and met my fellow committee members. The decision was made that because I am totally skint that I could stay on as secretary (I actually like doing it) and that instead of paying my subs each month then I could still attend and have a meal and that would be payment for services rendered. Best get cracking on the flyers for next month's auction.

I was told about a Sunday morning cleaning job at the Golf Club but when I enquired, I found out that it had gone. In other news I have been invited to use the spare desk in someone's office and can use the computer and make phone calls as long as I don't ring 0845 numbers or ring sexy chat lines. Again this is to get me out of the house instead of me being depressed at home.

I have a lift sorted out for Friday and have said that I can pay £5, provide a bottle of wine (I am not parting with the Wolf Blass though) and will take a beach tent so that we can sit on the beach out of the wind. I shall take my LVs as well in case we nip to Asda where I can buy food that way I can contribute to the BBQ.

My lamb steak is now cooking in Mosky along with 7 small potatoes (which are only there to heat up) - that tiny tin of baby new potatoes from Sainsbury's that has been in my cupboard all Winter was definitely worth the money - it contained 12 potatoes, 1 I chucked out as it was all eyes, 4 I ate the other night and the remainder I am having tonight. Will nuke some peas and make up some Bisto onion gravy. At least Mosky is cheap to run...lol

On Thursday, I might just go for a wander up the Lickeys and up Bilberry Hill in particular to see if there are any bilberries left which I shall pick and turn into something. I am waiting for the sloes to appear and I shall get some cheap gin and make sloe gin.

I may even make some of Reverend Rosemary's bath oil (reverend rosemary is a lady in America and she is a lady of the cloth).

Watch out world..Horace has a plan:D

bast

You sound so much brighter Horace, I think people outside of the internet world are begining to rally around you.. well done them... and can I partake in a glass of sloe gin when it is done...

beanielou

Sounding good

Millie2008_2

I think it is important to get out of the house, I am an absolute nightmare if I stay in all day.

Let me know if there are any bilberries, we have sloes and lots of blackberries at the yard, if you fancy coming to pick some (funny though as Pony stands behind you when you are blackberry picking and tries to eat them all!).

Pleased that you are managing to get away at the weekend, without sounding patronising :P it will do you good. Being by the sea always makes me feel better xx

Horace

Morning all - even though I still feel sick with worry (that feeling won't go for a while). I am applying for another job today, this one I saw on Twitter for one of the posh hotels near me - the tweet read "we may be looking for an event planner, please send us your CV" I replied asking where I needed to send it and received the reply this morning asking me to retweet the details, however, I am not retweeting:rotfl: This time I shall add my wedding diploma to my list of qualifications (I have tended to ignore it).

I had another thought last night too about that flipping diploma - I may try asking for my money back although it would mean losing the qualification which hasnt earnt me any money whatsoever. What they cannot take away is the knowledge that I have acquired that I keep stored in my head..and £520 is looking rather tasty just now:D

Onwards and upwards - today I am off to Lloyds to change some coins into larger ones and I will enquire about a basic bank account. I also need to finish my app for the Research Secretary's job at the University of Warwick and the one for John Lewis (although I don't particularly want to work at Warwick Services as it is quite a long way from my home). In fact Warwick and Wellesbourne are miles away probably about 50 or so:eek:

I am hoping that Virginmoney will answer the phone today too.

Millie - the offer of sloes and blackberries sounds ace..point me in the direction of your yard lol.

Horace

I am now extremely angry and won't be going to Abersoch at all, it has been pointed out to me that I should not consider going because I only have a fiver to contribute towards petrol even though I have some fuel in my car which needs a top up to get to Abersoch and back. F*ck 'em!! I shall take myself off to some local NT places as I have free entry with my membership. I shall use my precious fiver to buy something today so that I have money for the bus tomorrow.

I rang Virgin Money earlier about my account because they have been charging interest so now I am getting £98 refunded but still have to pay £66.11 - their financial difficulty dept are vile, I had this horrid little Indian man telling me that I would be put on a plan for 5 years and that I would get a bad credit score and would be unable to get credit for 11 years in total. Needless to say I haven't gone down his route yet..he really was quite vile. I was on the phone to them for over an hour this morning - most of that being on hold. Thank goodness for skype.

Nipped across to Lloyds TSB to see if they would change my coins into pound coins and was told that as I did not have an account with them they would charge me £5 for the privilege:mad: I asked them about basic accounts and I was sneared at but given a card to make an appointment. I wonder if they treat all shareholders like that?:mad: My shares keep the snotty cow in a job!! What I should have said to her was that I was a shareholder and therefore owned the very chair she was sitting on:rotfl: Cowbag!!

I have signed up to participate in some medical research into tick borne diseases - it involves a telephone interview and I would get £10 for my trouble:D £10 is £10 LOL.

Millie2008_2

Grrr to whoever said that about the petrol. I only hope they never find themselves in a similar position as you and in need of a bit of understanding :cuddle:

Horace

Has fallen off her chair in amazement - just looked on the Warwick Uni website and there are 6 jobs that I am more than qualified for so I am applying for all of them:D One even says that I need an honours degree which I havent got but I feel sure that an HND equivalent qualification will suffice:rotfl: It is a contract that expires in 2014 and involves travel in the UK and beyond as well as organsing events all over the world:cool:

Plans are being made for a cheap weekend of picking and maybe mucking out ponies for Millie:D I know my jodphurs no longer fit but I have trousers and riding boots and still have a hat and crop..although not ridden for at least 2 years. Hark at me:rotfl:

I am glad that my non-virtual friends are rallying around me - I think they now realise how close to the edge I was with regard to disappearing altogether..it is a good job that I hate taking pills, am allergic to pain, can't stand putting my face in water and am scared stiff of trains:D

Horace

I have had a stonkingly brilliant idea this afternoon. I retweeted something for one of the coffee shops in brum that I support and one of my followers sent me a message in LinkedIn saying that she wanted a social media course for 8-10 people (the coffee shop wanted to host social media workshops). Well, I thought to myself who do I know that is an expert in social media..boing..the chap who does my website who taught me all I know about social media.

A quote has been submitted now for £250 for a half day workshop:

registration/coffee 9am, start 9.30am til 10.30am then a break for coffee until 11am and then more workshop until 12pm. £250 for a group of 8-10 is not bad and I would get the lion's share of this because I have to arrange refreshments.

My fee is £25 an hour - it varies between £25-£50 - computer chappy charges £100 plus VAT for 2hrs - maybe I charge too little for my services??

Actually, when I rang him with my idea - he said that I sounded a lot brighter than I did yesterday, I told him that was because I had told someone to b*gger off:rotfl: We discussed the idea - he came up with his costs and how we would run the workshop. It could end up being a regular thing. In fact I could probably run the workshop on my own although I don't feel that confident at the moment.

Now, I have another plan - contact someone else that I have done workshops with before to see if we can do more workshops together and charge a decent fee for them.

I am not giving up my quest to find paid employment though because those needs are more desperate.

As for the meetup crowd they can all b*gger off - I am not sure I want to hang around people who are only interested in themselves and do not care for others, I think I might leave the group altogether or set up a rival group that is run a bit fairer - the guy never gives refunds and pockets the money for himself, I would at least give a refund or a partial refund.

Horace

Why don't agencies believe in giving people a chance? It seems that tomorrow is now cancelled because I cannot be put forward for the job in Wellesbourne because I havent got recent logistics experience...hello, the job details on the agency's webpage never mentioned logistics:mad: I get the feeling that I am too old and too experienced and to be honest I didnt want to travel to Wellesbourne anyway because it is a pig of a place to get to - it is half way to Cirencester:eek: So my £5 remains nestled in my purse for another day (it might end up as petrol in the car who knows, it may even be used to buy a sneaky bar of chocolate:D).

So the agency are keeping my details on file should anything suitable come up although to be honest I am not holding my breath. Still it is their loss. I have bigger fish to fry.

Tomorrow, I have a free day - so it may be that I break into that fiver, and drive up to the Lickeys to go looking for bilberries.

Tonight I have a free webinar to look forward to which will be interesting to say the least. I can sit with mug of coffee by my computer and listen and participate in the webinar.

Another book of Lvs will be winging its way to me too and I have decided to start doing some of the surveys on SurveyNetwork as they pay out either 75p or 80p per survey and some money is better than no money.