301k in debt and morbidly obese - things aren't great!

MrBloater

Red wine and Hot N Sour soup make Mr B a happy chappy right now. Have the ultimate motivator for going out running in the morning - DD told me I have to go. Am going to go a bit later so that her and DS see the state I am in on my return because the message will get through to them that it takes some effort to get where you want - hiding my running away at 4am like some dirty secret was meaning I was missing out on giving my kids a valuable life lesson. Plus the 4am starts were also a confidence thing, whilst I have no hassle addressing auditoriums or being outnumbered 30 to 1 by some of South London's most challenging teens, for some reason I didn't want anyone seeing my running (dressing like an extra from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest didn't help either), but now I have some suitable attire I shall leave it til a more respectable hour to hit the roads. It means I'll miss my usual netherworld encounters with the array of oddballs who populated my manor at that time, but I'm sure I'll tap into some more malarky. Probably at this very moment there is someone on the forums of iwatchporninabungalowatfourinthemorningwiththecurtainsopen.com wondering where the big bloke who used to run past every morning has gone, and I'm sure my old mate the Courier is also missing his nemesis.
Massive thanks to anyone who has spent their hardearned on my Kindle product - the reason for wanting to put the old stuff out for free is nowt to do with the sales though, I would just like it out there and available - if I find a medium better than kindle I shall do that, the new stuff I want to put out I will put at a higher price, as I've learnt from eBay - list something good at 99p and people ain't interested, relist it with a starter of a tenner and suddenly the watchers are out bigtime and somebody takes the bait.

@Cats Slave: offer much appreciated but please only go through my stuff and suggest edits if it'll help you in some way whether it be for experience or a reference or something.

Looking forward to reporting on the shenanigans on my patch at 6am in the morning after my run - doubtless I'll get embroiled in petty feuds with milkmen and posties.

scotdebs

Hi Mr B as a regular reader and random poster on the thread just wanted to say good effort on pulling yourself back up from the MSE cliff - to be honest am amazed and impressed in equal quantities that you went for so long before hitting the MSe/Running/Weight loss/ebay wall - I hit it every month (usually about a week before payday!) . However fairly early on in my journey I realised-its the small things that I do every day that will get me to be debt free and stay that way, the overpayments, the ebay sales and other bonuses are just to help make the journey more interesting .....

MrBloater

Done it! Only 3k but that's way better than nothing. Seemed bizarre to be out so 'late', the increased traffic and lighting made everything blend together - hence not much to report other than the curious gaze of who I believe to be the wife of the neighbour who thinks I go for early bird specials above the bathroom shop. She walked past dressed very secretaryily (is that a word? it is now) which seemed a bit strange for a Saturday morning, secretaryily as in that film with Maggie Gylenhall that's all about S&M and is (and I can attest to this having done it) possibly the worst video to rent out for a movie night with the mother in-law on your first visit to her home. Unless of course she works above the bathroom shop (the neighbour's wife, not Maggie Gylenhall or the mother-in-law) and he was waiting for her the other day. I hope they don't post a Christmas card this year - it'd probably have a voucher in it.

And switching back to politics for a bit, this strike will do nothing for the teachers' cause other than turn public opinion against the profession further - even after the pension scheme changes it's still way more lucrative than most public sector ones, and there's nothing to stop you getting private pension plans like most people are going to have to now. We get 13 weeks off a year, don't have to do weekends or night shifts and get decent money. Cue hoardes of angry educators reminding me about planning and marking - I've always found the teachers who moan the most about lack of time seem to have enough time to moan, I prefer working through lunch and free lessons and doing things efficiently. And what really sticks in my throat - about the union that hasn't striked in 150 years or whatever (and which Mrs B belongs to) is why choose this issue - surely when the government insisted on SATs testing for kids in KS1 a few years back would have been a great time to show outcry - something that put intolerable stress on the kids for no educational benefit, but no, they choose to strike when their final salary pension scheme is in doubt.

Sits back, gets the marshmallows out and awaits the flames....

Memory_Girl

Brings in HM chocolate digestives and passes to Mr B so he can make s'mores.

Defend your right to choose -its the not knowing that's annoying. Our head is not allowed to ask and Teachers not obliged to tell - so we still don't know if there will be school.

But I do have a plan B - if the school is cancelled our older kids are spending a day learning how to Mind Map instead. As for the parents getting upset at the school gates - its those parents that I don't see being very involved in their kids education and regard school as free childcare - what's curious is they are finding it "personal" - after all its not about them is it?

Glad to her you are not going shopping (but from a MSE point rather than strike point of view IYSWIM)

Now must dash - I am fitting a kitchen for my Mum today and have twenty minutes to learn how to hold my tongue!!! Why do men never read instructions? It makes for a frustrating day LOL

MG

gallygirl

MrBloater wrote: »

Cue hoardes of angry educators reminding me about planning and marking - I've always found the teachers who moan the most about lack of time seem to have enough time to moan, I prefer working through lunch and free lessons and doing things efficiently.

Oh, I thought I was the only one who thought that . I have several hard working teacher friends in responsible positions (head of dept, year etc) and they go in to school a few days over the summer hols and maybe one day at Easter. A few hours on a Sunday afternoon say once a month and that's it. Mind you, I couldn't do your job, I'd kill the little blighters within 1 lesson :cool:.

"Chucks some jacket potatoes on the embers"

kelpie35

Can I thank you for a great post this morning. It was lovely to see a teacher that has morals and principals. Wish there were more like you and then our faith in teachers might improve.

Thank you once again and have a great weekend with you family :beer:

Karmacat

Well said, MrB! And well run. By the way, its James Spader that does it for me in Secretary - because he was once Daniel Jackson in Stargate, not because of his role in Secretary, I hasten to add .... Daniel Jackson is a god. Its true, he came back to life from being a glowy squid thing. Twice.

I wonder if we'll ever see a pic of the late lamented cardboard dinosaur .... it'll be up there with Southern Scouser's car mats, one day, you mark my words

MrsMoo2U

Great post Mr B. You obviously care about the people that you teach. Don't eat too many of those marshmallows now..... you might be sick.

Butti

MrBloater wrote: »

if I find a medium better than kindle I shall do that, the new stuff I want to put out I will put at a higher price, as I've learnt from eBay - list something good at 99p and people ain't interested, relist it with a starter of a tenner and suddenly the watchers are out bigtime and somebody takes the bait.

I don't know if you ever saw a series years ago where Sir John Harvey Jones (ex-ICI director) went into companies to turn them round. One of the first things he told Copella about their apple juice was it was too cheap, that they had to price it as a premium product.

B

Igamogam

MrBloater wrote: »

And switching back to politics for a bit, this strike will do nothing for the teachers' cause other than turn public opinion against the profession further - even after the pension scheme changes it's still way more lucrative than most public sector ones, and there's nothing to stop you getting private pension plans like most people are going to have to now. We get 13 weeks off a year, don't have to do weekends or night shifts and get decent money. Cue hoardes of angry educators reminding me about planning and marking - I've always found the teachers who moan the most about lack of time seem to have enough time to moan, I prefer working through lunch and free lessons and doing things efficiently. And what really sticks in my throat - about the union that hasn't striked in 150 years or whatever (and which Mrs B belongs to) is why choose this issue - surely when the government insisted on SATs testing for kids in KS1 a few years back would have been a great time to show outcry - something that put intolerable stress on the kids for no educational benefit, but no, they choose to strike when their final salary pension scheme is in doubt.

Sits back, gets the marshmallows out and awaits the flames....

No flames Mr B - that would only burn your marshmallows to a cinder, not just merely toast them.

However this strike is not about pay and conditions - I am happy with mine - I too work during my unpaid lunchtime,arrive in work sometimes an hour and half before I need to and often will be in work during holidays - my choice. Do private sector workers do this on a regular basis without complaint? I guess some do.My friends who work in the private sector think I am mad. For 15 years I had to work 2 night a weeks until 10pm and 1 weekend in four -that was Friday until 10 pm and Saturday and Sunday 8.30am-10pm and then back in on Monday for a full week - state residential school. I guess not like working long shifts like my NHS friends but this I was rewarded £2000 a year for this. My NHS friends thought I was mad too!

What I am saying this is not a teachers strike its action to highlight the p!ss poor retirement that a great many of us in the public sector are heading for.Its personal and individual. If young teachers think they will be able to hack it when they are 68,69,70 years old then fine - I too work with some of the toughest youngsters in our LEA - will I be able to do it as well as I do it now in 10+ years time? I doubt it very much. I came into teaching for the long haul and made sure from the start I made provision for a retirement that will have some quality to it and now its about to be swept out from under my feet. Someone else posted elsewhere the cost in sick leave,early retirement through ill health and god forbid 'death in service' benefit ( yes public sector workers get this too) will rocket. Plenty of Heads and senior managers in our LEA saying they are not moving because can no longer afford to.So for up and coming bright stars the future looks gloomy

In our household a double whammy - my OH is a civil servant - carp pay and even carpier working conditions ( you would not believe)He was made redunadant from a university career and with a PhD ( there are 4 others in his dept) took a job that needs no more than a decent A level - and most dont have that. His pension outlook an others in his postion, look grim. In fact we would be better off if I gave up work and claimed benefits -evetually we would could claim pension credits. * deleted a whole paragraph here which would really ignite some flames* Now after 25 years of paying for a decent pension, and happily pay for another 5 years, how can that be right? Instead I will be paying MORE for another 16 years and get LESS for it. So because I miss out on the Governments concession by 26 days this is bl00dy personal. Whay havent they phased this in? So eventually I will probably cost the state more.

Mr B I am not getting at you - this is an individual thing. And I apologise for hijacking your diary. I am really not a soapbox person so I will step down now and slink off to lurkdom

PS Sorry can't comment on the SATS thing as where I am we no longer have SATS in the sector I work in. But wasn't there a boycott of SATS - was that just individual schools or was it supported by unions