OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

JustKeepSwimming_2

LavenderBees wrote: »

He is a sensitive little sausage...I'm glad he doesn't have to go to Cat Skool as he'd be bullied for being a bit of a wuss puss :rotfl:

But I love him...:o

If the cat that isn't mine but thinks he is (lets call him Spike) went to Cat Skool he'd be forever getting detention but would never turn up - hes a real anarchist :rotfl:

BookWorm wrote: »

...My woes are continuing Just went to turn on the fan oven in my new cooker (which is 2 weeks old) and it won't work. No light, power or lights on the control panel. Oddly though the top oven and hob still works.
Soooo that is another thing to sort. Have to say I'm feeling pretty fed up about it

Weirdly that happened to me a few days before my main oven went - didn't think anything of it but wondering now if they were connected? Really hope your oven doesn't go the same way as mine.

I haven't had much luck in getting a new proper oven as I've not been able to get an electrician around to look at a light I've had a problem with - one has failed to keep 2 appointments so he's off the list :mad: a second has said he won't come out for such a small job & a third should be coming next week. We'll see if he turns up.

Small oven is working well, even if it does take up a lot of worktop space, so I'll stick with that for now.

3forholidays wrote: »

Hi everyone

Sorry I've not been posting lately!

LB Sorry to read about Old Boy Cat.

I do like the dreaded C-period - just because of the increased opportunities to get out and about. There is the works do (ours is normally a cheapie BYOB costing between £4 to £6) and the C-lunch (which is still unorganised at this moment).

I do appreciate that it would not be everyone's cup of tea to socialise with colleagues but my view is that it is only a few hours of my time and will be better than watching television.

But would it be better than watching TV - I know which I'd prefer :rotfl:. I'm not going to the evening do & seriously thinking about not going to the lunch do either. I'm really baa humbug but I don't know if I can face hearing how everyone will have these wonderful holidays planned (although I'm sure some won't go according to plan) & then looking at me sympathetically saying "How sad" when I say I'll be on my own (again).

I really don't mind being on my own most of the time - its everyone else telling me I should mind that annoys me :rotfl:

MSTM - sorry to hear about your neighbour. What a cheek - I've no helpful advice, sorry but hope the whole process isn't too traumatic & justice is done quickly.

Horace - glad to hear you've finally got your eye drops sorted. Some of the pharmacies near me use electronic batch prescriptions & then deliver your prescription - this includes at least Lloydspharmacy. Do any of them near you offer this service?

I have a question for you all - where can I get extra support from? My DD is having to see a psychologist for a few issues & she has asked what my level of support is & what support her Dad has. When I said I don't have any support she said I really must work on that since my DDs problems won't get better unless I have support, since I won't be able to support my DD.

ExOH looked triumphant at this, since its further proof (in his eyes) that DDs problems are all my fault. :mad: I'd like to think that the psychologist didn't mean it like that, but I suppose she has a point.

So I've clicked my heels 3 times but I'm still here, in my own kitchen, with no support. I wonder what I'm doing wrong :rotfl:

mum2one

JKS - were in excatly the same position as you regarding who is supporting us thou ours is coz of dad having cancer, he gets the support from mcmillian, red cross, hospital etc, but none for us.....

DD - Ive spoke to the school and there arranging counceling for her, for us we got told to speak to the gp, whether it would be worth trying your gp, hope you get sorted xxx

LavenderBees

JustKeepSwimming wrote: »

[
I have a question for you all - where can I get extra support from? My DD is having to see a psychologist for a few issues & she has asked what my level of support is & what support her Dad has. When I said I don't have any support she said I really must work on that since my DDs problems won't get better unless I have support, since I won't be able to support my DD.

ExOH looked triumphant at this, since its further proof (in his eyes) that DDs problems are all my fault. :mad: I'd like to think that the psychologist didn't mean it like that, but I suppose she has a point.

So I've clicked my heels 3 times but I'm still here, in my own kitchen, with no support. I wonder what I'm doing wrong :rotfl:

Fundamental question here - what sort of support was she talking about? Emotional support for you, perhaps? if so, you need to think about working up a network of trusted friends/accessing help schemes etc. Sorry, up to my eyes in work on my new project, so not got much time to elaborate...last time I complain about having nae work :rotfl:

When my parents were ill, and I was slowly reaching the end of my tether, my Gp asked me about who was supporting me...answer was a bit fat blank of any practical support as friends were either backing off at the rate of knots or in Byatt's case, fab but too far away. He told me I had to work on that, I mentioned it to my line manager at work...eh voila...she stepped up to the mark and has been a fantastic emotional and practical support ever since, and my goodness, have i needed her.

Good luck, though, it takes a lot out of you admitting you need help. and hoping that the person you've chosen to admit that to, does actually help you. i was very lucky

LB xx

BookWorm

JustKeepSwimming wrote: »

So I've clicked my heels 3 times but I'm still here, in my own kitchen, with no support. I wonder what I'm doing wrong :rotfl:

:rotfl:brilliant turn of phrase JKS but so sorry that you were asked that in such a way and made to feel like that

LB made some (as usual) succinct comments....I hope you can get things sorted too

Sending you a dodgy hug :grouphug:


I'm feeling a bit brighter today - which is a welcome relief. Although today is not without a hurdle as I don't have any water supply at the moment. I got home from work to find a card through the door to say they are turning it off in the street to undertake some emergency repairs. Not expected back on til Midnight. I managed to fill up a few bottles so have some to hopefully see me through.

One of those weeks I think.... at least there is an extra hour in bed to look forward to at the weekend :rotfl:

Horace

Sending hugs to those that need them. :grouphug:

It has been another of those days here too. I went to Nordic Walking to let them know that the classes will be changing because our original instructor can no longer do it due to a recent discovery which means she is sick every morning. Instead we have to have this other instructor who I personally cannot abide, I also don't like her walking poles either. I couldn't stay for class because I have a lot on and needed to go to the destination garden centre to buy some battery operated LED lights and to visit the craft store inside because I had a 15% discount voucher.

Anyway nice LED garland bought that will get its first outing this coming weekend and after that I will use it on my mantelpiece at Xmas. Using my discount vouchers - I picked up some thicker jewellery wire, 2 straw and twig robins and a squirrel. These will be used in the display and in my own home.

On the way home the petrol light started flashing (not surprised as I only put a fiver in last week when it was sucking fumes) so went to Mr M's only to drive in and out because their unleaded petrol was £1.27 a litre which I thought was a bit steep. Nipped into Mr A's across the road and got a few bits which included 2 ltrs of long life milk for Justin case it snows and I can't get out. Mr A's is looking quite swanky because they have had new posh veg racks and the store looks so much better. It was Veg Super 6 day so I got a cauliflower for 59p and 3 large leeks for 59p. The cauliflower is a bit large for little old me so I was wondering if I could just cut florets off it and freeze them without the faff of blanching?

Came home via my local Mr M's and nipped in there for petrol as it was only £1.23. I have a temporary Mix & More card or whatever it is called and the nice man serving asked if I had a petrol card of theirs which I did so he transferred the points from it onto this new card (far better than the eejit last week who said I couldn't use the petrol card and just chucked the temporary card at me). Nipped into the shop got a few things on expenses and a few things for my store including a few bits from the whoopsie shelf.

Going back to the Nordic Walking - I have a plan because I want to train to become an instructor but I can't afford it at all, I have applied to see if I can crowdfund it so that I will get £1292 which will cover the cost of training and a set of walking poles and a bag to carry them all in (around 13 pairs of poles).

In other news I went to the work programme today - I have been invited to attend tomorrow because Mr Marks and Mr Spencer have some jobs going this is good for me because when I was with Remploy I did the training course for Mr Marks and Mr Spencer called Marks & Start but alas there were no jobs at the time. I would love to work for them especially as they are building a new superstore (the biggest in the UK) just down the road from me:D I could walk to work then.

Have a great day tomorrow peeps (also if you know how to freeze cauliflower please can you let me know? thanks).

BookWorm

Water is back on this morning :T

Horace - re: cauliflower. I would cut up into small-ish florets and freeze like that. Good luck for the M plus S thing today

moneyistooshorttomention

Re cauliflower - I like to roast florets in the oven (bit of oil/180C for about 15-20 minutes). Maybe some onion slices with it. Maybe a bit of powdered garlic with it. Nice:)

There's always cauliflower rice too I guess. Must get round to trying that myself. I have some cauliflower right now and its quite a big one.

Personally, I like cream of cauliflower soup. The first time I made it I honestly half-expected I would think "Yuk" about it, but its nice. Of course, any soup is vastly improved by a bit of Parmesan rind lobbed into it whilst its doing its simmering stage and then fished out just before eating. Its surprising just how much "richness" it adds to the flavour.

JustKeepSwimming_2

mum2one wrote: »

JKS - were in excatly the same position as you regarding who is supporting us thou ours is coz of dad having cancer, he gets the support from mcmillian, red cross, hospital etc, but none for us.....

DD - Ive spoke to the school and there arranging counceling for her, for us we got told to speak to the gp, whether it would be worth trying your gp, hope you get sorted xxx

It was the GP who has recommended the psychologist, so he's done his bit. DD is very against going, so its all a huge battle to begin with, but I'm hoping she'll see some benefit to going soon.

It is hard when all the help is concentrated on the "one" going through the "stuff", isn't it?

LavenderBees wrote: »

Fundamental question here - what sort of support was she talking about? Emotional support for you, perhaps? if so, you need to think about working up a network of trusted friends/accessing help schemes etc. Sorry, up to my eyes in work on my new project, so not got much time to elaborate...last time I complain about having nae work :rotfl:

When my parents were ill, and I was slowly reaching the end of my tether, my Gp asked me about who was supporting me...answer was a bit fat blank of any practical support as friends were either backing off at the rate of knots or in Byatt's case, fab but too far away. He told me I had to work on that, I mentioned it to my line manager at work...eh voila...she stepped up to the mark and has been a fantastic emotional and practical support ever since, and my goodness, have i needed her.

Good luck, though, it takes a lot out of you admitting you need help. and hoping that the person you've chosen to admit that to, does actually help you. i was very lucky

LB xx

I think she meant practical & emotional support. Practical being that I can't get to the sodding psychologist on public transport - its about a 20 mile round trip, but at least £30 taxi fare each way due to the rubbish route (& the fact that taxis seem to be able to charge what they like here :mad:). So my ex has to take us & bring me home - what a delight that journey is.

Emotional is always a lot harder to arrange - my oldest friends are in Australia & Cheshire (I'm near Brsitol) so very much limited in what help they can provide.

I did have a major meltdown in front of what I thought was a close friend some months ago & begged her for some help - not heard from her since so I don't think that approach worked well :rotfl: I'm reluctant to ask anyone again in case the same thing happens - I'm a rubbish judge of character (as shown in my appalling history of partners ).

I seem to be quite good at supporting others (& had helped the now silent friend through a really rough patch several years ago ), but when I try & suggest hat maybe I need some help I'm told they admire me for always being so strong & capable, & they don't know how I manage it all before changing the subject :rotfl:

I don't have anyone at work I feel close enough to to ask for help & out of the few friends I have nearby - one I only ever see when she's feeling OK as she has quite severe mental health issues & can be very unpredictable (so not one to burden ), one is horrendously busy & the other has her own health issues. And of course all 3 have supportive husbands & local family support, so they just don't get it.

So short of dragging random strangers off the street or joining a church (& I'm a heathen :rotfl:) I guess I'll just have to keep on going..... You lot are all fab though, so thanks :T

BookWorm wrote: »

:rotfl:brilliant turn of phrase JKS but so sorry that you were asked that in such a way and made to feel like that....

Glad to raise a smile BW - I may pursue a career in stand-up as I often have my work colleagues in stitches just by retelling tales of my life. Better hours too, none of this getting up early....

Glad your water problem is sorted :j

We broke up for half term today - TFFT. Really need a break as we're run ragged. I asked to leave 5 minutes early for an osteopath's appointment (yes Pilates really is that bad for your - still suffering 6 weeks later :mad:) & was met with a "Well, we'll see how busy we are". When it was obvious we still had hours of work left at home time I announced I was leaving on time the others were amazed. Somehow its become accepted that we'll just work till its all done, unpaid.

Does anyone else get this at work? Our lunch breaks are sometimes interrupted, & some staff come in early & leave late (again unpaid). We get told we can bank some hours, but we're rarely allowed to take them, so other staff have effectively lost whole days - not me as I refuse to do the extra but then others point out that I'm letting the side down

I can't help thinking that the only way management will see were not coping is when it all goes wrong - but others don't want to admit we can't cope as it reflects badly on us.

Not sure what the answer is. - any ideas?

Horace

JKS instead of giving your free time to work you should just try working for the hours that you are paid (no more unpaid overtime). It isn't letting the side down at all - it is for your own work life balance. If there is too much work then your employer will either have to recruit more staff (even temporarily) and/or pay you overtime.

Don't know what to suggest about support really other than to say you have us.

Not done half the things I had intended to do today - I was awake for most of the night so had a bit of a lie in this morning. I didn't do any housework - my house is a tip and truth be known I will be glad when all the light festival stuff is gone. I did take my library books back (despite renewing I just couldn't get into them) - 3 more books borrowed. Nipped to the cake shop to see if the owner sold cake toppers which she did - so a little boy and a little girl have been bought and for £2 she is making me a cricket bat with ball out of icing and I can collect it tomorrow. Chip shop chips for lunch (and leftovers for tea).

Went to the work programme to find out about the M&S training but first I had to sit through some boring stuff about warehouse work for a local company (it sounded vile especially as the advisors were saying that the boss was the kind of man who would tell you to foxtrot Oscar if he didn't like you). I have been accepted onto the M&S training and I start on Monday - what is even better is that there are jobs but only temporary ones until January but with the opportunity to become permanent.

Still cannot find my birth certificate, decree absolute nor the pass book for my building society account - I am getting more and more frustrated:mad:

Had to ask the neighbour the other side of me for help today (well I do take parcels in for them) I have a set of LED lights that I shall also use for Xmas and I managed to find a screwdriver small enough to unscrew the battery box but I couldn't take it apart to put the batteries in it. My neighbour didn't even bother asking her husband she just opened it - she must have thought I was an idiot (sometimes I just can't see how to do things).

My parents have asked me what I want for my birthday next month - I know I want a pair of slippers (not mules) because I have started to fall down the stairs plus they will keep my toes warm. I might ask for my car to be sorted out as it needs two new suspension bushes at the front and it needs the brakes sorting out (the drums are pitted apparently).

Today I made a decision and have asked for some crowdfunding - I want to see if I can get money to train to become a Nordic Walking Instructor and to get money for poles. At least with poles, I can teach and I know the poles will be decent ones - I hate the ones that the instructor that we have been forced to have uses (mind you she only paid £400 for them and it shows - our previous instructor had the dearer ones which cost nearly £800). Don't worry the £800 is for 13 sets of poles and a carry bag - these are the ones I want and prefer.

I was asked if my local pharmacy has a repeat prescription service - they do but the problem has been with the GP and some silly ruling that all patients have to be spoken to if they have a repeat prescription to see how they are getting on with their medication (I also think it is a way of them trying to save money by saying that the medication isn't necessary). Anyway the consultant I see at the eye hospital in Brum in the country's leading expert for my eye condition and I feel sure he knows a lot more than a tuppenny ha'penny GP.

moneyistooshorttomention

JustKeepSwimming wrote: »

Does anyone else get this at work? Our lunch breaks are sometimes interrupted, & some staff come in early & leave late (again unpaid). We get told we can bank some hours, but we're rarely allowed to take them, so other staff have effectively lost whole days - not me as I refuse to do the extra but then others point out that I'm letting the side down

I can't help thinking that the only way management will see were not coping is when it all goes wrong - but others don't want to admit we can't cope as it reflects badly on us.

Not sure what the answer is. - any ideas?

What sort of job is it that you do? That might influence what we can suggest. From what you say, I'm imagining its some sort of office job and the reference to "bank some hours" makes me think it must be a public sector one presumably?

Ultimately, what colleagues do is up to them. I knew there were work colleagues (ie back before I retired) that did some unpaid overtime. They were usually higher-grade staff (ie I think their contract was more of a "do it till job is done" type basis, than us lower-graded staff). So, the vast majority of us lower-graded staff had nothing in our contracts that said unpaid overtime was deemed to be part of the job, so I was only aware of one person in those grades who did so. We were all on flexitime and that particular colleague used to regularly put in unpaid work by working through lunchbreaks.

Ignore any "emotional pressure/guilt trip" type stuff done on you by colleagues. I always used to take the view that if the amount of work to be done exceeds the amount of time available then either management hasn't planned how best to achieve how the work is done (that's down to them then) or there aren't enough staff to do the work and its not up to the staff to cover up inadequate staff numbers to the public and it would be best to "show it up" and put the pressure on for suitable people to be taken off the dole queue and added to the staff numbers, so that there were enough staff to do the job.

Realistically, what tended to happen was management just told people to do jobs to the lowest possible standard they could get away with and still (just about) say the jobs were being done - so people were told to "skate through" jobs and forbidden to do them properly.

There comes a point though when all the "skating through" possible has already been dictated by management and the only option left is for the work not to be done at all and I would imagine many bits of the public sector have already been at "skating through" standard of doing work for some years now and the only option left on the table is the staff just abandoning work that needs doing and not even making a pretence at it.

I can understand why some staff fight to still try and actually get the work done at least to "skate through" standard and the occasional diamond fights to go behind managements back and try to actually do work "properly", as it used to be done. That is their personal decision and I accepted the "do things properly if they can manage to" brigade and the "do the job as ordered - ie at skate-through standard" brigade and alternated between trying to do the job properly surreptitiously and sticking strictly to my contract if their treatment of me only warranted that and/or I was very "pushed" in my own life.