Get a grip woman!

foxgloves

Hope you are having a lovely birthday.
F x

Suffolk_lass

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. We had a lovely brunch out - in a private dining room at a lovely cafe in the town. Then a bit of a lazy afternoon until DH took the dog out when it finally stopped raining, and then DS came round and we shared a Chinese takeaway. Although there is some left I am going to suggest we have it tomorrow as I picked up a nice-looking pork shoulder joint to slow-roast today.

Poor DS. His agency, through which he delivers for Royal Mail, have been suspended and messed about for a fortnight and he is very stressed. Meanwhile, some of the rounds in that depot town have had no letter deliveries for at least a week. The workers who just want to do a good job are so frustrated by management shenanigans that seem to be more about getting money from government to prop up the universal service than about either service delivery or staff welfare. The agency branch manager has told the local manager he will no longer provide staff and poor DS is in the middle of it all. Thank goodness for my Mum. She coincidentally transferred £1000 to each of her grandchildren on Saturday so his little buffer is boosted.

There is blue sky this morning and I am hopeful we can move some stuff about outside and maybe cut down some stuff too, today. Have a lovely Sunday everyone. Stay safe and have fun x

foxgloves

It's looking bright here too, @Suffolk_lass. Very much hoping for a useful session in the garden to make the most of it. The brimstone butterflies are starting to appear plus absolutely heaps of frogspawn in our pond & that cheerful yellow hit from the daffodils......it finally feels Spring-like today.
F

Suffolk_lass

Just opened my email to see that my Mum's flowers were not delivered by M&S. A grovelling apology for problems with their delivery agent and a promotion code. Very much appreciated, I went straight onto their site to re-order for Thursday, only for the code to be unusable and unrecognised. I have now emailed them.

I'm still sat here in my nightie, catching up (I recommend it @Cheery_Daff - much better than gadding about on the moors in your nightie (!  )

And yes @foxgloves, lots of lovely yellow and mauve in the garden (some of the primroses and the crocuses are mauve). It really lifts the spirits, even when the rest of the garden has gone to hell in a handcart (to quote my Grandma!).

I have just read that @KajiKita is giving up surveys. I only started this month with one site (Ipsos I-Say) and it is tedious. I could just cash out the £5 big river voucher and stop but there are another 65 points now and I like a tidy finish. hmm!

beanielou

I know RM are dire to work for.
The way they treat their staff is dire.

Suffolk_lass

I have moved the money ready to pay for the solar and house insurance this week. £9.5k in the current account ready. 

We need another fugal week here. I am up to £190 spent on groceries now, including the Big River subscription delivery today. Hopefully only milk to go now this month.

I have a replacement office chair due too. This one does not stay up and when it gradually lowers, my arms and shoulders begin to ache. I may have to remove the blocks under the desk and put up with the drawer being closer to my knees. DS wants the old Idea desk (actually a black table with screw-in legs) so I could offer him this chair too  but I need to check with DH whether he wants it first.

We have DH's (hopefully) final eye clinic appointment this morning. I am hoping it is a 30 minute one but I shall potter round to see my cousin while he is there 

trix-a-belle

Sorry to hear of DSs job woes, just when he'd got himself settled and stable. My postie says the same & is super frustrated about it.
Fingers crossed all goes well for DH too and that he is finally done with apart from periodic checks

EssexHebridean

Belated HB2U SL - it sounds like you had a lovely day! 

What a shame for DS with the job stuff though - I too have heard similar tales of RM not really being fussed about staff welfare at all and I think you know we've been having issues with post periodically for several years now. It's a nuisance never knowing whether you're safe to order anything for delivery and it dos put me off trying to order stuff from companies that use them for deliveries. 

Suffolk_lass

Yes indeed, @EssexHebridean - we have both just had letters confirming we have been removed from the postal vote register. It could be the incompetence of the local council (yes, really) but it could just be that our letters were never delivered. Because our confidence is rather low we have decided to not re-register for postal votes at the moment. There is no guarantee our votes would get there and be counted in the current situation. It was essential when we were both working but we now live opposite the polling station and should be able to get there OK!

I think DS's situation is worse than the employees. The manager of his agency has emailed the local managers (not the decision-makers) to cut off his nose to spite his face; confirming he will no longer provide postal delivery agency staff into that town. While I fully appreciate his frustration, he is taking it out on the wrong RM staff, and at a stroke, our DS has lost the favourite job he has been happily doing for 16 months. DS is very stressed. I understand these local supervisors are just as frustrated. And, I see the CEO has been lying to MPs too, for the second time. It wouldn't have happened when Alan Johnson was their Union Gen Sec!

Speaking of things being worse than expected, DH had his eye appointment and the clinic instantly decided to schedule him for cataract surgery (he was originally told it would be needed, but in 6-12 months) they measured him for the lens and he was half expecting them to say, "Right Mr Lass, we'll do that now!" the way they were talking - then they sent him home. I suspect it will be another short notice cancellation. The surgeon who has done all the retinal correction does Tuesdays and Fridays - I did a little check to see if it is the same surgeon for cataracts (he could be, but we will see).

In money news I nudged the insurance broker as we don't have the revised documents and the policy ends on Friday. He confirmed these have not been received from the underwriter yet but he is chasing.

I also paid the balance for the solar installation so there is a massive hole in the cash EF now. I removed the money I need to top up the account to pay the insurance too - over £12k this month - I said it was expensive at some point!

trix-a-belle

If your eyes didn't water when you totted the payouts for this month ours definitely are! May your payback on the panels be swift!
If the lying toad from RM ever comes near a sorting office I recon he will get lynched. Poor DS, I don't know what else of that ilk he could step into as we all know the parcel services are horrible & even more dysfunctional.

Poor Mr SL, not what he wanted & if the aftercare my neighbour had is anything to go by you'll be nurse SL for a while again but at least its just the one eye. My neighbour had one cataract done and then the other about 6 months later in 2021 & it was 2 different types of drops which had to have at least 5 mins between them 3 or 4 times a day for a minimum of 2 weeks, an utter faff! & she can't remember the day of the week most of the time so had to be marshalled by a number of friends and neighbours to the appointments and then the multiple rounds of drops.