Evil fox

I’ve just watched Pluto eat a fly which was both funny and disgusting…

I went for my suit fitting last night – lots of stress getting across London in rush hour, and we were a few minutes late, but it was great! They were very professional and soothing and I feel I’m in good hands. Talking of hands, always a surprise to find one in your crotch! But that’s bespoke for you; they take a lot of measurements…

My suit will be ready in 3 weeks and that’s when I go for another fitting to make sure everything fits like a dream. Always a challenge when you’re an awkward shape.

I woke late today after catching up on some desperately needed sleep. The chickens were making noisy distress signals and Pluto and I leapt to their rescue. It was the evil neighbourhood fox offering them sweets to get into his car. Or something like that anyway. Pluto was having none of it though and launched after him. He keeps popping out to reassure the chooks and let the fox know that he’s not welcome and Mr P will smack his arse down if he tries to make a move on the girls… Go Mr P!

Now I need to shower. Still unwashed, and at this hour! And then more work (proper work, not blogging) and a trip to the bank.

Tomorrow I’m off to the Guinness Premiership Finals at Twickenham to watch Wasps take on Leicester Tigers. Should be an awesome match!

Cream tea

Well I had another interview – it went really well (especially my presentation) but of course I won’t know how well for a couple of days! All I can say with certainty is that I did my very best and they seemed to like me, but then I did my very best and they seemed to like me at the Falmouth interview also, and we know how that ended up!

The interview was down in Hampshire and afterwards, realising how near I was to the New Forest, I decided to go for a little drive to really make the most of the day and it was a very good decision! The weather was a bit rubbish but the Forest is one of my favourite places (I used to live very near). I ended up in Burley and had a cream tea and did a bit of shopping before reluctantly getting back in the car and heading back home.

I got a lovely welcome from my partner and the dog who seemed to think that regardless of the outcome of the interview I was still a bit of a super star!

I haven’t been sleeping well because of everything that’s happening and last night was no exception, I got 2.5 hours and everything is a struggle this morning. At least I can sleep in tomorrow which will help but I do wish there was a switch I could flick to stop my mind racing along and keeping me up till all hours…

This evening I am having a suit fitting. I’m having a bespoke suit made for the wedding which I’m very excited about. It’s very decadent because bespoke costs an arm and a leg (actually you would need bespoke if you didn’t have an arm and a leg I guess…) I’ve got the shoes, and will also have a nice white shirt made as well and that’s me all gussied up and dandy.

Anyway, I don’t seem to have achieved much this morning so I shall need to crack on… before I drop off…

Update on Pluto and the vet

Just a quick update because I’m up to my nipples in fishermen and dog psychology – don’t ask – but I realise I left my last entry on a cliffhanger. Pluto went to the vet and he’s absolutely fine! In fact he’s lost 3.5kg (which is a good thing because as a chunky breed – or breeds – he needs his weight lept in check).

Dogs do sometimes lose nails, it can be a little sore but as a rule, if the area is dry and free of blood and yuck, if the dog isn’t limping and he or she seems in fine spirits, you keep a close eye but let nature takes its course. But of course, that fine and sensible advice goes right out of the window when it’s your own beloved pooch...

Pluto loves going to the vet and they seem to love seeing him. I guess if you get animals that are pissed off and anxious about being there day in day out, being treated like a long lost family member cheers you up. So P bounded in full of the joys and I lifted his heavy old ass onto the treatment table. He didn’t like his paw being examined particularly but was very good and definitely earned the treats the vet gave him. Yes the nail is broken, but really, it’s nothing to worry about. To justify the £17 for 4 minutes of the vet’s time, he also weighed Pluto and that’s when we discovered he’s lost some puppy fat. So all in all, a good visit: I didn’t need a small unsecured loan to pay for it and Pluto is absolutely fine.

We did nothing yesterday, we’re both a bit under the weather (my partner more so) and tired and so we slept and mooched. I did a bit of ironing and polished the shoes I’m wearing for my interview and finished off the photos I did for my photo shoot on Thursday evening (which went really well). And then we cooked a nice meal and watched Run Fat Boy, Run in the evening, which was hysterically funny! Today I’m working on my presentation and doing a bit of dog psychology homework, but I’m hoping my partner will be making pancakes shortly to keep me creatively fuelled!

Pluto and the vet

Last night I was in bed by 6.30pm and asleep by 8pm. I woke up a couple of times briefly for a drink of water but otherwise didn’t stir till my alarm this morning at 6.30am. It did me the world of good. What with the stress of the house, the job interview and work and having to visit occupational health yesterday, it had literally become too much… nothing dramatic, just a deep need to sleep and rest and forget the last couple of days. I feel positively chipper this morning!

Pluto has been licking his back foot. He’s quite a clean dog so at first we didn’t pay much attention. But then noticed it was becoming more persistent. I had checked his foot over several times, but it didn’t seem painful and there was nothing out of the ordinary that I could see, but this morning I noticed that one of his claws is coming away. Of course, I panicked! I called the vet and was preparing to rush him straight over. But the vet was quite calm and seemed to think that a lack of blood, pain and discomfort makes it a fairly routine thing and we’re actually not seeing the vet until tomorrow. I don’t know what they’ll do – remove the claw possibly? I can’t bear anything being wrong with Mr P. Not least because he can’t actually tell me what the problem is. So I am fretting a little bit and hoping it’s nothing serious…

I have a photo shoot tonight – on Tower Bridge no less, for an LGBT group. Hopefully the sun carries on shining brightly and we have a lovely blue sky background. Nothing finer than the props that nature can provide!

Disabled fightback!

I just had to see Occupational Health because my organisation has decided that because they are crap, treat people badly and don’t know what they’re doing half the time, that they only thing that would make them feel better is picking on disabled people. Because we’re all in wheelchairs, or can’t see or can’t hear or something like that… right? Wrong.

I work one day a week from home. As someone with severe mobility problems who has to travel quite far to and from work (well, actually, it’s only 12.5 miles but in London that distance takes on average over an hour and a half!) I asked to work from home one day a week about two years ago and have been doing it ever since. This has NEVER been a problem. Unfortunately, out of the blue, my boss has decided that actually, this is a problem and she wants me in five days a week. Anyway, luckily for me, OH disagree, they think working from home is a “reasonable adjustment”. In fact the doctor was a bit baffled why they couldn’t see this themselves. However, she doesn’t make the final decision. She makes her recommendations and HR make a final decision taking all the facts into account. However, seeing as my boss is also the boss of HR, it will be interesting to see how this pans out…

I’m beginning to see that it’s just another symptom of a rotten company. When the chips are down; take it out on staff because whilst senior management talk about accountability and responsibility, they don’t want to actually do anything about it. It seems they are too busy sucking up to new regimes and saving their jobs.

Not this time...

We didn’t get the house. It went for £100k over the guide price. We’re pretty gutted but we’ll get over it I guess. In the meantime, we’ve stopped looking. Back to Plan A which was to house hunt on our honeymoon.

The auction was almost over before it began. It was so quick and I think we would do everything we could to avoid that process in the future. Although you get an instant result, the stress is enormous.

All in all though, we had a lovely time, drinking too much beer with our friends on the Sunday night, and then the next day going shopping at Trago Mills, eating fish and chips on the harbour at Padstow and playing with the dog on the beach at Bude. Driving back was horrible. (Other than the disappointment of going back empty-handed I mean.) I was exhausted and had to pull over three times, once for a twenty minute nap just to get me through the next couple of hours. I could have cried with relief when we finally got home and I literally spent all of yesterday in bed watching DVDs and trying to think that something much better was just around the corner…

I booked a suit fitting this morning for next week. I’m having a bespoke suit made for the wedding and have finally got round to making an appointment. I’m pleased and excited! I’ve also sent off an email to the people hopefully doing the wedding cake.

Our best man is coming over on Sunday and on Saturday I think we’re going for a picnic just me and my partner and the dog – Saturday papers, picnic blanket, gorgeous lunch, cold white wine, bliss!

In the meantime I have to cope with being back in the office. Lots of work, lots of shit and no motivation to deal with any of it…

Least I have another interview to look forward to!

Timewarp

I watched This is England, the Shaun Meadows film this afternoon. It's set in 1983. Then I watched Gladiators and now Doctor Who. It's like I'm stuck in a time loop...

Just found out...

... I didn't get the job :0(

Pretty gutted but nothing I can do. I've just gone and bought some plants from the garden centre to cheer myself up and actually, it worked, lol. I'm a simple soul.

At least I have another job interview lined up. I think I would feel a lot more upset if I didn't...

I still don't know...

The drive down to Plymouth was good – no traffic and I arrived at 4.45pm. I’d bought some champagne because I thought whether or not I got the job I was being interviewed for the following day, it was worth celebrating that I had got this far!

I actually slept that night. It could have been the champagne, or it could have been because I had been up since 3am and had done a morning of work and then a five hour drive!

I didn’t really hang around the next morning, the girls had already left for work and I was out of the house by 8am. Lunch (followed by the actual interview) started at 12 noon, the drive was approx 2 hours, but in the meantime I wanted to check Falmouth out. It’s a lovely place, lots of interesting shops and cafes... I actually ended up parking somewhere quiet and letting my mind drift so that I felt more relaxed at the interview.

There were three of us being interviewed, myself and two blokes, and after a light lunch where we meet the interviewers who all seemed genuinely nice, and the principal who also seemed really nice, there was a bit of wait before my interview and then I was called in!

I did really well. In fact if I had the chance to do it all over again, with the exception of the nerves and I would have liked to have been a bit more succinct on a few questions, I wouldn’t change much else. My presentation was well researched and interesting and the one thing I think that really came across was how passionate I am about Cornwall and wanting this job...

We were told that we would hear on Friday. Thursday crawled by, Friday crawled by and eventually I called HR at about 5.15pm. It seems a decision has yet to be made! They told us they were making a decision straight after the interviews, but it seems we have a split jury and I THINK it’s between me and another candidate, we’ll call him Mr Slick. I am a slightly less obvious choice for marketing and PR because I’m not slick and polished. But I do have an uncanny ability to market things extraordinarily well and my communication skills are second to none. The other guy looked like he could schmooze. I mean, really schmooze. And he currently works for a university so comes from the relevant background. This is all supposition of course (or maybe even wild fantasy!) but I suspect the battle is between him (safe choice, less creative) and me (slightly unconventional but more creative and passionate and with a good track record). Of course I could be barking up the wrong tree and they could be deciding between the two other candidates! But really, the other bloke was just weird.

Monday cannot come soon enough!

But honestly, I won’t be surprised if I get it, but I won’t be surprised if I don’t get it. I think it’s too close to call. What I can tell you though, is that I am proud of myself and what I’ve achieved thus far. I did my best and I think my honestly and passion shone through. Let’s hope it’s enough, but if not...onwards and upwards, always onwards and bloody upwards!

I came home to a letter. Another job interview! I laughed my head off. I have sent off three job applications and received three interview requests! The first job if you recall was to get me back into the swing of applications and interviews. Really weird company though. I think I blogged about this, the staff were all grey and looked like the life had been sucked from them. I decided before the interview even started I couldn’t work here. I just had this strange instinct that it really wasn’t for me. It would have been like giving a child with ADHD some orange squash and a drum and shoving them into a library filled with people suffering from acute nervousness. So I just got through the interview as quickly and as efficiently as I could.

Of course on Monday, there is the small matter of a house auction in Cornwall that we will be attending...

We’re driving down on Sunday to stay in Plymouth with our friends again. Such supportive and lovely friends that on my last visit they gave me a key! To be fair, we do live about 250 miles apart and this is my third visit in three weeks, lol!

Today (Saturday) we’re doing nothing. Stress levels are through the roof, so we’re tackling them from the bed. My partner is still asleep, so is the dog, even the chickens are quiet. So after typing this, I will be shutting down the laptop and trying to get a bit more sleep myself...

Night night Jon boy...

On the road again...

I’ve been awake since 3am. Nervous, I guess. I don’t feel too bad actually – quite energetic! I filled the car up with petrol and put her through the car wash this morning and packed myself a nice lunch (ever had a nice service station meal? No, neither have I.) I just want to get started now. I’m leaving my office at 12.30 and should arrive in Plymouth around 5.30 this evening… I think I’ve packed everything I need – I hope so anyway!

Dangly earrings are a no-no

I’m happy. Well, I’m knackered actually, but happy also. I worked like a dog yesterday on my presentation and actually think it’s pretty good! I rewarded myself by getting tipsy on pinot… today I am doing a few finishing touches, but the great thing is I haven’t re-read it with fresh eyes and thought SWEET JESUS WHAT WAS I THINKING?! I still actually think it’s pretty good…

I think I have my interview outfit sorted. Now there’s a big old mine field. I always remember reading something about top tips for job interviews years and years ago. Unfortunately, the only thing I can remember is “don’t wear dangly earrings which might distract the interviewer”. For those of you not in the know, I’ve never worn a dangly earring in my life!

The dog still has blue go faster stripes down his left flank, and in his ear, on his tail and the tip of his whiskers. He decided to lean on the chicken run before it was dry. Now not only does he act like a rebellious teenager, he also looks like one.

Tonight I need to pack and run through my presentation one more time, but after that I plan to sit in the sunshine and try and relax. If nothing else I can focus on how excited I am to be heading south west again so soon after the last time!

Working for a living

It's Sunday and I've been working in the garden since 8.30am. I've had to come in now because both me and the laptop are over heating.

This presentation is killing me. It doesn't help I really, really want the job as well!

Back to it I suppose, let's hope it's all worth it.

Chicken supervision

Had lots of weird disturbing dreams last night so don’t feel that rested. I think it’s everything that’s going on at the moment; it must be subconsciously making me a bit stressed and anxious.

Anyway, I’m off for a hair cut because alarmingly I do really start to look like Elvis when my hair gets long. Sadly not his sex god stage, but his more, shall we say, chubby stage. After which we’re walking the dog in the woods. Then I’m setting up camp in the garden to do some work and supervise the chickens.

They were out for several hours yesterday because I decided to paint the run in the afternoon. (I’m still covered in blue paint.) They had dust baths and ate weeds and were generally very happy. But they do need to be supervised because they go straight for the veg otherwise...

Tonight, dinner with friends.

The weekend

Pluto is currently chasing a fly around the front room, I'm feeling refreshed after a bit of a lay-in so all is well...

I'm trying to take life a little easy because we have two very long journeys coming up next week (about 12000 miles in all), plus all the emotion and stress of an interview and trying to buy a house and then there's work etc. This weekend we're going to dinner with friends, I need to repaint the chicken house and run and work on my presentation but that's it - when I'm not doing one of the aforementioned things I will be sitting around, possibly with a beer, probably with a book, doing bugger all.

Right now I need to sort out breakfast and get on with some work. I plan to take Pluto down to the woods and we're going to dinner with my partner's bro tonight.

It's not as sunny today as it has been, so I'm keeping everything crossed for a hot, sunny weekend.

Cool dawgs

Labrador's have a reputation for being a bit daft, but as these photos demonstrate, they're not all stupid! After all, we're the ones stuck in our offices, sweating and missing out on the good weather...

Presentation

Another gorgeous day! My commute was actually not too bad this morning. I had lots of people smiling at me, which is always nice. No one tried to crash into my car, cut me up (OK once, but if it’s less than three times in London it doesn’t count), or rear-end me.

I received a card from Royal Mail yesterday saying that I had a letter waiting for me at the sorting office that needed signing for. I couldn’t think what it was, but decided to pick it up this morning – and I’m very glad I did! It was my job interview pack from Falmouth. I need to do a presentation which I’m pleased about because I’m confident I can do a good presentation. Plus it confirmed that I really do have a job interview and it wasn’t all a pleasant and exciting dream…

We also got news that our mortgage is approved yesterday. And finally, if that isn’t enough thank you very much, my partner had a job interview yesterday and got the job!! Well done her!! (It’s a managerial position in the organisation she works for.) I was very proud and bought her some flowers to celebrate.

Can’t wait for the weekend, I think sitting in the garden with a book, the chickens, the dog and some cold beer might be on the cards… oh, and preparing a sooper dooper presentation that will get me this job!

Road mongrels

It's unlikely, but if you're reading this and were driving a silver/grey Audi convertible (2006 reg) on the A4 this afternoon around 5.15pm just a little word of advice; if you concentrated on your driving as much as your thinning hair, and looked at other road users as often as you made ‘I’m cool’ faces in all four mirrors you might actually be an OK driver. Until then, you’re just another idiot driving badly in a posh car making a statement about the size of your penis...

And if you’re the cyclist who pulled in front of my car at Fulham Broadway because you didn’t feel able to adhere to the whole ‘red light means stop’ process meaning I had to slam on my brakes and almost have another car rear-end me, I’m very pro-cyclists but even I think you’re a cunt.

Other than that, my commute was fairly stress-free.

You know you've made your day harder than it needs to be...

... when you've bought a salad dish for lunch with beans in it and you really, really don't want the beans. The problem being that they make up a large part of the dish and by the time you've finally picked them all out (yes I am that anal), not only are you dying by degrees with hunger, there is also now only half of what you originally bought and frankly that half wasn't worth this much effort anyway. Sandwiches tomorrow methinks. And homemade at that.

The problem is...

I know it seems a bit ungrateful to be moaning about my job when I have a job interview lined up and have actually just posted off another application for another very good job, but I don’t care, it’s my blog and I’ll whinge if I want too…

After a great bank holiday weekend I was sat at home last night dreading work this morning. Isn’t that terrible? In a nutshell the problems are these: we did badly in an inspection, our company told us that we were going to legally challenge the findings because the report that was written about the inspection was full of contradictions and inaccuracies. This gave demoralised staff something to cheer about – despite the devastation of working hard but doing badly and losing a much loved CEO in the process it appeared that we were going to fight them on the beaches!

Except we’re not.

It looks like we will give in and the inspection will stand - nice message to those that invested a lot of time and skills in us doing well. We get no information – even fairly senior people (myself included, and higher) don’t know what is going on from one day to the next.

We now have a new CEO who’s a strange man to say the least. He believes in bringing in consultants (all of whom, it seems, are old friends of his) without necessarily consulting with the team who is being reviewed. Like the lottery advert says, it could be you! So we look to our immediate managers for support and answers only to find they’ve raised the drawbridge and have decided in less than subtle ways that it’s every man, woman and child for themselves. In short, while axes are swinging heads will be kept low and unlike the marines, they are perfectly happy to leave men behind… worse, some of us have found our managers becoming quite unpleasant as they seek to shift their own failures on to more junior shoulders.

Part of me really doesn’t care. But then part of me; that irritating part that is ethical, moral and principled really does care. I am paid to do a job and usually I do it well. That job is funded out of public funds and so doing it well should be a minimum standard; except that’s very hard to do when you are dealing with the sort of people I am currently dealing with…

*Sigh*

As I mentioned in my blog entry yesterday I am starting my research for my job interview in earnest. I have a folder full of information to help me go in with as much of an advantage as possible. I’m really looking forward to the interview. I don’t know how many are on the shortlist but I’m just going to try my best and well, hope for the best!

Goddaughters and job interviews

I’m up to my bloody eyeballs in research, which isn’t easy after a weekend with a very excitable 4yr old. It’s safe to say I’m exhausted!

I’m doing research for my job interview in Cornwall and have loads of good stuff. I will get my confirmation letter this week and I may end up having to do a presentation at the interview so it’s probably a good idea I’m doing lots of research!

My partner’s goddaughter, B, stayed this weekend (with her mum) and we had a fantastic time. Yesterday we went to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. It was great! It has lovely gardens, a pet’s corner, lots of different exhibits, interactive sessions for kids, a cafe and shop and an aquarium and it’s all free! (Well, quite rightly you are encouraged to make a donation which we were happy to do.) We stayed for hours, but that wasn’t enough, the goddaughter wanted to be taken to a park afterwards (the rest of us wanted a nap!) and then when we got home I had to watch a film with her (no opportunity to doze as she kept asking questions), then she wanted to see the chickens again and we sat in the garden for an hour engaged in a thoroughly confusing numbers game the rules of which only B knew and which kept changing anyway...

They went home today and it was sad to see them go. I was left wondering how people cope when they have children 24 hours a day 7 days a week... can you get plugged in to the mains to top up on energy?!

Now I’m looking forward to a big dinner (some days you just need a big dinner) and a big glass of wine (some days you just need a big glass of wine) and then an early night.

Really not looking forward to work tomorrow. I’m trying to remain positive – I’m hoping the wine will help ;0)

What happened?

Boris Johnson as Mayor of London. It’s like a sick joke – a buffoon at the reins of the greatest city on earth.

I am devastated. I may want to move out of London (even more now!) but I have my reasons; not least property prices, but I still love London. I was born here and I have lived here and it has given me some amazing opportunities. Clearly those who voted BoJo don’t love London. Clearly they don’t believe it equality, fairness, the spirit of opportunity, a cleaner environment...

You may not have always liked Ken, but I worked with him and his team on a few occasions (more with his team than him) and I found him fair, straightforward, honest, personable and hard working. He started his life in politics believing that only when everyone is treated with equality and given a fair chance can any society ever truly progress. He worked for the common man and woman hampered by a perceived lack of class and education and he stuck to his principles when all around everyone else lost theirs. Our only consolation is that whilst he may be down, he most certainly will never be out!

Oh, and the BNP have won a seat in the London Assembly as well.

What happened London? What the fuck happened?

Perfect day...

We went down to Bromley registry office this morning to register our intent to get married. The registrar was lovely and apart from the £60 price tag, the whole experience was very pleasant. And then I get a call from a job I really, really want telling me I’ve been shortlisted and can I attend an interview in 2 weeks time!? Er, yes!

What a day...

Now I’m just hoping Ken gets back in as Mayor and it will be damn near perfect!

The decline of society...?

My journey home was less traumatic last night but traffic was bad and I saw two things that made me really angry…

I work relatively near Chelsea FC and as most people know, there was a big match last night. As I crawled through heavy traffic past the pubs where home and away fans were drinking I was amazed at how many police there were. And that was just on foot, there were police vans and cars cruising around as well. Outside one pub the police had literally formed a human chain to keep fans apart.

There are many reasons why I love rugby and one of those reasons is the way we behave - to each other, to opposition fans, to the ref. In no way am I suggesting all rugby supporters are saints (and all football supporters are thugs) and we certainly have one or two idiot supporters, but even under the influence of huge amounts of alcohol we generally tend to look after ourselves and each other and not kick the shit out of people who don’t share our view that we’re great. In fact we’re quite proud of behaving like human beings – albeit human beings that sing badly and fall over. So I was pretty incensed to see the massive waste of police resources and time to baby-sit football fans who apparently can’t watch a sports match without starting a riot. These people operate under the assumption that extra time is what they get to thump people and cause as many problems as possible. And the irony is, the chances are none of them got mugged last night because there were so many police about, but what about the rest of us? What about everyone else who lives a quiet and decent life – we didn’t have personal bodyguards last night so we had to take our chances…

There are many decent footie fans and I’m sure they are quite ashamed that a small minority make it difficult for everyone else but then you go to the terraces and hear the foul language (and the homphobia, racism and sexism) and really aggressive chanting, and then you see players starting a ruckus and swearing at the ref in front of however many millions of fans, and parent’s warned they might be banned from the touchline when their kids plays because of threatening behaviour and it makes you wonder if football really can just blame a small minority of fuckwit mongrels…

I was almost home and breathing a huge sigh of relief when suddenly, two cars in front, I heard the sound that every car driver hates: CRUNCH! Sure enough a Mercedes 4x4 had gone into the back of an Audi. As we were on a roundabout, the two now stationary cars were causing a blockage. The man and woman got out of their cars respectively and had a quick look and then one of them suggested that they pull round the corner to get out of everyone’s way and swap details. The damage seemed minimal but as I’ve learnt, it’s often what you can’t see that’s the problem. Anyway, they both indicated to go left to pull down a quiet street, he went first and then she went to turn left, spun the wheel and drove off in the other direction: thereby committing a criminal act – fleeing the scene of an accident. I could not believe it. I even considered going after her to get her reg number so I could call the police. But obviously I had to wait until I could get off the roundabout and by the time I did she was gone. How low is that? You really do despair of how corrupt society has become – apparently it’s ok to beat the crap out of someone for wearing a different football shirt and you can drive badly and smash into other cars and put two fingers up at them… god forbid people took responsibility for their own actions…

Depressing, huh? Now you see why I want to buy a house in the country! Bad news on that front, I called to put in an offer and other people had already put in offers – over our bid - and they had been rejected by the vendors! So it seems we will have to go to auction, which is a little bit terrifying! Also presumably these people that put in offers and had them rejected, will also go to the auction and they will have bigger budgets than us…

It’s enough to make me want a very large glass of wine at 10:23 in the morning!