February 2001 March 2001 April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001
Monday 26 February 2001
So here we go again. I am starting yet another web diary. I am not going to
put too much pressure on myself to complete daily updates but I hope to go for
once a week (ish!).
So to the last week’s activities... Last Tuesday was Steve’s birthday - he’s 20 now. We went out for a lovely Chinese meal on Saturday to celebrate. T’was rather nice. I had been away to Cheltenham with work last Wednesday and Thursday and Steve was also working all week but we had a weekend off together so that was rather nice.
Saturday afternoon I went over to see mum at home. She came out for Friday and Saturday and we had a look at some stuff the DSS had sent about the funeral grant we are still in appeal over! Not really the sort of relaxing stuff mum needs but it had to be done.
I have now managed to get most of this website up ok but it will still be evolving a little. www.ribtickle.net will slowly be taking shape and a few preliminary pages are on that now.
Tuesday 6 March 2001
I am slightly calmer today than I was yesterday. Work has really pissed me
off. I have apparently been “undermining and talking down” to someone in work
and that has caused an unproven claim of bullying to be alleged against me. The
phrase “stunned” comes to mind. I am not sure quite what to make of it but I
have been really upset as well as angry over this. I shall see if things can be
resolved in work tomorrow as I have been off work today.
Mum came out of hospital for the weekend but wasn’t too marvellous. Hopefully she will be ok to come home proper in the near future. Other than that Steve has been down to see his mum for a couple of days, which was ok apart form his 4 hour train nightmare to get back from Bristol.
The new sofa has arrived and looks really plush, a very sound investment especially as we dont have to pay for it until August!!!
Sunday 18 March 2001
I have been so busy with work this last week or so and the rest of the month
doesn’t look like it will be that much better! I am parting of a project group
that has involved surveying staff’s opinions of impending changes. We also had
to do a presentation in Llandeilo for senior management last Friday which
involved getting very wound up and distressed. So now tomorrow I have
Carmarthen, then Wednesday and Thursday in Cheltenham, and next Sunday I am off
to Warrington! Oh I dont half get about a bit.
Steve has been putting a lot of effort into getting a new job but without much luck, he’s also been working his socks off to get his GCSE coursework done. Its hard going but hopefully things will come calmer in the next week or so.
Wednesday night we went up to Cardiff for the Kylie concert. Fab or what! I was extremely impressed. She sang live and had a surprisingly strong voice. It was a completely camp and kitsch show but for 2 hours of non stop pop music it was worth its weight in gold. Well worht the ringing ears for the few days afterwards
Thursday 29 March 2001
I have been so tired lately. I have been travelling all over the place in
the last fortnight in strange hotel bedrooms and all sorts! Still this stuff for
work is hard going but it will be worth it in the end I think.
Poor Steve is probably wondering what I look like at the moment. He’s on late shifts and we seem to be ships passing in the night. He is having a rough time of things too as he struggles to find a new job, finalise his stuff for his exams and keep a horrid cold at bay. Poor luv I just wanna cuddle him tight and make it all better. Oh well fingers crossed that something works out ok soon. It also looks promising for me changing jobs in the near future with maybe even a promotion possibility - shock, horror!!!
Mum was formally discharged on Monday. Cath is still being a madam and this Christian bloke that shes going out with appears to be joining in with taking advantage of mum. I am right pissed off by it all but you can’t talk to Cath about it because she thinks you are interfering etc etc and she also knows that Mum doesnt really want her to move out. She can be a bitch at times without even trying. Other than that I think thats everything upto date for March. Roll on a week tomorrow when I am off for a week’s leave. Hurrah!
Saturday 21 April 2001
I hadn’t realised quite how long it has been since I updated this diary and
then I realised how much has happened and realised that it was ages ago!
Most things are good things over the last few weeks. Mum has now got her DSS benefits restored and been paid back the money since they were suspended. The funeral payment is still under appeal and I am not too sure quite when the appeal will be heard but I believe it will be sometime at the end of May - ooh can’t wait!
Work for me looks like taking a good turn. I have actually got my first preference to move to a newly formed part that deals with IT stuff. The actual job details still need some flesh on their bones but it should be a good deal more enjoyable for me. It will be nice to do something I want to do not just something I can do.
I have had a week off work. The week before easter, and completely revamped the front room in a major decorating extravaganza. It looks really cool now though. Nice laminate floor, light wood effects, open and airy and light. Very modern. Steve was off work for the week and we both mucked in on doing it all. It was bloody knackering but rewarding all the same. Still a few bits to fiddle with in the room but its looking prety damn swanky!
Unfortunately Steve is still having a bad time of it on the job front. Recent attempts have drawn a blank and the opportunities seem to be for ever ending. Life in the stalag is getting really bad which has caused him to be so stressed out. There is absolutely no caring for staff elements evident. So if anyone would like to offer Steve a job then please get in touch.
Its my birthday next weekend so I hope to have a little enjoyment then. I hope that this week I will find out a bit more on my job and if Steve can just get something new to go to then things would be so much better
Sunday 6 May 2001
Well its not been so long this time between updates but I guess it is yet
another month that has come along. So what news do I have to report now?
Well my birthday came and went. It was a bit of a damp squib really that ended up with me and Steve going out to the club alone. Other friends of mine had said they would be coming out but things changed. It was a tad disappointing but ya cope you know.
Work is tiring at the moment. I am having to juggle old job with new job as nobody has taken any work off me as of yet. I have some stuff sorted for the new job which looks good fun, but I have so much to learn about network systems its gonna be hard going. Well its all sent to try us is it not.
Steve seem to have his new job all sorted out now. Hopefully change after he does his GCSE exams. He seems a little more relaxed and calmer these days. But Ithink he has been going a little stir crazy in the house all this time.
Family seems to be fine for now, though I am not too sure what is happening with Cath these days. She just seems to pop up when she wants something and then disappear. Hmmm.
I have a number of aches and pains today as I spent most of yesterday tidying up the bedroom and putting a new bed together. A nice big king size bed that looks cool and funky.
Sunday 20 May 2001
Today is actually my sister’s birthday and yesterday was my Mum’s. I went
over to see mum and give her the birthday present I had purchased for her - a
mobile phone. Nothing to extravagant, just a philips Savvy on orange just talk.
I was over there for quite some time and I haven’t seen mum in such a perky mood
for a long time. As it looks like Cath will be moving out in the near future mum
is not too bothered. Yes little unnerved as she has never been on her own in the
house and every noise is 10 times louder, but she’s watching more TV and
settling herself. She is not well by any stretch of the imagination but she is
living with things better.
Well Steve went back to work on Monday and promptly handed his notice in. I dont think it came as too much of a surprise, but its a weight off his mind and he is just counting the days away. Unfortunately he is on all late shift this week which kinda makes things awkward, but we cope.
As for me, I feel like I have been racing round like a headless chicken. Trying to juggle 2 jobs at once until last Friday when I finally get shot of my old work - well kinda. There’s a two week gap between it being taken over and the new person proceeding with it. Oh well “think to the future”
Other than that everything is fine. I am a little concerned that I don’t seem to have had much time for my friends lately. I just don’t know where the time has gone. Probably when I am settled into the new job things will be a lot better. At least I should be able to concentrate on just the one thing then.
Tuesday 12 June 2001
I know! I know! the weeks drift pass and I still haven’t got things up and
running properly. Well be grateful that you are getting diary updates. As for
www.ribtickle.net I think I am being far too lazy and really need to pull my
finger out - yeh I know “don’t hold your breath”.
Work is kind of improving - though its still a very steep learning curve. I am beginning to get to grips with things but I have so much to learn about networks and systems admin. It is slowly coming together so although I am nervous I am not scared as much as I was. I also have my new manager in place now and Chris that I am now working with is a good egg and helping me all the time. It is a nice feeling to be in on the ground floor on something new. I also have to do a presentation of the results of a project I have been working on for the last year. It has been a team effort though but the first week of July a powerpoint extravaganza will take place - well we hope!
Outside of work things are ok. Steve has sat his last GCSE paper today so he’s coming back down to earth at the moment. And Friday is his last day at NTL - so a little bit of alcohol will be consumed me thinks. He starts work at HSBC on the following Monday but in the week between we are off to Paris for a few days. It will probably be the only real holiday we can do this year. Maybe another weekend break later in the year.
I went over Mum’s yesterday afternoon. Cath is moving out. mum has put her foot down because of the fuss and bother with Cath and Chris and just being there far more than they should. So Wednesday they move in together and mum is left to the peace of the house to herself. I think she will be ok about things now she is on her own again. At least she can do as she wants when she wants.
This is a Catch up summary for July and August. I shall try and keep it simple but apologies for the delays in adding this information.
 | The long awaited work project that has taken a year to prepare was presented to the very senior management team and went really well - thank god. |
| Steve’s training with HSBC continues. |
| Cath sorts out a flat for herself and Chris (her blokey) to move into. |
| Mum is doing ok but getting wound up on no news about the ongoing saga of Dad’s funeral payment from the DSS. |
| Sadly, Chris in work lost her mum. Her mum hadn’t been well and it wasn’t really unexpected but it was still not pleasant. |
| Went to my cousin Jackie’s wedding. Was a Batchelor family gathering which went a lot better than expected. |
| Work was damned hard, too much and not enough resources. |
| Lots of trips out of the office to sort out IT stuff, the new job is much better than the old one though. |
| A very busy month in work for me. Lots of stuff to get done before disappearing on jury service. A fair bit of friction with certain other staff members who don’t know how to get both their brain cells working at the same time. |
| Chris came back to work for a week before going off on holiday. |
| Steve has started with HSBC proper now and is really enjoying it. It is nice that he has fixed shifts every week. |
| We have planned and booked our next holiday, off to Denamrk for a week at the beginning of October. |
| Sold off some of Dad’s old radio equipment which seems to have brought in a few bob which is rather nice for mum. |
| I am trying to lose some weight again. Have upped the swimming now to twice a week and done some slim fast. Hard going but worth the result. |
Saturday 22 September
September and I haven’t made any updates for ages. I have put a July and
August update page together just to catch up with things for those months
because I know how long it has been with me not updating these pages.
Well the bulk of the beginning of September was spent doing jury service. Obviously I can’t say anything about the specifics of the cases but they were hard work and I ended up being on them a week longer than normal due to my second case running on so long. I think most people don’t realise how much brain power gets sapped doing it.
So that came and went for the bulk of August. Other than that its been an up and down sort of month. Back in work this week hasn’t been so bad other than lots to catch up on as would be expected. the anniversary of dad’s death was a little scary but went a lot better with the drop of alcohol I partook of that night. Mum was better than expected but had been wound up in anticiapation of the event.
Mortgages! Aaagh! I have also spent hours on phone calls etc. trying to get a good deal for my mortgage as I have a special rate that ends shortly and thought it would be a good idea to have a nice new deal to take over when it finishes. Its not as easy as it sounds.
I guess my last few comments for this entry should go towards the awful events of New York last week. I challenge anyone not to have been shaken by the events. Unfortunately, what is equally worrying is the build up of events in the foreseeable future. A full scale middle east war looks likely to ensue as George Bush takes on the world in his gung-ho Texan style!
Sunday 21 October
So we are now into October and the year is whizzing past. We have had the
most wonderful holiday in Denmark. I would recommend the place to anyone. Got
back from there just over a week ago fully relaxed and raring to go. I have
added some galleries of pictures from Denmark to check out too.
So why was Denmark so great? Well firstly the people were so nice and pleasant. Always helpful and thankfully their English was brilliant. We took the ferry over from Harwich to Esbjerg. Its a long 21 hour journey but was a nice trip. Esbjerg is on the west coast of the main Jutland penisnular so we had to get a train from esbjerg over to Copenhagen where we were staying for 5 nights. We also had trips to Legoland which was brilliant, lots of pictures from there and did a day trip over to Malmo in southern Sweden which was only a half hour train ride from Copenhagen across the Oresund bridge (an amazing engineering feat across the straights between Denmark and Sweden). We went out for meals and ate exceptionally well, and one very nice thing was that you didn’t have to go dressing up for dinner you just went as you are. Yeh, you could if you wanted but it wasn’t expected.
It was nice to visit such an accepting place. The Danes make something of how open they are and there wasn’t an eyelid batted whatever mix of sexes a couple were and whatever a person looked like. No prejudices at all. The pornography laws are very liberal over there but that seems to have now become part and parcel of the set up without any problems. It appears to have reduced sexually related crimes in the country too. We visited “museum erotica” one day which goes through the history of porn, and this was in the main shopping street in Copenhagen. How’s that for liberal views.
The other exceptional thing was the efficiency of the public transport system! It makes you wonder why that is not done in the UK! But the trains and buses are all interconnected and we were very impressed with the information displayed, the helpful staff and the fact that tickets covered everything. That was put to the test on our trip to Legoland which is in Billund central of Jutland. We had to catch a train so far , change to a bus and then get the right bus stop. We had one ticket for the whole journey. This detailed the stops on the trip and it went excellently. Legoland was a wonderful day out too.
The day trip to Malmo was pleasant enough but it is a lot smaller than Copenhagen and was quaint but not a great deal to do there really. Not quite a boring as Esbjerg which we called into for a few hours before catching the ferry back to Blighty. I shouldn’t knock it really as Esbjerg was pleasant enough, but it was a typical small seaside port with only a couple of streets of interest. Oh and a bit too much fish influence for my liking!
The ferry journey back was not very pleasant as the see was horrendously choppy and I my stomach decided to go into reject mode. The waves were coming over the top of the boat at one point! Still we got through it, skipped breakfast, and coped.#
So apart from our trip to Denmark, what else has been happening? Not a great deal to report. Family are well. Steve is doing ok with work, and my work is quite cool. Its nice to actually be doing something I enjoy in work now.
Finally, I have added the links page that was meant to have been on hear gawd knows how long ago. Thanks for the prompt P :o)
