So sad and so awful ...

Yesterday has to have been one of the worst days for work. One of our "other" ladies, who is on maternity leave, came in with her little boy. He is not quite two and is very funny. He was dancing around and we were all laughing and enjoying having such a sweet child with us. At 11.30 I went off to have my lunch, as I always do.

When I came back I noticed one of our ladies gone, but I assumed she was either out for a smoke or cuppa. Another lady came and said her husband had a heart attack. The lady who was on maternity leave left just as they were telling me. It was a really dreadful thing. One other lady was crying and later in the afternoon, we found out via a phone call that he had passed away.

I just have felt so very bad for this woman. She had been married to him since they were 19 years old and they had raised a family of five children together, including twins. They had been married for over thirty years. It is all so very sad, and so very awful.

I will write more later. Having a few computer glitches ...

My week so far ...

The old person will be home tomorrow as 1. he has run out of money and 2. It is a stand alone Saturday for Hawkesbury Racetrack. This came about when the Olympic Games were on in the year 2000 and the racing fraternity decided not to hold a city meeting for the Games Week. So Newcastle was given a stand alone day. There were dire predictions that it would be a doomed meeting and no one would turn up (because they would all be at the Games, right?). Ha. It was one of the best race days ever. All the city folk who normally went to city races went up to Newcastle and had a rip snorter of a day and declared it a success. So the city group grudgingly said they could have one day a year for a provincial stand alone Saturday.

Hawkesbury Race Course has its own train station. It is directly across the railway and road from Richmond Airforce Base and it probably one of the most beautiful racetracks in the Country. If it wasn't for the fact that it takes an hour and a half to drive there I would probably go more often. I guess the real sentimental value of it is that it is where I first got to meet Bell and pat her and see her actually run, even though she didn't race. They had only just bought her for the Derby Club and it was the first time we saw all the horses together. They had only just got Russian Romance as well. RR looked like a doll, and being chestnut was just a shiny red horse. Bell looked, and still does look, very utility. She never had the exotic looks of Night Whisper or the bread and butter guts of Measure of Luck. She never had the gumption that Wave a Wand had for busting up a field to win. Gumption is not her style.

But I was concerned in those days of the fact she was by Citidancer. Citidancer had sired a horse that had been a bleeder. That was in the days when they thought bleeders were a genetic thing, and I didn't know any better. Bell never bled, neither did Goldie when she raced. Bleeding is not a genetic thing but a condition caused by the horse not being fully fit for racing. It comes about in a similar way to shin soreness, running a horse not really ready for that level of work. Why they have to ban a bleeder for life isn't something I fully understand. They don't do it in the US. At least a bleeder mare doesn't have to be excluded from breeding.

Well, yesterday at work was another time the Boss decided I and another woman needed a bit of "reminding" about our work. I just thought it was that perhaps I didn't have the right attitude to my work and was nothing major so I just agreed, listened to the new work load I was to be given and let it go.

But the other woman, who is a really hard worker and good at organising was appalled and very upset by it. She came in distressed this morning and when the Boss was out of the office began telling us why it upset her. The others joined in and it turns out that another woman who only works part time at the opposite end of the week to me had complained. It was unfair on the first lady. Anyhow, I suggested that she needed to give herself a "get out clause".

She had mentioned previously she was interested in doing MYOB so that she could help her son in his business. The classes are at night and it is a good step to another job. I told her, " I wont beat around the bush, night classes are a bitch. But in the end you have the stepping stones to go on to a better job and work with better people." I told her about having to repeat this semester, but that I was learning more and will be in a good position to become a Web Designer with the stuff I was learning.

Besides, I told her, your son wants you to keep his books because he can trust you. If he has to send them outside, he risks the outsiders cheating him, but if you do the books for him he doesn't have that worry. So because I know she would do anything for her son, I think she will seriously consider it. So in the end, the "talk" may have turned into a good thing for her.

I seriously thought about finishing up there and then as well. If I was really as bad as they say I am, they wouldn't still give me work to do, they would complain more frequently and the Boss, now that I know him better, would be alot shittier towards me than he is.

Later when another, third woman, took his secretary aside and told her what had gone on, she said that if the Boss was really serious about telling us off he would have taken us into his office alone not with each other and certainly not with the supervisor as he had. She claimed it was only an appeasement to the other woman. She seemed to think he had only said anything to me at all because he didn't really want to say anything to the first woman so had generalised for us both.

I just said if there is a problem, perhaps the Supervisor should just say it to our faces.

I also noticed discrepancies over what was said and what is the actual true position of things and I am wondering why there are lies going on? If another person had not been involved, I would just think, they are picking on me and leaving others alone. But both of us?

Next time I will involve the union. It has got to the stage of being ridiculous.

Well, that is my moan and groan for the day.

The sister is coming tomorrow and we will have a good chat. The old person will go hide in his room and listen to the races. It will be good, because the boys are going to watch the Youtube episode of Dr Who from the BBC on the daughter's computer. That will keep them all out of mischief. It is pretty decent of the daughter as she does't particularly like her cousin Sunnyboy.

so till next I gripe ...

Not without my ...

...lunch! How about that, I forgot the canteen was closed for the holidays and had no lunch with me at work. I ended up buying a packet of chips from the vending machine and having that. Yuk. Had the munchies all afternoon. Way to go, dopey.

I will have to remember to make something before I leave in the morning.

Long days with very little work. There weren't enough desks for everyone, but since it was my day on the Switchboard, I got to sit at my normal desk. The two part timers are off tomorrow and Friday, so it will be okay. I think when my time is up in September I will go back full time till the end of the year break and finish up then. I will have about ten days leave due and my long service entitlement, should get me through till I can either start my own business or find another job. Whatever.

When the days are long with little work, I find I look forward to the weekend. Especially when I know I have things I can be doing at home. So full time work will be frustrating again, but at least I will have something to look forward to at the end.

I have run out of glue and can't get any till tomorrow night. Why I am finding this so annoying I have no idea but it is really bugging me. I guess I take my glues so much for granted. I use glue in almost everything I do, and as I expand my mixed media arts I will use even more, but I think there I can use liquid PVA glue and not have to worry so much.

I am thinking about packing all my "junk" and it will be a logisitical nightmare without throwing away much of what I have. (sob). So I will be allocating one of my four days off to culling and sorting all my things until it is all done. I will also begin my lists. I cannot travel without a list, so if I have them prepared it will make things easier. It is about the only time I keep a list, and it is silly, because I would probably be alot more organised in my life if I kept lists all the time. I also need to start journalling because I think journalling is good for organisation as well. If I force myself to do it to start off with it will become a habit pretty quickly.

I am getting tired now so I shall bid you a fond adieu. cheers ....

Fire ...

Friday at work, we had a fire drill. This consists of the Boss carrying on with his loud hailer for a few minutes then disappearing to push the Main Button to sound the Alarm. Our building fire warden, who is non other than his secretary, shoos us all out the door - and no, you can't go back for your cardigan. An arguement ensued for a moment with her and the woman who wanted her cardigan.

However, for me, five minutes before the alarm rang, a man turns up to enrol his son in the Apprentice course. He was told by the teacher to come, and when he had rung the switchboard, I had told him to come see me and I would take him to the teacher for the enrolment. I explained to him about the fire drill (rolling of eyes) and we walked to the nearby park where I took him to one of the other teachers. This was because the teacher who he was booked to see, was the fire warden for that building. He called by later to tell me they had been enrolled successfully and he was quite pleased about it all.

And prior to this on Wednesday, the Boss had actually asked me to type up the process sheets and laminate them for the Fire Drill. This was new, the Boss asking me to do work for him.

My classes are progressing. I have had four MySQL lessons and two Dreamweaver. This is because the Dreamweaver classes are on a Monday and last weekend was Easter. We have a revision in MySQL next Thursday and then an exam.

OMG

I have been taken to task for not posting. Well, I found that sitting too long at the computer in the heat was making my feet swell. Besides which, I have had to spend much time finishing off an Album for a lady at work. She came back from leave today, so I promised I would bring it in tomorrow. As I rather felt this was going to happen (even though someone at work said she wouldn't be back till Friday) and so I put in the extra effort. I will be taking photos tonight and will put them on my craft blog on the weekend.

TAFE enrolments are on Friday, so I am re-enrolling in my computer course and the daughter is enrolling in it for the year. She will be doing it mostly full time to finish in a year. I will do diploma in Semester 2, but she doesn't think she will - atpit.

The really good thing is that it will enable her to get better use of her computer as it is quite advanced technology with a gaming board in it as well. (We got the gaming board so that Grandson1 and I can go onto World of Warcraft, but so far we haven't - still winter beckons.)

I will write a much long blog over the weekend.

cya

Insanity rules ...

So the further adventures of getting to work Day 2:
I was running late this morning. Only half an hour, but oh, what a difference it made. No trains. Get the bus. The lift does not work, so I clamber down the stairs, ask the Cityrail person who points to another person. Luckily the bus pulls in just at that moment. All aboard. It is a little cramped, but sitting down. Bus turns around and drives off. Talk about the long way round. It took 45 minutes to get to East Hills station. Then I have to wait for the next train.
Waiting and then it leaves. Station by station. I was glad I wasn't going to the city.

Finally reach Padstow station. Walk down to Georges' to buy some salad for lunch. It is a mile from the station to work. Luckily it is downhill. Lucky too that it was not stinking hot. Got in at nine fifteen. Aaarrrgh! Lucky it was a Millenium train going home.

The Boss wants us to think up a name to have a Newsletter and put some pictures on it. Since I am doing computer studies, I get to look at clip art. Joy, oh, joy. I know full well that someone else will be doing the exact same thing and it will be their work that is selected. There is just no way known they will go with what I have selected - it just does not happen. But dilly me is still obliged to sit there goggling (and googling) at clip art. Not as there is all that much else to do, so I can't complain. I guess that is just the way it is in my life.

I am starting to look forward to the end of the year, let me tell you. No more employment, no more old person (I don't want to move to Queensland, what's in Queensland?), her ladyship will be off getting a foal, just peace and quiet. The daughter says she and the grandsons will look for a little cheapie farm, so later her ladyship can live with them. If I can find a nice little caravan on the coast somewhere, I shall be so happy. Well that is the theory anyhow, and what is going to keep me motivated for a few weeks at least anyhow. Till real life kicks in again.

I have asked the Sister and her Sunnyboy to visit on Saturday. We have some hot dogs for lunch and rice crackers with gerkin dip. Usually we don't have anything interesting. I will load her up with some tomatoes. Red, red, yummy sweet organically grown (thanks to Cody pooh) tomatoes. Even the wasps like them. lol.

Look at that lot. There were 17 of them there before we knocked them down. Right under the kitchen window. Real puce coloured they were. If ever you want to see what puce looks like, enlarge the photo and have a gander.

Insanity rules ....

Back to work ...

I returned to work today. It was a fairly good day, could have been filled with drama. Cityrail is busy upgrading its railways along our line, and for the most part has put on buses. However, it turns out that they are still running peak hour trains. I have to leave a little earlier in the morning and get in a little later due to a change along the way, but at least it is train travel and not the buses.

One of the guys at work, who lives even further out than me decided once to catch the bus. It got stuck in traffic for about two hours. So he decided to drive in. Yesterday he got stuck for almost five hours. Bugger that for a joke. I'll keep a bottle of water with me, as the train took almost an hour for a normally half hour trip. If it is any longer in the heat, it will be a killer. Luckily both trains today were Millenium trains and like fridges to sit in. It is only tomorrow and Friday. Next week will be back to normal.

Surprisingly everyone was pleased to see me back. I spent the day using a Stanley knife to cut teeny little squares in pieces of paper. The challenges of working in the Public Sector never cease to amaze me.

On the walk to the station, which is about a mile, there was a thunderstorm threatening, but it never came to be more than a few drops of rain. I am the biggest chicken when it comes to lightning. I can run faster than her ladyship the ex racehorse when it comes to that. The boy picked up from me to be afraid of storms, and he was as big a chicken as me.

The vet came out yesterday and gave her ladyship her second vaccine. He had to also take blood from her jugular vein. It took him three goes, and she was totally unimpressed. Still a carrot afterwards always helps. Vet was glad to be on his last run. He looked really tired. He still has his normal practice to run on top of all this EI. But he was quite chirpy and a little chatty.

I was able to finally tell him about the boy and how he died. He also confirmed that the operation that can be done does not give the horse quality of life, just drags it out indefinitely. The way we spoil our horses and give them the best food, farrier, veterinary care etc., he could have lived in misery for 25 years. So hard and all as it has been, I know for sure that I did the right thing putting him down.

His horses had EI, which would have been an added worry for him. Apparently they came through it okay, however. They have better immunity than is gained from the vaccines. However, a matter of demographics means that most of the horses on our side of the freeway did not get EI. Also, as I have previously written, we are pretty isolated here.

Still working on getting a buddy for her ladyship.

So it has been a not too bad couple of days...