2011

Well today is the 31st December 2011........tomorrow is a whole new year!!! In in an unusual turn of events, both hubby and I have the day off. Now there is something that never happened in hospitality. The only time we have ever had New Year off together, is when we have taken annual leave. So, are we going out...................are we heck! Having had a very misspent youth in the inhospitable industry, nothing could fill us with more dread...........paying to get into a pub that last night you could just walk in the door............double or triple the prices...............no thank you! So hubby and I are having a quiet night in, nice food, few bubbles and then some fireworks.

As is the norm for this time of year, I should really do a quick review of any major occurrences..... if I can remember anything that happened that is.

Well, on the births, death and marriages side, my second nephew was born in January, and there have been no deaths or marriages. Work wise, I have now been working for the police for over two years and hubby has been a bus driver for over a year. I had my gall bladder along with the two large stones that it contained removed at Easter. On the endless weight loss quest I took up running in October, and after nearly dying on the first attempt, can now run for three miles. We both went to South Africa at the end of August for two weeks, to meet second nephew, who really is the most lovely little chap.

This is Anthony a few months after we saw him, by now crawling and finding out the cat biscuits are the most wonderful play things!

Other than our two weeks in SA, we had a weekend at Longleat Center Parcs in April to celebrate eldest brothers 30th and first nephews first birthday, and then the week before Christmas we went to Elveden Forest Center Parcs with youngest brother and his girlfirend. Next year we hope to get to Cyprus in the autumn, hopefully meeting up with my sister and youngest nephew.We are also planning to go Northumberland around Easter time...........this is hubby's summer holiday - yeah I know, Easter is not summer, but this is the way the bus industry works apparently, holiday gets allocated for you and at bizarre times! We thought Northumberland as although we have been 'up north' a few times, we always go to the other side (family connections to Cumbria), and I have always wanted to go to Lindesfarne and Bamburgh castle. While in that neck of the woods, we might go to Newcastle, or even make it as far a Edinburgh, but who knows?

So what is 2012 going to bring? For me, we are currently 'under review' at work. This is what happens when the public sector is being made to pay for the bankers screwing up the economy!!! No, I'm not bitter................ but when your employer has to make £25 million worth of savings, and we don't actually make anything as such (peace and harmony maybe??), where do those savings come from...............yeap, from your biggest expenditure...............wages! I hope I will still have a job as I really like my job.............and if the truth be known, I think I will, but you can't count you chickens before their hatched and all that! So fingers and everything crossed please!

I am hoping that the running will continue to pay dividends and by the end of the year I will be much leaner and fitter. I may even pluck up the courage to actually enter a race.........you never know.

But now all that remains is for me to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2012.

Another Milestone - or three!

Well today is the end of the eighth week that I have been running, and I ran over three miles! Eight weeks ago I struggled to run for a minute, and now I can run two miles non stop - the three miles was achieved by having a two minute walk in the middle.

When I came back from South Africa at the beginning of September, I got on the scales, and while I was pleased that I had not gained massive amounts of weight, I had gained a bit. So, back on the diet again. Anyway, mid September saw me doing some overtime at another station, where I met a lady a bit older than myself who had taken up running and was competing in a 5k race. (Well it turned out to be 10k, coz she applied for the wrong one). She was so enthusiastic about her running, that she got me thinking.

It is always said that to lose weight effectively that you must exercise as well as diet. Now I have done the gym thing and frankly I find it really boring, not to mention the cost. So, running is free (more or less) so why not give it a go. At first it was hard, but the results are paying off, and I have now lost nearly two stone since we came back from holiday, and I can now run three miles!

Mundaneness

Well, again it has been getting on for a month since my last confession...........er I mean blog! A week of nights followed by lates has accounted for some of it, but other than that, I have no idea where the time is going. The year is racing away at a rapid speed and is showing no sign of slowing down!

A few mundane items to report. The vote was yes in the strike ballet - stunningly lowly turnout, but those that bothered to vote, voted yes, so unless the government decide to actually negotiate, instead of make a rather lame offer then add a threat, next Wednesday some of us may be on a picket line. I'm technically on a rest day, so not sure what I am going to do. Also, I have never been involved in a strike before, so am not sure what I need to do.

We have finally been told what is happening with our jobs. Was not actually a huge shock when it came, and not as bad as it could have been. The worse thing is that we now have to say where we want to work, and there is no guarantee you'll get where you are now. But a job is better than no job I suppose.

The running is going well. I can now manage 15 minutes without collapsing of a heart attack, which when you consider about 6 weeks ago I could not run anywhere, I feel a certain amount of achievement!

Christmas is now only 4 weeks away but we have our four nights a Centre Parcs before that. Really looking forward to it as it will be great to do nothing but chill out, veg and consume copious amounts of alcohol!!

The clutter has to go!!!

Ok, time to bare my soul and be ruthless. I have a house full of clutter and it HAS TO GO!!!!!!

I waver between the resolute, sensible declutterer.....................I've not used this, need it, have no idea what it is......so it is going; to the sentimental, dreamy, it might come in useful one day..........what if I had to go an buy it........so let's keep it!!!!!

Decorating the bedroom has caused me to re-evaluate my clothing! Prime example is tights!!! I hate tights, detest them, won't wear them out of choice. I am a trousers girl and on the odd times that is might wear a skirt / dress, tights are not required. However, when I worked at Cliveden, they were a touch old fashioned (and had obviously never heard of sex discrimination laws), and my uniform involved a skirt, with which I was required to wear tights.

Anyway, heaving the furniture around the bedroom to decorate, I discover that I have a whole drawer just full of tights that I used to wear at Cliveden. I left Cliveden over six years ago, and those tights were washed and then put away in that drawer, where they have sat ever since. They are gone now.............what was the point in keeping them. I kept a couple of pairs on the very slim off chance that I may require a pair in the future and the rest went in the bin!!!

I have also done the same with my t-shirts. T-shirts long worn out, but kept for sentimental reasons (so and so brought that for me from.........), who have not seen the light of day for years, have gone.

Now, just to tackle the rest of the house!

Things have been busy!

Well, it has been getting on for a month since I last posted anything, but I have been a touch busy. The main thing that I have been busy with is redecorating our bedroom, which has been a work in progress as I have had to do this on days off.

This is what we have lived with for the last few years - well about 12. And underneath is / was a rather horrid tone of turquoise, which was not really an improvement on the wallpaper.

And below is the 'feature' wallpaper we have chosen, along with the new paint. You can also see the horrid turquoise to the right............got to take the curtain rail down to put the final piece of paper up. You can also see our lovely new bed and posh bedding (from John Lewis no less!)

The other thing that has occupied my time is that I have started running..........well staggering about giving my lungs the impression that I deposited them in a vacuum!!!! I am not a runner so I got one of these 'couch to 5K' training plans. The first session was run for a minute and then walk for two and repeat five times and I managed it just..........but running for a minute......OMG!!!!

Well, yesterday, after three weeks I ran non stop for 5 minutes. Not much you may say, but for me, a massive achievement. I could not have done that three weeks ago..........and I did it four times!!!

I also have to report a new experience, I have had to vote in a strike ballot. My union, UNISON is balloting all its members on strike action over the government attacks on our pensions. Now, we all know that the country is broke, and so we are in lean times. The press has been very vitriolic about the cost of public sector pensions, and how the public sector are going to have to pay more.

Now my pension is part of the Local Government Pension, which is self funding..........not going to cost the tax payer anything to bail it out, unlike some other public sector pension schemes! I pay 6.5% of my salary towards it (higher than the national average for private sector pensions). Now the government wants me to pay more.............ok, I don't have a problem with this, if I need to pay more to get a decent pension, so be it. But this extra money will not be going towards my pension...................no, the government are going to be taking it to bale themselves (and the country) out of the shit!

So, this extra that the government want us to pay is actually a TAX on public sector workers. The government won't talk to the unions about it, months of negotiation have got nowhere, so hence the strike ballet. Now I don't believe that the strike will actually achieve anything, other than piss of the public as a whole, but I'm pretty pissed off that the government won't even talk!

???

So, got the previous two posts to post.............finally!!

Don't ask me how, other than it was some roundabout way.

I am sure that this post will cause similar problems!!!

Still hate computers sometimes!!

Grrrrrr!

So, yesterdays post refuses to post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate computers sometimes.

Things are never as they seem

Well, my last post told of the immersion going pop, and us having to replace it...................well!!

Of course, life is never easy...............when hubby went to change the immersion, we discovered why it went pop in the first place................top of the tank was corroded. So, £200 plus later, we now have a new hot water tank.

And while we are on the subjects of why things are never as they seem, can someone please tell me why full to half full on the petrol tank is more than half full to empty. Today, I got in my car to come home, and part way home I noted that I had done 300 miles since I last filled up. When I filled up, the petrol gauge read 3/4 full. At the 300 mile mark, the petrol gauge was on 1/4 full. This was what is was on 13 miles later!!!!

How come 3/4 to 1/4 is 300 miles, and 1/4 to just above empty is 13 miles???

And todays pain in the backside is.............?

So, last night shift concluded this morning at 7am, and I made it home fairly swiftly and was in bed and asleep before 8m. Of course then I was woken by Santander at 8.39am!!!!! Who calls at 8.39am for gods sake?? Of course the lady couldn't tell me anything without taking me through security questions, which I was not about to do, having just been woken from a very deep sleep.......albeit, only about 50 minutes of it.


Anyway, back to sleep I went, only then to be woken by my alarm at midday...yawn! So, I stagger out of bed and off to Asda I head to get the stuff I need for my baking session. As per normal, Asda did not have everything that was on my list........this time it was cocoa. My last tub, Cadbury's, was purple.........you know, Dairy Milk colour, and all they had was Cadbury's Bournville, which as all chocolate experts know is the dark chocolate, red wrapping.....well the tub is red too. Well when I actually compared the contents, they appear the same, so I have to confess I am not sure what the difference is.


So, let the baking begin. I had to make a cheese and tomato quiche, a lemon and lime cheesecake, both for a party tomorrow and also a gugelhupf which hubby demanded. Gugelhupf is an Austrian cake, plain and chocolate, with a hole in the middle........it's lovely for breakfast!!!
So, pastry made and chilling, cake made and in the oven and I decide to switch the immersion on so I have hot water for washing up.


What I was not expecting was for there to be a popping sound and the light to go out. Bugger, that will be the immersion not working then. Not that I could do anything about it, as checking things like the fuse would involve turning the electric off, not a good idea with cake in the oven.


So, couple of hours later, cake baked, quiche made and cooked, cheese cake made, I was finally able to turn the electric off and change the fuse. Flick the switch carefully, with a cringe......and nothing happens. Oh yeah, might be an idea to turn to electric back on first.!!! So, power back on, and replay.......flick switch carefully and cringe..............and flash pop. That will be the fuse again, figure the thing must have a short.


So, a trip to B&Q is coming on for a new immersion. Luckily, they are only about £22 and according to the DIY book, they are quite simple to change.................after you have drained down the hot water tank that is!!! Glad we are on rates, not a meter. I had a shower this evening with the remains of the hot water............tepid now. Have to say, am not looking forward to washing my hair in cold water tomorrow.

Hundreds and Thousands!!!

Now these two pictures below are how I remember hundreds and thousands of my childhood.

These are what Asda call hundreds and thousands. Sorry, I was not about to tip them all out, but can you spot the difference???

I'll help you............rainbow they are not!! They are pink, yellow, white and beige.

Beige?????? Since when was that a colour of the rainbow, what happened to green, blue???

To strike or not the strike...........that is the question?

The above title is my current status on facebook, as I have woken up this afternoon (I am currently on nights) to the following article on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14907909

So, I am a member of UNISON and hubby is a member of UNITE (yes, them of BA strikes ruining every ones hols, including nearly mine, in December 2009). Now I work in the public sector and hubby works in the private sector. So, according to the article, both unions are going to ballot their members on strike action!


Now last night, well the early hours of this morning, I was reading an article from my union, about the attacks that George Osborne (Chancellor) and Eric Pickles (Local Government Minister) are planning on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). As a public sector employee, this is the scheme that I am in and I pay 6.5% of my salary into this. Now I don't remember all the arguments, but one thing I do remember is the the LGPS is self funding, and the government plans of increasing contributions, for less money at an later retirement age, will mean many will leave the scheme, so it will cease to be self funding, and then will end up costing the government more money.


Now I am not so against having to pay a bit more, I am not even so upset that I will be 67 by the time I retire, but I would like to get a decent pension at the end of it. It just shows that employment law in the country is not worth the paper it is written on. You have a contract of employment.............you work and in return you get certain benefits.......salary, pension, etc. But oh, if the government decides it wants to change this, you have no recourse, and if you dare to try an object, by striking say........you are 'deeply irresponsible'.


Anyway, apparently we are now going to be balloted to on strike action and now I am going to have to decide whether to strike or not. Striking sort of goes against everything I have been brought up to believe and hold dear, so my gut instinct is no. But, the unions have been attempting to negotiate with the government for some time now, and basically the government is not interested. God, I hate decisions like this.


And then there is hubbys union. Now hubby works in the private sector, does UNITE represent public sector workers ??? Or will it be a sympathy strike vote? Could be interesting as hubby has had one pay rise already this year and will get another one at the end of the year, and his company have not changed their final salary pension scheme.


Now, some of the comments on the BBC article are supportive and some are not..............and I have only read some of them. But what some of those who are critical should remember, when the comment that at least we have a job and pension, many public sector works don't have a job anymore, and many more of us are under threat, as the government as well as cutting our pensions, not allowing us a pay rise (and Local Government employees did not even get the £250 or what ever it was to help those on the lowest wages), is also cutting our jobs. I particularly like this comment:- 'They are paid as well for in many cases doing less work' Yeah, if I was doing this job in the private sector I would be paid more than I am on now thank you very much!!


But I feel a difficult decision coming on and I really do not have an inkling of what the answer is!!

Traffic Lights

I was on my way to work last night, and as I am on nights, I get to park at the police station. So there I was, driving through Oxford, and I got thinking...........there are rather a lot of sets of traffic lights.


The distance from the M40, to the police station, is 9 miles, give or take the odd inch and do you know how many sets of lights I have to pass through???? On the way into Oxford, 25!!!!!!! On the way out, I do slightly better, there are only 23. This includes two pedestrian crossings whose default setting is red, that's red for cars and pedestrians.


So Oxford city council is always going on about the pollution levels in the city centre, so much so, that after banning everything but buses and taxis between 7.30am and 6pm, they would prefer that we all sat at a red traffic light, engine running, adding to the pollution, while no-one crosses the road.

I ask you!

When I was searching the web for a picture of traffic lights, I had to choose this one, as it has a first bus in it!!!

Effing typical!!!!!

I knew it ......... I DID NOT HAVE TO TAKE MY SHOES OFF!!!!

Trauma!!!

Well, tomorrow we are off on hols, we are all checked in, so just the packing left to do and then the trauma of negotiating airport security!


Now, I don't have issues with flying, I just find it VERY boring.............there are many more, more productive things I could be doing, rather than stuck in a ling metal tube with screaming children. The sooner we can teleport the better, but until then, if you want to go anywhere further than Europe, realistically you have to fly.


This then means the trauma of airport security. All I can say is that it is lucky that the 9/11 hijackers died at the time, as I would cheerfully kill 'em myself for subjecting us to the trauma we have to now go through. Unfortunately it is made much worse by the small people who have been given a little power, which they can now weld with that big stick called 'security' and they have the ultimate weapon...........you don't do as I say, then you can't fly!!!!


The one that really bugs me is the take off your shoes. Now if this rule was applied to everyone, fair go, but it isn't. Basically it is me and my mother...............it is obviously genetic - she is the 60+ terrorist grandmother, and I am the 30+ (ok I am closer to 40, but I am not putting -40) terrorist, who probably has higher security clearance than the fascist who is telling me to take off my shoes!!!!!!!


AND HAVE BAA NEVER HEARD OF CLEANING THEIR FLOORS??????


Well tomorrow I am going to beat them..............I have got some of the shoe cover things that SOCO use, so when they tell me that I have to take off my shoes, I can at least keep my socks clean! You wait, I won't have to take my bloody shoes off tomorrow, you'll see!

It's not fair!!!

Apparently it's not fair that all these little darlings who engaged in a bit of rioting, arson, breaking and entering and theft last week, are now being made to pay for it by being sent to prison!!!!


WTF!!!!! (that's WHAT THE FUCK!!!! just in case you don't get the short hand). Explain to me how it is fair for the people who have lost their homes, businesses and livelihoods, not to mention us the tax payer who have to pick up the bill???


We keep hearing about this is just a product of our broken society, the youth of today have no future. Well, you reap what you so, and this is a product of the Labour Party and their everyone is equal and no-one has to take responsibility and discipline is a dirty word policies!!!!!!!

What do swans eat??

On Wednesday hubby and I went to Bath for the day. We have been to Bath many times..........it's a pretty city, with plenty to see and do, lots of shopping and nice places to eat. Unfortunately it is also rammed with tourists, but nowhere is perfect!!!

Anyway, cheapie train tickets in hand (£5 each), and the fact the First run the buses in Bath, off we went. We decided to visit Prior Park, a National Trust property on the edge of the city - we're members of the NT, so free entry.

So there we were, sat on the banks of the pond by the palladian bridge, having out picnic lunch watching the swans and I suddenly thought 'what do swans eat?' Bread..............ice creams???

Apparently grass, pond weed, tadpoles and insects!!!!

Hubby is another year older!!

Well it is hubby's birthday today, but he was working we aren't doing anything today. In fact he is on what bus drivers call a 'spread over', which translated into non bus speak, means a split shift, ie he has a gap in the middle. Now actually he is quite lucky, as the way it works at his garage is that the company does not pay them for 40 minutes, which is their meal break, but pays them for anything over the 40 minutes. That means although he can have about 3 hours off in the middle of his shift, apart from 40 minutes, the rest is payed. And he can do what he wants...........do home, go shopping............what ever he wants, how cool is that!!


So, I dragged myself out of bed in time to catch the 09.21 bus to Wycombe, so I could catch the 10.10 bus to Slough to meet hubby when his break started at 10.49 (ish). We then went for a coffee and then I took him to lunch. We really pushed the boat out and did pizza huts all you can eat buffet for £6.95 per person........................well his choice, he likes pizza and we couldn't really go to a pub as he had to go back to work!!!


I then caught the 14.10 bus back to Wycombe, to get the 16.05 bus home. For some strange reason we don't have a bus to the village around 3pm.............I am sure Arriva have a reason for this, other that customer inconvenience, and we can't even blame the cuts in council funding to bus companies, as we had this strange gap prior to the cuts.


Anyway it allowed me to pop into Tesco to get hubby a cake, as he announced over lunch he wanted one. Then I got to see the air ambulance land, just behind the bus on the way home as the road was blocked with an IRTC (that's injury road traffic collision in plain speak!)


I should also point out that it was exactly a year ago that hubby got his licence back from the DVLA with his provisional bus entitlement on it allowing him to embark on his new career!!!

Well, the DVLA came up trumps!!!!

Yes, hear the shock in my voice. Licence sent 1st class on Wednesday 13th, returned to me on Friday 22nd.............with everything correct.


So I have to take it all back, my skepticism was undeserved, they came up trumps.


Though if I am going to moan, my old licence expired at the end of August, but as we will be in the Southern Hemisphere then, I did the renewal when the reminder came through. My new licence is valid from the day they issued it, for one day less than ten years............so in effect I have lost a month. Now as the passport people can give you up to nine months credit if you renew your passport early, I don't see why the DVLA can't do the same. Now I know my entitlement to drive has not changed, but if you have to pay £20 every ten years for a new licence, and you renew slightly early, then you aren't getting 10 years are you...............if you see what I mean.????

Let's just give it all away

Yeap, the government are at it again, giving away money that we can ill afford. £23m to the relief effort in Somalia. The US has given half that and countries like Germany, just £3m. Some bloke from the International Development Agency has said that the UK is leading the way, and other countries are not doing enough.


While you cannot blame anyone for the drought, let's just look at Somalia shall we.................civil war for god knows how long, religious extremists (well, probably a gang or tribe using religion as an excuse) trying to take over, no effective government since the year dot..............I am not saying that we shouldn't help people, but why do we have to be giving so much, and should we not be doing more to prevent the drought having such a devastating effect.

No choice.

When DVD's first came out, I remember saying to hubby that we would be forced to watch things by the DVD producers, and how right I was. In the old days of VHS tapes (remember those?) we could fast forward through the boring bits, but now no more. How often have you pressed the skip / fast forward button on the DVD remote only to be told that 'operation prohibited by disc', usually the legal stuff, telling you that it is illegal in most most of the know world to make unauthorised copies.


I was watching an old DVD today (Monsters' Ball if you are interested) and you get the legal stuff scrolling up the screen. No one reads it. If you are like me you resort to angrily pressing the fast forward button, or DVD menu button, before swearing at the TV when you get the dreaded message 'operation prohibited by disc'. More modern discs show you a little film with a jazzy soundtrack, telling you that you wouldn't steal and handbag, or a car, so why steal a movie.


Of course you would if you thought you wouldn't get caught. Most of us know right from wrong, and it is the fear of getting caught and the possible punishments that you prevent you from breaking the law!!!

A change from the usual!

Today I have a day off, as did hubby. Shock I hear you say, but since we got a life, it does happen much more frequently than in the inhospitable industry. I also had yesterday off, but was doing overtime at Cowley. To be honest, most of my time I was bored out of my mind as the good people of Cowley only seem to be able to visit the station in packs ie: see no-one for two hours, then six people all come in together!!!


Now, most of you will know from previous blogs, my days off are usually spent in domestic drudgery, you know, the washing, cleaning and ironing etc. But today we............or rather I, decided to have a change from the usual. For part of my birthday pressie (that'll be back in December), hubby bought me the box set of the Twilight Saga on blue ray. Now we have seen the first one many times..............about four, in an effort to start watching the rest, but for some reason have never got much further. We did start watching the second one, New Moon, but we both fell asleep. As the weather was crap, hubby suggested a lazy day in front of the TV, and that we finally watch the Twilight Saga.


So this is what we did. I resisted the call of the full dirty washing basket, and the bathroom that needs cleaning, or the kitchen floor that needs washing. Guess they can wait until tomorrow, but I can now report that we have now watched the entire saga, back to back, and I really enjoyed them.

Back to waiting on the DVLA

About this time last year, hubby entered into the waiting game with the DVLA as he waited for them to approve his medical info and let him have a provisional licence to drive a bus. As per my previous post, it has reached the time for me to renew my photo card licence, so I now am playing the waiting game with the DVLA.


When I went onto work yesterday, I photocopied my licence in colour, so should the DVLA make a mistake, I have a copy of what I used to have. Not that I am saying they will make a mistake, but the data in putters at the DVLA are payed by the keystroke - ie, the faster they type, the more they get paid.........call my cynical, but could this lead to mistakes??? I also have to say, as due to the day job, I do have access to the DVLA records via the PNC, I have seen the odd mistake.


Anyway, that aside, licence was posted first class yesterday, so they should have got it today. Now they say that they aim to return licences within three weeks, so hopefully it will be back long before we go on hols for the last two weeks of August. So.........back to the waiting game!!!

New Driving Licence

Had a letter from the DVLA the other day, I have to renew my driving licence, so fill in the form and send money. You see, in the UK, if you have a photo card licence (and these are the only ones that you can now get), although your entitlement to drive is until you are 70, your photo is only valid for 10 years, so every 10 years you have to update your photo, and pay the DVLA £20 for the privilege of doing so. Now nothing, I repeat nothing, has changed on my licence, and to be honest, while I am of course 10 years older in my photo, I haven't changed that much. So, why do we have to do this at all, and how come it costs them £20 to scan a new photo and print me out a new card? After all I have to put a stamp on the envelope to get to them, and I bet they send it back 2nd class!


So, off I go into Wycombe to get the photo's done, bit like having your passport ones done..........no covered head (unless for religious or medical reasons), look straight ahead, no covered face, no glasses and NO SMILING. God forbid you want to look happy in your passport photo, or driving licence photo. I have a few other bits to do, collect package from post office, buy, write and post mother-in-law's birthday card, as her son has forgotten it is her birthday tomorrow (even though it is on the calender that rules our lives, and I put a weeks warning on the calender too), order hubby more contact lenses, book him a contact lens appointment, buy some jacket spuds for tea (from Tesco - this is important) and then off to Sainsburys to use the photo machine to get photos for the driving licence.


On the way to Sainsburys, I meet a friend who I haven't seen for a couple of months so we go and get a coffee and catch up. She then needs to rescue her car from the car park and I head off the Sainsburys. Of course when I get there, the machine is in bits, and an engineer is there. 'Is it broken' I ask. Engineer says it will be about half and hour. He then asks if I am in a rush 'Well not a rush as such, but I can't wait half an hour'. So he then says the a lots of photo machines in Wycombe. I look skeptical at this, for the only two I know are Morrisions (a bit of a trek on foot from the town centre) and Sainsburys, which is conveniently opposite the bus station. I have now discovered that both Boots and Tesco have them. Remember that I said I had gone into Tesco to get the jacket spuds for tea!!!! So back I go. It then took me three goes to get a photo that was ok, though I am still not too happy with it, but you only get three goes.


Anyway, off to the bus station to get the bus home, and what do I discover when I get home.......I already had photo's, as I had to get new photo's done for the magic pass. Bugger, and they cost me £5 quid too!!!!

I sometimes feel like I am living in a different world!

Yesterday, a rather stroppy character came into the station to get some property back. Policy is (and it was reiterated on our white board where the property details go), that ID must be shown in order for someone to claim their stuff back...............don't want to be giving it to the wrong person do we know? Anyway, after claiming that his ID was with his stuff (which it was), he then started telling me what items of clothing should be in his property. Chappy said there should be a black pair of trainers and a pair of jogging trousers. Only he did not use the words trainers or jogging bottoms/trousers, he used words that I now cannot remember, (though I think the word he used for trainers was kicks) and had no idea what they meant, so I had to ask him what they were in English!!!!!!


Then today, watching an old episode of Stargate SG-1 on Sky 2, up came an advert for 'The Glee Project' Now, I know that Glee is some American TV program that is rather popular, but other than that, I was in the dark. I asked hubby what is was about and he failed as he was unable to tell me. So I have now googled Glee and wonderful Wikipedia tells me that it is an American TV show about a Glee Club in an American High School. Wikipedia then tells me that Glee Clubs are basically singing clubs and the first one was at Harrow School in 1787, and that they were very popular in England until the 1850's when they were replaced by choral societies, but that the term remains in use in the US and Japan for what we call choirs. So, the TV program is about a school choir............I fail to understand the hype!!

What is a suitable time to cold call people??

I had a cold call at 21.15 this evening. I pointed out that it was 9.15 on a Friday night and not a suitable time to be calling people, but what is a suitable time?


I know these people are just doing a job, and I try to be polite, and if I am not interested I just say so, I don't subscribe to all this just leaving them talking to thin air, or blowing a whistle down the phone. It does irritate me slightly when I saw 'it's not convenient right now' and they respond it will only take 5 minutes. That may be so, but not convenient means not convenient if it is 1, 5 or 50 minutes!!!


I think before 9am and after 7pm is not suitable, and never on a Sunday, though I guess Saturday is ok.

Thing I read!

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9126740.Bus_driver_facing_disciplinary_procedures_after_incident_with_elderly_passenger/?ref=rss


I came across this on the Internet the other day, and it concerns hubby's company (though not his operating division), I read it with interest. I also then read the comments and just a few things sprung to mind. Now, it would appear that the bus driver does appear to have behaved inappropriately, but then we get to the comments, and of course it degenerates into a 'let's slag off bus drivers session'.


1. So, the timings of the concession pass (the thing that allows OAP's to travel free a bus) are set by the government (after 09.30 I believe). Local councils then have the discretion to extend this time if they wish (for example Oxford lets their OAP's travel after 09.00). Now the bus companies claim back the cost (at a flat rate) from the council. Bus drivers have this thingy (called a module) that they plug into the ticket machine and it watches their every move (well records all the tickets they sell, etc, including how many concession passes get on). When they sign off at the end of the day, the bus company then downloads all the info and this tells them what they should claim from the council.


So, bus driver lets OAP travel before time. If he presses the 'concession pass' button on the ticket machine (before the relevant time), do you think the bus company can claim the money??? No, I think not, council will say, to early! So, in effect, bus driver has let OAP travel for free. What does free travel then equal?? Basically the driver is giving away company money.............which amounts to theft. Most companies consider theft gross misconduct for which the penalty is instant dismissal. So, bus driver sacked. I wonder how many OAP's consider that when they say to the driver 'well it's only a few minutes'. Hubby has had an OAP say to him, 'well I'm not going to get off the bus and I am going to stand here in the door until it is time'................so it is ok to delay all the other passengers (who have paid for their tickets) then??


2. Then person who gripes about drivers not having enough change. Hubby has a £10 float provided by the company. So person gets on the first bus of the day (about 03.30) and wants a £3.60 ticket and hands over a £20 note.................driver has £10 worth of change................were is additional £6.40 going to come from then???? Now they have these things called 'unpaid fare vouchers' which involve much writing of details of person, who is supposed to provide some type of ID. Driver then then hands this over and the company will then write to the person and ask for payment. Hmmmm, more cost and doesn't then equal price rises. And strangely enough, hubby says most people suddenly find they have change after all.

Selfish or mad?

When I was coming home today, it was rush hour, so the roads were a touch busy. Now the route my bus takes out of Oxford, back to Thornhill Park & Ride, goes along one of the main routes in and out of the city. Now for big chunks of it there are bus lanes (the red tarmac), but someone in their wisdom decided that cyclists should also use the bus lanes - hmmm, lets just put the smallest vehicles on the road in the same place as the biggest, stunning idea that one. But anyway, that is the way it is and most of the time it works ok. But as well as bus lanes, Oxford also has cycle lanes, and where the pavement is wide enough, they are also the cycle lanes, though they are clearly divided. (Click on the link below, to view the stretch of road in question, with bus lane and cycle lane)


So my bus stops at the lights on the junction with Headley Way. After the junction, by the White Horse pub (the building with the large car park in link below), the bus lane begins, and the cycle lane begins on the pavement. There were several cyclists who once they crossed the junction got onto the cycle lane. But one, after going through a red light (he turned left out of Headley Way), decides he is going to ride in the bus lane. Now normally the bus will just overtake, but because it was rush hour, the traffic was all backed up, so no overtaking. Then he proceeds to cycle along, without a care in the world, occasionally slowing down so he could look at his watch, wipe his face, fiddle with something on his bike........ and the fact that he is holding the bus up; well he seemed oblivious.


Now I suppose you could argue he had a right to be there. But unfortunately the bus can't use the cycle lane, and it does make you wonder why he wanted to cycle with a massive double decker up his arse............mad or just selfish!



http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=London+road,Headington,+Oxford&hl=en&ll=51.757773,-1.218821&spn=0.000387,0.001711&sll=51.754662,-1.229118&sspn=0.01238,0.038409&t=h&z=20

Don't go to war in the wet!!!

During the latest spell of bad weather, the thunder and heavy rain played havoc with Sky, so no decent TV. As it would appear with most things in this country, satellite TV is affected by weather, something to do with the rain, the thunder, the snow or what ever getting in the way of the signal between Eurosat1 (or whatever the thing is called) and the dish attached to my house, just above my dining room window.


Now we have had Sky for a fair few years now, and we have become used to the picture breaking up, or the dreaded 'no satellite signal being received' massage appearing on the blue screen of death! Usually it is thunder (and lightning), very heavy rain or snow that effects it.........I wonder if BSkyB is also trading as Railtrack????


Anyway, the first time it happened I was home alone (this was still in the hospitality phase of our lives, so hubby was at work), and the picture kept breaking up. As hubby had arranged for the installation of said Sky, I called him at work (remember, he wasn't driving a bus then, so could answer the phone at work. If he did it now it would be P45 time!) and said it ain't working. So then hubby educated me into the fact that the satellite signal is affected by the weather.


Now I had a little think about this, and when he came home I was forced to ask..............what the hell do the armed forces do then, as all their communications etc are done by satellite..............not go to war when it rains? So...............maybe this global warming lark will not be so good for world harmony.

Card Charges

The Office of Fair Trading has ordered travel companies to end the use of hidden card charges. According the an article on the BBC airline, ferry and rail customers spend £300 billion a YEAR in hidden charges. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13932299


It's funny isn't it, you go into Tesco, or Asda, or Next or whoever, hand over your plastic, be it credit or debit card, the thing is swiped, the computer says 'yes' (or occasionally no), and you pay the exact amount that your goods total, with no hidden charges or fees. You book your flight, or your ferry crossing or train tickets on line, and BANG, hidden charge for using a card. It's online FFS, how else are your going to pay................stuff pound notes down the telephone line????? I wish!


Now I know that companies have to pay to have card machines, typically the charge for using a credit card is 2% or the transaction fee, debit cards works on a flat fee basis, about £0.20 -£0.50 I believe. But this is all part of doing business isn't it? And surely, if the retailer takes sensible precautions, card payment is relatively secure, better than cheques for example. After all, if the funds aren't there, the computer says no!!!


There are a few places that will charge you to pay by credit card as opposed to debit card; hotels for example, several I have worked in have levied charges if people wish to pay with credit card, but it appears to be online travel merchants that are the worst culprits. Some of the cheapie airlines only don't charge you if you pay be Visa Electron, and only about two financial institutions in this country offer Visa Electron, and one of them is getting rid of it. It is also, bit like Solo (now also gone), often offered to those people with a very poor credit rating - you can only use it if you physically have the money in your account, you can't pre-authorise (something hotels do a lot of). Suspect that's why the cheapie airlines like it.


Now when you use your credit or debit card to pay for goods online, you often have a little pause while the transaction is authorised. This is just like when the chip and machine dials your bank and checks if you are solvent enough to buy the entire summer collection in Gap!!! So, the booking website calls your bank and asks if you have enough cash, or credit, to fly to the moon (and back), and if so, the transaction is authorised, and baring card fraud and the merchants negligence, they get the money, and you get to go to then moon!!!


Part of me understands the charge, but I would actually understand it more if the high street levied it...............after all, you could actually go to the bank and get the cash. But when you buy online, you don't actually have a choice do you? As I said, I can't physically get the pound notes down the phone line, so how else do I pay, if not by card???

Weather

Now if I remember correctly, from my geography lessons, the UK has either a maritime climate or temperate climate. Both, if memory serves, mean lots of rain (yes), cold (but not really cold) winters and warm (but not really hot) summers.


Now we have all become used to train delays being caused by 'leaves on the line' in the autumn, and slippery rails (in winter). Now we have a new one, the heat causes the overhead electricity cables to sag, so risking the trains ripping them down. So now we have the wrong kind of leaves, the wrong kind of snow and the wrong kind of heat!!!!


So, how do other countries manage. Spain has a railway system (I have used it), and Spain gets very hot in the summer, but their trains still run. What about Russia, it has a railway system (again, I have used it) and it does not come to a standstill in the winter.


So tell me this, if other countries, who suffer greater extremes of weather and/or temperate than the UK, manage to have a transport system that does not grind to a halt as soon as it gets hot, or cold.............why can't we?????

Pain in the elbow

Well, tennis elbow to be precise!

Around Christmas time I developed a pain in my right elbow. At the time I thought I had just pulled a muscle, and figured it would sort itself out. Anyway, come February, when it still hurt, I decided a trip to the doctors was in order, and sure enough tennis elbow was diagnosed.


Now I don't play tennis - never have, and I hadn't taken up any new sport or activity, nothing had changed either at home or work that I could think of that would cause the inflammation, but the doc said take Ibuprofen tablets, or try the Ibuprofen gels, that should help.


Well it did help, made the pain go away, while I was taking them. But as soon as I stopped taking them, pain came back. So, I finally got round to going back to the doctors today. He agreed, should have sorted itself out by now. So now have stronger drugs. plus another drug to stop my stomach being upset, as the stronger drug can cause upset stomachs.


All I can say, is I hope that it works, as I am fed up with the pain in the elbow!!

I must be getting old!

While I was waiting at the bus stop this afternoon, I indulged in a bit of people watching, which got me thinking. Then I got side tracked by taking a picture of my shadow and it wasn't until I was watching a 'youth' get of the bus a short while later, that I returned to my thoughts of earlier.


Fashion is a funny thing. Each generation reckons that theirs is the best and often derides the fashions of the following generations. And then there are those fashions that repeat themselves. But there are two fashions at the moment that make me chuckle to myself, well okay, one makes me chuckle, the other I just don't get.


Firstly, the one that makes me chuckle, is this prevalence amongst teenage and young adult males to wear their jeans half way down their arse. Some of them have their jeans so low that they have to hold them up to walk. It always makes me smile as I see them waddling (for they can't do anything else) down the street, showing their underpants - usually boxers or Calvin Kleins. Now this 'fashion' has it origins in gang culture, and gangs are the 'in thing'. Not the type of gangs when I was school, getting up to a bit of gentile mischief, these have a more vicious overtone, but we are getting away from fashion. So you see these lads struggling to walk down the street with their jeans half way down their arse.


The fashion I just don't get is teenage girls wearing what to my generation are thick tights, but wearing them as leggings, and it looks most odd. Just to clarify, both leggings and tights are very figure hugging and roughly about the same thickness, but the difference is the leggings retain their thickness as they stretch, where as tights don't. and you can see flesh through them. It therefore makes it obvious that these girls are wearing tights and it looks like they have forgotten to put their skirts on before they go out.


I am sure that my mother would say that I'm getting old.

It's raining............that'll be Summer then!

The headlines in the news recently have been that certain parts of the country are suffering from drought. East Anglia I believe is suffering from lack of water quite badly. My own little patch of the country has not yet been declared a dust bowl, though I am sure that it is only a matter of time.


I took this picture from my spare room on Friday, when the weather was doing a very good impression of a monsoon. It rained almost every day last week, and this week looks like it will be doing the same.

But of course, it's Wimbledon, so do we expect anything else on the weather front!!!

Shift Work

I work shifts, and thinking back, I have sort of always worked shifts, and I kind of like it. I like the fact I have days off during the week and that I start late and finish early.


I currently work proper shifts, ie, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, public holidays and all. I worked similar shifts when I took a year out from uni and worked for Mars (yeap, making Mars bars). The when I left uni I started working in hospitality and this is sort of shift work. OK, unless you are the night staff, you don't officially work nights, though I did plenty of shifts finishing at 3 or 4am, having started at 3pm the previous day. And there was one or two memorable occasions when I handed over to the breakfast staff coming on duty at 6am! Generally it was early or late starts with late finishes..........and not to mention the very long hours! When I was made redundant for the second time I worked for eleven months as the night manager of a local hotel. Did not enjoy the constant nights, but it paid the bills.


Hubby also works shifts. Like me, in hospitality he worked long and antisocial hours. Now as a bus driver he still works shifts, though he does not work nights, the latest he finishes is around midnight, though he does have some very early starts.....like 3am. He also has the added advantage that the number of hours and days he can work a are all governed by law.......okay, he has to have every fourteenth day off by law, meaning that he can work thirteen days straight, but we both worked many more days without a day off in hospitality. There are also rules like he has to have 11 hours between duties, which can be reduced to 8 hours three times a week, but how many time in hospitality did he finish at 3am and then have to be back at work at 7am?!


When we both worked in hospitality we very rarely saw each other, and on the occasions that we actually had days off together the pressure to do something 'as a couple' was huge. Now I work on average a 36 hour week and hubby a 39.5 hour week, we see a lot more of each other and all the pressure is gone. We are much happier and can actually enjoy life!

30 Million!!!!!!

No, this is not the latest amount of money that the government has given away, it is the population of London and it's suburbs.

30 million people - that's nearly half the population of the country - living in London.

I think there may be trouble ahead!!!

According to various newspapers and websites, the UK is going to be faced with a summer of strikes as public sector works protest about how much of the recovery they are supposed to pay for. Teachers and members of PCS (one of the public sector unions) are planning a co-ordinated strike on the 30th June. The other public sector union, Unison (the one I belong to), is talking of strikes on September. The government say these strikes will be a 'mistake' and some economist chap , who is head of the Adam Smith Institute has said that it is 'vital the government face down union opposition'


Now so far I have heard nothing from Unison about going on strike, but I am sure it will be coming, and let's face it, something is going to have to give. We know the country is in a financial mess and we know times are going to be tough, so when the government announced that public sector workers are going to have their pay frozen for two years, we have accepted this, even though the cost of living is going through the roof and inflation is now at a three year high. So, I am not going to get a pay rise for the next two years, even though the cost of living is going up, so in real terms I am actually suffering a pay cut.


Now the government wants to make us pay more for our pensions. Yes, I am going to get a final salary pension and I currently pay 6% of my salary towards it. The government would like me to pay 9%. So, no pay rise, inflation is currently at 4.5%, expected to rise to 5.5% in the autumn, and they want to increase my pension contributions by 3%. At this rate I won't need the pension because I will not be able to afford to eat, so will have starved to death!!!!!


And this is the same government who has just given £814 million for the vaccination of foreign children. We can't even manage to vaccinate all of our own children!!!!!


Meanwhile in the private sector, hubby is getting a 3.5% pay rise, 2.5% now, back dated to April, with the remaining 1% in December.............and they are managing that even though public transport subsidies are being slashed by councils attempting to save money!!!

Stupid Question of the Week.......and it's only Monday!

So, young man comes into the station today. I would say he was probably one of our foreign students. Anyway, he comes up to the counter, and asks if I can help him.

'I'll try' responds I

'Someone called me, but I have lost their number, can you help me find out who it was?'

Now me, obviously being stupid, thinks he means that one of the police officers has called him, and he has lost their details - you would be surprised how many people come into the station and say I need to speak to the officer who called me and can only say that the officer is male (narrows it down to about 3,000 then!!).

'Ok' says I 'You're going to have to help me out here, do you remember the officers name?'

He looks a bit blank, so I ask

'Is the officer based at this station'

'They are here in Oxford' responds student

'Is this person a police officer?' is my next question, as it is starting to dawn on me that things might be a bit complicated here.

'No' is the response

Now I am sure that my face took on a look of complete amazement at this. I then had to point out that this was not something the police could help with. Student was not too happy with this response, stating that he had spoken to his mobile company, and that they were unable to provide him with the information, which he believed was their way of telling him they could not be bothered.

'Between you and your phone company' say I 'Only way we can get phone info is if there is a very good reason............like a murder or something. I take it there is not a murder involved?'

Student confirms that there is no murder involved but states that his mobile company should have this information.

'Well maybe they don't retain this information' I say. Student really not happy

'I am sure they are legally required to keep this info' he says getting a bit stroppy

'No idea, but it is not a police matter, it is between you and your mobile company and we are not here to find the numbers of people that you have lost'

I walked away at that point, before I gave into the urge to tell him how it really is for gods sake..........like we have enough resources to act as directory enquiries as well as everything else the police now have to do, as councils are slowly absolving their responsibilities due to funding cuts.............and that is before we even get onto our own responsibilities in the face of our own funding cuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olympic Farce

Well, we got tickets...............woo hoo!


We applied for the opening and closing ceremonies, cycling, rowing, diving and equestrianism. When I found out what hubby applied for I went into panic mode a bit, thinking if we got them all, the credit card would probably melt!! As it turned out I needn't have worried, we got the cross country stage for the three day event - well by working out what they have charged us, this is what we have got.


We have done well, according to the media, less than 50% of people who applied have got tickets. I don't know anyone else amongst all my family, friends and work colleagues who have got tickets. It does appear that many in the UK are not going to get the opportunity to see our games, which does seem a bit of a shame. I don't know if this is what happens in other countries.......did the Chinese have a ballot system?


Who knows, but least I'm going. Got the day booked off already.

Some people want it all.

So, some kid it suing the Met because when he went on the protest march last month he was 'kettled' and not allowed home for 7 hours. He is saying he is too young to be kettled, but not too young too protest. Now he went with his parents permission, but when you look at the millions of pounds of damage done, no wonder the Met used kettling.


I have no problem with children demonstrating and protesting, it is part of our ethos of freedom of speech. But don't complain about the consequences when the police attempt to keep law and order.

UK has the longest commute in Europe.

Well, what a huge surprise...........not. Last week, the Office of National Statistics published a few and apparently 78% of UK workers have a commute of 30 minutes or less, with over half commuting 15 minutes or less. But if you live in London, then only 18% have a commute of 15 minutes or less. But in London only 35% of workers drove to work, while in the rest of the country, this figure rises to a staggering 76% of us. This has then sparked a fair bit of debate about who is the hardest done by. Londoners claim them, with the high cost of public transport and the time it takes, while the rest of the country just say, if only we had that choice.


My commute to work, falls in the 22% who have a commute of over 30 minutes, but then I have a 50 mile ish round trip. It's length of time varies depending on what time I start and/or finish and the method of transport I use. Now it is impossible for me to get to work solely by public transport, well ok, not impossible, but I would actually spend most of the day travelling, and would never get to work at anywhere near my supposed starts times. I have two options set out below

1. Bus to High Wycombe (once an hour ish, apart from Sunday when we have two in the whole day, between 7.30am and 9pm ish), National Express to Oxford (once every two hours), then 10 minute walk to work.

2. Bus to High Wycombe (see service limits above), bus to Slough (hourly, but departs about 2 minutes before my bus arrives, so I have to wait an hour for the next one), the train from Slough to Oxford (every hour), then 10 minute walk to work.

Eg; if i caught the bus at 07.50 into High Wycombe, I would not be in Slough until 10am for a start!!!

I think you see my problem, when my start times are 7am, 10am, 3pm and 11pm, there is the odd challenge.

So, I have to resort to the evil car, that is currently costing me £215 a year to tax, £28 a month to insure and £1.34 a litre of fuel. So, I hop in the evil car, drive to the Park and Ride and then get the bus into Oxford when I start at 7am or 10am (apart from Sundays, when some fool decided that bus drivers should get a lie in on the day of rest, and the bus does not start until past 8am). On other shifts I have to drive into work, an additional 10 miles or so - by the time I have avoided one way systems and all the restricted areas that the evil car may not go!! And all this generally takes 45 minutes.

Now okay, I haven't mentioned the public transport costs. Now with the magic pass and my police ID, the buses in High Wycombe, Slough and Oxford don't cost me a penny, National Express I could probably get for free, depending on the driver, and the train would probably be about £10 - a day!

I would love the option of being able to fully use public transport, as running a car is becoming more and more expensive. I wouldn't even mind if it took a little while, but for me, and many, it is just not practical, and thanks to the government cuts and therefore the councils cutting millions off their public transport subsidy, it is getting worse not better. At least Londoners have a choice, I don't.


Problem with this country is that we are in love with the evil car. The government (all flavours) is trying to educate us into the fact that, the car is evil. They do this by this wonderful money spinner, called TAX. So the evil car, that we all love, costs us an arm and a leg, plus probably various other body parts. The government would like us all to abandon the evil car and use public transport. But transport subsidies are being cut, so services are decreasing and costs going up, so even people who want to use public transport can't and won't. Catch 22!!!!


So, back to my 45 minute commute, distance wise, mainly by car, at huge expense. I suppose I could get a job closer to home as suggested by some. Well I like my job, and when I got my job, after 11 months in a temporary post after being made redundant, it was the only job I could get. Maybe I should quit and claim benefit, but I probably would not be eligible!

Regulars

Yes, we have regular callers to the police station. You would have thought that people would have better things to do with their time, but no, they come and pay us a visit. Sadly most of these people have mental health problems. Some just come in and chat to us, and generally, if we have time, this is not a problem. Some however, are problematic, they scream, they shout and then we get them removed.

Slough has a new bus station!!!!

The bus station at Slough, so I am told, has been made famous coz it appears/ed in the opening credits of The Office. I didn't watch The Office..............it was on during the hospitality phase of my life, ie I didn't have a life and therefore watching TV was not something I got to do that often. Anyway, I digress, the bus station, Brunel Bus Station, was built in the 70's, so had all those lovely 70's design features.............concrete, so when the local council in its wisdom decided that it needed regenerate Slough (John Betjeman had a point!), a new bus station was planned.


Now, the design looked good..............modern and sleek and it promised light and air (things the old bus station sadly lacked) as well as things like a cafe, shop, toilets and waiting rooms......you know, the kinda thing that keeps the unhappy public slightly less unhappy while they are waiting for their overpriced, over crowded and late bus home!


Anyway, about six months and a few late, the new bus station finally opened yesterday, Saturday 28th May 2011. Yes, it was a little behind schedule, two winters with snow (shock horror) delayed things a bit apparently, and there is still a lot to do, but yesterday, the public, and more importantly, the buses, started to use it. So, I made my marathon bus trip over to Slough (home to High Wycombe and then High Wycombe to Slough) by bus to see the bus station.......oh and meet hubby after work. Now remember when I said the design looked good, and all that it was supposed to contain............well actual thing does look good, it is very sleek and modern, but nice looking, light and airy and....................................................


And here we get stuck!! No cafe or shop, the space is there, but no-one has so far leapt at the chance to pay £30,000 a year rent. Also no toilets or waiting rooms which I foresee causing one or two negative comments in the local press. I have to say that no toilets in a bus station is slightly strange, but no doubt the blokes will solve this and quite soon there will be a corner that will start stinking to high heaven.................as for us ladies, that'll be cross ya legs! There are also no waiting rooms. Ok, it is a bus station not a train station and so waiting rooms are not really necessary, however, somewhere to wait for the bus out of the rain would be nice. I just mention this as our island does tend to be a bit wet on occasions. The sleek wavy roof does not appear to offer much in the way of cover and while it is nice and airy, comparisons to a wind tunnel spring to mind!!


Now, I also got to see the inside bit, the bit were the general public may not tread, the bit that the bus company use. The facilities for the bus drivers in the old bus station were............a bit old and tired to be polite. I only went in there a couple of times and generally ended up waiting in the corridor outside the paying in room while hubby deposited his cash. Unfortunately this was right next to the gents, so the smell was...................... I also saw the canteen and it was dark and tired. The new facilities for the bus drivers are very nice. Their canteen is on the first floor, overlooking the train station (they can all indulge in a bit of train spotting on their breaks), and hubby assures me the gents are a vast improvement on the old ones. I cannot confirm this, as I have visited neither, though I can confirm the smell was lacking. Hubby is also pleased because his locker is bigger than his old one, meaning he can get more crap, er sorry essential bus driving items, in it.


So in summary, from a passenger point of view, not impressed; from a bus drivers point of view re their facilities, very nice.

Night shifts followed by the weekend off!

Well, here I am, on the middle of my three weekends off, which conveniently come back to back!!


We work an eight week shift pattern of earlies (7am - 4pm), middles (10am - 7pm), lates (3pm - 12am), nights (10am - 7am) and spares (sort of 1.30 - 10.30pm, but they can and do change), and during that eight weeks we get three full weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) off. Apart from one random Sunday, we work the rest and for some reason the weekends off all come together. I think most of us would prefer if they alternated, but they don't! The reason being is that we do four night shift in a row )Monday through Thursday) and these have to be preceded by two days off - the first weekend. At the end of our night shifts (baring in mind, we finish at 7am on our first day off), we have three days off - the second weekend, and then following the four nights, we do five lates (Monday through Friday), and then we have to have two days off as we have just worked five days - the third weekend!!!


So, as I have just finished my four night stint, so am now on my middle, or second, weekend. Next week is the five lates - yuk!!! Anyway, my night shifts were pretty quiet...............the Monday through Thursday ones usually are, especially at the moment as most of the students have either finished or are in the middle of exams, and the summer language students (with their 'mug me' language school corporate branding), have yet to arrive. I say my nights were pretty quiet, but my colleagues who actually had to leave the station had to deal with two serious fights on consecutive nights. Well kept them on their toes anyway.


The highlights of my visitors over the four days were.............in no particular order: The gentleman who got confused by the sign over the door. He thought it said Thames Water and not Thames Valley Police when he came in to report that the drains down the road had backed up and there was sewer water all over the road, then got the arse when I first explained that he should talk to Thames Water as they would ask lots of questions, and then when I phoned them for him, got the arse because I asked him lots of questions on their behalf! The poor girl who had her bag nicked containing her mobile phone, wallet and house keys and whose house mate had gone to London for the night. She couldn't get a locksmith to opening the door for her as she had no way of paying and no way to contact to her housemate. She eventually managed to get hold of her housemate but had to sit in the police station for an hour while he got the train back from London - still better than being sat on the door step in the dark. The taxi driver who wanted to report that while he was parked up (ie not moving) a cyclist, riding on the wrong side of the road with no lights (and call me cynical, but I believe that alcohol may be playing a part here), had crashed into him, then had got up and cycled off. There was no damage to his car, but he wanted to make a report just in case the cyclist reported him. 'What for?' I did ask - reckless parking (I didn't add this). And finally the chap who decided at 3am that he wanted to get into the police station because the people walking home from the clubs were all out to break his legs, so decided to try and kick the door in!!! At this point I was forced to use the radio (don't like it as everyone can hear you, but better than the tannoy, which you also can hear) and ask if there was anyone about as someone was trying to break into the police station. Aren't they supposed to try and break out?!!


So, now I am enjoying my weekend off and I have been bribed by hubby to let him watch the football tonight..............good food and an even better bottle of wine!

Never again...............well until the next time!

On Friday night hubby and I went out for the evening to say goodbye to some friends who are moving back home after working in this neck of the woods for the past three or four years. Not that home is miles away......Lincolnshire, but no more meeting up for a coffee or a pint.


Anyway, we met in Marlow for a quick drink before going to Zizzi's for a meal and a few more drinks. All was fine until coffee, when tradition with these friends dictates that we have to have a sambuca...........two sambuca's later, we were in the pub next door where you can get four Jager bombs for a tenner.......bargain!!!


I am sure that at this point you can tell it was going to get messy and it certainly did, as we ended up in another pub with a late licence drinking another drink whose name escapes me, but I am sure had Jagermeister, red bull and malibu in, however I did manage to make it home with my keys, purse and phone!!!


Saturday morning was not so good. To say we both felt rough would be an understatement. When I first woke up about 7ish, I felt fine................but with hindsight, I was probably still drunk. Then the pain kicked in................I finally managed to crawl inside the nurofen bottle and after a glass of the magic cure (full fat coke), I started to feel better! Both hubby and I uttered those usual words that people utter when they have had a glass or few too many....... 'I'm never drinking again!' Ha ha, until the next time!!

Complaints, investigations blah blah etc!

When I worked in hospitality if a customer complained, the usual way to resolve it was give something for free or take money off their bill. Occasionally a customer would complain about a member of staff and sometimes a formal meeting was required - the dreaded disciplinary....... but more often than not when this happened it was due to internal staff issues, or failure by the staff member in some way to carry out their duty correctly.


Working for the police means that when someone complains about you it has to be investigated, no giving the customer their money back here!! We have a whole department that used to be called Complaints and Discipline and is now known as PSD (Professional Standards Department)! While it is irritating, I understand that we need to be completely transparent and every complaint has to be responded too correctly. I had a complaint recently because I was unable to tell a father how long his (adult) son was going to be in custody. (I know, I left my crystal ball at home that day!). Luckily, when I was notified about the complaint, I remembered the person in question - often our complaints take so long to come through, you have no chance in actually remembering the incident. I wasn't worried, actually I was mad as I had chatted with this chap a fair bit and thought we had got on fine, but that is the way it goes and it was decided that his complaint was not valid. I won't say what I really think coz it is not very polite!!!!


As for hubby, bus drivers joke that they get disciplined for everything. They can certainly get booked for everything......being late, being early, not in the correct uniform, reversing without an inspector, not issuing the correct tickets, farting in the bus (I'm joking here), and being booked would appear to lead to a disciplinary. Not that hubby has been booked for anything yet! He did manage to break a headlight by trying to get his bus a close to the curb to let a buggy off, which was made impossible by the illegally parked car, but luckily in his disciplinary his boss was quite sympathetic, understanding that he was actually trying to do the best for the customer. But obviously the bus industry is rather over fond of disciplinaries, so much so that the amount of respect that the staff have for this process is that when they are up for a disciplinary they say they are going for 'tea and biscuits' with the boss!!


The age old saying is that the customer is always right.................bollocks is he hell, but in this cash strapped society organisations are always looking for scape goats, and in my case, our 'customers' have to be given an answer, we cannot just fob them off!!!

T'was one of 'em days today!!!!

Well the good news was that when I got into work, my email was working. Yippee!!! Ok, not normally something that we celebrate greatly, but I have had no access to work email since Friday, after some fool decided to cut through an electricity cable at HQ, so causing most of our essential systems to crash. I guess no power effects things like computers! Anyway, 80 minutes later the ones we really needed (like the one that all the 'jobs' go on) were up a running again, but I have to say that 1. I don't think I have ever heard the radio so quiet (not sure if that went down too, or just as we had no idea was was going on, nothing could go out over the radio) and 2. I am glad I don't work in the PEC or the control room. Cannot have been fun trying to run a police force by pencil and paper!!!!!


So email was finally back (not considered essential to the running of life, so they had to prioritise getting things fixed), and surprisingly I had very few emails to read - though I guess as over 50% of the force also had no email, not really a huge surprise. Anyway, we email a lot, so communication was back!!


After that is all went rather rapidly down hill. Morning was ok, not too busy, but about midday and all hell broke loose!! Nothing mega problematic, but first one then the other of us would get something to deal with that was not simple, took time. And then at the same time, loads of other people would come in all at the same time. So while one person was tied up with something, the other would get hammered, and vice versa, and so it continued for about four hours. I didn't get to eat my lunch until about half four (normally I would have it between 12 and 2), and at one point I must have had about half a dozen half completed tasks on my desk or scattered around the office!!!!


It's times like these that you love the stupid questions like - 'Where is the court, the directions said opposite the police station' - yeah the directions didn't lie, it is the building opposite with court written on it in fuck off big letters; and -'When I reported my purse/phone/will to live lost several weeks ago, and you said that you would call me it it/they were handed in, well I thought I would just check' - As we said at the time we took the report (ie whole point of taking the fucking thing!), we will be in contact if your items come in. Grrrrr, but we smile sweetly even though we were about to drop to floor limp with hunger pangs and our bladders were starting to feel like we had consumed the entire contents of the Thames, and assist our lovely customers with a cheerful joy. Ok, being slightly sarcastic here, but we do try to be helpful.


And can I just point out for like the four billionth time we are the police, not the council, the parking shop, directory enquiries, or the bus company so we cannot help you with you council tax, your parking ticket, the phone number for Tesco or what time the next bus goes to Timbuktu!!!!!!!!!



God I was glad to go home, but I do love my job, and today was certainly not boring!!!! :)

And the result was NO!

Yeap, it was a resounding no for changing the way we vote!

The slightly more surprising thing is that the Liberal Democrats appear to be bearing the brunt of the country's dissatisfaction with the cuts we are facing. That, or the fact that despite being in the coalition they appear to be deeply divided!

Unfortunately the Labour party have made the most gains.........................have people really got such short memories, after all, who got us into this bloody mess in the first place? After all, if the Labour party had won the last general election, they have already said that they would have made cuts too.

Now we just wait to see if Scotland goes for Independence!!

The deed is done!

Well, after all the considerations, in the end the decision was not too hard....................yes, I voted no!! As I said before, both sides had persuasive points, though I felt neither side had particularly strong points that led me to say 'that is what I believe is right'..............so, let us stick with what we have got. It has served us well for god knows how many years, and I am sure it will continue to do.


(I actually had three votes on this one, as I have a proxy vote for the olds who live abroad, but I was very good and asked them what they wanted and voted how they requested).

Bank Holidays are over!

Last weekend was Easter, so those people that work Monday to Friday (not me!), had Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. Actually I did have the whole weekend off, as Easter weekend marked the end of my sick leave, and the day I was due back to work (Easter Monday) was a rest day in my duty pattern!!

This weekend was also a long weekend for the Monday to Friday people, as Monday was the May Day bank holiday and Prince William decided to marry his girlfriend on the Friday, we got an extra bank holiday. I was back to work by then (Thursday was my first day), so I worked Thursday, Friday (double bubble), Saturday and Sunday and yet again Monday was a rest day in my duty pattern.

Hubby (also not a Monday to Friday person), has a tendency to get bank holidays off, as buses, if they run, run on a Sunday service, so there aren't so many, so they don't need so many drivers!! This meant for hubby he had Good Friday off, worked Saturday, off Easter Sunday and Monday, then this weekend, had the wedding and Saturday off, worked Sunday and then had May day off. Bit weird, but that is the way they do things!!!

So today sees then end of the double bank holidays and we are all back to normal. Shame, I like the double time and lieu days :)


I have been back at work for four days and all appears well. A few niggles and twinges, but I supposed that is to be expected. Surprisingly I had a twinge the other day which was like the pain I had before the gall stones were removed. It didn't last and I wonder if it is like when people have a limb amputated they can still feel it? Anyway, I feel much better than before.