Redundancy: My First Week...

Its now been a whole week since I was made redundant, and I've actually been quite busy!

Monday:

As this was my first "proper" day out of work, I needed to register with the Jobcentre as unemployed. However, it has been almost a decade since I was last in this position, so I first had to remember where I had to go!

I started out nice and early, to the area where I (vaguely) remembered it to be. This was not on the bus route from my house, so I walked for about half an hour. When I arrived, there was just this big empty building, with a sign in the window telling me that it had moved last year! It was now on the other side of town, in an area that would have been far easier to get to! So I turned around, and headed back in the opposite direction.

When I finally arrived, I saw a woman at the reception desk. I was hoping that I could get the registration process over with nice and quickly, then get advice on job hunting, available courses fro a new career, and available benefits until I got everything sorted out. How wrong could I be? All I was given was a leaflet with a phone number that I had to call, as apparently this is now the only way to register with them!

I returned home and made the call. By now the morning was just about over. I spent 20 minutes on the phone, being asked what appeared to be the same questions over and over again! At the end of the call I was given an appointment for Wednesday to actually talk to a real advisor. Finally!

Tuesday:

The day began with a call from my former employer. They had a redundancy agreement that I had to sign before I could receive any redundancy pay. I was also told that I would need to get legal advice. I went straight down to the office to collect this, then had to find a solicitor that would be able to produce a letter to state that they had advised me on the matter.

The afternoon was then spent tracking one down, and they gave me an appointment, also for Wednesday. This was going to be a busy day!

Wednesday:

I now had two appointments in the centre of town, 3 hours apart. Firstly, down to the Jobcentre. When I arrived, they asked for my name, and ticked me off a list. I was told to go upstairs, and wait in "area C". I was also given a tiny piece of paper, with a "C" on it. Did they think I would forget this by the time I reached the top of the stairs? I arrived at the top, and was greeted by another receptionist, who again took my name and ticked me off another list. She also took away my "C"! This was beginning to seem ridiculous!

While I was waiting in "area C", another member of staff approached me. Not surprisingly, she also ticked my name off yet another list, and told me someone would see me soon. I was beginning to wonder why the jobcentre had employed so many people with so many lists!

I finally was called over to see someone. This, I was told was the "Financial Assessor".She went through all the questions I was asked on the phone, and asked me to sign that my answers were correct. I then had to wait again to see the "New Claims Advisor".

When I was called over, the first thing I was asked for was my most recent payslip. I handed it over, and the advisor noticed a problem. The payslip stated that I was paid up to the end of August (this was the 26th). It turned out that they could do nothing for me. They were unable to register my claim until I was officially out of work on 1st September. No one had actually asked me that question! I had only been asked for the last day I actually worked. Therefore, my claim was cancelled, and I have to go through the whole process from scratch next week! What a waste of time!

This took a whole hour, and I was left with two more hours to wait before the next appointment. I walked into the solicitors on time, and was told that the person I was seeing was at another branch! I started to think that my whole day would be a waste of time, until it turned out that he was just running late! Luckily this meeting went according to plan, and I now have to wait for the solicitor and my former employers to sort out their paperwork.

Thursday:

I decided that with so much time on my hands, I could do the weekly shopping early. I may save myself the "trolley rage" of shopping on a Saturday (see previous post). Again, how wrong could I be? If anything, it was even more hectic than normal! Nevertheless, I got it out of the way, and came home with the local paper (Thusday is job day). However, there was hardly anything of interest this week, just one which was mildly interesting! I decided to think about it.

The other prioject I needed to complete was to produce a currect CV (Curriculum Vitae). The problem was, as I had been in my last job for so many years, I had trouble remembering where I had been before, and when! This process took ages, but I think I finally got there (a bit vague on the dates though)!

Friday:

Now that I had done just about all I could do (I felt a bit in limbo, as I couldn't quite get started with courses etc until I was officially unemployed), I decided to do a bit of job hunting on the internet. I also called about the one job in the paper, and agreed to email my CV.

Then I hit the next problem. Our computer, seems to have a mind of its own recently, and right in the middle of an application, it turned itself off! This is not the first time, and it's always annoying, but never more so than Friday! Once the computer goes off, it invariably takes ages before it will allow you to restart it. So, several hours later (try a few times, then leave for a while and try again) I managed to apply for a whole two jobs. Just have to wait and see about those, I suppose.

Saturday:

Priority job...

Catch up with my blogs (hence this post)!

Redundancy: The Pros and Cons...

My whole life changed the other day, as I suddenly became redundant. At first, this was a total shock. I was certainly not expecting it, after all I had been working in the same office for over 9 years! Now that the shock factor has started to diminish, I can now begin to consider my options. Is redundancy really a curse (as I first assumed), or could it actually be a blessing?

Admittedly, as I looked at it from a negative point of view, I am well aware that money may be tight for a while. With the state of the economy, and so many out of work, a new job may be hard to come by. Plus, even with two incomes, my household was already struggling, and had been for some time.

However, I began to realise that there were positive aspects to the situation. I will receive a lump sum as a redundancy payment. This will enable me to clear any priority debts, and keep the household going for a while. Also, my job was boring. Really boring in fact! For years I had toyed with the idea of doing something new, for example a course where I could re-train myself for a fresh career. The only problems were, I had so far been unable to afford it, and also I could never decide what course to take! With the lump sum on its way, the first problem has been dealt with. I now need to work out the second! The possiblilities are endless!

Tarot Card of the Day (Tuesday 18th August 2009)

As part of my psychic development, I periodically use tarot cards. This is for two reasons, firstly in an attempt to learn to read them, and secondly to glean whatever understanding I can from each one I read in relation to my life.

It is important to not only go by the book description of each card’s meaning, but also to look deeper at the card, as something in the image can stimulate another meaning. This in turn means that the same card can be interpreted differently on different occasions.



Today’s card is the Ace of Wands. The book meaning of this explained as denoting creation, invention and the beginning of enterprise. This is also described as a good card financially, meaning money, perhaps fortune or inheritance.

Whilst looking at this card, I saw the wand itself to represent a gift from a higher power. The shoots of new growth on the branch gave me a feeling of optimism.

I feel this card related to me today. At the beginning of the day I was seriously financially stressed. We had no money to see us through to pay day, and I had no idea what to do about it. Before my card reading (again first thing in the morning) I scoured the internet looking for a way out, even temporarily. I began looking for a short term loan, although had no luck with several companies. Even when I thought I’d found one, I discovered that while they were happy to lend the money, they were more expensive than I had first thought. Even worse, they could not deliver until after pay day! By lunchtime, I had managed to secure a loan which provided the money I needed within an hour! I then needed to cancel the first one, but just as I was about to call them, they phoned me and I was able to cancel with no penalties. It appeared that today someone from a higher power was watching over me.

I believe that today the Ace of Wands was the most appropriate card for me. I just hope that this also works as far as beginning a new enterprise, which would allow me to create enough extra money to diminish my need for such loans in the future! Maybe my next card reading will give me the answer to that question?

Has the World Gone Mad Over Swine Flu?

After so many the recent health scares, swine flu is certainly being taken more seriously than the others. The trouble is that no one really knows what to do about it, as there is so much mis-information and confusion surrounding the subject. My personal experience of this is as follows...

My partner is in what has been described as a "high risk group" as he has a condition called C.O.P.D. (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Therefore, when he felt ill last week with flu-like symptoms, he looked into the NHS website and filled in their questionnaire. At the end of this, he was told that he needed "Tamiflu" and given a reference number, and that someone without sysmptoms should get this for him. As this was first thing in the morning, I called my work to explain I would be late, as I had to collect this. A very worried voice at the end of the phone asked "are you coming into work? I thought you would both need to be quarrantined?" There was certainly no information about this on the website, or anywhere we could find! However, I could see the sense of it, if it really was so contagious! There really should be some clarification on this.

After a few days, I too started to feel unwell. I stayed home (as instructed by the media), although there was no fit person to collect any drugs for me! By the time my partner was fit and back at work, I checked the website, and again got the answer to take "Tamiflu". My symptoms, although less severe than my partner's, had by now lingered long enough for me to be required to obtain a sick note from my doctor. I called them, and was told that I should come in, but go into the surgery through the back door. When I got there, I was quickly ushered into a small examination room and told to wait. So I waited...and waited...

After an hour and a half (when I thought I'd been forgotten), a doctor finally appeared. I was then taken to another room (with a working computer, but apparently no medical supplies!) and I told her my story. She asked me why I'd been advised to take Tamiflu? How should I know? I'd just followed the questionnaire! She told me that these helplines and websites aren't run by people with any medical knowledge or experience, and also they're not supposed to be offering this anymore unless there is an underlying medical condition. She seemed to blame me for this! I didn't cheat - honestly!

She took my temperature, and found it to be normal. I could have told her that! Mind you, I had been sitting in front of a fan for the past hour and a half. It was the first time my temperature had felt normal in days!

Finally she signed me off work for a week with "flu-like symptoms" as she had no way of telling whether it was swine flu, normal flu or any other virus! If the doctor can't tell, who can?

Strange but true!

Hi all,

In this post I want to share with you some of the inexplicable occurrences which have made me feel the need to explore the supernatural world. These are only small things, and have no great impact on my life, except that they have opened my mind to new possibilities.

If there is anyone that can provide logical explanations for these events, please let me know!

For some time now, I have had the feeling that there is some strange force (for want of a better word) that is trying to tell me something. It seems to affect technology on the whole, although these "messages" are very difficult to interpret.

Musical Mayhem!

The first of these strange messages came to me several times last year. Here is the background to the situation...

For some time, my partner and I used a file sharing program on the computer called "Limewire" (which you may have heard of). We would download all sorts of music, and I would then save selected songs to my mobile phone. I would then play these while cooking, in the bath, on the bus etc.



One evening, I was playing my music (on the random setting) whilst in the bath, and a tune came on that I didn't recognise at first. As it settled down to the main part of the song, I realised that I did know this, but it was an entirely different version, by another artist! I checked the computer and confirmed that I only had one version downloaded, and the description was the same as the phone. I knew this song very well, as it had been downloaded some time ago, and played many times. However, I played the version on the computer, and again this had changed to the new version (I must point out that I had only ever heard one version of this particular song before, so this was quite a surprise)! Following this, I did some research into the song on the internet, and eventually found the exact same version that had somehow installed itself on both my computer and phone. This was indeed performed by someone completely different.

This same thing has happened more than once, and I have never been able to understand how this happened or why. As far as I am aware, there is no logical way that this can be possible. If it is a message of some sort, what does this mean?

Picture Perfect

This is a new thing to me, and I have only experienced it once - today in fact!

After having a clearout, I discovered a photo ID card, which I had forgotten about. It had quite a good picture, and I thought it would be a good idea to add this to my blog. Sounds straightforward enough doesn't it?

I tried to scan this, then realised the scanner was unplugged. Ok, that's easy to sort out, I thought. I plugged this in, and it still refused to scan. Not being very technical, I decided to try another way.

Instead, I tried the idea of taking a picture of the card on my digital camera, and then I should be able to plug this in and save the picture from that. Easy.

I took the picture OK, but when I looked at my photos on the computer screen, the one I wanted didn't appear to exist! Everything else was there though. I couldn't understand this! I looked at my photos on the camera itself. All the saved pictures showed up, except there was one blank space, and no ID card photo!

Frustrated, I tried taking the picture again. However, every time I pushed the button to take the picture, the camera just turned itself off! I tried this several times, and I had only just replaced the batteries (with brand new ones before you ask)! What could this possibly mean, and how could it happen!

Any ideas anyone?

Puppy Pandemonium!

Well, last weekend turned out to be quite a hectic, for a very unusual reason. As followers of this blog probably know, I live with my fiance and our two cats, Bob and Ziggy (A.K.A. "The Boys"). We live in a terraced house with a totally enclosed garden.

Bob and Ziggy (remember them?)

We had been hearing noises from our new next door neighbours garden for some time, mainly dogs barking and whining. Although we didn't realise quite how many there were! As it turned out, there is one adult (that I've seen so far) plus a litter of NINE American Bulldog puppies, all waiting for new homes...

On Saturday morning, I had just got up and was feeding the boys, when I noticed that Bob was hissing through the cat flap. Intrigued, I went to have a look. I was amazed to see several puppies wandering around the garden! However, at the time I wasn't sure where they came from (so far I hadn't actually seen any of the dogs from next door, only heard them). Also, I couldn't quite work out how they got in! I was only just awake at the time, and had lots to do that day, so I decided to finish what I was doing, and then decide what to do about our visitors.

Once, I'd fed the boys and made a coffee (to help me come round), I took another look in the garden. No puppies to be seen anywhere! Where did they go? I kept checking periodically throughout the morning. Sometimes they were there, then they were gone. I was beginning to think I was seeing things, until I realised what they were doing. I noticed a small hole in the fence. They were squeezing through into the garden, taking a look, and going home!

I decided that as they weren't lost, or in any immediate danger, I would do my jobs for the day (see previous post - trolley rage), wait until my fiance got back from work, and then we could sort it out. I forgot entirely!

Sunday morning, I managed a short lie in, although my fiance got up at the usual time. When I came downstairs, I was greeted with "you won't believe the morning I've had"! It was only about 9.00am!

Shortly after he got up, he had seen the boys run up the stairs together, but thought nothing of it. Following this, he had heard noises in the kitchen, and gone to investigate. Four of the puppies had squeezed through the cat flap, and were exploring the kitchen! They had their noses into everything, including the remains of the previous night's cat food! While he worked out what he should do about the puppies, they continued to roam around downstairs. They found several cat toys to play with, and even started licking my man's toes! They were all very friendly and very confident.

Luckily at this point, there was a knock at the door. Our next door neighbour had realised what had happened. He apologised, and between them, the puppies were returned home over the fence. I assume this escape route has been fixed now, as they haven't invaded since!

The Perils of "Trolley Rage"...!

Welcome to the weekend. Two whole days off to recharge my batteries before the next working week. However, for me, this can be quite daunting, as this also involves the weekly shopping expedition. I suffer severely from trolley rage!

My main objective when shopping is to get in and out as quickly as possible, so that I can start to enjoy my free time. The trouble is, I find myself trying to put this off for as along as I possibly can - bad move! The later in the day I leave this, the worse it gets!

When I arrive at the supermarket, the first thing I find is that I seem to be the only one who has a clue where they're going! I develop tunnel vision, and aim directly to what I'm looking for (hoping that no bright spark has decided to move it since last week), and grab what I need. Everyone else seems to just amble about. There is always someone (or more commonly a whole family) preventing me from reaching the section I need to get to, just having a chat! I've even seen a couple blocking off the entire milk section, while they debate about which carton to buy! How difficult a decision can which type of milk be?



There also seem to be so many people who stop in the middle of the aisle while they figure out what they want to look for next. This always leaves just too little room for anyone to get past. Even worse is when one family bumps into another in the middle of the aisle, and just stop to gossip. Then there's two trolleys and two families taking up twice as much room! Why?
By this point I'm becoming desperate to get out. When I finally make it to the queue, I feel like my blood is boiling, and that there must be steam coming out of my ears by now! Then I find that the queue has become so long that I can't even see which checkout I'm queueing for! So I wait, and wait...

By the time I arrive home, I tend to discover that I've forgotten something really important, and/ or bought something I realised I didn't need!

Why do I put myself through this every week?