Short and sweet

Just to say hello, and that I haven't forgotten to blog!

Today was punctuated by young Chris joining us for lunch...obviously accompanied by his mother, as he's only 6 months old! Vicki use to work in our team, but is currently on maternity leave. Chris is a very sweet child, very happy and constantly aware of what is going on around him. Needless to say my pass (that gets me into the office) got a bit of a chewing whilst he was sat on my lap.

Everyone was talking about how I'd be 'next', firstly they've have to watch me get married before I even think about children, and I must say I don't think thats going to happen any time soon. I enjoy the company of children, they have a certain - to use a Harold Zidler phrase (Moulin Rouge) - 'wonderment' about them. Every thing is constantly new and enthralling. I must say baby Chris took it all in his stride.

The other bit of new I have to share with you is that I may soon be anchored to the council for another three months. I've been offered a permanent position, so that the team can't lose me at a moments notice. I feel like I've been floating around for a while, knowing that I could've lost my job, so having a contract with the council, rather than with the employment agency (who have not backed me in any way) feels a lot better. I described it to my manager this morning as being able to 'put my feet on the ground so I don't get dizzy and fall over', which I think is quite an accurate description of my life right now.

Time to sleep!

Asking the right questions...

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

This was on my daily bible verses part of my Facebook page...maybe, just maybe, I've been asking with the wrong intentions...

It's from James btw.

Work was hairy today, a lot of raised tempers and things not happening how they should. Plenty of issues, some I'm qualified to deal with, some I simply have very little training in. I'm still on a learning curve, from dealing with the office in general...to social workers...to everything that could possibly go wrong in one day. And I still have to do the regular amount of work that I normally do.

Getting paid peanuts was never going to be fun...

Finding a seat...

Can prove more difficult than you initially think.

I sat down on Friday afternoon, only to find that the bloke who sat next to me had exactly the same seat number on his ticket. The train guard had a little bit of a paddy when we mentioned it to him. 'It's not my fault, what do you expect me to do, you've all got a seat, haven't you?'.

I will not be using thetrainline.com for any future purchases, and will be phoning them tomorrow morning to tell them that they've got some serious problems with their ticket distribution. I expect to have a seat when I'm given a seat number, not to have to feel guilty for sitting in someone else's seat on a packed train.

Anyway, other than that, my weekend in Bristol has been fun, Miss Kay is ill, so I will wish her well (that's what being a teacher does to you!). We went shopping on Friday and Saturday and I've seen a very cool 'under the sea' classroom! Sleeping was the main agenda for the weekend, as well as the odd drink. Sat in the Beaufort, it felt like I'd never been away...and it's always good to see the shock on some people's faces when they realise you're back! Good to see people though...unfortunately I didn't make it to church, but I will do next time I'm there.

Right, I have to go and look for possible courses that I can do as part of my next job.

Being ripped off

Ok, so I'm at work and I'm blogging...all of good reasons I assure you...

One - The system is down and I can't actually do what I'm supposed to do!

Two - I feel I have been ripped off, by thetrainline.com and I want to rant before its too late!

It's been months since I last brought a travel ticket from said website, and last time I felt that it was good value for money, I'm using the 'right' debit card (one without a charge) and I was buying in plenty of time.

This time is a little different, but I don't get some of the charges...I'm paying for insurance - £1 a journey, love it, good idea. I'm paying £0.50p for 'ticket arrangement fee' - I'm guessing this means that they are charging me for going to collect my tickets from the ticket machine. Why? If I'm doing all the work surely they should be paying me...I have to walk to the station, with all my gumph and type in a series of letter/numbers, so that the machine will spit out my tickets...I'm paying £0.50p fpr 'payment card fee'...this is a website, there is no other way to pay for what they are asking for, so surely it should not cost anything...there should not be a fee because I am paying by card...they should factor it into the running cost of the business.

At least I can go and collect my tickets...it's £6.00 for normal postage and £10 for same day delievery.

I feel that someones business is going under...next time I'm buying my tickets well in advance and possibly talking to the staff at Billericay station, if the ticket office is open...

The system is back...back to work I go.