At Risk

Well it's official my job is now classed 'at risk'. This has been looming for a few weeks as I knew my place of work was going to have another restructure (the last one being a mere year and a half ago).

My feelings about the situation fluctuates between anger and, well, anger really. It's not just me of course, some senior management posts are definitely going, some of my admin colleagues are also 'at risk' and they haven't even started on the middle and lower management layers.

It is very hard going to work at the moment as obviously I'm under a black cloud, my other 'at risk' colleagues are equally glum and the people who have jobs that aren't in jeopardy are feeling 'survivors guilt'.

From past experience I have found that it's best to be proactive and 'have a plan' so that's what I'm doing at the moment - putting feelers out for other opportunities should the worst happen(if they should be any opportunities in this climate). It didn't help seeing on the News last night that 236 people had applied for a bin man's job just down the road in Havant. Ebay selling here I come....

Know your Onions

Yesterday, we ventured into the outside world only once to visit Homebase and, as usual, spent more than we intended. Peter was flat out today planting veg whilst I got on with some more varied garden chores which were as follows:-

•Sanded and re-varnished the conservatory garden step (as last year I accidentally took all the varnish off whilst power-washing the patio!)
•Weeded our large flower bed. It is infested with wild onion (see above). They always bury their roots deep so they are a right pain to get out.
•Individually sprayed every daisy and dandelion on the lawn (die you evil weeds die!)
•Washed the windows at the front of the house
•Planted up some pots with flowers purchased at Homebase
•Cleaned out the birdbath – our visiting garden birds do use it a lot so I feel guilty if we let it get dirty

We also gave ourselves quite a few breaks and sat out in the sun which was bliss.

Once dusk fell we sat in the conservatory all evening listening to CD’s and then watched ‘Top Dogs – Adventures in War, Sea and Ice’ on BBC I-Player. We came to this short series late but it’s absolutely brilliant. Ranulph Fiennes, Robin Knox-Johnston and John Simpson take it in turns to show each other the difficulties and rewards of their chosen life endeavours. Last night they were all sailing around Cape Horn – I was feeling queasy just watching it! What an inspiration these three guys are though. On the polar programme Ranulph shared with his companions the fact that after suffering from severe frostbite to some of his fingers during an expedition – once home, he got impatient with waiting for the hospital appointment for the surgeon to amputate part of them so simply went down to his garden shed and sawed them off with a hack saw!!! Needless to say, after that we decided not to have sausages for tea………

Back from the East

On Wednesday last week we set off to East Sussex for a few days for a change of scene and to celebrate my birthday on the Friday (45 is quite scary as I'm now closer to being 50 then 40 - yikes!).

On the journey down we called into Midhurst and had a wander around the town. It was gloriously sunny and a good start to our trip. There are some interesting old buildings there:-



Over the following days we went to:-

Alfriston which is a very pretty little town with FREE parking. There are some interesting little shops including a great bookshop called 'Much Ado Books'. There is also a fabulous inn, The George; we ate charcuterie inside this very ancient and atmospheric pub whilst watching people go to and fro on the street outside. We then spotted they had a very pretty garden so followed our lunch with another drink outside. Afriston has a very attractive church, St Andrews, which overlooks a very large and picturesque village green. Also overlooking the green is The Clergy House which was purchased by the National Trust in 1896 for £10!



Arlington Reservoir (Nature Reserve) we spent the whole afternoon here looking at the lake and watching the wildlife. There was a coot with an injured leg who we watched valiantly hobbling along - he was still managing to feed so I think he will be ok. I named him 'bandicoot'. The reservoir has a walk right the way around it, my only criticism was that you couldn't actually get really close to the water as the inner circle around the reservoir was cordoned off for the use of fisherman only.



Bluebell Railway the Friday was my birthday and was the only rainy day. After opening some lovely pressies from Peter, we decided to visit the Bluebell Railway as most of our day would be spent undercover riding the trains. I was very impressed with the detail that had gone into making the line as authentic as possible and the first train we went on had just been overhauled and the seats were new and very comfortable. The journey from the start to the end of the line and back again takes 1.5 hrs so we did this and then hopped on another train and did the trip again, this time sitting on the other side of the train to obtain a different view.



National Garden Scheme we are huge fans of the National Garden Scheme and found an intesting garden to visit. As we are still very much 'learning' gardeners it's a great way to visit someones private garden and learn and be inspired by what they are doing. Most gardens only charge a £3 entry fee (which goes to charity) and often provide teas so that you can sit and admire the views over a nice cuppa.

http://www.ngs.org.uk/gardens/gardenfinder/garden.aspx?id=19174

On the way home we called into Shoreham airport for coffee and so Peter could take note of any interesting planes. I quite like this airport, the main building is 1930's art deco and you can sit and overlook the runway either inside in the warm or outside on the plentiful picnic benches.

We got back on Saturday afternoon and had a quick tidy around the house and garden before some friends arrived just before 5.00pm on their way back from a trip to the theatre in Southampton. It was nice to see them and I had some lovely belated birthday pressies to open too.

It's been a great few days and I've really switched off from my work worries.

Today, Sunday, we are planning a quiet day of pottering (mainly gardening I think) and the sun is shining already so I think it's going to be a good day.

Tradition

It's day three of the Easter break (Sunday) and it's been pretty much rain all the way. We had hoped to be going up to Popham Airfield today but it's just too wet - having been indoors for two days I had been looking forward to getting some fresh air but it's not to be. Never mind, we are planning some trips out at the end of next week to celebrate my birthday (45 arghhhh!!) so hopefully the weather will have turned by then.

Yesterday I made a simnel cake (pictured). Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it before we tucked into it this morning. I do like the meaning behind the simnel cake - the 11 marzipan balls representing 11 of the Disciples (Judas is never included because of his betrayal). We usually buy each other a proper easter egg too but this year we have decided to pay a bit of money into our Canada trip savings instead which is a lot more worthwhile.

Over the last couple of weeks I have become a Youtube addict. My current favourite clip is dog related as I adore dogs and long for the day when we have the time to look after one. The owner of this particular pooch sets up a webcam to film his dog to see what he gets up to whilst the family is out - it's very funny and the dog misbehaves himself terribly but he warms your heart nevertheless. Check him out here:-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pbI5ue3VzQ

That was the Weekend

It's been pretty much a weekend of 'getting stuff done' again so I'm looking forward to Easter when the extra bank holidays should mean some enjoyment time amongst the chores.

Saturday
Yesterday I bought some new clothes, the first for absolutely ages as we are on an economy drive; but it was nice to feel like a normal woman for a change and indulge in some retail therapy. I went to M&S with the specific mission of buying some skirts and actually found some I liked - result! Afterwards I popped home for a bit and then went over to my parents to help them out with setting up their new TV system and sort out some problems they are having with their computer. I was there for about 5 and half hours as technology and my folks don't really mix but I must admit the TV and DVD instructions may as well have been written in Japanese. The drama of the afternoon was that we spotted a cat up one of the tall trees in the garden and five hours latter it was still there! At the point I left Dad was considering a rescue attempt.

Sunday
Today I was on my own so I went right through my wardrobe and pulled out all the winter stuff and put it in a separate cupboard (ever the optimist!) and sorted everything into colour order. For once I can actually see what I've got and can move the coat hangers along the rail. I then went right through the house dusting and removing cobwebs - our conservatory in particular seems to have turned into a scene from Arachnophobia the movie!

I then mowed the lawn front and back with a new push mower that we've acquired from my parents, it's much harder work that the electric hover mower we've got but the cut is miles better. Also did some lawn edging on the parts the mower couldn't reach. This afternoon I was outside for most of the afternoon making the most of the sun - it's supposed to rain for most of next week so I'm getting some vitamin D whilst I can!