Interest, Inflation, houses, housemates, moving and lots and lots of paint.

Redundancy money paid.  Its in the bank, a considerable amount of tax deducted along the way however because of course HMRC believe that I will be earning approximately £4000 a month for the rest of the financial year! Well yes that would be nice, but not very realistic. 
Little phone call to HMRC to claim said tax back, only to be told that because I am still in work (3.5 hours a week at private school job) then they won't send it back, but it will be paid back little by little as they realise that my wage is more like £400 than £4000.  Thats nice, but what do they expect me to live on?
So I need to figure out the best thing to do with my meagre payout which just to be clear only included £556 worth of actual non-taxable redundancy pay for my four years of hard slog at the hell hole.  The rest was holiday pay, a weeks wages and 4 months pay in lieu of notice.  Obviously thats all at 0.33 of what I was on before Christmas.
Anyhow enough of the complaining, its a lump sum of money that I would never be given again and along with my savings from exam marking etc.  I have a half decent little nest egg sat in my ISA.  The problem with it sitting in an ISA though is that while interest rates range from 0.05% to 3%, inflation is still around 2.8% so even with the interest my nest egg is gradually becoming worth less.  What I could buy for £4000 today is not the same as what I could buy for £4000 next year.  Remember when a fiver used to be able to buy a couple of drinks on a night out or a least down the local pub? Now we're lucky if we get one drink!

My plan B (one day maybe) has been to buy a few properties and its something I like doing, so I thought I might put my money down as a deposit on a buy to let. 
Houses in this neck of the woods are definitely cheaper than most places in the UK and with the college now being a university centre and attracting more and more students because of the lower fees there is definite potential in the area.  House prices are still on a downward trend too which hopefully means sellers are open to negotiation, although my attempts so far to buy a repossession property for only slightly less than the asking price have not gone well.  The estate agent told me himself that they had advised the asking price be reduced to less than I offered and that any other offers made had been considerably less.  The house needs a little work to say the least. 
The agent that called me back to inform me that my offer had been refused spoke encouragingly of how excited the sellers were (a bank) that I might offer and extra £2000 on top of what I had!  Hubby said I should have expressed my own excitement at the possibility of them accepting an offer of £2000 less than I had put forward :-)
I'll wait it out on this one and in the mean time continue the search.

In the meantime I have a couple of pieces of good news! :-)

A friend asked me if this was my new car when he saw it in the holiday pics and he wasn't too far wrong........






we went for the updated version :-)

Yes I know I'm redundant and only working very part time and no I am not using my redundacy pay to buy it!   This is hubby and I's first joint purchase, we traded in Tiglet (my 7 year old Tigra) which was doing about 35mpg, needed a new engine and only had two seats for this little baby.
She is tax free as she only has a 0.9litre engine, which also means she is very fuel efficient, so far its costing us £25 less to do about 350 miles, she has 4 seats so room for the boy and she's a convertible, the red roof is a soft top :-)

And how are hubby and I going to pay for it?  Well as I mentioned before hubby has a fulltime job (Housemaster at the private school) starting in September and my teaching hours at the school have been quadrupled! Thats sounds like loads, but 3.5hours X 4 isn't that huge, huge enough to live on though, especially as all our accommodation and food and bills are paid by the school :-)

We've known about the housemaster job for a while now and we were eager to get involved so offered to redecorate the boarding house (it was in desperate need!)
We have been knee deep in paint, literally at times, for a week now.  The place is huge and along with the painting there are a multitude of maintenance and cleaning jobs that we have found along the way so its been a slow slog and there's much more to do.  We also more or less live at the local B&Q and I am driving hubby mad again with paint colours and charts.  It does mean that since Itlay we haven't had much time to go out spending which is a bonus as the next 2 months, until we get paid a real wage in September, are going to be tight.
Even though its not our money filling B&Q's pocket we still have a budget to stick to and we are genuine scrimpers at heart.  So we have scrimped our way through redecorating a common room (lounge), 5 bedrooms and stairs, hall and landing in the boarding house, the lounge in our flat and hopefully a little more before we run out of the paint that cost us approximately £200.  This is in an old Victorian building where there is no such thing as a small room or a low ceiling so a little has gone an awfully long way.  The trade card that allows 10% off and the Dulux offer of 2 for £20 that is on at the moment have also helped, but it was mainly the decision to buy 10 litre tubs of white emulsion and the little 1 litre pots of posh colour and mix our own that saved us the most, halving the price of the ready mixed stuff.
Of course it is the school that has got the biggest bargain by having hubby and I working for free!

Hubby has taken me out for a couple of meals though, I think to thank me for my painting skills (he hates painting) and we managed to squeeze in a trip to York yesterday via the designer outlet which tempted me into a couple of purchases (at considerable discounts of course) and a mystery visit at my favourite York restaurant.

And so the situation so far:
Employment: Part time, but earning a decent wage with no bills to pay as long as I can find lodgers for my house.
Lodgers: 2 (1 to shortly depart and 5 potentials waiting for viewings)
Eating out: Hubby's treats and one mystery visit.
Hubby: 1 and we made it passed a year!
Dog: 1 (a little confused about where we disappear to every day and why we return covered in paint)
Stepson: 1
No Spend Days: Going well except the little trip to the designer outlet, DIY is keeping me away from any shops other than B&Q.

Budgets, Bargains, Sorrento, Volcanoes and the ice-cream incident.

Its about grabbing the bargains when you can and deciding not to pay full price for anything (well where possible)
Socks at the airport £3.33 instead of £8 from Next, they never have socks in the sale! No it wasn't an impulse buy, its a necesary purchase albeit hopefully not for the weather in Italy, but certainly for the Bristish weather, you can't wear wellies without socks!
My next plan is to buy a suit (for work in September) in the sale or from the Next outlet, I found a lovely jacket at the outlet in Doncaster for £9 but couldn't find anything matching for the bottom half so its clearly about timing and a bit of luck.  I quite like having something to search for though, the challenge makes shopping more fun (hubby might not agree).

Despite making a pack-up (packed lunch for anyone not from the Northern regions of England) for our journey to Birmingham airport via Doncaster (to drop the puppy off) we still stopped at the service station for a toilet brake and obviously snacks. £7 for a bag of mints, two packs of chewing gum and a choclate bar!!!
The airport wasn't much better with a couple of drinks at weatherspoons costing double what it normally does.  I think they were charging us extra for the comfy place to sit while we waited for the plane to board.
All my scrimping on the bigger purchases won't benefit me at all if I throw money away on the essentials, but maybe thats the best thing to do, think hard about the big purchases so I don't have to worry about the little things?

We had thought very carefully about our budget for the holiday, it was meant to be a cheap holiday, having spent a fortune on our honeymoon this time last year.  I know £500 each isn't as cheap as it gets, but for a 4 star hotel in Italy within walking distance of Sorrento its not bad.  We paid for B&B with the intention of being out and about most days.  We purchased the Artecard when we got to Sorrento (not as widely available as I was led to believe, but the shop in Sorrento train station had a few) The Artecard comes in several varieties, but we opted for the 3 day regional one for 27 euros.  This gave us free access to 2 archeological sites of our choice, Pompeii and the Herculaneum are 11 euros each so we used our freebies on those two.  It also included free travel on the Circumvesuviana which is local train that covers the area and has about 30 stops between Naples and Sorrento and is consequently very useful and fairly quick. A return journey to Naples is usually 8 euros so over 3 days we saved a bit.  Bus travel was also included, but I suffer badly from travel sickness on buses so that was never and option for us. 
The card lasts 3 days and once you've had your 2 free visits all others are half price and in Naples there are loads of places to see so you can make good use of it, although after seeing the Nouvo castle which was more of an exhibition center for Roman Catholic Art than an archeological site, we'd seen enough of the old and went for ice-cream (not payable with the Artecard) 
The ice-cream in Italy is of course delicious and available everywhere in numerous flavours, from Saturday through to Tuesday we had sampled quite a few and the heat on Wednesday in Naples definitely called for another. 
Have you ever had Nutella ice-cream? Me neither. I love Nutella though and it seems very populat in the Neopolitan Riviera so that was my chosen flavour.  'Solo' I was asked? 'Si, Grazie' I smiled and the vendor proceeded to pile the Nutella 'ice-cream'  into a cone that could barely contain it.  Passing it over I found it melted immediately and was not ice cream at all! Pure Nutella people! In a cone in 38 degree heat! I love chocolate, I love Nutella, but there was no way. 
I have been known in my slightly younger days to take a spoon to a small pot of Nutella and devour the lot over 30-60 minutes while watching TV, and the cone contained approximately that amount of Nutella.  Hubby having chosen a combo of Melon and Lemon Sorbets, openly laughed at me as the gooey chocolate slid down my hand while I tried in vain to eat some and keep the rest in or on the cone.
Eventually he helped out and relieved me of some of my burden, but I have to admit that even at 8 euros for two ice creams, I had to off load some of mine in the nearest bin.  I was left with a Nutella coated cone, which was actually quite pleasant, but Nutella is definitely off the menu for the foreseeable future, the thought of it takes my appetite away entirely.  Anyone who knows me will realise this must have been a traumatic experience.

Besides Ice-cream, Italy is of course very good at pizza and apparently the Sorrento area is where it came from (according to a local restauranteur named Claudio)
We sampled many varieties in various restaurants and it is definitely the cheapest thing to eat.  The pizzas are huge and depending on toppings choice and location of the restaurant the prices range for 4-9 euros. 

 The Vesuvio had to be the most impressive though, hubby tackled it solo the first time, but we shared the next time we had it and there is certainly enough for two.  Available from Taverna Rosso in St Agnello which is run by Claudio who is lovely and speaks excellent English having lived in London for 7 years and who also didn't mind us practising our Italian phrases, we found most other restaurant staff prefered to speak English not having the patience for our newly learnt Italian.

Another resturant in St Agnello that is worth a visit is Ciao Toto, which is much bigger than it looks, the space out the back is huge and much more romantic than the front room. 

Moonlight restaurant was our last night treat as it looked a little posher than the others and therefore we expected it to be more expensive, this wasn't the case, fantastic food and not badly priced.

Most restaurants do charge a cover charge per person though of between 1 and 2 euros which we thought was a bit cheeky and made us appreciate Claudio even more as he agreed with out feelings and doesn't add the cover charge.  This left us free to leave a tip that reflected our happiness with the meal.

Having climbed the pizza version, and visiting the after affects of the volcanos eruptions at Pompeii and the Herculaneum we had to go see the real thing.  So having become familiar with the Circumvesuvuana (train) we visited Herculaneum in the morning which sits in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, we planned on taking the shuttle bus up the the base camp of the volcano.  We had already been warned it was 10 euros each but we'd factored it in to our budget so that was fine.  On asking for our tickets we were told it would be 18 euros each! Apparently to include entrance fee (not covered by our Artecard becuase the volcano is an ecological site not an archeological one!)
Yes we are on a budget and yes we begrudge paying over the odds for anything, so we left the ticket office to discuss our options.
We walked and talked and somehow (neither hubby nor I are taking the blame for the 'idea') we started our walk up the mountain.
We had been told that from the station in Ercolano (where we were) it was a 20 minute shuttle bus ride up to Vesuvius base camp and approximately 10k.  We run 10k regularly without much issue so I was aware of the distance. 
After 3.5hours we reached base camp! I was not dressed for the occassion as you can see, shoes being the worst part of my attire.

 The heat (about 34 degrees) surprisingly did not get me down that much, we were at least prepared with a couple of litres of water (necessary on all our outings) but the incline, the shoes and the distance (more like 15k) combined to make me a very unhappy bunny after the first 2 hours.  I had however gone to far to turn back and so with a lot of huffing, puffing and complaining we made it all the way to the top, paid our 8 euros entry fee and looked into a Volcano. 
Hubby was completely unaffected by any of the elements, although I'd have liked to have seen him do it in my shoes!
Luckily on our way back down hubby who has no embarrassment gene decided to thumb a lift.  I stated very clearly that no one would be crazy enough to stop for us especially the huge air conditioned coaches and the 10 euros per person shuttle buses.  We were dusty and sweaty and I was not at my most gracious at this point, but by some miracle a car stopped when we were only a little way into our descent.  They asked where we were going and if we'd like a lift to which hubby answered and I professed my love to these nice young men who had taken pity on us.  I had no qualms about jumping into a car with two strangers and threw myself head first onto the back seat.  Luckily hubby followed and didn't decide to leave me to whatever fate I deserved after the hour or so of complaining how much my feet hurt.
My guardian angels turned out to be French, another stroke of luck as hubby is fluent, and so we chatted in  combination of French and English all the way to the bottom of the volcano. 
The French boys clearly thought we were absolutely nuts, but to them it was an adventure, picking up two crazy English people who they had apparently passed on the way up the mountain so must have been shocked to see us coming back down at the same time as them.
They dropped us in a town a top closer to Sorrento than the one we started our trek from which led to quite a bit of confusion and hubby and I trying out our limited Italian on many a local while we searched for the train station. 'Do've Vesuviana' did the trick although filled me with dread on first hearing it as it sounded very much like they were trying to sent us back up Mount Vesuvius and they all seemed to be pointing in an uphill direction.  Despite the rest my feet were still throbbing and I just wanted to find the train! Young and old, male and female all ten or so people we asked (we lacked confidence in our Italian more than their directions) were helpful and we got the the station thankfull for a long sit down on the train.  Although I now know to take wet wipes with me when I travel, archeological sites and dusty, combined with the heat and public transport its a recipe for feeling grimey.  I am learning though and eventually I will be an intrepid traveller, prepared for anything including sensible mountain worthy footwear.
The remainder of the holiday was a little more chilled out, sunbathing by the pool and exploring St Agnello where out hotel was located.  It was at this point that we went in search of a beach or rather a bathing platform as the coast is all high cliffs and no sand.  Our receptionist helpfully pointed us in the direction of the nearest 'beach' but informed us it would cost 10-15 euros per person to be allowed to use it! We went for a look, more out of curiosity than willingness to pay.  It literally is a platform, owned by a restaurant, with some sunloungers on it, not very beachy at all and the locals access a walkway that runs parallel and swim in the same little bay obviously without paying the extortionate prices.   We were tempted to join the locals, but the hotel pool just seemed more relaxing and convenient.

I was more than happy to find the British weather had allowed for a few days of summer on our return and have spent the last few days keeping my Italian tan topped up while helping to keep the boy (visiting for a few days) entertained. 
A trip to the local beach with the hubby, boy and puppy was probably the best thing we did over our few days.  The beach is literally 3 miles up the road, but we do not utilise it nearly as much as we should.  I think because it is so close and we could go whenever we want we don't appreciate it, whereas is was clear from the amount of traffic that many people from out of the are having seen the sunshine had packed their cars full of picnics, toys, deck chairs and the like and made the trip our way.  There are not many reasons to head out to this part of England and most of the year you only see people going in the opposite direction, but hubby informs me the beach has won awards for cleanliness so perhaps we should learn to love it and make better use of it.
We all had a fab afternoon and the weather was almost enough to convince me that holidays abroad are unnecessary, but we all know the weather won't last the week and already today the clouds have gathered shutting out the sun and threatening rain again.

The past two weeks have been a welcome break from the worries about work and life after redundancy.  I did try contacting the HR department to find out about my notice and pay, but to no avail so I decided to forget about it and to a certain extent I managed it.  I'm just going to wait and see if and how much money appears in my account at the end of the month.  Then maybe I'll have something to stress over, but in the meantime its not worth my time and effort trying to find out whats happening when I know they will only ignore me.  Slightly ironic that I have received a letter today in the name of the principal asking that keys, ID badge and any other college property in my possession be returned before I finish, although the letter also states that I finish on the 6th of July so they are clearly expecting miracles or don't know what day it is which would explain their inability to answer questions, emails or return calls, its confirmed they are all incompetent idiots!

I had other good news this week and an addition to my 'good life' but it will have to wait til next time as I promised a friend he would be the first to hear about it and its more of a show than a tell, so I'll post a piccie soon :-) 

Nearly

It all started on Wednesday when one of my colleagues text me to say she'd had a letter! Yes its the simple things that get us excited these days.  The letter stated that she was to attend a meeting the following day to discuss her request for voulntary redundancy.  They like to keep it vague even this late in the game. 
I subsequently made a call to another colleague that I knew would be in the office to see if this was a common theme, myself not having received any word although knowing that out posty doesn't make it this way until at least lunchtime.  I was reliably informed that emails and phone calls had been received by the rest of the department, but no letters.  The sentiment of each message was the same and all had meeting times for the following day.  As you can imagine I was starting to panick a little, perhaps I had been forgotten! By 2pm, still no post, I was thinking of phoning the post office to check if the posty had been down our street (can you do that by the way?) which would mean that I didn't have a letter. 
It was 2.30pm when a solitary letter dropped through the letter box, the puppy loudly informing me of its arrival.  A simple two paragraph letter with date, time, room number and person holding the meeting and person taking minutes.  Time and date being for the following afternoon, which of course I could not make, having duties at my other part time job that I refused to change on principle.  The phonecall I made to HR demonstrated their disgust at my lack of flexibility (how dare I not drop everything!)  Anyway they agreed an amendment and the meeting was set for 48 hours time rather than the measly 24 hours they intended on allowing.
As you can guess I kept in contact with my colleagues to gain updates on their progress and found that all that was entailed was 5 minutes whereby a the deputy prinicpal read out a letter either stating 'you are redundant, you have until tomorrow to appeal' or 'your voluntary redundancy request has been accepted, sort out the details with HR' As you can see my employer is very caring and supportive!  Why have they dragged it out this long if its that simple and what a waste of time and money, sending out letters to invite us to meetings and paying someone to read another letter in  the meeting!  We would have been more than happy with an email last week instead!
My meeting followed a very similar path to that of my colleagues, although I was relieved to find that I did not have to face the vice principal who proposed I cut my hours before Christmas or quit.  Instead my letter was read by one of the senior management team that I have only heard good things about, including the female staff expressing how 'lovely' they think he is.  He was pleasant throughout the 3 minutes it took to read the letter and answer my questions.  I was given a copy of the letter stating my notice of redundancy started that very same day and was sent on my way.
I may have to work my notice, I may not, I may have to write a course review, I may not, I may get paid my redundancy pay at the end of the month, I may not.  I don't know how much my redundancy pay is.  Can I get any answers to resolve all the questions I have? No, all staff are in mandatory training for three days! So I haven't returned to work since being given my notice, neither has anyone else, except the one member of the department that managed to stay employed.
I still feel like I am waiting, the situation is unresolved and will probably remain so until they pay me what they think I am owed (there's no way I will get what I think I am owed!)
I did however have cause to count my blessings again this week.  The long drawn out process has been depressing, infuriating and stressful, but for one of the lodgers I imagine finding out completely out of the blue that the job you have had since Christmas is now redundant and you need to move back to Sheffield (good job she didn't buy a house here as planned) is much more shocking and upsetting.  And again at least I have another part time job as back up, although I am one lodger down when really I need to be one lodger up so we can move into hubby's new work place without worrying about the bills at my house.
This has meant searching for new lodgers again via easyroommate.com which has been very useful in finding all the lodgers so far.  Its a bit of a potluck game though I'm afraid.  They sound perfectly good in their profiles, work full time, in their late twenties, looking for somewhere quiet etc.  Then they turn up to view the room.......nearly 7 foot tall, nearly has to duck to get through the front door, responds to everything I say with a slow drawled 'okay', informs me he works at the hospital doing 'X-Rays' thats Radiography right? Takes several years of training and a degree? This guy seemed like he'd had too much radiation!  He also wanted somewhere to store his 'two very expensive bikes' and when I said we had no storage he suggested that he could just take them upstairs into his room on a daily basis! Not sure if you've noticed but its been raining for the past month?  I have to take my wellies off at the front door when I get back from walking the puppy, can you imagine the amount of mud he would be trailing upstairs (carpeted staris).  Needless to say I did not offer him the room and we are still in search of a lodger or two.

On a completely different note.....the magic non-chip nail varnish I raved about last time, lulled me into a completely false sense of security. Having a posh event to go to in aid of the other part time employer, I brought my lovely pink evening dress out from the back of the wardrobe ans the pink and silver shoes were retrieved from the bottom of the shoebox pile. I felt however that pink dress, pink shoes and pink nail varnish would be a little too much pink. Silver nail varnish would be fab though right? And surely Boots No.7 silver nail varnish would be unchippable (made up word?)
Lovely colour, but chipped with 24 hours, and I paid full price for this one! I have persevered though just because I like the colour, but I am utterly disappointed that my faith is broken. I have receieved two £5 off vouchers for No.7 this week (one through having a £10 eye test, more about that in a minute) though so do I risk a different colour and hope that the quality of the silver is just a blip or am I going to have to expand my one small makeup bag a little with some eye shadow or something else that I will probably only use once a month?
I opted for another nail varnish (what can I say I'm an optimist) and a lovely silver eye shadow, that I commit to using at least once a week instead of forgetting about it in the bottom of my makeup bag.

So the eye test. Well I know I have a dodgy left eye. I had an eye test about 10 years ago where the receptionist was amazed that I am a driver and that the optician had not insisted I wear glasses!

I only had a slight perscription and it didn't bother me. Its been bothering hubby though, I've had headaches for the past couple of weeks ranging from mild to horrendous, probably brought on by the amount of time spent at the computer. Its my subsequent complaining that has bothered the hubby not any reluctance to perform my marital duties (I know how your minds work!) so when I received a Boots voucher for a half price (£10) eye test after having a headache that was so bad I felt physically sick, I booked a test. The perscription has worsened from 0.25 to 0.75 (that may mean more to you than me) and the lenses actually made things considerable clearer. So I have to buy some specs (I have a hard enough time choosing sunglasses) and hubby is hoping for the sexy secretary look and since he's helping me choose he will probably get his way.
Buying spectacles for the first time is difficult! Glasses don't look natural on my face and they are sooo expensive! I dragged hubby round a couple of the normal options, trying on pretty much every pair and hating nearly all of them, although hubby had a few favourites.  Finally I found a pair that looked like they belonged on my face, they looked like my glasses, not a pair I'd tried on for a laugh or borrowed from a trendy friend.  And best news of all they were only £40!
Thats until I took them to the nice lady at the desk.  Not £40 at all, £81 actually and £116 if I want the anti-glare finish.  Apparently the extra is for the lenses.  So does that mean they would let me take the frames with no lenses for £40? I was tempted to ask, but I'm not the confrontational type (usually)
We left the shop, me very disappointed, hubby wondering how many more shops this would mean he'd have to stand in while I tried on the entire stock. 
Its been a week since the eye test and still no glasses, the marking is finished so my time on the laptop is considerably less and headaches so far = zero (touch wood) so I am not in a hurry to get them, but I am still on the look out.  The next options are Tesco and Asda or online.  Online being the cheapest option, but its not the same as being able to try them on.  I just don't see the point in paying around £100 for a pair of glasses that I only need to wear now and again and knowing my track record with sunglasses, will either get scratched or sat on at some point.

And so the situation so far:
Employment: Redundant! Marking finished. Just 3.5 hours a week at my other part time job and that finishes today.  High hopes for more hours in September though.
Lodgers: 2 (1 to shortly depart)
Eating out: could have been every day for the past week, but that would have meant a lot of extra running required to burn of the calories so we stuck to 3.
Hubby: 1 (anniversary tomorrow!)
Dog: 1 (still in very good health although a little disobedient at the moment, two frisbees lost in the past couple of weeks and no one is owning up to it)
Stepson: 1 (coming to stay later this month, we are going camping, a first for me!)
No Spend Days: Not bad, a new dress and new shoes courtesy of the many and varied sales that are on at the moment.

Not over yet.....

The atmosphere at work is strange, despite the upbeat conversation and cheery greetings of my colleagues who are looking forward to leaving next week (they are mostly optimistic that voluntary redundancy will be granted) there is still a depressing air of emptiness and lost hope.  My students left on Thursday after their final exam, as usual I was more nervous than they were! They left me with a gift bag of chocolate and Tia Maria (they know me so well!) which nearly made me cry and definitely made me want to hug them all (not appropriate for teachers and therefore my professionalism stopped me) although a couple of the lads gave me bear hugs anyway. 
I have taught these students for the past two years and yes they would have been leaving for uni or work even if the department hadn't been closing, but it feels like more of an end to things than the usual end of term. I will miss their familiar faces and quirks, one thing I have never had trouble with is taking responsibility for my students and my course.  As soon as they enrol, they become mine, and I take that very seriously, this is why it is so hard to let them out into the big wide world and accept that for the majority I will never see them again. 
I do hope that, as promised, they will keep me updated via facebook, some of my first ever students from 7 years ago still add the odd comment on my profile which always makes me smile.
So the college seems very empty and quiet, with students gone and many of the staff only popping it to show their faces, there is after all no work to do, no preparations to make for next year, no potential students to speak to, but stupidly I still feel obligated to turn up, sit at my desk and show my presence for the hours I am paid, even if I am only using the time to get some marking done (it classes as continuous professional development - why am I justifying myself!)
By Friday this week I should know whether I am redundant or not, potentially being told to pack my desk up on the same day!  It might be this hanging over me thats getting me down, or our typical British weather that means we have rain rather than summer, or my lack of a social life while the marking continues and I live at the end of a very long, boring motorway on the way to nowhere which keeps the visitors firmly away.  Whatever it is I keep trying to shoo it away with thoughts of the fast approaching holiday to Italy, the promising weather forecasts in that part of the world and all the lovely things hubby and I are going to see and do (clean minds please people).

In complete contrast, a meeting with a lady I will be working with from September at my other part time job (private school teaching) couldn't have been more motivating.  Finding some one that has the passion and enthusiasm for their job and is on the same wave length as me is an incredibly rare event, so I left after a quick meeting, that ended up lasting over an hour, with ideas and hope for next year.  Maybe everything will turn out for the best, yes I still don't have a fulltime (proper) job, but a few hours in a place that hopefully I will be able to have an impact and be appreciated is an opportunity the rest of my colleagues haven't been given, so right now I am thinking myself very lucky and hoping that I will have the pleasure of many more enjoyable meetings like this one.  We are opening a pop up smoothie bar next week for the students, I'll let you know how it goes as the kids range from 7 years old to 18 and there will be sharp knifes, and sticky fruit involved!

Other good news (one for the girls) is that I found a nail varnish that doesn't chip! Yes I know simple things, but seriously this has had me smiling all week and waving my hands frantically in front of the hubby on a daily basis insisting he admire the lovely metallic green colour that after a week has only just started to go at the very tips of the nail.  I know there is a possibility you will think I am crazy at this point, but being the kind of girl that refuses to pay a fortune for maincures or indeed nail varnish, I tend to paint my own nails and find that after having done the washing up once they have already chipped even though I spent an hour letting each coat dry before applying the next, and I never use the cheapest make its either Rimmel or Boots No.7 so you're talking around the £5-£8 mark.  Anyway I received a voucher from Boots when buying my lotions and potions for the holiday (very excited!!) that gave me £5 off No.7 products.  These vouchers are responsible for the majority of items in my make up bag.  So I treated myself to a nail varnish that as a result of the voucher only cost £2! Its called 'Dollar' and after my original concerns of looking like something out of Wicked the musical, I love it.  So impressed am I with the lack of chipping I bought it in silver, at full price, using my advantage card points so technically free :-)

The exam marking continues, at a slightly faster pace I think for this batch, not sure if thats from practice or the students answers are a better quality as its an A2 exam paper.  I am looking forward to the extra money coming in to replenish the savings account that paid for our holiday to Sorrento, I start to worry if I don't have a back-up.
The lodgers continue to drive me crazy, to the point that every door closing makes me flinch and I struggle to raise a smile when they try to engage me in conversation.  I am counting the days to the hoiday and then the move to our new accomodation.  We are also chomping a the bit to get into the boarding house and start the refurb.  We have a month between moving in and the boarders returning from summer holidays and we plan a complete decorative overhaul. We are not being paid for the months work, but we feel the need to make and impact and take ownership, plus we will be living for free, as long as I can find another lodger for my house. 

I'm trying not to hold my breath until Friday (redundancy decision) but I definitely feel out of sorts this week and I am constantly checking my work email in the hope there will be some news, yes I know its highly unlikely that they will put us out of our misery early, but they are dragging it on for a punishing amount of time.  Some of us still believe that come Friday they will suggest redeployment into other jobs.  My colleagues have been told in individual meetings that they could perhaps retrain as a maths teacher (this was to the sociology teacher) or that we are teachers so can teach anything (to the law teacher).  There is certainly no value for our skills or appreciation that at A-level or even GCSE teachers are specialised.
There has been not consultation during the 90 days consultation period, this period ended on 23rd June and there has been no decisions made.  Perhaps they will continue to pay us indefinitely and we will all sit in the office playing on the internet for the foreseeable future. 
So you see, not over yet......but keep your figures crossed that it is soon.

The waiting game

It was Friday afternoon when I suddenly realised that it was the Queen's Jubilee the following week! Well not quite that it was the Jubilee as this had been plastered all over the TV and retail outlets for weeks, more that the Jubille means two bank holidays.  As its half term for me the bank holidays are just counted as normal holiday days so I didn't quite click that the HR department would not be working until Wednesday.  Wednesday being my new extended deadline to request voluntary redundancy.  And the reason for the extended deadline? Well I'm sure you will remember its because I am waiting for the outcome of my appeal meeting, they suggested the extension because of the 'exceptional' circumstances which seemed very nice of them at the time, but as they haven't delivered the outcome and clearly won't until Wednesday at the earliest (when I am in Leeds at the theatre) how am I to make a decicion and fill in the required form if I do decide on Voluntary redundancy? Yes I know there is email, but I cannot access the college email on my mobile it needs setting up by a friendly IT techy.
Obstacles, obstacles everywhere and do I believe they will provide an outcome on Wednesday? No.  Even though they know and I know that the outcome will not be in my favour I would still like to see it in writing before I consider my next move.  Most of the department have already put in their requests for voluntary redundancy although obviously this can and in some instances will be refused I feel like I'm being left behind.  Others have decided against it because mortgage protection will not pay out for voluntary redundancy as it implies you chose to leave.  The department is closing! None of us have any choice in the matter, we are just doing the best we can to protect ourselves!
By 8.30pm on Friday much to my surprise I received a hand delivered letter form work, detailing the appeal outcome, 3 pages worth!
Much better reading than the original grievance outcome, they admit they do not have evidence for several points which a few weeks ago they stated they had 'substantial' evidence! They also admitted and apologised for procedural mistakes, the upshot is that they found the appeal not to be in my favour.  No I am not surprised or even disappointed, disappointment would suggest I believed it would be otherwise and my hopes never really developed that far.
So then the weekend was spent considering whether I bite the bullet and apply for voluntary redundancy or wait for them to make me compulsory redundant (if they don't redeploy me) and then take them to a tribunal for unfair dismissal on the grounds that I should have been made redundant last November.
I don't know if I'm being a quitter or just sensible, but I put my 'expression of interest' in for voluntary redundancy.  Part of me wants to keep fighting, but the bigger part of me worries that I could end up with nothing so I decided it would be better to get 0.3 of my redundancy payout than have a long fight with stress and worry for the next few months or perhaps longer (the last tribunal they had took 5 years to conclude and guess who won!)
Now their policy states that any expression of interest in voluntary redundancy will be answered as soon as possible and if granted a meeting will be arranged to discuss terms.  Not quite how its gone (no surprises there) my colleagues and myself have recieved fairly prompt letters inviting us to meetings to discuss our expressions of interest, but with no indication whether they are accepting us for voluntary redundancy.  They seem to go against there very recently written policies at every opportunity and the only purpose I can see in the delay tactics is to continue the discomfort of their staff.
The meeting was today and as predicted gave no knew information and no indication as to whether I am to stay or leave, I will know by the 29th June apparently.  The reason for further delay? Well I think its because they are worried that everyone wants to leave and for the few positions they have available (maths and english teaching only and then a whole range of support positions) there will be nobody left to fill them.  It does not seem to matter that I do not have the necessary qualifications or experience for any of the positions, nor do the majority of my colleagues.  Square pegs in round holes I think is the plan.
In the meantime HR seem to be digging quite hard into what my colleagues and myself have planned for the future.  How is the job market looking? What are you going to do? Will you look outside the area for work? What about that bit of teaching you do at the school down the road? (3.5 hours a week does not equate to a job!) The reason for this sudden interest in our futures? If we find a job before we are made redundant they don't have to pay us anything.  Cycnical? No. This is how the place works, they don't care about their staff, not even the ones that have worked there for 20 years or more, they have made that very clear over the past 18months when all this started.

Amidst all the angst from the work direction I am plodding along with several lots of exam marking, main purpose being to boost my now depleted income.  It achieves that goal, but my god is it boring work!
I musn't complain though as the current running joke with hubby and I is that although I stay at home for most of the week and seem not to work (marking is completed in fits and starts while watching TV or listening to the radio) I have more disposable income than I have had in years.  So much spare money infact that hubby and I enjoyed our theatre trip in Leeds with pre theatre dinner and cocktails.  Yes the Tesco vouchers pretty much covered the food and hubby treated me to cocktails (Dark Chocolate and Strawberry Cocktails at Browns in Leeds are my new favourite thing) but I paid for the theatre tickets and the cheap hotel and still felt that I could afford a shoe orientated shopping spree the following day.  It was not lack of money that saw us leave Leeds without the shoes I dreamed of, I just couldn't find them, I did find a fab summer handbag in Primark though!
The theatre was dancetastic by the way, all the corny lines of the film, but with some added humour amidst the amazing dancing.  The stage and backdrop were ingenious and they even managed 'the lift' on a rather small stage which caused a huge round of applause.  My fifties style dress and under skirt also made me look and feel like one of the cast and even though I stood out from the jeans clad crowd I felt like a lady :-)
I am also still having regular injections of cafe nero's milano hot chocolate and I visited the market again for flowers last week, those roses having lasted 3 whole weeks before I decided I really must relegate them to the bin, these are the things I wished for and there are moments when I feel like I am living the good life. 
Hubby and I, accompanied by a friend, ran a 10k at Clumber Park on Saturday too, all my spare time has meant that I have kept up with the running although only twice a week, which needs increasing to three times and mixing up with something different on other days. 
This is my third race and I think the most pleasant in terms of location (not as muddy as expected) and very well organised with excellent goody bag, a t-shirt and medal, definitely one to do again next year.  The next one planned is the Nottingham half marathon although my friend did ask if I was doing the Hunber Bridge Half Marathon again this year, it is in 3 weeks so I'm thinking not, I haven't run 12 miles for months and the Hunber Bridge run is one of the hardest in the country with a delightful incline known as cardiac hill!
For now I'll increase the training and make sure I'm ready for Nottingham in September, I even plan to take my trainers on holiday so I don't miss a week of training. Holiday is not booked quite yet, I've applied for a 0% credit card to pay for it, so waiting to see if I can still get credit even on a part time wage.  If not I'll use the back up fund, we're looking at a week in Sorrento, Italy so nothing too expensive, but a bit higher class than Spain or Greece.

This good life does come at a cost though.
The lodgers are more or less trouble free although the tea stains on the sink and worktop drive hubby mad and are starting to niggle at me as I am the one at home most of the week I currently do the bulk of the cleaning.  Its a small thing I know, but cleaning up after other people just isn't fun especially when they are grown ups and surely should do it themsleves! I also find that I cannot cook tea when I want, as someone else is cooking theirs.  I can't have a bath when I want because someone else is in the bathroom or talking very loudly on their mobile phone in the room next door (not the right environment for relaxing in the bubbles)
I also don't have the desire to make small talk when I am at home, it feels like work, I want to be able to make the journey from one room to the other without bumping into anyone except the hubby or the puppy, neither of who require chit chat.  I would feel rude though if I didn't make an effort to speak to the lodgers.  I know it doesn't sound like a hard life and I know it could be worse, but I crave having the place to myself, even the sound of them moving around is annoying me at the moment and why are they are home when I'm at home, they have jobs!
There is a silver lining to my little dark cloud, the hubby's new job starts in Spetember and includes accomodation, so we get to move in August.  A whole three bed flat to ourselves! I do worry (hubby says I have to have something to worry about, I move from one thing to another) that when we return to the house, which I will still count as home and plan on spending time off in, I will spend the first few hours cleaning up after the lodgers, or do you think it will get to a point where they recognise that no one else is going to do it and do it themselves? I could employ a cleaner, this is something I have thought about, but its extra cost and shouldn't adults clean up after themselves?

Having just redecorated the other house, tenant having recently departed, it amazes me the unusual marks that appear on walls, door frames and skirting boards and that tenants don't see the need to clean up.  This tenant was great in every respect except the state of the paintwork which had only been painted in December and now after a short tenancy needed doing again, I quick scrub not being sufficient to recreate the fresh clean look required.  Now I am in search of a new tenant with the hope that it will not take long, on my meagre wage I cannot afford to cover two mortgages.

And so the situation so far:
Employment: Still part-time 0.33 of a fulltime contract + exam marking which equates to a fulltime job for the last 2 weeks and the next 3
Lodgers: 2
Eating out: once or twice (retail eyes has dried up a bit and exam marking keeps me chained to the computer)
Hubby: 1 (nearly our one year anniversary!)
Dog: 1 (still in very good health although a little disobedient at the moment, spoilt by lodgers that are easily persuaded into playing fetch)
Stepson: 1 (visited over half term and plans to have him again soon for longer periods)
No Spend Days: A little better minus the trip to Leeds, again exam marking helps with this.

Where to start.......

The trials and tribulations with my employer continue, but with movement at last both on the grievance and the collective consultation.
Firstly a timeline was published for the collective consultation, expressions of interest for the available posts (none of which I am qualified/suitable for) and voluntary redundancy to be received by this Thursday despite this news only being delivered late last Friday afternoon.  So they can take the majority of the 90 days to leave us hanging with no answers or decisions made, but when its time for us to make a decision we don't even get a week!
The union are now putting our case forward in the weekly meetings too, although we are a very small percentage of a much larger group that are in consultation so I still feel our views and concerns are marginalised.
In the meantime I had my appeal meeting on Monday evening and the member of senior management seemed very understanding to the point of being lovely (a deception I am sure) and she supplied yet more evidence that I was forced/bullied into taking a cut in hours (evidence collected during the grievance investigation so how on earth was the outcome not in my favour?) 
The meeting concluded with the reassurance that I would receive a speedy outcome with the impending decision date for voluntary redundancy in mind.  Not that speedy it would seem though as I was informed yesterday that they need more time, but they are consequently allowing me more time (until 6th June) to make my decision (how nice of them!)  Although there is little to distinguish voluntary from compulsory other than if I request voluntary the college look better than if they made me compulsory redundant (why should I do them a favour!) and that with voluntary I don't have to work 4 months notice, but with compulsory I might have to work some notice.  What I would be doing during this notice period I really can't imagine, as the department will be closed before the notice begins.
So movement there has definitely been, conclusions though? No. 
The HR team are becoming very familiar with me though and are still able to maintain a friendly demeanour in my prescence.  They have managed to instill a little hope in me that justice will be done and even my more cynical colleagues are hopeful that perhaps they were just trying their luck before, hoping I'd be put off by the farce that their grievance procedure appeared to be.  Surely they would not want the case to go to tribunal with all the evidence I have and the additional evidence they have produced to support my case?
I am holding on to that little glimmer of hope while trying not to get my hopes up too high.

News outside of that is a little sparce I'm afraid.  The exam marking period is in full swing and will be for the next four weeks so social life is on hold.  I was working at lightening pace to start with, but now the boredom has set in its more like snails pace.  The glorious weather we have had hasn't really helped.  I'd much rather be sun worshipping than sat inside glued to the shiney new laptop (even if it is very efficient and a lovely shiney red) Its okay though its meant to rain this week (sorry, I know I'm the only one thinking of that as a positive)
I'm already considering my options of what to spend the extra money on........holiday is a definite although I still have money from the January marking to contrbute to that.  I really want to go to London to the theatre (something I have never done)
Train to London on 1st August £11.25 from Doncaster straight to Kings Cross and £12 return the following day was very tempting, almost booked it there and then.  The theatre tickets and necessary hotel are another matter, tickets are a minimum of £53 even for a Weekday and hotel in central London? I haven't looked yet, I daren't!  Its on my wish list though, so surely I should do it? I think I've got so used to budgeting that splashing out has become difficult. 
While writing to you I have talked myself into it, a trip to London is booked! Train tickets £38.90 for two adults from Doncaster to Kings Cross return with East Coast Trains.  It brings the fare down if you book two singles and go direct to East Coast trains website, its an extra couple of quid through national rail website.
I paid the extra £1 to get the tickets posted out to me, I need something physical to reassure me I have actually got somethingin return for my pennies.
The hotel is also booked. Travelodge on High Holborn, near the theatre and close to all central attractions, £49.50. 
Yes these prices are because we go on a Monday and come back on a Tuesday, but its summer hols so we can :-)
The theatre I haven't booked yet.  There is method to my madness though, the prices seem to get cheaper the closer to the date we get (the opposite to trains and hotels) so I'm going to wait it out in the hope that the prices come down, if they don't I haven't lost anything I'll ust pay the full price and worst case scenario if its sells out on a Monday night (possible because its school hols?) then we have two days in London to do whatever we fancy.  I have to admit I haven't done the tourist thing in London, the only reason I've been there is for exam training days and passing through to the Eurostar, hubby spent a bit of time in the city as a teenager though so I can rely on him to be my guide and drag me on and off the underground, which is the scariest part for me, I have always stubbornly walked from station to exams head office.
The only other thing to worry about is parking the car in Doncaster weighing up whether to leave it at the house I rent out (no off road parking there) or pay for parking at the station (have the feeling that might blow the budget. I also need to persuade a friend to look after the puppy, I have one in mind who is particularly good at it, but he's rubbish with dates so there's no point mentioning plans for August now.
In the meantime I am very excited about our theatre trip in Leeds next week to see Dirty Dancing (did I mention that before) I've converted my £10 worth of Tesco vouchers into £40 of Browns restaurant vouchers so we can eat for free while we are there, the only downside is we can't use the vouchers for drinks and I do so love a cocktail or two! Still having some Tesco vouchers left I plan to convert them into restaurant vouchers to use on our London trip so we can have extra money to go visit the usual attractions.

What I wished for.......

I bought a laptop! Its red and shiny, has face recognition 3 times more memory than my old one and a super fast processor and lots more technical stuff that means nothing to me.  I did my research of course and think I got a good deal (just under £400) The decision was made when I realised that trying to complete the summer exam marking on a laptop that regularly crashes, does not have a working select button, has a broken hinge and several buttons missing would not only be infuriating, but also very embarassing when I lugged it into work.  Don't ever let it be said that I am frivolous however, I make sure I wring the life out of my possessions before making a new purchase. The fifteen year old items of clothing in my wardrobe are just testament to that, although they are now iterspersed with new clothes that haven't been worn yet (a result of the poor weather)
So the money I put to one side from my January exam marking has now been spent, the puppy having tried his best to use it all first, I did still manage keep some.
Did buying the laptop make me happy though? Not so much.  The buying experience was not without its issues and I can safely say that British sales assistants have no customer service skills, where as the two non-British sales assistants that eventually helped me buy something were excellent even though English was there second language. I'm not sure if it was the sales process that dulled my excitement or just that material possessions don't mean so much anymore, but it didn't make me happy.  Yes I was excited to get it home, set up and play, but having done that for a couple of hours, the novelty wore off quite quickly.  I am pleased however that it should make the upcoming exam marking a little more efficient.
So what did I wish for when I started this journey? To be honest I had to remind myself! Well here's the list:
1. To travel - trip to France and plans for a late deal holiday in July tick that box.

2. To visit nice restaurants - Retaileyes are making this very achievable at the moment.

3. To beable to cover unexpected bills without stressing - I have a back up fund which has so far paid for the new laptop and the car insurance which was going to cost an extra £100 to pay monthly so not quite unexpected bills, but it was nice to have the money there ready and waiting.

4. To be able to treat myself now and again (posh food, nice flowers, clothes and shoes) - A purchase that has made me happy is a couple of bunches of roses (silly I know) they cost £2.50 from the local market (much cheaper and prettier than Tesco's offerings) and are yellow, orange and red, nice and bright and cheery and orange roses always remind me of my nan and more recently my wedding having had orange roses in the bouquet as a tribute to my nan. I excitedly brought the two little bunches home and arranged/stuck them in a vase and now everytime I see them it cheers me up. Proof I think that my desire for the goodlife does not hinge on the desire for money and expensive things.

5. Not to work my contracted 37 hours a week and bring home the same amount of work to do or worry about in my own time. - I still bring a little bit of work home especially at this time of year when mock exams are essential, but it is not keeping me awake at night and certainly doesn't come close to 37 hours a week.

6. To take long walks with the puppy - every day he either gets a long walk of a game of frisbee (if the weather isn't so good) and sometimes both.

7. To take time to look around and take a breath (corny I know) - I have found myself doing this more and more even on the rainy days under the safety of my umbrella and things don't look so bad despite all the doom and gloom reported on the news.

8. Not to be stressed and miserable - I'm not stressed and I don't think I'm miserable, having seen an old friend yesterday for the first time in months he said I seem really happy and I know its not an act and my friend having known me for a long time now can read me fairly well. I don't feel the need to put on a brave face or make things out to be better than they are.  Life might not be how I expected in terms of my career, but its turning out pretty well and I'm realising there are more important things in life.

I have had quiet a lucky couple of weeks, besides my two pruchases I have eaten out several times, mainly thanks to retaileyes, which ranged from local pub to more Frankie and Benny's visits. 
We also had a free spa day on the bank holiday which was excellent although on enquiring about membership fees we found that the joining fee alone was £200 for a couple! I think I'll stick to the freebies :-)
I've also continued the clothes shopping and bought a couple more items, but its got to stop, despite relegating some items to the charity shop that are two sizes too big for me (I can't remember being that big, I've clearly wiped it from my memory) I still feel guilty for buying new things and I'm fretting over how much I've spent, wondering how I can possibly afford it on a part time wage, but I'm not using the overdraft or the credit card so what's there to feel bad about? Don't worry the bills are not going unpaid either.

Although all of the good has to be balanced with the fact that we live with two practical strangers (lodgers) who are nice and polite and considerate, but is it on any newly married couples wish list to share their home in this way? I can't complain though, even though I grumble a little when sometimes I would just like the house to myself, at the end of the day they are the ones helping to pay for this new life and so I will smile and be gracious (most of the time)

In other news I finally got a result from my grievance! Having just returned from a meeting at the citizen's advice bureau armed with key phrases to put in a snotty letter to HR requesting a speedy resolution, I drafted my letter, checked and double checked and logged into my work email to send a copy via email not only to HR, but also to the principal for added emphasis.  I was thwarted however by an email at the top of the list from HR with the conclusion of the grievance investigation.  Needless to say that after 7 weeks of investigating, they did not find the case in my favour, nor did they answer the points raised in the grievance.  My appeal letter has already been delivered by hand to the HR department, not that I expect that to be a very fruitful endeavour and a week later I have not had a response.
My colleagues however have also been sticking up for themsleves and have arranged a collective consultation meeting for the department, which the principal has been invited to, in order to discuss the lack of communication and support that has been demonstrated so far (now being halfway through the 90 day period)  The meeting went well (we congratulated ourselves as we returned to the office) we got some answers and promise of more next week, but the issue seems to be that legally HR have to consult with the collective representatives which in this case is UCU and Unison, and as only one of our department is a union memeber it means that our little group has not been represented at all.  We're are on to it now though and our one union member has offered to put forward all our questions and concerns. The principal did not attend by the way, actually she read the emailed invitation and didn't bother to respond - how rude!

And so the situation so far:
Employment: Still part-time 0.33 of a fulltime contract (exam marking starts next week)
Lodgers: 2
Eating out: 6 times over the last couple of weeks thanks to retaileyes, a treat from hubby and a treat from a friend (I'm a very lucky girl at the moment)
Hubby: 1 (7months of married bliss minus one argument)
Dog: 1 (still in very good health and looking beautiful and shiny after a recent bath)
Stepson: 1 (coming to visit for a few days over half term)
No Spend Days: few and far between after all my treats, starting next week I plan to be well behaved though.

Guilt

Who says we have to work 5 days a week? Who says life can't be fulfilled by staying at home with the kids, being a housewife or working part time? Well me actually.  I have always believed that if you don't work fulltime you are less of a person, I think the belief developed from being left on the 'girls' table at posh dinners in my late teens and finding myself surrounded by girls of the same age as me or a little older who had no ambition to have a career or those that did just assumed they could buy their way into it, non of them went to university or worked fulltime, I was doing both at the time and as a result could not find any common ground.  I could not involve myself in their conversations because I only felt disgust and bitterness towards their view of life.  I would sneak away and join the male element of the party all of whom had worked hard since they left school and some of whom had even gone to university (for a farming community university is not necessarily an expectation)
So it is my own fault that I feel guilty for not going to work every day, it is not because I can't afford to pay my mortgage and bills (even if the hubby leaves me I'd be ok financially) or go out for meals and buy new clothes.  I can afford at least two holidays this year (not to the carribean obviously) I think I might have enough money saved to finally get the kitchen done up or at least french doors put in and the room properly insulated. I have bought new clothes and shoes having relegated several elements of my wardrobe to the wheelie bin or the loft (incase one day its back in fashion or fits) And nobody is pointing and laughing or sneering in disgust at my new lifestyle (not openly anyway)
I have maintained this preconception about women that do not work or have any real career ambition throughout my life and have bowed out of social events and conversations because I believe they will have nothing interesting to talk about (conversations solely about children do not interest me especially as they usually result in the question of when I will have one) and now I find that I am scared that I will have nothing to say anymore, no interesting view points or anecdotes other than to express my devotion to the puppy and relay stories of how cute he is when he rubs his face with his paws (it is an adorable sight!)
Will hubby and I have anything to discuss once he's told me how his day was and I've explained how dirty the floors were even though I only mopped them a couple of days ago and asked what we should have for tea?
So ultimately I feel guilty for not working full time, I feel even more guilty for going on a mini shopping spree earlier this week.  Having picked up several items that looked lovely on the hanger, but couldn't possibly look that nice on me, I dragged hubby to the changing rooms so he could be judge.  I tried on, I twirled in front of the mirror, I twirled in front of the hubby and I loved every item/oufit.  Having chastised hubby for allowing me to buy them all we left the shop, happy but guilt seeping through and me justifying in various inventive ways why I should have bought 2 skirts, a dress and jacket (for £65!) when I might not have a job come September! Hubby reassured me that I deserved a treat and that the pain and suffering (I am still having physio) I have gone through as a result of some silly bint running into us before Christmas should be treated with just this kind of retail therapy. Obviously I decided on this occassion that hubby is right, but I haven't worn the outfits yet and may still return an item or two to ease my conscience.  The payout for my injuries came through today however and made my bank account look healthy for the first time in months, but I'm being sensible, I paid off my credit card and put the majority safely in a savings account, I may need it come September so no more treats for now.
On the subject of work and September, I am no further along in the 90 day consultation period as HR have said that nothing can be done until me grievance is setttled.  Conveniently for them they are still 'investigating' my complaint, it has been 6 weeks! So I can not apply for voluntary redundancy, I can not apply for the available posts that after 37 days of consultation they still have not identified and they cannot say whether ultimately I will have any future at the college.
Yesterday however I had a little epiphany, having accompanied a colleague to her grievance appeal hearing (we made quite a good team, we certainly fought her corner) I was determined to work out what my employer was gaining from postponing the inevitable, they are clearly going to find the 'investigation' in their favour not mine so why take so long about it?  Having done a little research into time limits (we love google) I found that if I wanted to take my calim to a tribunal I had to do this within 3 months of the event I am complaining about happening, panic very quickly set in! I phoned ACAS, very useful people when it comes to employment law issues and free of charge and I am arranging another appointment with Citizen's Advice Bureau (again a free service) so they can take as long as they like concluding my grievanace I now know I can't afford to wait for them and will be putting a claim into the employment tribunal as soon as I can.
The whole episode has provoked my fighting spirit and for that reason my guilt has subsided or at least been masked by determination not to let my employer 'get one over me'   As my colleague recently stated 'we are intelligent people, why do they treat us like idiots?' It true, surely they wouldn't have employed us in the first place if they didn't think we had at least a modicum of intelligence? They seem to hope that no one in the building has any employment law knowledge (they clearly do not share my fondness for google) but besides my limited and somewhat out of date knowledge from my business management degree, consequent managment experience and my expertise in google based research, they employ law lecturers! Surely they expect someone is going to question their methods eventually? Having said that the union reps who are allegedly employed and  paid to do such questioning have done very little despite weekly meetings with the HR department. The phrases jumping through hoops and ticking boxes springs to mind although the rumour is they have employed the highest paid employment law specialists in the land to fight their corner. Money to blow on fancy lawyers, but not pay fair redundancy kind of sums up the ethical stance of the place.

Contemplation Time

Its strange to think that when I was a teenager (a decade or so ago) coffee culture did not exist in Yorkshire. Yes, yes I know many of you will think that ten years ago electricity and the internet didn't exist in Yorkshire, and yes you'd be right about broadband perhaps, but other than that elements of this great region are just as civilised as those south of Birmingham and to my knowledge the popularity of coffee shops was low in all aspects of the UK in the late 90's.
Now however it seems to be the cool hang out for anyone aged 12 and over.  Yes I said 'cool' which is probably very uncool, but I'm an eighties baby so I grew up saying things were 'brill' and 'ace'!
My geekiness aside, how do these children, and the ones on the table across from me are definitely only children, afford it? A drink and snack from any of the main coffee brands would have used up a whole weeks pocket money for me when I was 16, prior to that I would have been lucky to afford a biscuit.  Even now I count it as a treat, although Cafe Nerro is definitely cheaper than Starbucks and Costa and their Milano Hot Chocolate is my new addiction, hence I've had 3 this week (Its Easter Holidays, I'm allowed!)
Having gulped down my latest Milano I'm left with a smile on my face, aided by the sun shining through the window (I think I suffer from SAD) The shopping trip that prompted the coffee shop stop has added to my contentment today, a new jacket bought with 35% off thanks to signing up for the H&M newsletter and I've still got a 10% off voucher to use online. And for this evening a  free three course meal at Frankie & Benny's courtesy of a mystery visit.  Free food in exchange for filling in a questionnaire? I'd do them every day if I could find them within a 20 mile radius, I think being on the edge of the country on the way to nowhere limits the availability somewhat.
Before the food we are heading to Primark, Hull has the biggest one I've seen and its guilt free shopping, I can satisfy my need to shop without spending very much at all, another thing that when I was a teenager couldn't have been further from cool.  If you were seen in or wearing Primark it was social suicide, I like that society has evolved.

In other news, I received the minutes from my intial grievance meeting. although its taken them 15 working days which was actually the deadline for the investigation to be complete. There were many mistakes and omissions in the minutes, considering the meeting lasted nearly 2 hours, the write up seems incredibly brief, I quickly amended the important bits and sent it back.  Needless to say the investigation and subsequent decicion will clearly be taking longer than 15 days.
In the mean time however I am learning (slowly) to enjoy the freedom of not working full time, although some of my spare time is still spent finding resources for the students revision, the exams looming closer, rather than finding new hobbies for myself. 
I have entered another 10k race though. Prior to the trip to France I was impressed with my stamina and speed and was regularly running 10k, on my return though I had lost the ability to run, much to my distress running or rather jogging 1.5 miles nearly killed me and the subsequent two runs weren't much easier although I managed to get to 3 miles.  Hubby has now been enlisted to train me in preparation for the race, he did after all get me ready for a half marathon in a measly 6 weeks last summer so 10k should be easy right?
I am finding it difficult to go from a life where I had to fit things in to a busy schedule, without really having enough time for anything, to having so much time I don't know what to do with it.  Doing nothing was never an option before, although teaching was a huge slow down from the hospitality industry that used to be my career, I filled the spare hours with extra exam marking and bringing work home.  Now the extra exam marking isn't extra at all its just a fulltime job for a few weeks and in the other weeks I find myself struggling to write a to do list to fill my days.  My diary is evidence in itself of this new life, the pages used to be filled with scribbles and reminders and ticks to show I'd completed some tasks, the remaining ones (and there were always ones not finished) were transferred to the following page which quickly filled. This process simply repeated and repeated, now the pages on some days are entirely blank, only on the work days is there a noticeable list which I actually manage to complete.
As a result I can't help having moments when the hubby is at work and I'm at home with the puppy that my life is a little empty.  I have always been a career girl, movng round the country for the next job, everything else came second to work.  I admit this changed when I met the hubby, my priorities altered and I realised that work wasn't worth ruining a relationship for (some ex-boyfriends will be suprised to hear that) and so we both agreed that if work got in the way we would leave (we both worked at the same hell hole at that point and place does posion your entire life not just the time you spend in the building) I just have to keep reminding myself that there is more to life than work, but when you spend most of your adult life working its a difficult habit to break and I started fulltime work at 16 so its firmly engrained that you get up and go to work at least 5 out of 7 days a week, you stay there all day and when you get home you try to squeeze in the rest of your life and the people in it.
I have good days and bad days and I think the good days are getting more frequent, the news that my department will cease to exist after the summer did open up a huge gaping hole labelled September though.  I have the next few months to work out what I want from life, I know I can live on a drastically reduced wage, I'm doing it and still buying new clothes and as many hot chocolates as my conscience will allow, so what else? I will return to the wishlist and work from there.

En Francais!

Firstly apologies for the delay, French life is so laid back it practically stands still so my week away caused me to lose track of time, not because I was relaxing in the sun of Southern France, more because my mind was consumed with the frustrations of being faced with a world thats does not seem to be open for business and the stresses of being on best behaviour for the in-laws. 
I know I should have appreciated the slower pace and taken the opportunity to chill, but its not in my nature or the stepsons (he bores easily if things aren't happening) and despite the in-laws best efforts to welcome me I feel that I've been holding on tight all week, with my stomach in a knot and my shoulders up by my ears. 
I have worried about everything from whether I locked the door at home, to how much the motorways in France cost (£11 each way from Bordeaux to Aulnay) and whether we would manage to return the hire car in exactly the same condition we picked it up (800 euros to pay if not)  and of course whether the inlaws like me.
This was intended to be a budget holiday, accomodation was free, the inlaws being very hospitable to hubby, stepson and I, but France generally is expensive.  The supermarches are full of amazing foods that in England are only stocked on the tiny speciality shelves and the out door markets are full of colour and bustle, but the prices are high and even with a slight improvement in the £ to Euro rate (we managed 1.14 Euros to every pound) it still meant I was watching every penny.
These concerns were not helped by news from home that my little car had a massive crack all the way across the windscreen (possibly caused by a faulty fitting of a new screen after a pigeon fell off a lorry and cracked the original screen last summer)
It wasn't all bad I had a personal tour guide (the hubby grew up in France and is fluent in the language) we toured Chateau's (those that were open) shops, markets, beautiful countryside and the hubby's childhood memories including the baby photos.  My own French was also tested and not found lacking (I understand more than I can actually speak)

 One of three prison towers in La Rochelle (once owned by the English)

 The Roman Ampitheatre at Saintes

 Chateau at Crazzanes (can be hired for weddings and is truly beautiful)

The hire car we were given (a little Chevrolet Spark) was incredibly economical with only a 30litre tank it lasted all week and we covered a lot of miles (the South of France is very sparce) unlike the car I borrowed from a friend to get down to Luton which cost £73 to fill up!
I have to say despite the worries I slept incredibly well, the bed was soooo comfy, my dreams however were bizarre, ranging from adopting one of my students to heated debates with my so called boss.  I'm guessing these were provoked by the news a couple of weeks ago that my department will close in September.  Having already felt that I lost my job before Christmas when my hours were so vastly reduced this didn't have as much of an impact on me as it did on some of my full time colleagues.  It was gutting though when many of my students said they would not be returning after Easter as they didn't see the point since they would not be able to finish their course the following year.  Each name added to the list wrenched my insides, it means a lot to me to see them succeed and on a more selfish note my track record of results has been excellent for the last 3 years I don't really like the idea of it being tarnished.
The announcement also means that voluntary redundancy is an option again, but while my grievance continues with no update as yet, I cannot make any decisions, so again we wait.

 

Employment: Parttime 0.33 of a fulltime contract
Lodgers: 1 (new lodger moving in at the end of the month)
Eating out: all week in France! (we have eaten well)
Hubby: 1 (9 months of married bliss minus one argument and survived meeting the inlaws)
Dog: 1 (bathed and clean in honor of his holiday at my friends while we were in France and still smells good a week later)
Stepson: 1 (After a week on a family holiday it has been confirmed that I am not a natural stepmum, I like my hubby to myself although stepmum was chosen over dad to sit next to on the plane home!)
No Spend Days: I admit I have no idea (nobody's perfect)

Bathrooms & Budgets

The bathroom is complete! And yes it has taken nearly two weeks thanks to paint that takes 24hrs to dry between coats, and the need for three different types of paint depending on whether my brush is aimed at the ceiling, the top half of the wall or the bottom half of the wall, I have turned into some kind of mad obsessive when it comes to my bathroom and driven the hubby mad with colour charts although I think he enjoyed the many trips to B&Q.
The best news is I managed to come in under budget! £85.24 total cost which included new bath mat, shower curtain and mirror.  It has to be said however that buying the cheaper B&Q paint rather than splashing out the extra £7 for Dulux was a false economy.  B&Q took three coats before the walls stopped looking patchy, whereas having used Dulux on previous, less stingy occassions covers perfectly well with just one.

Before                                                                          After


The time involved has kept me occupied and out of reach of boredom, along with the continued good weather and subsequent runs to the seaside or round the woods, now the bathrooms finished though what am I going to do? My £100 budget won't stretch to refurb of the kitchen which requires new doors, plastering, flooring, cabinets and paint.
The next project is making a bathroom cabinet, although my belief that it must be cheaper to make my own than buy one is being thwarted by the cost of wood which seems ridiculously high, is there a shortage of trees that I haven't heard about?

Having stuck to my own budget this week, I watched George Osborne's Budget for the 2012 with trepidation, but was very relieved to hear that there is a commitment to keeping interest rates low, with two mortgages both on variable rates even a small rise would be hugely detrimental on my new vastly reduced income.  My hope for a lower fuel bill was not answered however and as such we will still be limited to local acivities for entertainment.
It seems that if my income stays the same next year I will no longer be a tax payer thanks to the new persoanl allowance increase, which is nice, but gave me a peculiar feeling as though I am no longer a contributing member of society, having worked fulltime since the age of sixteen I never thought or planned to be a part timer let alone someone who didn't pay tax!
In other news my grievance at work continues, having had the first meeting earlier this week the case is now being investigated with an outcome expected in 15days although I suspect they will take their time and drag it out.  The meeting took two hours and although not as unpleasant as expected it was emotionally draining and clear that my employer will use any loophole they can find to ensure that they come out on top.  So now we wait.

Good vs Bad

Thursday demonstrated the advantages of working part time gloriously well.  With the assistance of some gorgeous sunshine I got out of bed at a decent hour (a downfall of not having to get up for work every day is that it is all too easily to stay in bed for most of the morning) took the puppy for a long walk and then went for a run to the seaside and back (its quite nice having the beach only a couple of miles from home) The run and the sunshine really boosted my mood and kept me motivated through work in the afternoon and beyond.  These are things I would not have had the opportunity to do while working fulltime, by the time I'd have been on the way home from work the sun would have been fading and I certainly wouldn't have had the motivation to go out for a run (the puppy has ways of dragging me out for a walk however) The other benefit is that it didn't cost a penny!
The weekend brought rain, persistent rain, and a reluctance to do anything outdoorsy.  The problem being that anything indoorsy costs a considerable amount of money or is at least an hours drive away (as is everything from here) which means costly petrol and with hubby still only working a few hours a week and my wage so reduced I managed to talk him out of every suggestion based on the costs involved.  I worry that the goodlife can only really exist as long as the sun shines and in Britain that isn't all that often.  As a result the weekend time was used up with DIY, cleaning and snuggling on the sofa, not bad, but not ideal.

This weekend we're going to redo the bathroom (on a budget of £100, I'll let you know if we manage to stick to it)

Picture of bathroom as it is now and as its been since I moved in 18months ago, could be worse as I'm sure my best friend will tell you, green suite and orange walls are a little more difficult to live with!

I have just put a coat of primer on the window having spent many, many hours stripping the old paint off.  Admittedly we started stripping the paint at the end of last year, but soon got bored. 
So far though it has not cost a penny just a lot of elbow grease, some leftover paint stripper and the primer I used on my bedroom drawers.



I don't mind DIY its quite therapeutic and when the local decorators quote anything from £90 upwards just to paint the hall and landing (which with the right equipment would probably only take half a day) I find spending the day doing it myself very satisfying, although it does make me question whether I should have been a painter and decorator rather than a teacher as I know I have never been paid £90 for a days work despite being required to have a degree and a teaching qualfication!

The sun returned yesterday though and having walked the puppy I put my trainers on and returned to the sea front, much quieter than Thursday and I am definitely getting faster.  Hubby's work has also picked up a little and hopefully will continue to do so, for this reason we are treating ourselves tonight with a date to the cinema (Orange Wednesdays of course!)

Employment: Parttime 0.33 of a fulltime contract
Lodgers: 1 (potential lodger viewing this week)
Eating out: 2
Hubby: 1 (8 months of married bliss minus one argument)
Dog: 1 (all healed and fur growing back nicely)
Stepson: 1
No Spend Days: 6/14 (must do better!)

Progress

Okay so progress does not mean I have been perfect, my challenge not to buy anymore clothes until an existing item is relegated to the bin or the charity shop has not quite been met this month.  I confess I spent money on not quite essential items.  I did only spend £10 though! Yes I know I'm trying to justify it to myself, but I have some nice new running shorts and a vest, two things for £10 is a bargain right?
Other than that minor slip I think I've been quite good and as a result I have money left with only a week to go until payday.  Hubby and I are still amazed that we are more than surviving on a severely reduced income compared to the when we were skint on two fulltime incomes.
The puppy has also curbed his spending, he's healing well and has resisted the urge to scratch at the wound, for that reason he has been rewarded by not having to wear his silly plastic collar for the past few days and he can now play frisbee again.
The exam marking is finally over, having spent every evening, every weekend and the days inbetween when I wasn't teaching, attached to the computer I am glad its over.  It was however incredibly satisfying to see the extra money appear in my bank account and beable to transfer it straight away to the credit card account therefore paying off the vets bill, the two new car tyres and the flights to France in one fell swoop.  Don't worry I haven't forgotten about the laptop and the puppy didn't manage to spend every penny I earnt, I am still owed another payment, hopefully at the end of this week.  Now I have to decide whether to buy a laptop or something else, I have already treated myself to tickets to see Dirty Dancing at the theatre (something I've been longing to see) but that still leaves a nice amount to play with.  Hubby has recently upgraded his laptop however and mine has not died yet so I'm thinking the new laptop can wait and hopefully prices will continue to fall over the next few months as they tend to do with technology, in which case I may buy one for the exam marking in June.
I am still in search of another lodger, but supply appears to have dried up, that and I think I'm being quite fussy, one because I have to live with the person and two because we are not desperate for the money, to be honest the extra money would either be saved for a rainy day or spent on treats so I'd rather wait for the right person.
There are other downsides to lodgers besides living with a practical stranger.  Having just read the electricity meter, prompted by one of those little cards through the door, it would appear that our electricity usage is considerably increased.  Not suprising I suppose when at the point of having two lodgers that meant 3 televisions, 4 laptops, a minimum of 4 showers a day, 2 extra lightbulbs left on, not to mention the lights accidentally left on in the kitchen, hallway etc. over night because they are not paying the bills so are not a conscientious about energy saving as a billpayer is.  Happily I get to keep control of the thermostat (I have lots of warm socks and jumpers) and the weather has assisted in reducing the gas bill a little compared to last winter.
My employer has thrown a complication into my endeavours however by deciding that maybe I should have been made redundant back in September! Funny that considering I had a fulltime permenant contract and they couldn't provide fulltime hours! Trust me I did argue for several months before taking the cut to part time and many people would question why I didn't continue to fight, the answer to that is that for a few hundred quid (I had only worked there 3 years and it was statutory redudancy pay, about £400 for each year) it wasn't worth the stress and misery caused by the uncertainty, and the threat of making working life difficult.  Now however after so many grievance procedures against them (I was not one of them) they have been forced to investigate their actions, I'll let you know how that one progresses, but I do feel like its opened up a can of worms that I thought I had neatly packed away.