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.