The End

I have been very bad at this blog, in fact I can't even bother to check when I last posted which says a lot in itself. Excuses I have none except that I have 3 laptops which barely function but it boils down I guess to that I haven't been up to much. December is depressing as am I.

It's hard to recall what I've been up to for the last 3 weeks so I shall have to skim. I went over to Overstone and a nice lunch at Sue's new caravan while Ian went out to lunch with Roger. I went to Melton on the 12^th of December and took mum to Alfs's funeral. It was a good turn out seeing as Alf was 92 when he died. It was a bitter freezing day so we didn't hang around the crematorium. We did however go to the wake which was at the British Legion in Melton. Mum wasn't sure she wanted to go to the Legion but it was a good wake and we stayed for a good couple of hours. I didn't want to drive home in the dark so I stayed the night in Melton and went home the following morning. I drove home via Overstone so stopped off to have a cup of tea with Sue and Ian.

After all my rejections and with Christmas looming I had more or less given up the up job hunt but I did make one last ditch attempt and did sign up with an agency that were recruiting for cleaners at the conference centre at Kents Hill. The hours are 9 to 5, Tuesday through to Friday and the pay is £7.50 per hour which is a pound more than the going rate. I was so nervous at the interview that I could hardly write my name, it sounds ridiculous but such is my self esteem and self confidence which has stooped to such low levels that I don't even recognise myself. The girl said that I had got the job and would probably start before Christmas. I did phone on the Monday last but the girl at the agency said she hadn't heard. I am hoping to start on Tuesday the 6^th. Fingers crossed.

Depressing December has been quiet on the social side; I had a nice lunch with Sue and Ian at The Lamb in Stoke Goldington. Phil and I met up with with Jim and Shirley at The Giffard on the last Wednesday night before Christmas. The pub was packed and we had quite a while for our meals. I went out with Sue and a group of mutual friends for a girlie night at Wilton Hall in Bletchley. The tickets at £38 a head were not cheap and I'm not sure it was worth it. The food was okay but they had crammed in so many people that there was hardly any room to to dance. I think I much preferred it when we went there for Ian's birthday in August. It wasn't a late night, Ian very kindly picked me up and collected us at 11 pm. Thank you so much Ian Hughes for being a chauffeur for the evening, it was very much appreciated.

Phil has hardly worked in December. His last day at work was Wednesday the 18^th of December and he doesn't go back until the 15^th of January. He hasn't been getting on very well with his MSC at Cranfield, he is finding the C++ very difficult and this is heeding him in his assignments. I have to say to say that this course isn't bringing Phil much pleasure or me. But hey ho, I'm no academic and I can't see the point of studying unless you have to. I guess that sums up why I am going to work as a scrubber.

Christmas this year was one of the more boring Christmas's I have ever endured. We went to mum's in Melton on Christmas Eve in the afternoon. Mum wasn't feeling very well, she had knocked herself out making all sorts of home made foods for the holiday which was completely wasted on me and Phil, we hardly ate any of it. Phil's way of coping with Christmas Day was to plug in his ear phones and listen to pod casts although I have to say he did chop up the veggies and practically cooked the Christmas dinner. We played a couple of games of scrabble after lunch and then watched crap TV in the evening. I do feel sorry for mum but I am not doing the same next year. 

We were back home for 10 am on Boxing Day, just in time to pay a quick visit to the gym before meeting Billy and Harriet at The Giffard for lunch. The pub wasn't busy and lunch wasn't a long one and we were back home by half two. Phil spoke to Georgina on Xmas Day and the only day she was free to visit her grandma was last Saturday which wasn't ideal as we had only got back from Melton the day before. Mum phoned on Saturday morning to say that they had had 4 inches of snow in Melton but Phil still decided to go. He had a nightmare journey there and struggled to get out of the cul-de-sac because of the snow when he came to leave. The journey home was also a nightmare and took him 3 hours.

The highlight of Christmas was Jim and Shirley's party on Saturday evening. It was nice to catch up with them and the family, and of course, Dan who was back on a flying visit from Australia. The Robb parties are always good and this one was no exception. Shirley had done curry and chilli and a massive bit of pork which she sliced and solved in baps later in the evening. I ate like a king which was just as well because it soaked up some of the wine. Of course we were almost the last to leave and it was half one in the morning by the time we got to bed. Sunday was a duvet day and we did nothing but eat and sleep.

In fact we have had lots of duvet days and watched an unhealthy amount of TV, mostly box sets of Greys Anatomy, we are nearly at the end of series 8. It is such a waste of a life. Talking of life, my Uncle Richard died on Boxing Day. We weren't close and I won't be going to the funeral, I've certainly had my fair share of these this year.

Things need to change in 2015. Normally I have a long list of New Years Resolutions which I normally give up on before the end of the first week. I do have a long list of good intentions this year but I am going to keep them to myself so only I will know if I fail. We are celebrating this new year with Sue and Ian at the caravan. First up supper with Sue and Ian at their caravan and then a band at the clubhouse. We will close up the caravan tomorrow and then head back home ready to start the new year.

That's me done for 2014,nothing more to add other to wish everyone I know a very happy and healthy new year. Let's hope it's a good one for all of us. 2015, bring it on!

Rejection hurts

I didn’t get the job and yes I was very disappointed. I did fine in the test and thought the interview went well but all to no avail. Harriet told me that that a temp was doing the job and had applied for the role that I applied for so it was obvious that the temp would get the role. If I had of known this beforehand I wouldn’t have applied. My last resort was Asda and even they have blown me out. When I came out of the OU interview I picked up a voice message from Asda telling me that the training day was cancelled and that they would be touch. Yeah right.

I feel total disillusioned with the whole job thing and am not sure where to go next. Maybe I need to volunteer or maybe I should go back to the cleaning. I am taking a week off the job hunt but Sue tells me there is a 2 day job fair at the Centre MK next week so maybe that will open a few doors. I certainly hope so, feels like all the doors are being slammed right in my face.

With all this cold weather I haven’t really been out anywhere. Ian picked me up last Wednesday evening and me and Sue went for a meal at Giraffe at Kingston. It was nice but we were all done by half seven so we got a taxi back to my flat. I am such a lightweight these days.

Phil had big problems with downloading programmes for his course on Friday and Saturday and nearly lost the will to live. This MSC course seems to be ruling our lives, I try and remind myself that Phil wanted to do this course but I have to say he doesn’t seem to be enjoying it very much. Maybe now that the IT department at Cranfield have finally managed to resolves Phil’s computer problems, things will start to improve. One can only hope.

On Sunday Phil picked up Georgina from the train station and drove to Melton Mowbray to see mum. They went to the Bowls Club for lunch to celebrate mum’s birthday which is actually today. Happy Birthday Mum! Harriet came to the flat for lunch and afterwards we went shopping at Costco. It was jam packed and it was a nightmare just to get parked. Harriet got a few bits and I got tea bags. 

I was expecting Phil back from Melton around 5’ish and was surprised to get a call from him about that time to say that he had broken down on the A46. Luckily I have just renewed our breakdown policy and had got one that included national recovery. Both he and Georgina plus the car got brought back to Days garage in Blakelands and they then walked from the roundabout back to the flat. By this time it was 7pm; the plan was to drive Georgina back to the train station in my car but when Phil went to start my car my battery was as flat as a pancake. Apparently, I had not shut my car door properly so the interior light had drained my battery. Georgina had to get a taxi to the station.

I was up bright and early yesterday and put a call into Green Flag to come and charge my battery. I got a call at half seven to say they were busy and it would be at least another hour. Phil had to be in Cranfield for lectures so I got dressed and walked to the garage in Blakelands to drop off Phil’s car key. Luckily for me they had a courtesy car. I drove this back to the flat so Phil could drive to Cranfield and waited for Green Flag. They eventually turned up at half nine, they got my car started and I drove round for half an hour to charge up the battery. Not the best start to a Monday morning. I didn’t do much yesterday, I went to the gym and made a curry and that was about it.

You would have thought I’d had enough funerals this year and even I thought that Marie’s funeral would be the last for 2014 but oh no. Last week two of mum’s friends died. Alf died on Monday at Leicester Infirmary. He was frail and had had a few falls this year but his death was not expected. George (Phil’s dad’s best German friend) died last Thursday. George had been in and out of hospital all year so we didn’t expect him to last much longer. I am going to take mum to Alf’s funeral on Friday and will stay overnight as I don’t want to drive back in the dark, especially on a busy Friday night. George’s funeral is next Thursday and I think Phil is going to try and take mum to that one. God knows, there is only so many funerals a girl can do. I will be glad when 2014 is finally over.

Challenges with Spaghetti & Marshmellows

These last few weeks have been stressful and I have put myself in situations that have taken me totally out of my comfort zone but more about that in a bit.  Not this Saturday but the one before we went and
stayed over at the caravan.  I invited Sue and Ian over for supper as I realised that Phil hadn’t seen them since we went to Egypt which was mid October.  I only did lasagne with home made garlic bread but it was enough to fill out stomaches before going for a few drinks at the clubhouse.  We wanted to go to check out the band that night as it is the same band playing on NYE.  They were okay not brilliant but what can you expect for 10 quid on NYE.  It wasn’t a late night and we didn’t stay until the end.

Unfortunately for Phil, I woke up really early on the Sunday morning.It was such a miserable day outside so we decided to pack up and leave.  Infact we were back at the flat by half eight.  Phil had his assignments to work on plus it was a grand prix weekend and I had an interview at MK Stadium.


My interview was at 2pm and I admit to being quite nervous.  I had asked prior to interview for a job description and a person specification but none came.  I had a bad feeling that it would be a group interview and I was proved right.  There were seven applicants and eight assessors in the same room. First we had to fill in a form and the HR person said that the pay was £6.50 whatever job we were applying for.  Personally I thought 8 assessors lurking in corners of the room while we had to conduct a debate on customer service was a bit OTT.  I did speak up because I knew it wouldn’t do me any good being a wall flower but it was painful.

After this exercise we were then split into 2 teams and asked to build a tower out of marshmallows and spaghetti.  Which ever team built the biggest tower won, my team lost.  To be honest I couldn’t see the point of the exercise.  The whole procedure took 2 hours and I came away thinking I don’t really want to be part of this team.  I had high expectations for Stadium MK so felt let down.   I thought I did okay but it was a bit of a blow to get a rejection letter even if I didn’t want to work for them.


On Tuesday I was back for another group interview, this time it was for Asda.  This time we had 5 minutes to get to know the person next to us and then had to talk about them for 5 minutes.  It wasn’t too bad but then we were given a product and had to sell it to the team in form of a presentation.  I felt really uncomfortable doing this and was glad when it was all over.  We were then assessed tidying shelves on the shop floor. Yes really, all this for £6.55 ph.  The whole process finished with a  one-to-one interview in which I was offered a job as a checkout girl subject to completing a training day the following day.  Unfortunately I had plans so was told I could do the training day when the next one came up.  I went into Asda that morning at 9.45 am and came out at 1.15pm.  I went home afterwards and caught up with some domestics.


My sleeping habits have gone crazy; on Wednesday I was up at quarter to three drinking tea.  I was due to go to Phil’s mum’s so I decided to leave at half six and go the back way. Big mistake, it was very dark and very foggy so I had to drive really slowly.  I was knackered when I arrived there at half eight.  I had gone down to take her to the local hospital to get fitted for a hearing aid.  Mum told me to drive into entrance 1 which I thought was strange, and in hindsight should have questioned her.  We parked up and literally walked for what felt like miles, finally ended up in the new part of the hospital which is accessed by entrance 2.  At one point I didn’t think she would make it but we got there eventually.  A short wait to get moulds for her ears and we were done.  I made her wait in reception whilst I ran and got the car.  We had fish and chips at The Harborough and were back home after done shopping by quarter to two.  Another foggy trip back to MK which seemed to take forever but I got there safely.


Having been up so early I felt shattered but I had promised to take down a lasagne to Suffolk so we could have after the funeral.  Finger buffets never do it for me and I always forget to eat so seemed like a good idea to take a dish down.  On Thursday morning we left in funeral attire and landed at Step dad’s place in Suffolk just after 11 am.John had made sandwiches for everyone but Marie’s daughters and their kids didn’t even both to come in, instead they prepared the club house for the wake.  To say things were awkward would be putting it mildly.

The funeral cars came to the house at quarter past one but Phil drove us in his car.  The crematorium was packed so I was pleased for a good turn out.  Lots of Marie’s daughters and their family but also a very good turn out from the Park.  The service was nice but not how I would have done things.  They had this thing with the grandchildren lighting candles in the middle of the service and it broke my heart to see the 6 year sobbing her little heart out. It also upset me that step dad wasn’t mentioned in the eulogy.  Unfortunately this was noticed by one of the neighbours because she questioned me afterwards.  Sue and Ian came to support John and me and Phil and I was very glad of their company.  They left shortly before it all finished.  We stayed but were back at the house having packed up at half five. It had felt like a very long day.


Nobody slept much slept well that night and we were all up and dressed by half six the following morning.  Phil booked step-dad a flight back to La Manga as he has decided to return and come back next March as originally planned.  I don’t know what is going to happen re the will or the estate but he has decided to see what demands are made and then take it from there.  This makes sense as it will give him time to think.  I think the old saying goes “act in haste, repent at leisure or something like that anyway. Phil took step dad into Colchester to get some copies of the death certificate as the daughters refused to give him one and then we left Suffolk and got back to MK about 1pm. We were knackered, Phil had study to do but we just unpacked, stuck
some washing on and washed TV.


Last weekend was nothing to write home about. I left the flat early to go to the gym and then went to the city centre to do some shopping. Big mistake, it was jam packed and I was lucky to get parked.  I hadn’t realised that there was some kind of cycling event in Campbell Park and also it was the end of the month so people with money in their pockets were getting their Christmas shopping.  I stuck it out until nearly 3pm and then went home.  Sunday was nothing to write home about, gym for me, cooked a roast dinner and then watched unhealthy amounts of TV.


Today I had my interview at the OU.  I was extremely nervous and spent most of the morning cramming up on Excel, data sorting, pivot tables and cell manipulation, not terribly exciting.  My interview was at 1pm; first I had a 30 minute admin test which wasn’t too difficult. I completely forgot all that I had learnt that morning about data sorting so ended up inputting by hand.  Got there in the end even if it was the long roundabout way.  I was interviewed by a panel of 3,they were friendly enough but I am not sure if I gave the right answers, sometimes I can be too honest and not terribly PC.  But I did my best and gave it my best shot.  Keep your fingers crossed; I need this job, my life depends on it.