What sort of world do we live in?

Two news stories today...

The first - a mother is convicted of stabbing her 2 daughters to death to "get at" the father - her ex-husband.

The second - a man is convicted of breaking of breaking the legs of a 4 year old girl in his care beacuse she kept crying - crying because he was hurting her.

What sickos share this world I live in?

Say aahhhh!

What's the most common response to seeing a diddy little kitten? One so small he can sit in you hand.

Ah! Isn't he sweet....

So that's all I'm hearing right now as Charlie has been added to the family fold.

Falling apart at the seams

This last week has seen me take a couple of days sick, my first since joining Fidelity. I went into work on Wednesday despite a sore throat but Thursday morning I woke to find it was much worse and my voice had gone AWOL. Not much point going in when you can't function - so popped them an email and hopefully I'll be back in tomorrow (Monday) because goodness knows, I've enough work on my plate right now.

I tried to get to see my GP, but was told to "go away and we'll get the nurse to phone you". I'm into the car and on my way back home when the mobile rings - less than 2 minutes after being told to "go away" the nurse is on my case. I'm told to take paracetamol, drink lots and rest, and if there's no improvement come into surgery tomorrow. So Friday morning I get an appointment for 9:10 to see Dr Spincer - a good "old school" GP. He checks me over, notices I'd already had one high blood pressure test reading so does another test and I'm now on Beta Blockers for high blood pressure. All part of being a diabetic I'm told. The results of my last retina check-up were not on file so he's going to chase it up and I've to go back next month to find out the news.

Mark & Eleanor spent last Monday - Friday in Barcelona, 4 days & nights site seeing and relaxing prior to restarting their final year at university. Mark's results see him on course for a 1st, and Eleanor is 4% away from a 1st for herself, which she's finding unbelievable, she's not used to having results at that level. That's just reward for the effort she's putting in so we all hope she can maintain it through this last year.

Andy took the first exam in the series towards his Senior Technician's ticket following a couple of weeks at BMW's college during August - and was classified as "Mastered" with 80% on all sections - so he's mightily pleased and ready for the next stage. Right now he's busy fitting some really special Alpine SPX-17REF speakers into his Civic Type R. Although they are available here in the UK he imported them from America and made a 30% saving.

Earlier this afternoon I visited Mum & Dad. They've had a bit of a week, with a trip to the hospital on Tuesday for Dad to have a check over. Transport is by ambulance, so they get collected, get seen, then spend 3 hours waiting for a return ambulance - 4 hours in the hospital for a 15 minute consultation, seems bonkers to me but there you go. Mum was very tired mid-week but she seems better today. Wednesday they had to have the District Nurse out to a problem with Dad's catheter, right when mum was at her most fraught.

Dad's off to Helen Lay for 2 weeks respite on the last weekend of the month and Mum so needs the rest that will give her, a chance to recharge her batteries prior to the run down to Christmas. I don't know if they will be, but I'm hoping Angie & John will be up to see Mum while Dad is in Helen Lay, especially as John now has a rather nice Ford Focus estate.

Bankers Bonuses

Back on Sept 1st the FT carried an interview with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in which good old GB vows to crack down on excessive pay for bankers. "We have to move faster" he said, referring to regulatory restructuring efforts that would allow regulators to claw back bankers' pay if performance subsequently suffered and set higher capital standards for banks.

Now here's my point - it's been nearly a year now since the global econimies went into melt down and trillions of GBP & USD were pumped into failing banks - so why is he NOW saying "We have to move faster"? Surely it's already too slow and too late. Big bonus payments are back and everything is returning to how they were before it all went bang, which means it'll happen AGAIN!

This week's news is that while the rest of the world recovers, and despite GB's promise that "Britain is well placed to make a quick recovery (from recession)" - we find that Britain is still deeper in recession than just about every other economy, with more debt and a government that hasn't got a single idea how to put things right. They are completely devoid of solutions beyond raising duty on fuel and slashing the NHS staffing levels.

I just hope the Great British Public vote labour into oblivion when the opportunity presents itself.

Happy Birthday dad

77 years old today, just a few days after his sister Katy celebrated her 80th with a party and 80 guests. Dad isn't in a condition to party, so through the day he's had visits from me and my boys, phone calls from Angie, John, Christine and Katy that I know of, and a good showing of birthday wishes in the form of birthday cards.

So while it's Happy Birthday Dad, it's a bit of a shame Mum was sick this morning. Fingers crossed that it's nothing lasting or more serious.

On & off road

Father-in-law has finally had his lisense taken off him and the car has been sold. Silly bugger hadn't admitted to a bump at the front when he hit a bollard AFTER the pictures were taken and the ad placed in AutoTrader. Andy was selling it and guys came all the way from London to Derby to view with the intention of buying. They drove it away, but only after knocking £500 off the asking price. Mother-in-law was furious but it underlines the fact that he was no longer fit to drive.

Mark is getting used to driving his Punto, which is doing just fine. Better still he sold the scooter after posting it on a couple of web sites and then putting it on eBay. It didn't reach the reserve on eBay so we relisted it, but, one of the other sites came up trumps and it sold to a local buyer from over near Burton-on-Trent, and I had to ride it over as I was the only one insured to ride it after Mark cancelled his policy.

Andy was given a Vauxhall Insigna to get to BMW college last time out, and what an impressive car it is. I'd love one but boy, are they expensive!? His was a diesel SRi, so quiet, so comfortable. I want one (but can't fund one).

I've been managing to use the motorbike for most of my commuting, but, today I got caught out. Nice morning and "dress down" Friday saw me leave for work in jans and leather jacket. Nice morning, then after lunch the skies turned grey and the rain fell. Still falling when I left for home, and with no waterproofs I got a tad wet. Still, I didn't get stuck in traffic and the sun came out before I was half way home so I dried out a bit. The joys of motorbiking.

Old work pals - keeping in touch

By that I mean ex-colleagues and freinds from the work place...

Carol and Susan (both ex-Zeda) have been in touch this week. Carol is enjoying retirement - her miece has secured a university place in her first choice university where she will be studying forensics - while Carol spends time with her mother, and next month the two of them are off to holiday in Egypt. Susan is at HSBC in Sheffield, earning the money to pay the bills and wishing she was 4 years older so that she could follow in Carol's shoes. Apparently, Viv is settling in at Egg after temporary covering for maternity leave turned into an offer of a full-time job.

And Garry has at last had a job offer after being made redundant by Midland HR. By my reckoning he was out of work for around 7 months (just like I was) so he's dead chuffed to get a job offer and was wading through the Ts & Cs when I last spoke to him. The last I heard from Vanessa she was unemployed and looking for gainful employment. Ditto Geeten, as Argos have released him. Kev McIntyre has started sending through humourous emails again so I can only assume that he's busy earning and has found a renewed source of content.

My bother John is still working, but, construction contracts seem to be a bit thin on the ground right now and his current site has only a few weeks left to run. Angie still hasn't found a job - she interviwed for a new Waitross opening in Colchester, where there were 220 new jobs AND 7,000 applicants.

Andy's girlfriend had an interview on Wednesday after the shop she worked at part-time closed. She needs the funds to be able to complete her studies and qualify as a primary school teacher, so we all hope she gets this job. Mark's girlfriend has been doing part-time work at Sainsbury's, locally at Ripley during breaks and in Manchester in between her studies - but she's had to give up the Manchester job and when she returns to Manchester in a few weeks time Ripley have said her job is up for grabs, so she'll have to live off savings for the coming important 3rd year of her 4 year course.

The government think we are coming out of recession. What do they know - it's really tough out there and every job is precious, they are hard to come by and many aren't paying anywhere near what they used to. Bloody Bankers - I notice they are getting back to their old ways with their bonus payments - about time the government ACTUALLY got off their collective butts and DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

It's catch-up time

Work has been very hectic and socially, Suzie and I have been a bit gusier that usual - something has to give and it's been my blogging time that has suffered.

It's not just been us two that have been busy, so have the boys. Mark has been working on his internship stuff, which is progressing nicely.

And BMW's current 320d seems to have a number of problems which means that Andy has had a number of complete engine rebuilds to do replacing crankshafts, camshafts and turbo. He's the onlt technician at Stratstone Derby to do this level of work on the latest generation of BMW diesel engine and he's loving it. August has seen him at BMW's college near Reading for 2 whole weeks as well, and he "mastered" (at 80%) the first of the senior technician exams, so he's well on his way to that qualification.

Also during August, Angie and John finally got up to Derby in John's recently acquired Ford Focus estate, bought 2nd hand from a dealer on Mersea Island, it is in excellent shape and will hopefully serve him well for the next couple of years. Not sure if we'll see them again this week end, it's Dad's birthday on Bank Holiday Monday but it's only 2 weeks since they were here last.

While talking of birthdays, it was my Aunty Katy's 80th this week, so happy birthday and congratulations on becoming an octogenarian.

Suzie has been using up some of her holiday entitlement this week with a couple of days at home then a trip to Suffolk to stay with Liz & Bill at Kesgrave, along with Karen from Canvey Island. From the texts and phone calls it seems like she's had a good time with her friends so hopefully she will be nicely relaxed when she gets back.

Postie Bike Challenge

Got the following message on the Deauville Owners Forum, worthy of more exposure...

Hi Folks,

My husband, Ron, and I have both been keen motorcyclists for more than 30 years and, after many years of procrastinating about participating in the “Postie Bike Challenge”, we've decided to take part this year! You can read more about the “Postie Bike Challenge” on the following website: Postie Bike Challenge.

The spirit of the event calls for the support of those less well off than us and, in keeping with this, we will each donate the money we raise from selling our Postie Bikes at the completion of the Challenge to a registered charity. We have chosen “Habitat for Humanity” as the benefactor because of their well established domestic and international programs of providing safe, decent and affordable shelter to underprivileged families in need. You can read more about “Habitat for Humanity” on their Australian website: Habitat for Humanity.

This year’s Challenge will cover more than 3,300 kilometres on a route through outback Queensland, western New South Wales, the Snowy Mountains, the Victorian Alps and the Yarra Valley.

I've setup a website so that our family, friends and sponsors can follow our preparations and progress - see see Ron & Kathy Leslie's 2009 Postie Bike Challenge.

Kathy

Post holiday blues

After a thoroughly enjoyable holiday in Jamaica both Suzie and I have been busy both at work and at home, playing catch-up and trying to stay on top of all the stuff that is modern living. At the same time we have both been feeling lethargic and suffering interupted sleep patterns and feeling tired as a result.

Accounts of our holiday may or maynot get posted to the web site (I still haven't done last years's write up yet). Other things are currently taking a higher priority in our lives and I hope to get back to regular blogging again sometime soon.

Jamaica

Yes, we are back from our vacation in Jamaica, so here's the answers to the standard questions:-

Yes we enjoyed ourselves. We had a relaxing time and ALL INCLUSIVE is the only way to do Jamaica.

Mostly we relaxed but we also went on some organised tours, including...
* Rafting down the Martha Brae
* Climbing Duns Falls
* Walking round the Blue Mountain coffee plantation
* Dining at Strawberry Hills
* Visiting Bob Marley museum and Devon House for an enormous ice cream cornet
* A day's shopping trip into Montego Bay which we cut short
* Visit to Negril's 7 mile beach for 4 hours in beautifully clear water
* 2 hours at Rick's Cafe to watch the cliff jumpers
* Luminous Lagoon (night visit)

Food was excellent, normally buffet but with 3 speciality resturants which we sampled.

Weather was hot and got hotter every day. Mostly clear skies but some overcast periods. Tropical lightening storm on the 2nd Monday night (after the lagoon trip) which we watched for nearly 2 hours.

Entertainment everynight, some better than others, music, dancing, limbo, fire eating, steel band with acrobatics.

There were loads of organinsed sports, fun and games to join in, watch or ignore as you wished.

We both spent time just chilling and relaxing in the sun and have come back with pretty good sun tans.

An excellent holiday, glad we've been there and done that but no desire to go back again. When I get round to it I'll post a full account with pictures on the family web site.

The fundamental difference

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies, cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.'

The florist was pleased and left the shop.

When the barber goes to open his shop the next morning there is a ' thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The cop is happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber goes to open up there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Later that day, a college professor comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing community service this week.'

The professor is very happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber opens his shop, there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen different books, such as 'How to Improve Your Business' and 'Becoming More Successful.'

Then, a Member of Parliament comes in for a haircut and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.'

The Member of Parliament is very happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are a dozen Members of Parliament lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the Members of Parliament.

Vote very carefully next year.