As well as trying to set up a yarn business, I currently am employed as a civil servant. It really hacks me off when people tell me I earn more than I should and I'll have a "gold-plated" pension when I retire.
Well, for your information, having been in the same grade for 6 years, I have now reached the heady heights of being on the minimum for that grade due to no fault of my own just the way the pay increases (or not) over the past 6 years have worked. Add to that the fact that we've had no salary increase for two years and next June we'll see an increase of 1% (gee, thanks - remind what the inflation rate has been over the past three years?). Overall the value of my salary (taking into account pay freezes, increases in pension contributions, etc.) by 2015 will have fallen by about £3000. I'm sorry, I can't afford that!! Is it any wonder I'm trying to set up my own business in addition to my employment. Oh, I'm only supposed to work for a maximum of 40 hours per week.....that's not going to happen is it?
Now we come to the pension...despite being told by the National Audit Office that our pension scheme was affordable without any adjustments, those in the Government who think up crazy ideas decided that all of us in the public sector should be paying more for our pensions. Now, I wouldn't have a problem with this if the extra money was actually going into the pension fund, but it's not. We get no additional benefit for paying out more, our employer has decided that they can mess about with our contracted pension terms without a "by your leave" and we have to work longer before we reach pensionable age.
You can tell, it makes me mad!!!
Today my Trades Union called a strike over the pensions debacle. Now it's not often I agree with the Union, but today for the first time in my life, I am on strike - that's how mad I am!!
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Cat out of the Bag!!
Over the past few weeks it has come to light that my mother-in-law, the redoubtable Pauline, has been telling all of her closest friends and relatives about a significant event in our lives. So, it seems to me that I should be able to discuss it here and let everyone else (the one or two who read my blog!!) know from the horse's mouth.
Some time ago (about 2006) David and I, having had no luck in the fertility stakes, decided to investigate the possibility of adoption. We approached our local authority, completed the training course and were about to sign on the dotted line to start the long and arduous process when David's vertebrae decided they wanted a say in the matter too!
Following many weeks of agony, while the doctors waited to see if he would spontaneously recover (!), David had an operation to alleviate the ruptured disk in his back. This worked well for about 6 weeks then the pain returned with a vengeance and, to cut long story short, he had a further 2 operations over the next 3 years and was finally told that no more could be done surgically. Since his last op. he has shown great strength of will and although there are days when he is in great pain, despite his painkillers, he has learned how to cope with his condition which now includes fibromyalgia too.
In January 2011 we decided to take another look at adoption now that David's health was more stable, or at least under control, and contacted the LA again. They came out to see us and decided that we should do the training again as much had changed in the intervening years. We attended the training in February 2011 and were advised that several issues needed to be addressed before we could start completing our Form F (the application form for prospective adopters). We both had to get medicals done and I subsequently had to have an investigation into what later turned out to be fibroids!! That took us to October 2011 when we could finally get down to the nitty-gritty of completing the application.
The form itself was a huge piece of work that took about 6 months to complete with the help of our Social Worker. It involved a lot of soul-searching and getting to the bottom of any deep seated issues either of us might have had from our childhood, etc. We also had to decide how many children we felt we could offer a home to, what ages, what gender, etc. Not an easy process!!
We completed the form in February 2012, we then had to have a second opinion visit from our SW's manager, then we had to attend the Adoption Panel!! A very scary morning faced with a table of 10 people who grilled us on the information we had in our form (and some that wasn't in the form!) who then pronounced that they would recommend we should be accepted as adoptive parents. This then had to be ratified by the "Decision Maker" about 2 weeks later.
The outcome was that on (Friday) 13th April 2012 the decision was made that David and I could officially be adoptive parents. Woohoo!!
Our SW is now in the process of "looking for little children" for us. We are currently twiddling our thumbs as there's not much we can do. We don't know how many children (1, or 2 if part of a sibling pair), we don't know what age (between 18 months and 8 years) and we don't know what gender (we didn't specify). The worst thing is we also don't know how long this is going to take - not great for planning adoption leave for me or cutting down David's opening hours at the Nursery (horticultural!), etc. We can't buy beds because we might only need one or a cot, there's no point in decorating the bedroom/s as the child/children should be involved in the decisions, etc, etc, etc.
And on top of that...we're about to become parents for the first time and it's REALLY scary!!!!
Some time ago (about 2006) David and I, having had no luck in the fertility stakes, decided to investigate the possibility of adoption. We approached our local authority, completed the training course and were about to sign on the dotted line to start the long and arduous process when David's vertebrae decided they wanted a say in the matter too!
Following many weeks of agony, while the doctors waited to see if he would spontaneously recover (!), David had an operation to alleviate the ruptured disk in his back. This worked well for about 6 weeks then the pain returned with a vengeance and, to cut long story short, he had a further 2 operations over the next 3 years and was finally told that no more could be done surgically. Since his last op. he has shown great strength of will and although there are days when he is in great pain, despite his painkillers, he has learned how to cope with his condition which now includes fibromyalgia too.
In January 2011 we decided to take another look at adoption now that David's health was more stable, or at least under control, and contacted the LA again. They came out to see us and decided that we should do the training again as much had changed in the intervening years. We attended the training in February 2011 and were advised that several issues needed to be addressed before we could start completing our Form F (the application form for prospective adopters). We both had to get medicals done and I subsequently had to have an investigation into what later turned out to be fibroids!! That took us to October 2011 when we could finally get down to the nitty-gritty of completing the application.
The form itself was a huge piece of work that took about 6 months to complete with the help of our Social Worker. It involved a lot of soul-searching and getting to the bottom of any deep seated issues either of us might have had from our childhood, etc. We also had to decide how many children we felt we could offer a home to, what ages, what gender, etc. Not an easy process!!
We completed the form in February 2012, we then had to have a second opinion visit from our SW's manager, then we had to attend the Adoption Panel!! A very scary morning faced with a table of 10 people who grilled us on the information we had in our form (and some that wasn't in the form!) who then pronounced that they would recommend we should be accepted as adoptive parents. This then had to be ratified by the "Decision Maker" about 2 weeks later.
The outcome was that on (Friday) 13th April 2012 the decision was made that David and I could officially be adoptive parents. Woohoo!!
Our SW is now in the process of "looking for little children" for us. We are currently twiddling our thumbs as there's not much we can do. We don't know how many children (1, or 2 if part of a sibling pair), we don't know what age (between 18 months and 8 years) and we don't know what gender (we didn't specify). The worst thing is we also don't know how long this is going to take - not great for planning adoption leave for me or cutting down David's opening hours at the Nursery (horticultural!), etc. We can't buy beds because we might only need one or a cot, there's no point in decorating the bedroom/s as the child/children should be involved in the decisions, etc, etc, etc.
And on top of that...we're about to become parents for the first time and it's REALLY scary!!!!
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Ebay Virus
For the past 2 weeks I have been spending almost every waking (and non-working or travelling to work) hour online selling spare stuff. It occurs to me that doing this can be addictive. Once you run out of the original stuff that you wanted to sell you star to look around for more. This has meant that I have now listed stuff I had already decided to keep before the first batch of sales and I'm now beginning to regret selling some stuff I've already sold - sorry, too late!!
Ah well, room enough for more stuff that I can use my PayPal account balance for.....!!
Ah well, room enough for more stuff that I can use my PayPal account balance for.....!!
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Mars & the Moon
The BH and I spent most of last night star gazing. The conjunction of Mars and the Moon was fantastic - the moon was SO bright!! We even saw the beehive cluster of stars sitting between the two. It's very unusual for us to be able to see these astronomical events, because it's usually too cloudy on the night, but last night was bright and clear overhead. One planet was so bright we thought it was a plane (the clouds around the area were moving quite quickly and gave the impression that the light was moving!).
Monday, 11 January 2010
New Year New Post?
Well that's the Christmas season well and truly over. My birthday has come and gone too so no mo pressies for me till December!!
Did well on the knitting front for Christmas, jumper for BH, scarf for mum, neck wrap & fingerless gloves for MIL (although she's lost the gloves already!!!)
Now to decide what next - something for me perhaps? Something for BH's 40th birthday? Something for my nephews? Another pair of fingerless gloves for MIL? A hat for Mum? It's all too complicated to decide - I'll just keep logging on to Ravelry and adding to the favourites, trying to reduce the stash and having a good laugh looking through my old patterns ripped out of magazines from the 80s (shoulder pads in jumpers!!).
I'll make a decision soon and I'll let you know.
Angie
Did well on the knitting front for Christmas, jumper for BH, scarf for mum, neck wrap & fingerless gloves for MIL (although she's lost the gloves already!!!)
Now to decide what next - something for me perhaps? Something for BH's 40th birthday? Something for my nephews? Another pair of fingerless gloves for MIL? A hat for Mum? It's all too complicated to decide - I'll just keep logging on to Ravelry and adding to the favourites, trying to reduce the stash and having a good laugh looking through my old patterns ripped out of magazines from the 80s (shoulder pads in jumpers!!).
I'll make a decision soon and I'll let you know.
Angie
Monday, 14 September 2009
Where have you been...?
Well here we are again - just been to see "Julie and Julia" and it has inspired me to continue with this blog!!
Still considering the knitting thing but have been really busy at work recently and finding it difficult to sit down and knit when there's so much to do in the house!!
If anyone can suggest a hobby that only needs a few minutes per day to produce masses of stuff - I know it's asking a lot!! - please feel free to reply!!
Thanks
Still considering the knitting thing but have been really busy at work recently and finding it difficult to sit down and knit when there's so much to do in the house!!
If anyone can suggest a hobby that only needs a few minutes per day to produce masses of stuff - I know it's asking a lot!! - please feel free to reply!!
Thanks
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