Swine Flu and War

the attendant panic surrounding this is now coming closer to home. The first “suspected” case in the office has arrived.

Although to be fair this woman has been panicking for weeks about contracting it. She now thinks she has symptms, but has not yet had it confirmed.

Am I alone in thinking that our country has hyped this dramatically? Nowhere else seems to have tehse front page headlines and media obssessions. I hope hindsight doesn’t prove me wrong on this, but I’m becoming rather indifferent to the news.

Currently the death rate is similar to that of any normal flu strain, yet people seem to be actively seeking out helathy people dying from it.

My approach somewhat reflects my attitude to members of the armed forces dying in Afghanistan. Er, you are fighting a war, there will be casualties as a matter of course. Especially if you’re fighting in a country that hasn’t been conquered in over a hundred years, and that’s despite the best efforts previously of the Russians!

Anyone signing up these days must appreciate that we seem to be in our most belligerent state since the second world war. We keep finding causes to fight, yet then get upset when our troops die? Cause and effect surely?

The link between swine flu and war seems clear to me though. We haven’t had a signifcant global conflict to cull the population numbers for a couple of generations now, so Mother Nature is stepping in to do the job herself.

Recap

Where to start? So much seems to have gone on.

Firstly my mother. She’s doing ok, and on a good day, when she’s not tired, I can understand about 90% of what she’s saying.

When she’s tired, she slurs her words more and is almost unintelligible.

She is up and down with her moods, which is pretty understandable, and in all honesty I don’t think I’d be coping as well as she is.

In another development to an already shit year, my boss died from bowel cancer. It was all pretty sudden, he was diagnosed and died within a three week period. They tried to operate, although it was already deemed terminal, to try and give him some extra time and a better quality of life, However he just wasn’t strong enough to get through the operation. An earlier diagnosis may have given him a better chance.

The suddenness of all this left a huge hole in my life. I’d worked with the guy for 13 years, and he was the father figure in my life, so his loss hit me quite hard on both a personal and work level.

It’s looking like they’re not going to replace him at work, which has meant me taking on a lot of the stuff he used to deal with. I’m always up for a fresh challenge, but this does feel pretty weird still. The extra cash doesn’t seem anywhere near enough either, but that’s not really an issue of importance. I still find myself thinking “wait till Geoff hears about that”, and then I realise that he’s not here anymore.

He was a great man, selfless and always helpful, and I truly hope I can follow in his footsteps with even half the grace and dignity he had. He was a great role model for how to conduct yourself, both professionally and personally, and I learnt  a lot from him.

In better news, the two eldest kids have done really well at school this year, both getting great reports and proving themselves to be very able. Our youngest starts nursery, part time, in September. Where the time has gone I just don’t know.

That’s the main news recapped, the day to day stuff can take over from now….

Update

things seem to be going fairly well at the moment.

My mum has got full mobility and no paralysis, which is itself a blessing.

Her speech is still non-existent, but she’s now receiving speech therapy.

The lack of speech (coupled with her inability to mime anything!) leads to a complex version of twenty questions when trying to ascertain whatever she needs.

She’s on the waiting list to move to a rehabilitation centre, which is more positive news: that being the first step to her getting home.

The whole family came up with me this time and we managed to spend the mornings doing different wonderful things, making it feel more like a sort of holiday than I expected.

The pace of life is so different up there and the opportunities for outdoor fun are almost limitless, with the sea, hills and lakes all within a 10 minute drive.

Having an old schol friend back in the area really helped too, we had great times as two families, watching our kids enjoy the things we did as youngsters.

The only down side is the mountain of work and emails that I’ve come back to, although given how badly things could be going I am grateful for the current scenario, rather than something much worse.

Oh my

this looks a lot different now – serving to highlight my absence

This will be my final post of the year, as I finish work today.

Then there’s the office party tonight.. there will be casualties, teher always are. Thankfully it shouldn’t be me!

So I’ll takethis opportunity to wish any people still passing by thsi excuse for a blog a wonderful festive period, and a Happy New Year.

I hope to be back blogging with a vengeance in the New Year…

So here’s

the funny thing, I find myself not having posted for ages, yet there is so much happening right now that I want to blog about. So many things, so little time. I seem to find myself falling into that trap of near Christmas time loss. I know I have some time off looming and am trying to desperately get my work stuff done to make life easier when I get back. Crazy really, I should suffer a bit before and after instead.

Grandma Zilla’s latest operation seems to have gone well. I was up and down the motorways getting her to and from hospital last week. That has probably added to my feelings of time whirling around me.

I’m finally facing my last training session for the new integrated management system that went live yesterday, so the end is in sight. Then comes the start of the real problems: dealing with the new system!

For some reason I can’t quite pinpoint, I’m not looking forward to Christmas. I want to see the Godzookies enjoying themselves, but the practicalities and feeling of duty surrounding relatives are depressing me. I feel myself being torn in different directions, and wanting to run away from the responsibilities I have to try and balance. When did my life become so complicated, and how do I rectify it?

These and other unanswerable questions still to come….

Fatigued

I’m feeling really run down. This has been a tough year so far and the immediate future doesn’t hold much optimism for me.

I feel weighed down with so many different things, there doesn’t seem to be a sphere of life that is going well. Oh, except the godzookies, they still manage to light up my life, so there is an exception after all!

Grandma Zilla is facing another op next week, to remove a rodent ulcer under her eye. Then all she’s got to get through is the removal of her cataracts.

Work just seems to grind on and on. I’m facing a deadline for the preparation of procedures manuals for all the elements of work I’m involved with.

This has to be completed, along with the attendance on training courses for the new MIS computer system being introduced on the first of next month. In their wisdom, the powers that be have decreed that there will not be a parallel run of systems, we will go live on the new system and leave the legacy system behind immediately. Crazy in my opinion.

I hate these sort of whinging posts that I seem to return to more and more often, but I seem to have no other real outlet for my frustrations.

Yawn

all day training for the new computer system, starting in 15 minutes.

This follows me working last night, and not getting home until 10.50 pm.

It’s going to be a long day….

Busy and rewarding

is my summary of the weekend.

I was working on Saturday afternoon, then it was home for a swift change of clothes before attending the street Fireworks Party.

It is a truly lovely night, when everyone in the street comes together to have  a few drinks and enjoy the fireworks. Technically it’s not bonfire night until Wednesday, but this is the nearest non-school night to it.

Because everyone takes some fireworks it makes for a fairly full on display. It took about 90 minutes for the bangs and whizzes to stop. A few glasses of red wine helped to keep out the cold, whilst the godzookies did their best to o.d. on junk food.  My particular favourit eis the way everyone takes a food dish along to the party, so you get to enjoy a real variety of tastes.

In this day and age of insular, selfish society it makes a pleasant change to get lots of people together and just have a nice time.

Sunday saw us travel up to the Lakes, a visit to Grandma Zilla, now she’s finished her radiotherapy, and combine it with a friend’s daughter’s birthday, who was turning 3.

It was great to catch up with them, as we haven’t seen them for about 10 months. Comparisons of child development were swapped and general shock expressed at the size of Godzooky 3. I forget just how big he is, even though he doesn’t turn 3 until January he was head and shoulders, literally, above the birthday girl. He’s also not much shorter than Godzooky 2, who is 16 months older than him.

Our friends gave us more details of their plans to emigrate to Australia. Lots of forms to fill in, but sadly, the timing of the credit cruch has hit them badly. House prices dropping like a stone has seen £40,000 wiped off their house valuation in the last 2 months, and that’s without any firm offers being received.

They seem resigned to losing quite a bit of money, but are still pressing ahead with the plans. I hope they get some respite soon, even though it will be a wrench to see them leave the country.

Return to Neverland

I’ve really enjoyed my longest break from work since last Christmas.

We didn’t get up to much, the weather curtailed many options.

But i enjoyed spending time drawing with the godzookies. teaching them simple games and in particular helping my daughter learn her letters.

I can’t completely get my head round this new phonic way of teaching reading, but it does seem to be working for her.

Due to my increased hands on nature of the last week Godzooky 3 can now count up to 20, and he’s not 3 for another three months! Not that he can recognise the numbers, but his retention of things is pretty good.

The return to work has emphasised the lack of atmosphere here at the moment. Over the years morale has been up and down, but I can’t ever recall it being this low.

My application form output will be increasing I foretell….

Another

hurried post, due to impending week off work. Too much to get finished.

Notably this is my first full week off work (excluding Christmas breaks) since I can’t remember when. Sad case that I am.

Typically I have lots of wonderful (well maybe wonderful) ideas for posts and yet no time to blog!!!