Thread 11 - TalkLair: “The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles.”

[Kucinghitam]

Whoops, missed the filling up of the previous thread! (thread 10).

Although the nights are gradually drawing in, the new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey inside. The hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

Morning, Pike. How are you keeping?

Sorry about your friend @SinnerBoy - it’s such a shock when people die so suddenly and so young.

I had an interesting day yesterday. I had a Christmas lunch with a group of fellow Brits who live in Maine and sat next to a new member. It came up during our conversation that her eldest child (21) is ftm transgender. She was a lovely person and we were able to have a really good honest but friendly and rational discussion about the issue, for which I was grateful.

Am good Sinner, thanks for asking. Just quit my job cos the ward I was working on was a toxic shithole, don't have another job yet, so am working on the Nurisng Bank, which is fine cos there's always plenty of shifts going, and it will do me until I find a permanent position somewhere.

Oh, well good luck with that. My sister did a few years on the bank and the pay was good, but she was scared to decline a shift and go on the shit list.

There are so many shifts needing covered that they can't afford to be choosy, and I don't get offered shifts, I have an app where I can choose where, when and how often I work. The only downside is if I am sick there's no sick pay, which is why I don't want to stay on it too long.

@Dotellhimpike I don't get offered shifts, I have an app where I can choose where, when and how often I work.

That sounds like a good system from the nurses' point of view. I assume a fair number of those shifts will cover vacant positions, so if you find somewhere that's a good fit for you, you can apply for a permanent job there?

That's what I will do in the short term but ultimately I'm looking for a NHS community job, mon- fri 9-5 to see me out until I retire in 8 years. It is a good system, and the app is for every NHS Trust in the UK, not just the one I work for. It even links up with my Google calendar, noting shifts I have booked. It's always nice to see some huge IT system that actually works.

That sounds like a good plan and I do hope you get an NHS community job soon. I think you'd be wonderful at that and you deserve it. You're an inspiration to all of us over a certain age who think that maybe we should give up. You didn't, you did something sort of scary and you thrived.

Good luck in the search for an NHS community job @Dotellhimpike but in the meanwhile the nursing bank thing sounds like a good way of keeping working while avoiding the toxic atmosphere you were in. Sounds like it’s a set up that works well (albeit in part because the NHS is understaffed so there are always gaps to be filled).

Thank you @artant and @MouseMinge for the kind words, just sitting here having a cuppa before I head off to my first of five new wards I will be working in this week.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, this from Shane MacGowan's funeral is just wonderful.

https://twitter.com/pjnall/status/1733226441842536769

Hope all goes well on your new wards, @Dotellhimpike!

Had a funny one this afternoon. I was out in the car and slowing down for a junction when I noticed a tree at the side of the road that was leaning. Then as I approached, it started leaning more. I think I just avoided having a tree land on the car, but as I turned off I didn't see what happened.

That's joyous, @Dotellhimpike I'd heard about it but not seen it. People up and dancing in the aisles was something he'd have loved, I'm sure.

One of my favourite things from the funeral was the eulogy from his wife, Victoria. I LOVED that she spoke about and to Johnny Depp - who seems to seek out anyone who's a bit edgy, alcoholics or drug addicts especially and then funeral chase - about how Shane had told him to forgive Amber Heard and she was sure he had done that by now, something along the lines of "I'm sure you've done that now, Johnny, haven't you?" I imagined him sitting there quietly fuming that he was being picked out for something he hasn't "forgiven" and would much rather forget. Getting one over on him from beyond the grave, or maybe Victoria herself deciding to push a point because it was her husband's funeral and she could do whatever she wanted. She said so many lovely things in the eulogy about how full of love Shane was, more so toward the end. It was touching and beautiful.

SINBU!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4960833-to-tell-my-friend-her-ds-is-a-shit?

She isn't, but you can't see it ending well.

Oh dear. What a little toad!

What a toerag of a boy!

His mother needs to step up to the plate. He's smirking because he knows that when the op tells his mother she will defend him because that's what she does. There are no consequences for his actions and he's reaching an age when that's going to become dangerous. He's a little shit that's dropped out of his mum's arsehole. Because he's her little shit she thinks he smells of roses. Everyone else can smell the shit.

Yeah one of the mums we know has a little shit son, to be fair she does realise and try to keep on top of him, but he's relentless. Our DD can't stand him, neither can we. Little shite.

It's a lot different if the parents actually try to control horrible kids, but those who see no wrong, or defend them, despite knowing, are a bloody nuisance.

Is there any update on Mavis?

I was by all accounts, a most awful child. I had no awareness of this until I attended my father's funeral and all his family were amazed at how stable and nice I'd turned out to be. For my own part, I don't think I was awful as much a little aspergy and ADHD-y, not to mention the home life I had was pretty fucking awful itself, and as it turns out, as soon as I was free from that, I turned out OK but this was the 60s and 70s when demonic possession was still a widely held belief. Hey ho.

There's still enough wishy washy tree hugging liberal in me to think that most awful kids are just kids with awful parents.

I've been wondering that too and hope she's able to come back.

Me too, I miss her! I wonder if somebody can pass a message to her that she can try emailing MNHQ?