The Naked Crepe

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Psst, over here!

Today's trauma - ds call 'where are my keys'..... Ds how the hell would I know!! Anyway as part of this conversation I then discovered someone rifled through his bag and when asked why he didn't stop them he admitted another kid had him in a headlock!! I am incandescent with rage and will be extracting names on my return home tonight - I don't care if it was a 'joke' and they were only looking for food, its unacceptable behaviour....

Work - difficult conversation today with team member - oh joy.....

BD

I have not hit the keys. I am sitting at the table immobile. Suspect I have yet again hit a tedious 'go back to bed' phase. I have stuff to doooo...

My sympathies, addle. The words "corporate awayday" are enough to strike fear into anyone's soul, even without the addition of the dreaded "smart casual".

Fantastic news from some crepeys this week, I see.
Herbs, the very best of luck to you. You sound really fired up and positive. Go you!

Rose, it also sounds as though you are having a fabulously positive, if exhausting, time. Looking forward to hearing about the next developments.

BD, am keeping everything crossed for you. When's the interview?

Beachy, sending you lots of positive thoughts and good wishes. I hesitate to say anything more concrete or make suggestions, because - as you know - I am just too close in to a similar situation with dd, and I don't want to make annoying bollocks suggestions to you purely on the basis of what worked or didn't work here.

MI, sorry to hear about client situation. Glad the poorly eye is getting better.

My parents' parenting techniques - which caused me to think that George Orwell must have been a time-travelling fly on the wall in our house before he wrote 1984 - left me convinced I should never have children. Until I suddenly got struck down by broodiness in my early 30s.

I have got the boarding school variant of freshers flu. Yuck. And yesterday I spent 1.5 hours (unpaid, obvs) in a difficult meeting (difficulty absolutely not of my making). Let's just say that afterwards, my boss turned to me and said "You were amazing - you have just defused the biggest bomb." Hands up who thinks I should get paid for this, especially as I have potentially saved my place of work A LOT of money?

Sorry, X-posts, BD and MI. and sympathy MI. BD, that sounds very unacceptable indeed.

Strops:

I am indeed positive about this job. But at the same time, alarm bells are ringing. The brief for the interview is a few days' work, which makes me fear the job is going to be VERY demanding, especially as I haven't done it for seven years. And especially as the team of 3 is one person down. And what do full-time workers do about stuff like Childrens doctors appointments and all that sort of thing?

On the other hand, if I'm going to work hard and be confused most of the time, I might as well get paid for it. And hopefully get some freebies!

Ps: dd has now managed 3 weeks at university, but has started to complain about the foundation course being "insultingly easy". Well, it would be... Tough.

I am having an officially shit day. I need a couple of people to do something today that they promised would be done on Tuesday. Without it I will be having An Awkward Client Conversation. I can't physically do anything - I have been nagging since Wednesday and I have done them favours so their deadline is already met. And dh crashed my car this morning. He's fine and already talking about what car we might get as a replacement - I think since it was mine and it's my insurance that will pay out and my money that will be required for a new one that I might expect some input so he's potentially going to be disappointed here.

On good news front I am collecting dd3 from school today for leave weekend - but this is balanced by the fact that she has offered a friend a lift to the station (not the nearest either) so will add approx 40 mins to the journey and when she gets home she is going out with friends for the evening leaving me on my own again as dh is away for the weekend - assuming he can sort transport.

So a shit day - albeit slightly improved by being unable to attend my corporate away day as a result of a 'prior engagement'. I feel for you Addle.

Stropps, she could spend her free time (if it's so easy) reading around the subject And for 3 whole weeks!

Herbs, both parents have to juggle

MrsW, it sounds like the sort of day that can only be endured by focusing on Gin at the end of it.

MI - I think you may be right! And apologies for being so self indulgent when I know some of you have real problems to deal with. I suspect MI's prescription may help a bit there to.

Further serendipity re small Essex town - the potential office is about 50 yards from the orchestra rehearsal place. Ooooo-OOOOO-ooooooo-OOOOO.

Sounds like a lot of crepeys are thanking flip it's Friday. I am going out to karaoke later. Will spend the day warming up my voice. Have DS's BFF babysitting. Her of the obedient children. She also has an obedient cat. I think she is going to take a dim view of our mad deaf one who dribbles wee and sleeps on the kitchen table.

Crawling in to say hallo! Have been reading this & the last of the last thread since waking v. early & support & to all who need it & good luck with interviews.

We had a fabulous time in France but............... DH started a lousy cold the day we left & a few days later I got it. It is the worst cold I have had in years & seem to have only had about 3/4 hours sleep for the last 3/4 nights because of it.

Pont du Gard was the highlight. I have never been to a major "attraction" that was shown in such a sensitive & understated way. So atmospheric & so unlike any of the pictures I have ever seen.

PFGC was as lovely as ever, but she had an ear infection while we were there (thankfully not caught from us) & was sleeping v badly. DS & DDIL also had colds when we got there so it was like a sanitorium!! But we still had a lot of fun.

Hatty DS passed his language test but was v annoyed as he missed the top grade by 2 marks serves him right for being so over confident-. He now has to wait until next June for the next bit as they are so busy with applications for naturalisation.

And have been v rude & not said Hallo to all the newbies - this is a great place & I have yet to meet a crepe in real life, but know I'll like 'em all when I do.

I think I am going to crawl back to bed to try & catch up on sleep now............

I had choir last night. Very therapeutic.

I am indulging in loud Dolly Parton. I may be served with an ASBO by the end of the day.

Am yearning for the arrival of Flash the wonder dog.
BD he was in my dream last night. Do and I are still rumbling along in. Our 'get a dog' conversations. I'm not getting very far. He says it's too much with a poorly cat and 5 Pygmy goaties. I say it'll be a bonus.
Mrs S how peculiar altogether. At least you were able to slip out to the A&P. I really wonder how people live sometimes.
Magi nice to hear from you and welll done to ds. Sorry you've not been well.
Mrs W hoping for a better weekend for you and the disappearance of vexing situations.
Boo to 'Corporate Training' I suddenly come over all faint at the mention of these. Have been sent ( by management) an online course in disability and Equality awareness. wTAF?
1 I (the team as well) haven't time to wash their faces since we are so completely understaffed
2 do you really think we don't already know this shit ( previous annual training with disability organisations on practical level, plus sign language knowledge by at least 40% of staff
3 fuck the fuck off with your online obstacles.
grr.
Now so understaffed up to Christmas, the team will be dead from exhaustion overexposure to general public by November.

Crem, your job sounds just deadly. Can't bear pointless, box-ticking, arse-covering 'initiatives' like this. No consideration for what people actually know, and no value attached to said knowledge.

In ME ME ME news, it rather looks like I'm the only one called for interview.

ohhh Herbs - go you!

Cremo we are preparing for Flash - lead, collar, harness and most importantly, dog food purchased..... negotiating the handover via various people... all tres exciting :) I have taken the whole week off - I already had three days and then the interview came along..... so I thought 'sod it' still got 22 days to the end of the leave year in March... (and no money - pointed look at Beachy )

Here we get links to on-line training we have to do (implicit bias anyone? or Prevent) - I set them going in the background and carry on with work :)

Grrrrr. Prevent. What a load of old cock. I'm supposed to embed 'British Values' in practically every lesson. So I just ask them to vote on the right answer, and tick the 'democracy' box.

Herbs, how do people have obedient cats? My SIL doesn't allow her cats upstairs, and they don't go - they wait patiently at the foot of the stairs. Mine have always completely ignored me.

Today is less hot, and we are going to go shopping. Possibly food shopping...

MI - I think it was less about the soup and sandwiches, and more about the lack of thought that your guests might be quite hungry after a long flight, and need something more substantial. Hr sisters, who had had longer flights than us were also majorly unimpressed, and ordered in some substantial puddings.

I have had to do online asbestos awareness training which was at once eye-poppingly dull and nerve-jangling.

Crem, your lot sound like a complete shower. I really hope some of the interview dust from this thread seeks you out.

Addle, it was Love's Labour's Lost - its a coupling with Much Ado, which we are seeing next week, brought into semi modern time, with the first play slightly pre-Great War and Much Ado set slightly after. I didn't know the play at all, so I'm always a bit pleased when I enjoy it. I think it was Audio Ring Main Night though for the hard of hearing - the whistling of hundreds of hearing aids being tuned as we entered was quite loud

Stropps - feel free to throw any suggestions into the ring. At the moment, I'm trying 'Nothing's happening here - move along please' which will last until the relevant professionals come back from holiday.

Herbs, that's why you could pick your day for interview!

BD, sorry, no holidays on the horizon here at all. Very excited about Flash, though. Do you have to meet him at the airport? (Have visions of BD with card saying 'Flash' on it, standing at Arrivals)

I walked almost 5.5 miles this morning - glorious - up to the top of the hills and back into the forest just in time for a monumental downpour. My feet hurt now.

Does anyone have any idea if, and it's only an if, we have to do Year 11 again, how will the change in GCSE affect us? Is the new exam a completely different syllabus or just a different marking system? I will ask school but I don't want to put ideas in their head before I understand what our options are.....

Beachy I love the idea of being at arrivals but alas he only flies as far as Amsterdam and then comes by ferry - the original pick up was Clackett Lane Services M25 to those not in the know... but as the guy has to drive up to Scotland to do a drop he said he could swing by on the way.... we are still sorting this so should know sometime next week....

Love Much ado....

As I am a philistine, I have only ever seen one Shakespeare play. That was Macbeth. In a field somewhere near Salisbury in about 1980. It was extremely unfun.

Herbs, as long as you don't fart, or swear loudly at an inopportune moment, it's surely a shoo-in.

I am feeling like a crispy old pile of poo. Aibu to disregard all common sense and self-medicate with fizzy wine and some drivel on the TV? Full of cold and am worrying about having an mri on Monday because a) am a bit weedy about being in confined spaces and b) twitchy about what it's going to show and what the consequences will be. Although it does make a bit of a change to be worrying about myself rather than someone else.

Beachy, I love both those plays & those productions (especially LLL), saw them at Stratford.

Stropps, what a co-accident, I have MRI on Monday as well. Also a bit anxious but can't go on like this. Will be thinking of you.

Conundrum. I've received a large cheque in payment for an expert report from June 2010. I was certain it had been paid, in fact I'd declared it and paid the tax on it. So I hauled myself up to the attic to retrieve my (usually meticulous) records. There's a copy of the fee note but no sign of payment. How did I miss it? Need to check with secretary, who's since retired. But it was the year DH first got busy trying to die on me, so maybe I did slip up. How extraordinary of the solicitor to pay now, after six years with no reminders!

Took DDog for a lovely walk in the woods in the evening sun, now waiting for DH to produce curry. Looking forward to David Baddiel's show about his parents tomorrow: may be a bit painful but it sounds good.

Happy weekend everyone. Rudy, hope DS is still improving.