h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Am I the only one who is the depths of poverty by then. I get paid twice in December and then not again until February - this of course all gets spent during Xmas and New Year leaving January a very loooonnnng month.
I'd love to come but I very much doubt I'll have the money

Send me some in a plain brown envolope in Decemeber, and I'll save it for you so you can come.

That's awful!

No it isn't; it's just normal isn't it. All my mates are always skint in January too - maybe it's just us

BTW, I'll definitely try and make it but I can't really imagine a worse time to have it imho

Well, I think it should be sooner, but it's better IMO than if it were in March - we'd have to wait for ages!

To be honest, it's much better for the parents amongst us to have it after Xmas. Life gets too busy the next two months!

May I suggest you book your tickets and accomodation right now? Then you'll know that poverty in January has a *good* reason!

Yeah!
Except I won't be staying in a hotel, so I guess it's a bit early to buy the train ticket. I'd only lose it...

I think we'll all have to descend en masse on the Youth Hostels. Though if you book the train tickets really early, like now, they're quite a lot cheaper, and it's about 8 quid a night at the Youth Hostel. If you want to save the cash, Orcus, you'll just have to stay off the booze in the pub afterwards.

Just checked - the cheapest Youth Hostel in London is Earl's Court - £18.50 per night for adults, £16.50 for kiddies.

You can come Orcus, surely?...

I have free accomodation I can use in London as I have a mate who runs a student hall of residence near London Bridge.
No I really am pretty crap budgetwise and am using my cheque book in the last week of every month. January doubly so.
Anyway, we'll see, I'll try and make it - the last one was rather fun

Good.

How go things for Phil, by the way?

Thanks for asking

We spent yesterday going through all the statements against them and deconstructing them. It's gobsmacking stuff. I'm pretty sure virtually all of them would get thrown out as inadmissable in a tribunal as many are neither dated nor signed. Indeed some are signed but with additional material added in different handwriting. Most of the statements appear twice in the dossier - the second one being typed out. None of the typed statements are signed at all and contain additional information and/or ammendments to the previous written statments that are signed - who authorised these changes? There is no signature to allow these changes!
One statement that really made me laugh was '... these bullies are very clever, they do things amongst themselves when nobody can see them' . Surely it is this person who is the clever one, can she see through walls or does she possess some sort of crystal ball? How can you possibly say such a thing? If I can't see someone doing something I cannot know that they have done it. Also the person who wrote this is a union Shop Steward - she should know employment law better than to give in statements without doing a proper investigation. She should also not represent people who are not in her union - this is misrepresentation of her union and at least three of the people she gives statments for on official union forms are not members of her union. Even better - she does not work with the accused. She works on a totally different shift to Phil and her friends yet claims she is bullied herself! All they've ever exchanged with this woman is hello/goodbye type comments.



Anyway, their appeals against their dismissals/warnings go in today. If there is one person in that company who has the first clue about employment law then they will immediately reinstate the lot of them. Not that that will prevent a lawsuit from the union but it will lessen the damage that will happen to the company.

Again thanks for asking - it is a stressful time at the moment. Phil returns to work tomorrow to still be in charge of the people she's been accused of bullying - how can the company justify that if she is indeed a bully?

*Orcus slaps himself to stop ranting*



Orcus

Good luck - I hope things work out. I'm sure they will - my mother's been in this sort of thing a couple of times, and things have always worked out alright in the end. In fact her Union's having a bust up with the Lord Chancellor's dept. at the moment, actually...

Did you join that union yourself? It's definitely a good idea.

Yes I filled in the application form on Friday. There but for the grace of god go us all - definitely worth joining.