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

It seems to have gone quite well... but then you never can tell. Just gotta wait now.

Lol, I hate having to rely on someone else's work before you can do your own... because if it's not good enough, doubtless it'll be all your fault...

My friend was given jury service, but he managed to defer it because he's on a Medicine course.
I've spent today helping my granddad build his patio. I'm in pain...

TK[1]

I hate the way my boss b*****s off and leaves everything for everyone else to sort out. So far, we are running at about three things per day that she should have done before she left for Ireland but hasn't. This includes writing a press release (not to mention briefing her staff) about an event taking place on Monday.

I got called up for Jury Service myself two years ago, but then they didn't actually need me. I didn't even have to report to the court. I was actually rather disappointed. Still, just because you've been called up once it doesn't mean you won't get called again so maybe one day I will get to find out more about the workings of our legal system. Chris is slightly appalled at how many people are involved in a court case and was conjecturing last night about just how much it all costs. And he still maintains that it's very boring.

Building a patio, eh? I'm very impressed! I hope you're not suffering too much.

Liz
~

Gah. Hardly effective management...

Do you get paid if you get called up? If so, I could do with that...

Lol, my granddad's teaching me... it's a life skill! And Bob knows I need plenty of those. It wasn't too bad today, though I did cut my thumb.

TK[1]

Well, it seems that Mrs Boss's lack of communication skills have come to the attention of her immediate superior and, according to his secretary, he intends to give Mrs Boss a piece of his mind when she gets back! Good!

You can claim some expenses on jury service and, if your employer does not pay you, you can also claim for loss of earnings. Loss of earnings is up to a maximum of £54 per day (depending on what your normal earnings would be), but if the court session does not take a whole day, you can only claim half a day's loss of earnings, which is £27. Chris's firm will pay him and then claim some of the money back, so he's OK, but one of his fellow jurors (whom he has nick-named Stinky Boy on account of his BO) is not getting paid and has to claim his own loss of earnings. Stinky Boy will also be claiming for travel as he has to travel in by train each day. But, no, I don't think you'd make much money out of it.

Being able to build a patio sounds like a very useful skill to me Being able to do a bit of building work yourself will save you a lot of money one day.

Have a nice weekend.

Liz
~

Yey!

Would be good if you got one of those extended trials where you get put up in a posh hotel all expenses paid... Could build up your fair share of expenses then!

Yep- the larger part of bills paid when you get someone else in to do it is due to billing for time and manpower.

I'll try, you too

TK[1]

I've actually had enough work to do to keep me off hootoo so far this week. Mrs Boss is back and is a pain in the arse as usual. We have been getting on better with her since she got married in September, but I think the honeymoon is well and truly over now! Yesterday afternoon, one of my colleagues told her that something she had suggested was "a load of b******s". Now that's what I call a frank opinion!

So, is the patio finished now? Have you had any more interviews?

Liz
~

Frank opinion indeed...

Yeah, I think the patio's pretty much finished, and I've just got back from an interview- with the NHS Job Bank. The interview was pretty much a formality so I should have some work soon

TK[1]

Aparently, Mrs Boss & Mr Stroppy had another run in yesterday . War may be about to break out in this department.

So, what sort of work will you be doing for the NHS?

Liz
~

Oooh, could be fun... take pictures!

Just administrative and clerical stuff as and when they need someone.

TK[1]

I was a secretary at a Mental Handicap hospital about 16 years ago and I wouldn't mind going back to an Admin role within the NHS - they were a decent employer. Lets hope you get some work soon.

Liz
~

I applied for two more jobs at the Kettering General today- I saw them advertised on the wall there today. My grandmother's been taken into hospital, you see.
One's a Lab Technician position, the other's an Admin/ Clerical thing.

TK[1]

Sorry to hear about your Grandma - I hope she is OK.

Good luck with the job applications.

I've got an interview for an admin job at a pension firm on Wednesday. I'd been getting cold feet about it over the weekend, but having sat here and done nothing nearly all day today, I'm starting to feel a bit more enthusiasm for changing jobs. In a lot of ways I will be sorry to leave the college (assuming I can find another job to go to), but I can't sit here doing nowt for the rest of my working life - a lot of my office skills have already grown rusty and I think my brain is slowing down from lack of use.

Liz
~

She seems to be getting better now. Hell of a change in half a week- last thursday everyone thought she wasn't going to come out the other side...

Thanks. Haven't heard anything so far...

Aw, well good luck with that then, let me know how it goes!

TK[1]

Well, I've just got back from my interview. I think it went OK, although I was aware that I waffled rather too much. When the woman asked me what I thought I could improve about myself, I should probably have said "My ability to give a straight answer". They are expanding and are interviewing to fill at least 6 positions, so I wont hear from them again for at least a fortnight and then I may or may not have a second interview. They seem like nice people and she mentioned that they have a very low staff turnover, which is always a good thing. I didn't like their receptionist much though.

So no sign of any work for you yet? The longest I was ever unemployed was for the first two months after I left school. When I've been between jobs since then, I've always managed to get temporary work. It must be a real bummer to have been unemployed for as long as you have.

I'm glad to hear that your Grandma seems to be on the mend. Is she very old? My last surviving grandparent (my Dad's mother) is 84. Physically, she seems to be pretty tough - she's had more than her fair share of medical trauma in the past three years and survived, but mentally she's getting a bit woolly.

Anyway, I had better get on. I went for my interview in my lunch break and I was late back so I'd best not get caught skiving.

Liz
~

Good luck with that! I always hate "what are your best/worst attributes?"

No, no work just yet... It is a bummer. No one wants to know- the graduate- level jobs don't want to know because I don't have any experience, and the lower level jobs don't want to know because I've got a degree and I'm not going to stay there for very long. I could always get a job working behind a till or on a shop floor, but I really don't want to do that until it gets desperate. But I might be getting to that stage. If you want a glimpse of the state of my mind at the moment, you can see some rough transcriptions of dreams I've been having at www.dreamjournal.org under the username temporalbandit.

She's in her 80's. I still have all four grandparents for the time being (touch wood), which is unusual in my circle of friends at least.

That's part of the art of skiving- not getting caught. Let me know if you hear about the interview...

TK[1]

I'm a bit older than you, which will explain the demise of most of my grandparents. Also, my Mum's parents married and had children later in life than my Dad's did, and my Mum (now aged 60) was their youngest child, so her parents were already old by the time I was born. My maternal Grandmother was born in 1902 and she died 12 years ago, just two weeks shy of her 90th birthday. The women on both sides of my family tend to live to a ripe old age. My surviving Grandma (aged 84) was the youngest of 5 children (and sadly is the last one left) and her two eldest sisters both lived into their 90's, as did their mother.

I hope your Grandma is continuing to get better. Is she still in hospital? Older people seem to have to stay in hospital for such a long time. The last time my boyfriend's father (aged 77) was admitted to hospital after a fall he was there for three months!

I've done shop work. I don't recommend it. But then again, any job is better than no job at all. I had thought you might get some Christmas temporary work, but I expect most places have recruited all that they need by now. According to Monster.com, 2005 will be the year of the jobseeker, so maybe your luck will change then .

Anyway, I've just had a tip-off that Mrs Boss is on her way back from our other office, so skive time is over.

Have a nice weekend.

Liz
~

Lizzbett, this is your life...
My family seems to have a habit of not dying, touch wood... I've only been to one funeral, and that was a great aunt. Aoart from that, no one in a fairly close circle of my family has died. I guess it's got to start some time though. Not looking forward to that :-s

As far as I know (I was up in Leicester yesterday, and haven't heard how she is yet) she's still there, but when I went ot visit her on wednesday, the doctor mentioned the possibility of going home today, which is my Granddad's birthday.
It's horrible- something you'd have just got up from and walked away in your 20's and 30's can hospitalise you indefinitely later on in life. That's the only thing that scares me about getting old- not the prospect of death, but the fact that you become so fragile.

I know, I know... but I too have done shop work, and I too would not recommend it! So I'm holding out as long as feasible!
Job sites always say that, though... lol. Lets hope they're right, though.
I have had a step up in the non- working life, though: I've joined a band! Only been to one practise session so far, but the rest of the guys seemed happy. I was invited back for the next one (tonight), at least, so that can't be a bad sign! First live performance is on the 18th though- ARGH!

And you

TK[1]

The first funeral I went to was one of my ex-husband's grandparents, which wasn't too bad. The next one was my younger brother Christopher (age 19), so that was particularly grim. It's awful when I young person dies - it's just not right. When someone really old dies, it's sad to say goodbye to them but at least you know they have had a long life and you can sort of celebrate that in a way. The thing I really hate about funerals is that 'tea and sympathy' bit that goes on afterwards. The service I can handle but the awkward conversations with relatives you haven't seen for donkeys years is very odd.

So you're in a band now? How exciting What sort of band? Do you play an instrument? I love live music and I don't get to see nearly enough of it.
I think the 18th is my uncle's birthday and it might be a big one. Uncle David is a lot younger than my Dad and I have a funny feeling he will be 50 this year - I'd better phone home and check that out.

I've been busier at work this week, hence the lack of hootooing. I've got Monday booked as annual leave because I think I need to tackle the Christmas shopping in one hit - tootling into town in my lunch break is not proving very fruitful so far and the town centre is hell on toast at weekends.

Liz
~

I can't imagine how it must feel to lose a close family member at such a young age...
I hate the tea and sympathy bit too. It's silly, and all due to guilt in the end. As fart as I'm concerned, the person who has died has reached the end of any suffering, and I can only see that as a good thing. Mourning, whilst essential, is still only a selfish thing. I don't know if seeing things like that will make it easier or more difficult for me when someone clsoe to me dies.

It's a rock band, mainly covers at the moment. John and Mike (singer and lead guitarist) have some material which they recorded a couple of years ago, but being the only constant members of the band (bassists and drummers have been coming and going due to acquiring jobs in other parts of the country, and not having the time to commit etc...), so they're giving the original stuff a break for a while.
Their rhythm guitarist recently left to go to uni, and that's the role I've assumed. We play all sorts of things from the Beatles and Van Morrison, up through Guns n' Roses and Queen, all the way up to more modern stuff such as The Darkness and Jet. I'm just hoping I'm ready for the 18th!

I need to get my christmas shopping done. I'm not buying for many people this year- just family members and one friend who I know is buying for me. Had a sort of agreement with most of my friends this year- we're not bothering with presents. Which is a good thing- I hate christmas, and I just can't wait for it to be over with. Can't be doing with all the visuals of people being happy and completely non- lonely. Did you know that christmas time is the most popular time of year to commit suicide? I don't find that surprising.

TK[1]

I hope your gig went OK on Saturday. I played the guitar for a while as a teenager but gave it up when I was about 15. I've still got my old accoustic guitar languishing in the corner of my bedroom. Being a failed guiarist myself, I'm terribly impressed by people who have actually stuck with it and can play. I love rock music.

Going back to the cheery death conversation we've been having, I think that mourning is a process you have to go through in order to move on. The death of someone close to you isn't something you necessarily recover from - the grief may lessen but I don't think it ever really goes away, you just learn to live with it. But as I said before, when an elderly person who has lived a long and happy life dies, the grief is considerably less anyway. And no, I'm not surprised that Christmas is a common time for suicides.

I've done all my Christmas present shopping (although 3 items ordered from Amazon still haven't arrived ) and I've got a lot of the food and drink. I just have to get stuff like veggies, salad stuff and cream. It's very hard having all this nice food and drink in the house and not being able to start eating and drinking it yet. My boyfriend badgered me all day yesterday about opening the port/chocolates/shortbread - is murdering ones partner at Christmas common too, I wonder?

We went to a party on Friday night with a load of people that I used to work with. We only see them once or twice a year and it was so nice to catch up with everyone again. That's the one thing I do like about Christmas, it encourages folk to get in touch with friends and aquaintances. The spending time with the family part is the bit I could do without.

I send money to the children of three of my friends for Christmas but apart from that, all the presents I buy are for my family and my boyfriend. This only amounts to about 7 people, so I don't know why I find it so difficult. My boyfriend hasn't even started his shopping yet, or even sent any cards I hope you are better organised than he is.

I've been so busy at work that this is the first time I have hootoo'd for over a week, so, just in case I don't get on again before the weekend, I hope you have a pleasant and peaceful Christmas and I'll chat to you again next week when I'm on holiday.

Take care
Liz
~