Are you getting it done?
Posted by: Sally on: November 11, 2009
That was the question on everyone’s lips today at work.
An email came round offering us all the swine flu jab. We’re “front-line NHS workers”, you see.
I was surprised by just how many of my colleagues are choosing NOT to have the jab. Many were saying they just didn’t trust it, and were worried about it making them sick.
I had to chuckle to myself.
These are the same colleagues who talk about how irresponsible parents who choose not to give their kids the MMR are; colleagues who know the percentage of people that need to be innoculated against measles in order that ‘herd immunity’ be achieved, and who gently humour parents who suggest a link between the MMR and the sudden onset of autistic behaviours in their child.*
They don’t seem to realise the irony of their behaviour.
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* As everyone knows, there is thought to be no link between autism and the MMR.
Bits of paper
Posted by: Sally on: November 10, 2009
Get ready. Here I go again - whingeing and moaning.
If there’s anyone still out there reading this blog, I can only apologise. But then it’s my blog, innit? And if I want to complain, I’m allowed to.
My frustration today is with STUFF. The amount of stuff I have. And I have tons of it.
Yes, I know I already mentioned this a couple of posts back … but I really do have SO MUCH STUFF. I feel like I have much more than other people.
When I say stuff, I mean bits of paper. Bank stuff, teaching resources, things acquired at long-forgotten SLT courses, university notes, letters, photos, souvenirs, important documents. The list goes on and on … And it all resides in dozens of bags and boxes … mainly all shoved in in a pretty random manner.
Thinking about it all gives me a real feeling of uneasiness. I want to sort it all out. Organise it. Throw stuff away … and I do try!
I am constantly trying to take control, but never seem to manage it. No time. So much to sort. Maybe my standards are too high?
Having it organised would massively improve the quality of my life. I would be able to find things. I could tick it off my mental ’to-do’ list.
Should I be ruthless and chuck everything non-essential away? What is ‘non-essential’, though?
Should I keep my uni notes? Or scan them (a mammoth task)?
Am I the only one who feels as if they are being controlled by a mass of papers? Or am I just being a complete nut-job and getting this completely out of proportion?
Maybe everyone else lives underneath a mountain of papers and files, and just learns to accept the chaos.
Working ‘late’
Posted by: Sally on: November 8, 2009
- In: Work
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Many people in my (speech and language therapy) workplace arrive unfeasibly early in the morning (7.30 or 8am). This means that they can leave at 4 pm, or, sometimes on a Friday, even at 3.30!
Whilst I’d love to be able to work to this schedule, it just doesn’t suit my body clock. (Actually, if I didn’t have to work at all, I would probably wake up at 10am and go to bed at around 3 in the morning).
I usually get to work at 9 ish, or if I am not seeing any children, sometimes even 9.30 or 9.45. This means that I often leave later than everyone else – sometimes at 5.30 or even (gasp!) 6 o’clock!
Frequently, as they are leaving on a Friday (as I’ve just had my mid-afternoon cup of coffee) my colleagues will say to me and the other late starters things like “don’t stay too late”, or “make sure you don’t work all weekend” etc etc. And I laugh, but it really pisses me off!
The subtext, of course, is that people who stay ‘late’ only do so because they don’t have a life/ are working too much etc.
In my case, this may well be true(!), although that is really not the point. The point is, it’s ONLY FOUR O’ CLOCK AND I DIDN’T GET IN TILL QUARTER TO TEN!
It can make working after 4 o’clock on a Friday pretty stressful sometimes, and I just wish they wouldn’t say it.
Stuff 2
Posted by: Sally on: November 2, 2009
- In: Blether
- 7 Comments
I haven’t written for ages. I would like to say that this because my life has been one long social whirlwind, but alas, that is not the case. Instead I have been working. Fucking working. Non-fucking-stop. Bane of my life.
Nothing has changed. I am still in the same rut.
My life is still utter chaos in many, many ways. Bags of stuff everywhere. Half organised files with notes and stuff – mainly because I don’t have time to do anything other than work. Or that’s what it feels like, anyway.
I can see no light at the end of the tunnel. I cannot just chuck in my job. And any attempts at organisation are quickly scuppered by the Gods of … what’s it called? When stuff just goes back where it was ‘meant’ to be?
And things are pretty shit in my personal life at the moment, too.
So it’s all pretty depressing, mainly.
And I’m only writing this now as I wait for my trusty laptop to burn a disk that I need for my class tomorrow — because I have lost the original. I spent an hour looking for it this evening (THIS MORNING! It’s 1.15am) before remembering that I had the audio files it saved on my laptop.
Blah blah blah. There’s more to life than this, isn’t there? Please tell me there is. I have forgotten what it’s like to be normal!
Flaky freecyclers (again)
Posted by: Sally on: August 30, 2009
- In: Rants| Recycling
- 2 Comments
Will I ever learn?
A freecycler has just turned up an hour and a half late!
My friends and family would no doubt tell you that I am not always the most ‘punctual’ of people, but an hour and a half, with no phone call, is taking the piss, don’t you think?
Admittedly I don’t have any major plans for this afternoon… but quand même … I couldn’t relax properly waiting for her to get here.
She called when she arrived outside to ask what number I lived at … so it’s not as if she didn’t have my number with her.
I was tempted to say I was out, and that she had missed her slot … but, keen to get rid of the items in question, I in fact acquiesced.
No explanation or apology was proffered until I asked her (with an exaggerated grumpy face) why she was so late.
“I missed my train” .
And? There are trains all the time in London. And that still doesn’t explain why she didn’t call.
Grrr.
Even though I had two lovely, prompt people who came to collect items yesterday, flakes like Little Miss Late really do put me off the whole scheme.
Bank holiday plans
Posted by: Sally on: August 30, 2009
1. Put items for sale on ebay – free listing till 31st August!
2. Sort out this big bag of shite, aka teaching resources. (This is just a small sample of the many that I need to sort and organise, but I need to start somewhere!).
3. A bit of work —- boooo hissssss! (Gonna try and get it all done today, though).
4. Relax with Mr Jones’s book.
5. Later: Scrummy food, and paradoxically, this film.
Hope you’re all having a bank holiday blast.
ps I am so pleased because I have managed to fix my camera … with a Lego brick! This means I won’t have to use my crappy phone camera in future – hooray!
Protected: A little more about yesterday evening
Posted by: Sally on: August 19, 2009
- In: Private
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My head is spinning
Posted by: Sally on: August 19, 2009
- In: Friends
- 4 Comments
I’ve drunk a lot of wine this evening. Wasn’t intentional but somehow one glass turned into many.
D (best female friend) and I met up with J., an old friend, who we hadn’t seen for 18 years – Facebook hook-up. We went to school together from the age of 4 up to 18, and I don’t think I’ve seen him since. I had a bit of a crush on him when I was younger.
We had drinks and more drinks in a bar near Liverpool Street Station, then tapas and more drinks in a restaurant nearby … Then D went home and me and J went for even more drinks at a very swish hotel. (Bar looked like something out of an episode of Sex and The City!)
Very nice evening. Weird to see J after all this time. Lots of talk about the past.
I’m off to bed now. Hope my head doesn’t explode during the night.
Race day
Posted by: Sally on: July 14, 2009
- In: Running
- 2 Comments
Well … I made it across the finish line in one piece! Hooray!
There was a brilliant atmosphere and, it turns out, 10 km is not half as far as you think 
The men’s winner (Cirus N’deraba) finished in just over thirty minutes – amazing!
My time reflected my more sedate pace (1 hour 15 minutes). However, I am pleased with that as it was my first 10k. My knee, which has given me so much gyp in the past weeks, was hurting at the start of the course but miraculously got better about 1km in. I ached a bit the next day, though.
Here are some pics that I took en route …
This is on the way to the start at Picadilly. It took an hour to get there from Waterloo Place (where the baggage drop-off was) because of the large number of people taking part – 27,000, apparently.
It was very exciting getting to the first distance marker …
The route went past Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column …
… and along the Embankment.
Towards the end of the course, we went across Westminster Bride and past the London Eye.
Then we ran past parliament and Big Ben.
And finally reached the finishing line!
British 10km London Run
Posted by: Sally on: July 11, 2009
- In: Running
- 2 Comments
This time tomorrow, I will hopefully have completed my first 10km run! I’m a bit nervous as I’m running with three police officers who are all really fit, and my training has been haphazard (to say the least) due to a knee injury …
We’re raising money for Rainbow Children’s Trust so hopefully all the pain (and possible humiliation if I come last, or (gulp) don’t finish) will be worth it.
Think of me tomorrow! And if you would like to make a donation (although, no pressure), here is our web page :
http://www.justgiving.com/debbie-sally-neil-dan/
Many thanks!
