Wednesday 25 September 2013

Ggrrr. Permission to whinge, Sir?

Well, I'm going to anyway because I've had a rubbish few days and I feel sorry for myself. A problem shared is a problem halved, they say, so I'm going to share with you, dear Blog Friends. Sorry about that.

Whinge 1 - Just a Small Cash Flow Problem
Not unusual at this end of the month, but still. £420 to get my car MOT'd, serviced and fixed for the winter plus £200 for a Hen Weekend in Oxford meant I had to dip into my meagre savings.The accommodation was in Mansfield College - not at all plush but meals and spas all add up.
So I was cross but not surprised when my bank card was refused in town today. I come home to check my account online and found it had disappeared! When I finally managed to navigate the automated phone system and speak to a person she told me the card had been stopped due to "unusual activity."  R had spent 75p downloading an app to his Blackberry. 75p!! Did that really warrant stopping my card without telling me?
 
Silver Lining? - tomorrow is Pay Day. And I had a lovely time in Oxford;it was so nice to be just Kirsty for a couple of days instead of Mum.

Whinge 2-Being a Working Mum Sucks Sometimes
I came home on Sunday to a house that looked like a bomb had gone off. P will babysit (under duress) but that is all he does. The kids' breakfast bowls were still on the table and R still had homework to do!

Monday was the start of our term for adult ESOL students. I was all ready. Lesson planned and photocopied. But I was still nervous as I always am when I meet a new class. I left M at school with a friend and dashed off to work. Then at 10.30 I got a message from my Mother-in-Law. "We have M. She was sick at school. We need rescuing ASAP as we are packing for our holiday tomorrow." Great!!

I still have not solved the mystery of why my mobile didn't ring. The school told me off for being out of contact, but there was no record of a missed call so I assume they made a mistake.

M was sick on and off all day Monday so I had to keep her home on Tuesday. By Wednesday she was right as rain, but school policy meant she couldn't go back to school. Because Mother-in-Law and my Mum are both away (soooo inconsiderate!) I had to take another day off work. I never take time off. NEVER. Certainly not in the first week of term. I think it is ridiculous. A 24-hour bug is exactly that. And the policy didn't stop her getting sick in the first place, anyway.

I hate it when my children are ill, but I hate it even more when it inconveniences me!

SILVER LINING? Forced into a bonus day together, M and I went shopping for her wedding outfit. Luckily I had just enough cash with me for this beautiful dress.
Photo

WHINGE 3 - Other People's Bad News
I've heard 3 things about other people that have made me very sad this week:
One of my students, an Afghan boy I had worked really hard with and who has just passed English exams to enable him to contribute to British society, has been deported. I know he has no life to go back to and I feel gutted for him.

Another student, one of my new tutees, is struggling at college and his Nan (who has card for him all his life) has told me much more than I care to know about his horrible family life and his sexual confusion. He is going to end up being thrown out of college (his third college) and I don't think there is anything I can do to prevent it.

The daughter of a friend, a girl with severe hemiplegia, has just started university. She has been an inspiration to me as I came to terms with R's hemiplegia so I was very sad to hear that she had come home after only 2 weeks unable to cope.

Silver Lining? Not for them, but I guess I can count my blessings.

OK. that's got that off my chest. If you're still with me, thanks. Hope your weeks has been better.

2 comments:

Sian said...

Sometimes it can feel very good indeed to have a rant! (and a justifiable one at that..) I hope things start looking a bit brighter very soon

Maria Ontiveros said...

Yikes! Sorry for the bad news. I returned home to a disaster myself after being gone for almost a week.
Rinda