Hmm well I haven’t updated for a while.. first of, relating to last post, someone contacted me the other day about the traffic situation on that particular road where drivers should ‘give way’ but they don’t, they said they were going to go down the road and have a look themselves and pass it onto the traffic management team (or something) who will do something about it because I don’t care what anyone says, it IS dangerous.

Speaking of dangerous I can’t remember if I mentioned my dads ex or not… it’s a long story but basically she’s being a right bitch and is trying to make our lives hell. Tonight I was threatened, police called again. Didn’t do much, said they couldn’t do much. If I’m followed or get any trouble at all or see anyone suspicious they told me to call 999.

Still in work… just… review coming up re job share in December, haven’t a clue whats going to happen (which isn’t fair really) but I have told my boss I’ll stay on through Christmas and New Year.

Red Cross.. my name has been put forward to go on a resusication support course on sunday, one step further to being on the ambulances. I remember back last year I was allowed on the 4×4 at a racecourse and it was such fun, I was going speeding over a HUGE bump thank goodness I had a seatbelt on, shame the other red cross dude (who gave me the keys in first place) didn’t. I should have given him a head injury info card. 

Relationship… still with Callie

Pets… Snap, Crackle and Pop still don’t like me… well, Pop and Crackle are ok with me but wont let me hold them properly yet. Snap on the other hand, the white albino, is a bastard because he keeps biting me!! He bites me and I pull my hands away but the little shite is still hanging from my finger. Aw, can’t help but love ‘em though.

Family.. well my mum wants to have another baby so who knows… maybe I’ll have a little brother/sister in future… my dad isn’t too bad, uncle is having relationship problems and has been living in a car, he moved back to England but we’ve told him there’s a spare bed here if he wants to crash for a few nights or something.

So.. there ya are.

Current Mood: Tired

I’m soo tired. You’re going to get sick of hearing that, aren’t you? If you’re not already, that is. Anyway, today I went to help at the Red Cross recruitment day and it was good… about 10 new potential volunteers shown up and our service manager was talking to them and a few other volunteers turned up also and we gave our opinion about the service, basically to encourage them to join. I met L today, have heard a lot about her in the past 2 years but it was good to finally put a face to the name.

There’s a weekend event coming up in December (hey, it’s not that far away), we’re covering the Wales Rally GB for a weekend and should be good. Having to be on site (in mid Wales) at 6am - not so good. *yawns at the thought*

Gawd my head is spinning. I’ve been so busy today, started off my day by going to ASDA and it was packed, I was in there for over an hour and the queues were stupid. Note to self, avoid going there on Saturday morning!! Out of everything, I forgot to get money from cash point so I drove back to ASDA and a kid at the bottom of the road jumped out of the tree right infront of my car. Thank goodness I was going slow. I then spent the day cleaning and our living room looks great. Even if I do say so myself. =P

I went on a Food hygiene course the other day and it was an eye opener and quite interesting. Even though my eyes were going at 3pm but in my defense it was a long day.

Speaking of work that woman is back and driving me crazy already. I mean, seriously. She said straight out she may leave at the end of the 3 months. I’ve got one full week of work left then after that I’m on the afternoon shifts. I am hoping to stick to it until Christmas but at this rate… I really don’t know.

Anyhoo, there hasn’t been any Red Cross meeting this month but I was put on emergency response standby last night because of the floods in this area of Wales. I did sleep last night but set my alarm every 1hour30mins incase I missed the call. I’m always paranoid about that! Anyway, no call last night or today. I have a meeting late September, a two day training course in October. Another meeting in October, and a training exercise, and another meeting in November.

We’re trying to set up a support helpline at our local base and they’re asking for volunteers to help out and become support line operators but I don’t know. =/

Anyway I have a headache.

I know I said I’d post an update last night but I really didn’t feel like it, but I’ll write up a quick one now…

Family Life

Well I don’t know where to start, really. It would be my step-mums birthday today and I’m finding that alone hard to deal with. We were going to go to the cemetery today but we didn’t because the weather has been so appauling her grave is right up the top of the cemetery and my dad won’t be able to get there, so we’re hoping to go tomorrow. I come from from town this morning to see my dad with his head in his arms and his voice ‘hidden’ like he was going to cry. I asked him what was wrong, thinking it was to do with my stepmum’s birthday, but he said his ‘lady friend’ has asked him to marry him.

Oh yes, his lady friend. He told me not so long ago he is seeing someone else, and has been seeing her for 3 months, but neglected to tell me in worry of how I’d react. She is in her thirties and she is a nice girl but it did come as a shock and I am finding it hard to adjust to, not that I’m telling my dad that. I’ve given dad the impression I am perfectly fine with his relationship with her, but on the inside, I’m not as comfortable as I make out to be. It’s not so much the age difference, it’s the whole new relationship thing, I don’t know, maybe I sound selfish or something. Anyway to hear my dad say she wants to get married… it came as a shock. My dad hasn’t said yes or no, he said he’ll think it over. But today of all days! What a day to bring that up.

My mum hasn’t been in contact with me for a while. Did I mention she moved house and didn’t even tell me? I only found out via passing conversation with her boyfriend’s mum. We were just generally chatting (I see her at work quite a bit) and she said “… your mum sounds happy in her new house… ” …. wow, wow, woooow… hang on, she’s moved?? I’d have thought she’d have told me. So I contacted her and she said she has moved and gave me her address.

Callum and I are still going strong (and yes, I put him in family life because he is a part of my family!). We went to London last weekend to see some friends and we had a great time. We’ve been together almost 1 and half years now.

Work life

Errrrrrrrm…. well, my contract should have been up 8th August but I’m still working full time as the decision about the job share hasn’t come through yet from the ‘top bosses’ and I’m just taking it week by week now. The girl I’m covering for should have returned on the 11th but she doesn’t want to work full time so she’s been taking leave. It’s week by week. I should hear back next week (well, I should have head back last week…). My boss can’t do anymore, it’s the continuation of the waiting game! It doesn’t look good though, from what my boss has said about the council and fact that the girl I’m covering isn’t willing to cover me if I’m off on the sick or on leave… the council may well not accept the application for a job share, as it’s not 50-50. I hate being left haning like this, it’s really unfair.

Red Cross

Well I did a few shifts at the Eisteddfod last week and it went well… my fave was covering the concert in the Pavillion, it was a music concert and I met Cerys Matthews However, by the time Monday got here I was totally exhausted. The last week really caught up with me.

I was up at 6am today, left the house at 7am to get to the Eisteddfod and yes, I had to drive all the way to the actual grounds. Siiiiiiigh. I hated doing that but it was actually really easy to find. Parking was alright, surprisingly. We got there at about 8am and had a coffee or two… or three… and hanged around until about 9:45 then we were allocated positions and radios etc. Red Cross with St. John’s, and I was partnered with someone from St. John’s. It was really cool.

It was also really good conversing with so many totally Welsh people. Everything was Welsh and everyone spoke Welsh, not many people from where I live speak Welsh so it was a lovely change of atmosphere. Here’s a link about what the Eisteddfod is if anyone is interested:
http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/english…nt.php?nID=149

I left the grounds at 1:30, got home just gone two. Sat down for a bit and got ready for work then was in work for 3pm (dad pretty much kicked me out because his lady friend was visiting). Work was ok I guess.

So, I’m pretty tired tonight. I’m going to put a load in the wash, go to bed an set my alarm for 1am to get up and put the clothes in the dryer, then go back to sleep (or try to) until 7am, work at 8am - 3pm then I’m at the Eisteddfod tomorrow evening from 5:30pm - 11:30pm. I doubt I’ll be online again properly until Friday evening…

Ok well thinking about it, maybe it was totally ridiculous of me to put my name down to provide cover tomorrow and thursday. I will need to get up early tomorrow and looks like I’ll need to drive to a fellow volunteers house in Cardiff, leave my car there and we all jump into the ambulance and we go there in that one vehicle. I’m providing cover from 8am - 2pm then I’ve got work from 3pm - 10pm. Then, on Thursday, I’m working 8am - 3pm, then providing cover from 6pm - 11.30pm. It’s just, I really enjoy being with the Red Cross and this is a major event and being Welsh, also, I’d love to be a part of it somehow.

Anyway, I’ve just got back from ASDA, and now I’m watching House M.D. It’s pretty sad, isn’t it? I mean, I only need to watch the first 3 minutes of an episode to see who the characters are and the main ‘patient’ and I know what the storyline is and how it ends, because I’ve watched it so many times. I just love it.

Yesterday

The bootsale went really well and we raised £100 to go into the tenants fund. A few staff were there and two tenants were helping out with the bootsale too. A good amount made in the few hours, I think! A lot of stuff went back to the workplace… The items were given from the tenants etc and there’s so much left over and so much we didn’t take in the first place (due to space in the car!) … there’s another bootsale in July and hopefully a lot of it will go then.

Today

Charity walk for the British Skin Foundation, I was so stressed when it came to finding the park… I knew where the park was but I didn’t know where the entrance was to get the car into the park so I was driving around the block about 4 times before I phoned up a guy I was volunteering with and he asked where I was and he said he’d rescue me. He met me and then I drove behind him and lead us to the park. We get to the park and there’s no sign of anything. We had a nice scenic drive all the way through the park (it is a big park) and after about 30 minutes we see a tent in the distance. We try to follow it and in the end had to walk on foot over the footbridge to see how to get the car in there. So we figure out where it is and get back into our cars and YAY to finding it… !!! Race didn’t start until 12, even though H told me it was 11am start. I clocked up 40 miles by the time we got to the park and the location of where it actually is, was only 20 miles away!! That’s how much hassle took to find the place.

We then met up with another guy volunteering with us - he got lost too and only noticed he was in the right place when he saw our uniforms. 3 hours of just general chatting, no casualties. Now I’m home and cooking casserole!

… because that’ll be just weird.

Gawd I’m soooo stressed. And tired. And irritable. And just generally in a bad mood, so it seems. I’m also in pain too. I think I may have hurt my elbow when using the hoist at work today. Think I used my arm a bit too much with the hoist and stretched a muscle or something so it hurts to bend my arm but it’ll be alright.
Work has been busy this week. A new tenant. Actually, two. No, three! Three new tenants. Two of them were birds though. A tiny little sparrow got trapped between one of the firedoors. How on earth it got there is anyones guess as we haven’t got a clue. My boss phoned up the RSPB but they said they couldn’t get there until the day after so my boss got out the screwdrivers and got the bird out and put Chirpy in the office in a box with shredded paper, something to drink and some food. Boss even went outside to get the little fella a worm and he was taken to a sancturay - we heard today that the bird was released.

Another bird was found this morning, outside one of the flats. It seems it was attacked or something because it couldn’t fly and apparently when my boss went to pick the bird up he moved away or something… the boss put the bird under her wings (so to speak) and kept it in the office and phoned up the RSPB and someone collected it. They said it doesn’t look good for the bird because it was unable to fly..

A lot of paperwork this week. Phewwwwy!! Assessment this, assessment that. Admission forms (for those who have had to go to hospital) as well as the daily report forms. The poor trees that have to suffer because of the city council.

Tomorrow I’m helping out at a community centre. The place I work are setting up a stall that have bits and pieces from the tenants so we can sell, and put the money we make into their fund which goes towards trips etc. It took a good few weeks sorting out all the things we were given. From tables to cooking utensils to mexican hats to clothes such as shirts, trousers, skirts and underpants/knickers - which went into the bin. Don’t know about anyone else but I wouldn’t like to buy a second hand pair of undies. Overall there’s a lot of good stuff there. Someone recently passed away and their relative didn’t want any of the things left over in the flat and she gave them all to us, many of the things were brand new and it would be a shame for them to end up in the trash, which is where they would have gone.

On Sunday it looks like I’m providing first aid cover in Cardiff. There’s a marathon and I hope for the competitors sake the weather will be decent for them, better than it has been for the past two days - weather here has been absolutely crap.

Ok quick rundown… the second day of the course went really well and was interesting. We were acting in senarios involving face-to-face and on the phone. One person had to be the supporter and the other, the supported. When I was the supporter on the phone I had to support someone who had money problems and thought his wife had lost her job as she was being secretive. When I was the supported, I had to act as a student who lost a friend in a terrorist bomb attack. As for face-to-face… I had to support someone who wanted to be a model but they were involved in a bad accident and left with loads of scars effecting their self confidence and lead to depression. When I was being supported, I had to act as an elderly lady who’s house had burnt down and she had lost all her possessions, and was especially upset about losing the money she had saved up. It was an interesting course.

I had the week off work last week… went to Barry Island on Monday with my dad and went to Weston Super Mare with my dad & Callum on Thursday.

On Saturday Callum and I went to London to an SF meetup and we both had SUCH a great time!! We met at Waterloo, sat by the embankment then headed to a pub where we just chatted and chillaxed. The meet was awesome and afterwards 6 of us had a sleepover and we were up until gone 4am. Callum and I boarded a train at 9am and we got back to Newport at 2:30pm. I felt sorry for Callum because he had to get another train back to Swindon.

I was going to take dad out for a meal for father’s day but the place we were going to go to stops serving food at 4pm so dad asked if we could have a takeaway instead. We both had a sirloin steak for £6.30 and it came with chips & salad. HUGE!!! Couldn’t eat half of it.

Back to work today, usual dramas! Am tired, but drinking coffee and eating bourbon biscuits so it’s ok.

Well today I went to the Red Cross course and it was pretty interesting. I got there *just* in time. I went to town to book train tickets for next weekend and August (I’m going to London) at 8am but the ticket office was closed. I then went to Greggs and got something for breakfast (as my stomach rumbles which would be embarrassing in the quiet room on the course…) and I got my dad a sausage roll. So I drove home, got out of the car, opened the front door put the sausage roll on the living room table, jumped back in the car and it took me 3 minutes to get from my house to the training centre (it’s only up the road), which is a good convieniance!

So ya the course, it’s about emotional support. The trainer was a counsellor which was helpful and she described to us the stages of reaction after a crisis, how people feel etc, how to prepare ourselves, first words, body language etc, listening skills, empathy etc. We were given case studies and we were asked how we’d help and what the people involved would want us to do if they’re in a crisis like their house has burnt down, like provide shelter, contact relatives/friends, insurance companies, arrange outside support etc. It was really interesting.

Part 2 tomorrow. Putting theory into practice and completing the last two modules.

I went to train station after the course finished today and got the tickets. Soooo confusing, but the assistant was really helpful. I should have booked the two journeys separately but decided to book at same time. Anyway it’s all done now which is great. I’m meeting some friends next weekend in London and meeting some more in London in August. Weeeeeeeee.

Another note, I have this pea sized ‘lump’ towards the bottom of the left of my face, left side of the jaw, I guess. I can move the lump around with my fingers and it’s a bit sore if I move it. It’s been there for aaaages but I forgot all about it until today when I was rubbing my face in that area and I remembered it again. I doubt it’s anything. Hasn’t changed in size, as far as I can tell. Just don’t know what it is.

As for the neighbour, while I was at the course he cut the grass in the garden and is repairing the fence!! He doesn’t take no for an answer not that we mind, it’s just, he’s not accepting anything in return and he’s being so kind. Tonight he knocked the door and gave me some curry and rice for dad, but dad had already eaten. Hehe.  He insisted though and I put it in the fridge.