Good News (for a change.)

Hello.

It’s been a while.

Well, things are looking up at last for me and Drew. As Drew has written we will shortly be bringing home an addition to the family, namely a little West Highland pup we’ve called Charley. She’ll be 8 weeks old and ready to leave her mother. I feel guilty about the mother part because it’s going to be traumatic for the puppies and the mother dog (it’s her first litter) but we are going to give Charley the best home she could possibly have.

The house has suffered from not having a pet in it. Mabel was so much part of our lives that her absence was sorely felt. Who would have thought a small furry animal could have an effect on tow fully grown men? I think it was hard for Drew to come home after she had died, but he coped okay and went to look at where I’d buried her in the back garden.

So we’re looking forward to another presence here, and we’re well prepared. In fact we’ve been buying stuff for a potential puppy for weeks, before we’d even heard of Charley’s litter. We won’t spoil her (we say now) but she’ll be very well entertained and very comfortable. Because she can socialise with inoculated dogs straight away she’ll be meeting next door’s two very soon after we bring her home, which can only be good for her. Since the rest of my family are enthusiastic about us getting her I imagine she’ll be meeting lots of people, too.

Drew went to see her again yesterday and took this photograph:

But I have other news. In the week I found out that I was being made redundant I applied for another job, almost in anger. To my surprise I was invited for a test and an interview… and they have offered me the job (subject to the usual Criminal Records check.) In fact I was told that I showed passion during my interview. So sometime between May and July I will start training as a health care assistant at the local hospital. This should tie in comfortably with my redundancy nicely.

I am SO excited at the prospect of this change. I’ve been in retail for such a long time that I can’t wait to try something new. And the opportunities that this could afford me are incredible – I could even progress into nursing if I wanted to (which I think I do!)

So there we go. Every cloud, and all that.

Finally, this story (carried in several newspapers) cheered me up, too. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/4327616/Abba-women-reunite-on-stage.html

I have loved these women for such a long time, it’s incredible to see them together now.

 

 

Bye for now. xxx

        

Bashing The Beeb.

Hello.

At the time of writing the BBC has received over 10,000 complaints over the Jonathon Ross/Russell Brand
hoo-ha. I’m not what you consider a fan of either man by any means,
although I used to watch Ross on Channel 4 back in the Eighties and
Brand has made me laugh on occasion, and I do consider what
they did puerile (and the fact that it was sanctioned as fit for
broadcast is at best questionable) but it annoys me that the usual
subjects have taken the
opportunity to leap on the “let’s bash the Beeb” bandwagon.

Naturally
the Daily Mail, the daily tabloid which keeps the ill-informed of
Britain gnashing their teeth over immigrants, gays, terrorists and
over-paid BBC presenters, took the story to their hearts and ran with
it. In particular the columnist Melanie Phillips,
someone I personally find objectionable whenever I hear her on the
radio, wrote a piece ripping into Ross and Brand and went on to rip the
BBC to shreds. Naturally this got under my skin, so I took the
opportunity to remark in the comments section that I presumed she would
no longer wish to receive payment from the “Boorish Broadcasting
Company” (her words) that she detested so much since surely to do so
would be hypocritical. Sadly for me any comments submitted are vetted
before appearing on the website. Surprise, surprise – mine didn’t
appear, although some that didn’t agree with her stance did make it.

I didn’t really expect that my words would see the light of day. The Mail is preaching to the paranoid
converted after all (isn’t any paper of whatever political hue?) so
they were hardly likely to let some faceless left-winger have a public
voice.

In other news it was bloody cold yesterday – even I
wore a coat on the way to and from work and asked to put the heaters on
at work, something I hardly ever do. I’d have liked it to snow, but
while some parts of the eastern region did get quite a bit of the white
stuff we remained dry and mostly sunny. Today looks like it’s going to
be much the same.

I keep having dreams about not being able
to find Drew; although I can glimpse him in the distance he is never
there when I reach that place. Anxiety about his forthcoming prolonged
absence, methinks. I also dreamed very vividly about a friend who moved
to Australia in the 70s and whom I have only seen once since. That was
unexpected.

A quick blast of ABBA to cheer me up, shower and then work.