8.6.09
Virgin 1 have been advetising a new HBO cartoon, its called "the life and times of Tim", Tim has a girl friend called Amy. I will have to watch it to see if there are any other similarities.
13.5.09
I've been asked to comment on MP expenses. I am not sure if I should, since I live off approximately £4.55 a day of expeses for three days a week. However, I will comment. Since MPs seem to earn about 3 times the average sallery in the UK why do they have expenses to claim beyond that of the cost of some photocopying and maybe some biscuits for their staff to have with tea and coffee. I have heard some interesting comments from MPs, their wives and the general public.
I was particularly annoyed when one MP said that he needs a full sized abode in London as he has to take his family with him when he is in London. This pissed me off because, my cousin, his wife and their two small children live full time London in a one bedroom flat which was built for a single person- they don't have a choice over the size of their abode and so why should the MP.
The Scottish parliment had major problems with expenses when it first opened. They resolved it by making MSP recipt for everything and by saying that you can only rent a home in Edinburgh not buy one. This system seems to be working, can it be replicated for the London parliment.
Two ideas put forward on Radio 4 have caught my ear, the first was on the NOW show. It was suggested that once the 2012 olympics have finished, why not hand over the olympic village to parliment. Then every MP will have some where to stay if they need, in green homes already furnished and desgined for maximum security. The second idea was from someone phoning into any answers- why not instead of giving MPs a buget for a London home, provide them with a constituancy home, which is rent free and council tax free, they just have to pay utilities etc. This home would be for whoever was elected, like 10 Downing Street is for the Prime Minister and so handed over if the MP changes. Any second home that an MP may need in London then just comes out of their usual salery, no expenses can be claimed.
I am trying to get money for my guides, to buy tents, I was counting on O2 (the phone company) to give us some money, and I have just had an email to say I was unsucessful. I need to now follow up some of my other leads. Anyone got any ideas? The 10 page grass roots grant does not seem appealing.
I was particularly annoyed when one MP said that he needs a full sized abode in London as he has to take his family with him when he is in London. This pissed me off because, my cousin, his wife and their two small children live full time London in a one bedroom flat which was built for a single person- they don't have a choice over the size of their abode and so why should the MP.
The Scottish parliment had major problems with expenses when it first opened. They resolved it by making MSP recipt for everything and by saying that you can only rent a home in Edinburgh not buy one. This system seems to be working, can it be replicated for the London parliment.
Two ideas put forward on Radio 4 have caught my ear, the first was on the NOW show. It was suggested that once the 2012 olympics have finished, why not hand over the olympic village to parliment. Then every MP will have some where to stay if they need, in green homes already furnished and desgined for maximum security. The second idea was from someone phoning into any answers- why not instead of giving MPs a buget for a London home, provide them with a constituancy home, which is rent free and council tax free, they just have to pay utilities etc. This home would be for whoever was elected, like 10 Downing Street is for the Prime Minister and so handed over if the MP changes. Any second home that an MP may need in London then just comes out of their usual salery, no expenses can be claimed.
I am trying to get money for my guides, to buy tents, I was counting on O2 (the phone company) to give us some money, and I have just had an email to say I was unsucessful. I need to now follow up some of my other leads. Anyone got any ideas? The 10 page grass roots grant does not seem appealing.
10.5.09
Over the last six months, my computer has been getting slower and slower and slower. So today I bit the bullet and got out the disks that came with it and started the thing again. Tim and I have got as far as putting back on office 2002, windows XP and firefox. I'm not re attached to the printer and I now only have three web pages book marked (more worryingly is that I can't remeber some of my passwords). My computer seems to be running a little quicker however, I have a memory stick with all my documents on that need to be transfered. That may slow everything down again.
My quest to find a job that pays me continues. Last week I had two rejections, the first came with a "I'm sorry but why not apply for the job we will be advertising next month" while the second came with a "I'm sorry but why don't you do some more volunteering for us". You can imagine the thoughts that came into my head when I heard the latter. On a brighter note, these rejects came while I was on the farm and Tom did say that although he was sorry I hadn't got any of the jobs he was glad coz he would miss me and didn't know how he would cope without me (which considering how grumpy he's been over the last few months was nice). I have since applied for a job based on Cleeve Common with FWAG, so fingers crossed for that one.
I better get back to playing with my computer and emailing people (being SAGGA chair requires lots of emailing- people actually want to know what I think).
My quest to find a job that pays me continues. Last week I had two rejections, the first came with a "I'm sorry but why not apply for the job we will be advertising next month" while the second came with a "I'm sorry but why don't you do some more volunteering for us". You can imagine the thoughts that came into my head when I heard the latter. On a brighter note, these rejects came while I was on the farm and Tom did say that although he was sorry I hadn't got any of the jobs he was glad coz he would miss me and didn't know how he would cope without me (which considering how grumpy he's been over the last few months was nice). I have since applied for a job based on Cleeve Common with FWAG, so fingers crossed for that one.
I better get back to playing with my computer and emailing people (being SAGGA chair requires lots of emailing- people actually want to know what I think).
14.3.09
To change or not to change
Recently, I have been becoming increasing frustrated with people assuming that because I have got married I have changed my name. What's even worse is when people ask you and you tell them you haven't and they still continue to use the other name.
There are several reasons I chose to keep my own name, firstly, Tim's ex wife still calls herself Mrs H and as she has the same initial as me, it would be confusing to the postman and I didn't want to be mixed up with her, she is horrible. Secondly, I have no wish to be Mrs, for the same reason I have always called myself Ms rather than Miss, that for men then generally get called Mr all their lives and there is no differentiation between married and unmarried. Finally, I see the taking of your husbands name an outdated fashion which was born in the days when women were generally thought of as a possession and had very few rights of their own. They were either their fathers daughters or their husbands wives and the surname showed who they belonged to. I do not belong to any one and I like the name I was given at birth, my parents thought about the names they would given me that went together and ARL are better initials than ARH. In Hungary, women have never taken their husbands name. When we get to having children I want them to have Tim's name, the rest of their names will be though of in conjunction with that surname.
Recently, I have been becoming increasing frustrated with people assuming that because I have got married I have changed my name. What's even worse is when people ask you and you tell them you haven't and they still continue to use the other name.
There are several reasons I chose to keep my own name, firstly, Tim's ex wife still calls herself Mrs H and as she has the same initial as me, it would be confusing to the postman and I didn't want to be mixed up with her, she is horrible. Secondly, I have no wish to be Mrs, for the same reason I have always called myself Ms rather than Miss, that for men then generally get called Mr all their lives and there is no differentiation between married and unmarried. Finally, I see the taking of your husbands name an outdated fashion which was born in the days when women were generally thought of as a possession and had very few rights of their own. They were either their fathers daughters or their husbands wives and the surname showed who they belonged to. I do not belong to any one and I like the name I was given at birth, my parents thought about the names they would given me that went together and ARL are better initials than ARH. In Hungary, women have never taken their husbands name. When we get to having children I want them to have Tim's name, the rest of their names will be though of in conjunction with that surname.
15.2.09
We don't like person C anymore!
Anyhooo. I had a really busy week this week, I was doing guiding stuff every night apart from Thursday. And most annoyingly, I managed to miss a deadline for a job I was applying for... Its really difficult to motivate yourself when you have been working all day and then have to go out in the evening and come back in again and do more work/study. So I have just sat down for my first spare 5 minutes to finish the job application form and I'm too late. Poo and double poo is all I can say.
Anyhooo. I had a really busy week this week, I was doing guiding stuff every night apart from Thursday. And most annoyingly, I managed to miss a deadline for a job I was applying for... Its really difficult to motivate yourself when you have been working all day and then have to go out in the evening and come back in again and do more work/study. So I have just sat down for my first spare 5 minutes to finish the job application form and I'm too late. Poo and double poo is all I can say.
28.11.08
Person Z's eavel plan seems to be working. A and C are off out together.
21.11.08
On Wednesday I went to visit an Osteopath about a crick I had in my neck. No one warned me it would be so painfull. I still have a crick but it is a lot less than it was. I was asked to return for a further session next week- which will have to be my last session for the time being (its £40 for half an hour).
I had an interesting afternoon on Tuesday. It was my first paid session with the expelled kids. I knew they would be bad but I don't think I was prepared enough. Three kids showed up (two boys and one girl) and were accompanied by two teachers. They turned up late and then told me they would have to leave before I had anticipated. I couldn't get them to standstill and listen long enough to tell them who I was, why we were there and what we would be doing that day. The two boys started "playing" with the tools before we got to the work site. Once at the work area they messed about (we were cutting up a fallen tree), they had very sort attention spans, they tried cutting down other trees, they tried climbing up the fallen tree (which was very unstable and was still attached over a metre above the ground and was at the edge of a very steep slope).
So does anyone have any ideas about how to handle these kids? I would like them to know what we are doing and why we are doing it but I can't get them to listen long enough. I would like to do some positive work with them- putting up barn owl boxes, teaching them rural skills.
Yesterday... I became chainsaw legal. I didn't get full marks for the maintanence section (which is sort of what I was expecting) but I did almost them for the felling. So now I can chop down trees more quickly and not in a TB stylie.
I had an interesting afternoon on Tuesday. It was my first paid session with the expelled kids. I knew they would be bad but I don't think I was prepared enough. Three kids showed up (two boys and one girl) and were accompanied by two teachers. They turned up late and then told me they would have to leave before I had anticipated. I couldn't get them to standstill and listen long enough to tell them who I was, why we were there and what we would be doing that day. The two boys started "playing" with the tools before we got to the work site. Once at the work area they messed about (we were cutting up a fallen tree), they had very sort attention spans, they tried cutting down other trees, they tried climbing up the fallen tree (which was very unstable and was still attached over a metre above the ground and was at the edge of a very steep slope).
So does anyone have any ideas about how to handle these kids? I would like them to know what we are doing and why we are doing it but I can't get them to listen long enough. I would like to do some positive work with them- putting up barn owl boxes, teaching them rural skills.
Yesterday... I became chainsaw legal. I didn't get full marks for the maintanence section (which is sort of what I was expecting) but I did almost them for the felling. So now I can chop down trees more quickly and not in a TB stylie.
