Monday 23 December 2013

Didi - a guest blogger. Part 6

I had so much hoped that when I posted before Christmas I was going to be able to say that I was back with Magda and that everything in my life was wonderful. Well I'm not and so it isn't.

I saw Magda briefly when I was in town. She looked so sad I just wanted to rush over and give her a big hug but as I was on the Park-and-Ride bus and she was walking into the town bookshop I couldn't. I did get off the bus at the first rather than the second stop and hurried back to see if I could find her but I couldn't. It was all very upsetting.

The Christmas rota at the hotel is a shambles. When people have a party around Christmas or New Year they don't give a thought to the poor suckers who have be on duty at the venue. Customers have paid their money and they expect decent service. This means plenty of staff around but also means that the staff at the hotel don't get much of the holiday time off.

Somehow I have managed to get the 24th, 25th and 26th off work but the price I have had to pay is working the next 8 days in a row (27th Dec to 3rd January). I am going to Eve and Ella's "Open House" on Christmas Day, staying there until late afternoon and then driving down to near Penarth (west of Cardiff) to attend the South Wales bash on Boxing Day. I will need to set off from there early on the 27th to get back to the hotel to start my shift in the afternoon. So no drinking for me on either day.

The weather forecast is dire for the next couple of days but I reckon I will travel almost regardless. Hopefully I will see quite a few of the readers of this blog at one or other of the events!

Didi (Dec 23rd 2013)

Sunday 22 December 2013

Old Timer - a guest blogger. Part 7

I have had some exciting times at the school this month. We have had two meeting of the school governors. One was a meeting of the whole group and at that meeting I was appointed to the Health and Safety Committee and to the Curriculum Committee. I hadn't expected I would be allowed to do that because I was the new boy so it was a lovely surprise to be chosen. Then at the sub committee meeting of the Health and Safety group I was elected Chairman because of all the training I have done on the subject. I've never done anything like being in charge of a group before but I will do the very best I can.

Before this year I don't like the Christmas holidays very much. I was OK when my wife was still alive although even then we sometimes felt a bit left out of things by her family. I think it was because we didn't have children of our own and Christmas for then was always 100% for the youngsters in the family. Sitting around surrounded by their noise and bustle for hours wasn't much fun and it felt good to escape back to the peace of our own house. When Jane was ill Christmas and all the work around it was too much for her so visits to the family were even shorter.

But this year I am going over to stay with Rosemary in her B&B in Wales. Rosemary was fostered like me and she was my first proper girl friend a long time ago in St Albans. We have been speaking two or three times a week for the last couple of months and this has made me feel happy and more optimistic about the future. I did wonder what Jane would think of all this! But when you get married you only get married "until death you do part" so she probably doesn't mind me starting again.

Old Timer

Thursday 12 December 2013

AC/DC - a guest blogger. Part 3

The news is that I have been promoted. I am allowed to wear clothes when being photographed. Ha, ha, ha! I am one of the models the agency is using for a Polish clothes catalog. I have all sorts of different things to wear. Some are quite smart and look nice but some make me look stupid. It is a good thing it is quite well paid.

I am going to try to cook Christmas dinner for the first time this year. Robbie says he is going to help but he a bit gets in the way in the kitchen. I will get him to look after the guests instead. Kenna and her boyfriend are going to be with us so we will have a good time. We have agreed to keep an eye on the house my foster parents live in (joined onto our little flat) as they are going to be away for the whole week.

Sometimes I get a bit sad at Christmas because I think about my proper Mum and Dad and imagine what might have happened if they had been normal. I think Robbie and Kenna are a bit sad too about their parents but try not to show it.

I hope everybody has a fab time. I will post again in the new year.

AC/DC (or Sparky)

Monday 2 December 2013

Didi - a guest blogger. Part 5

I love you lot!

I really don't know how I would have got though the last few weeks without the support of my closest friends. I'm still struggling to come to terms with what has happened. I 100% didn't see it coming and I'm cross that I so misjudged the situation. Not for the first time my big mouth has got me into trouble.

In my job you are paid and expected to have a happy smiling face all the time. And that isn't easy when all you feel like doing is curling up in a ball and not coming out of your flat ever again. So many things in the flat remind me of Magda. Even some of the food in the cupboard are things that she particularly liked and which I will never eat. The problem is that throwing it out is like accepting that the relationship is over and that hurts like crazy!

When you have been a pair for 2 years most of the people you know only think of you in that way. So invitations from my more fringe friends have tended to dry up when they realised that I was single again. They don't seem to want an odd or spare girl at some of their events.

I haven't been out nearly as much as I used to and there is nothing more boring than sitting in your staff flat on your own for your entire day off. I haven't given much thought to Christmas. Most of what I had planned was based on the staff rota at the hotel and when Magda would be free. Now the second of those two doesn't matter any more. One thing that hasn't changed is that I will be going to see some of you lot down in South Wales at the "gathering". Be prepared for me to be in a funny mood!

I don't know how Magda is. It isn't that I don't care because I care so much that she is happy. I just haven't spoken to her or seen her for 2 weeks. That feels like a life-time. I would have her back tomorrow if that is what she wanted. She knows that but she wants time and space to think through where she goes next. I wouldn't be too shocked if she went back to Norway as I imagine she needs some TLC as much as I do.

Didi (02:12:13)