Social life, yay!

[wiseheart]

So, my former colleague, Cathy, came over today. She brought me an industrial amount of cherry pits - I think I'll be able to make as many as six pillows from this heap - and a box full of candy wrappings: small, rectangular pieces of tinfoil in various colours. Those will be rolled into small, tissue-paper lined balls and made into Christmas garlands. Crafty times are heating up over here.

Other than that, I went to do the grocery shopping today. Fell into the reduced price trap again. But now I have raw material for making Mary Berry's Panang Chicken Rice tomorrow or the day after: a nice, easy stir-fry that will last at least two days. Three if I'm lucky. *fingers crossed*

The bug guy came and told us that they'll continue doing private flats, after all. That's good news. I'm not sure I could do an adequate job myself, and besides, we like the guy.

I also talked to my friend Evie today. School has started - for the teachers - on Monday, and they were greeted with the good news that both the repairman and basically all cleaning ladies had quit. So my poor ex-colleagues have been cleaning the classrooms, washing the curtains and the likes between long, boring, totally unnecessary conferences. God, am I grateful for being retired!

Comments

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

That's no coincidence they all quit over summer, is it?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Actually, they keep quitting all the time — I think their main problem being that they were expected to actually work. Of course, the school secretary supervising their so-called work is a particularly unpleasant person, so that might have played a role, too.

[meathiel]

Oh dear ... the teachers gave to clean? Not cool!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It's a not-so-proud tradition in this country that teachers have been treated like sh*t in the last, oh, eighty or so years. Apparently, we are a bunch of lazy gits who only work 5 hours a day and have over two months free during summer. I wish the idiots spreading these rumours would be forced to do school work for at least a short time to see the truth. They'd be the ones protesting the loudest.

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

Oh, those poor teachers. That’s crazy!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

What can you expect from a country where the current govt. dissolved the ministry of education years ago and made the police chief responsible for the school system?

[elwenlj.livejournal.com]

Yipes! I think in the UK the teachers would refuse to do that. One wonders how the cleaners were being treated that they should want to quit, on masse.
That's really good news re your bug guy, though. He obviously knows which side his bread is buttered...better to keep your regular customers, even if they don't pay as much as the bigger, irregular contracts.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

They don't have to do the cleaning, per se. They just can't imagine starting the new term in classrooms that haven't been cleaned for months. If one is comfortable with working on a dungheap one could, theoretically, do it.

[noadvertising.livejournal.com]

Did someone forget to hire a new staff?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Finding new staff is extremely difficult. The pay is laughable, and one actually has to work; not to mention that the kids like to make an unholy mess, and the teachers have no means to stop them doing so.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

I have never heard of using cherry pits and foil candy wrappers to make crafts. I think it's brilliant and a great way to use items that one would only throw away otherwise.

I'm feeling guilty, but since I moved I have not had the energy or motivation to cook anymore! I have been buying ready-to-eat things from my favourite supermarket — like wraps and already-made salads — or frozen meals that can be heated in the microwave. I know that's not the healthiest way to eat, and am hopeful that in the near future I will feel like cooking again. I cooked only once — when my grandson came to visit and I cooked him a steak with mushrooms, potatoes and broccoli.

The only thing I actually cook are eggs, usually scrambled.

I'm with you! As a retiree I couldn't be more thankful that I'm no longer part of the workforce! Things have not gotten better with time, it seems. The opposite is true!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

If it were just me, I'd skip cooking more often, but I have Mum to consider. She's almost 94, and while more or less healthy (save for aching joints), she must be careful what she eats. Especially as she barely has any teeth left.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

Of course cooking is more enjoyable when you must cook for someone else. I used to enjoy cooking for my husband. When his dementia got worse he had trouble swallowing and couldn't eat chewy meat anymore, so I learned to make stews and soups for him. I enjoyed it, but making them for myself alone is not appealing to me.