Tag Archives: back to work

Back to Work

Sherwood, Nottingham

I could have put it off for a few more days, but I am nearly back to normal and as Julia is no longer on holiday life at home is quite boring. If I had lots of energy I could do things, but as I am still quite tired all I do is drape myself on the furniture and stare at the computer or the TV. It’s OK, but it’s not really a good way to spend the day.

The truth is that if I felt this way in normal times, I wouldn’t even think of having a day off work. I have a sniff and a cough, feel washed out but am generally fine and able to get to work. However, having had three weeks of serious breathing problems, I’m a little more wary. But you have to go back some time.

It ws a gentle reintroduction to work. One person had ordered two things over night and then, a minute later, cancelled. Four others had ordered and paid for items. One more had ordered three things and wanted to know what the combined postage was. By 10.30, they were all ready, and the coffee was on the desk.

Sunset in Nottingham

By early afternoon, as I entered items onto eBay, I was bored. It happens. My camera, despite being turned up to “Vivid” was producing photos with a yellow cast – making white things look cream. I found the black & white setting (which I had lost) whilst looking for adjustments to the colour. I also secured an ASDA delivery slot and ordered the basics, and checked out the details for applying for a free bus pass. I want to do this as soon as possible so I can use it while it’s still possible to use the trams for free. The Council is thinking of stopping this, as they have to pay the tram company and are currently looking to make budget cuts.

It is convenient for visiting the treatment centre at Queen’s Medical (which accounts for two of the three tram journeys I have taken). If I can get free travel I will make it a project to visit every tram stop on the network before we leave Nottingham. To be fair, at £5.30 for an all day ticket, I will probably do the trip even if I have to pay. Where else can you fill a day for £5.30?

Sunset over Basford, Nottingham

Pictures are general Nottingham shots.

Back to Work and Butterflies

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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”

Winnie the Pooh

Today’s return to work was generally successful. I had enough energy to get through the day (though sitting down does not really require much energy), and my brains were sharp enough to cope with the modest demands placed on them. In other words, I looked round and realised just how bored I have become with the whole thing. I need more challenge and I think it is time to start writing the eBay posts with the use of alliteration and other verbal fireworks. If I start with that, I can always move on to blank verse later.

Painted Lady

My second post of yesterday, referred to six acceptances. I returned home tonight and found I have now progressed to seven. The latest has taken two haibun and a tanka. I submitted several haiku, and they have ignored them, but I have a forgiving nature and won’t bear a grudge. Three of the haiku had been edited for me by a well known haiku writer, so the quality should have been OK. It’s just a matter of personal taste I suppose. Life is strange.

Small Copper on castor oil plant

That’s about it. I could talk about TV but if you aren’t able to watch UK TV it will mean nothing. Even if you can, it won’t necessarily mean a lot. TV, at the moment, seems to be the worst it has ever been, though that may just be because I don’t want to watch some the fantastic new dramas they keep telling me they are producing. In terms of cast and writing you can’t actually beat dinnerladies anyway. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.

Small Tortoiseshell

More Troubles, Plus a Poem

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Logged into WP this morning – it wouldn’t let me in. I had to reset my password. Feeling annoyed and persecuted? Yes!

Read comments, replied. OK.

Came back at 8am – read a post, commented, clicked – all OK. Commented on a second post from same person – wouldn’t let me in.

Currently still locked out and still annoyed.

Cross? Yes.

Back to work tomorrow so half happy at recovery, half sad at loss of free time. However, if you cough and splutter and sleep through much of it, it’s not all productive anyway.

Today, in terms of poetry, I have extracted six more Haibun/Tanka Prose that I had lost track of, which is good. Have read a book about writing poetry. Fell asleep. It’s a repeat reading of a book I originally marked as 3/5. Most of the examples used are from the poets own writing and are said to be prize-winning. I’m losing faith in poetry prizes.

This is a haibun I wrote a few years ago. It was a prize-winner. Well, it was commended and I got a certificate emailed to me.

Falling Into Place

years pass
children become strangers
—his new world

Jigsaws became an important part of our lives. First, as conversations became more difficult, we used them to pass the time. Later we used them to stimulate Dad’s thinking and slow the progress of the condition. Finally we used them to measure his decline. A man who once ran a company struggled with a jigsaw designed for a toddler. My sister bought new ones as they were needed, each with fewer pieces than the one preceding it.

He had been an active and successful man, and thousands of events had formed his life. Gradually they faded away. This frustrated him in the beginning but as he sank into the strange new world of dementia he came to accept it as a comforting place. I was happy to see him become contented. Then, one day, he asked me who I was.

the mirror cracks
a fractured smile
released

When we cleared his room my sister picked up the nine-piece jigsaws and suggested we donate them to the care home. She checked with me.

“You don’t want them, do you?”

“Not yet.” I said.

Back on WP I still can’t get into the comments. I’m going to have to get on to tech support. Normally I don’t have issues that last this long and it is getting very irritating. You could say it’s a first world problem and not as serious as starvation or infant mortality, which is fair. But I am paying a significant amount of money for my WP plan and they don’t always provide value.

Wollaton Hall, Nottingham. Or Wayne Manor in Dark Knight Rises. Read the link to see Gotham too.

Day 157

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Two acceptances today. One magazine but two editors dealing with two different forms – one haiku, one tanka. I did a count, just out of interest, last night, and, with these extra two, seem to be hovering just under the hundred for published poems. They haven’t all been good, and I’m not really sure what the number tells me.However, it’s a nice round number and despite it meaning nothing, it’ still nice to know I’m getting there.

I suppose it tells me that I can produce words in quantity and that I can be industrious when needed. It also tells me that some editors seem to take my work consistently, whilst others reject it with enthusiasm. It also tells me that I should keep better records, as I’m not 100% sure what the number really is.

When I started, 15 years ago, I’m sure I had 12 published, but I can only recall 9 of them. I do have a list somewhere, but can’t remember where I put it. Same for my restart, I have a list of the early ones from a few years ago, which I must find. In the meantime, I can remember 10, but have a feeling there were a couple more. As time went on I kept better records on the computer (which I must back up) so I can be more certain about the last few years.

I originally thought it was about 98, but on recounting think it’s probably 96. It will do.

At the moment I’m finding a home for haiku, tanka and tanka prose, but am having trouble with haibun. This is annoying, as I consider it my main format. I will sleep on that thought.

Today was my first day back after bank Holiday – 27 parcels,

Four buyers – three of whom bought something.

Five sellers. We made an offer on one lot, which we didn’t get. Two lots were things we didn’t want because we don’t deal in Pokemon cards or comics. The other two were accumulations of recent coins taken from pocket change and we already have plenty of them. In fact we have so many, we actually gibe so-called “rare coins” out as change. Then there were the normal dozen phone calls, which stop me packing parcels and almost inevitably end in disappointment.

Getting home, I photographed some bees on the front garden flowers, watched TV, ate a pasta bake Julia had cooked, wrote and answered emails. Judging by the legs, it had been a successful day for at least one of the bees.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee on Devil’s Beard or Jupiter’s Beard – more interesting names than Red Valerian.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Day 4

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First day back at work – we had over 50 parcels to do, all of them ordered in the last few days. It was both a joy and a nightmare. One of the orders had 33 items in it, ordered in four lots over the weekend and several people had ordered multiple lots in two or three sessions. It’s good to ell the stuff, but trying to tie it all together into orders can be tricky as you don’t always recognise the names. Fortunately, for the cost of half an hour and two bits of scrap paper, I was able to pull it all together.

The other problem with orders in multiple parts is that you end up having to refund postage, as the system charges too much when you order like that.

It took most of the day and three trips to the post office to clear it. The regular post master is isolating with covid and his two temporary assistants were slower than normal (not their fault, as they aren’t in practice) and every time we went with a bag of parcels it caused a queue. We weren’t popular, but would have been even less popular if we’d taken it all in one go.

Parcels . . .

It was good to get back, and to see everyone. Even the weather was better and when we finished it was significantly lighter than it had been when we left on Christmas Eve. This is probably either psychological or an effect of the light, as it really shouldn’t be that much lighter just two weeks after the shortest day.

We had beef again, because there was plenty left even after a meal and a day of sandwiches. This time we had it with mashed potatoes, brussels, chestnuts, and carrot and parsnip mash. And Yorkshire Puddings. There is still some left, and it didn’t seem a big joint when we bought it. Then we ate the last of the Christmas cake.

It’s now time to get back on the diet, even though we still have the Christmas Pudding to eat and enough turkey for three more meals in the freezer. I really did order too much food . . .

Parcels everywhere . . .

Road to Recovery

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As part of the process of hardening myself off to get back to work I set myself a 30 minute target on the computer this morning. I have already had breakfast, been to have my dressing changed and had a drive in the country.

After waiting for the computer to start, checking emails, reading a the headlines and checking comments, I now have 17 minutes left to either read blogs or write one. As I haven’t been writing many posts recently I thought it was time to write again.

Medical news is that I am much better, the leg is definitely healing, the swab showed only normal bacteria, my weight is decreasing and everything is returning to normal. Coming downstairs this morning after another good night’s sleep I really felt wonderful. By the time I got halfway down the stairs my legs were feeling a bit heavier, and things weren’t quite so rosy, but it was still good.

There were butterflies on the shrubbery at the surgery – a Speckled Wood and a Meadow brown, which was good as I have struggled to see anything other than whites this year. The front garden is still full of bees and hoverflies, though deficient in butterflies.

I’m currently concentrating on nature haiku and am having to write about what I see from the house windows, so it was good to get out for a drive after seeing the nurse.

Talking of which – I let several deadlines slip by in the last couple of weeks, but if you aren’t feeling 100% is it worth putting out substandard work? I decided not. I did have some bits I could have sent, but the filing system is a little chaotic and there was a risk of sending things out that I’ve already sent elsewhere.

As I have recovered I have been writing more, but haven’t typed a lot, which is also something I need to take in hand. In the next few days I’m hoping to send some submissions out, which will be a sign that I’m back to normal.

Sorry it’s a bit rambling, but as it’s not unusual, the only excuse is poor focus. This is one thing can’t blame the illness for.

Picture is a Speckled Wood from about this time last year.

My timer just went, by the time I have added tags etc I will have done about 35 minutes on the computer. It’s a start.

Burbling Boris the Blonde Buffoon

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I was thinking of other alliterative terms too, but good taste prevents me from using them.

The long-awaited speech from the Prime Minister on TV tonight turned out, after two days of leaked snippets, to be pretty much useless. It wasn’t so much a speech as a succession of vague mumblings, and very short on detail. It did verge on the Shakespearean in being told by an idiot and signifying nothing, but there was a sad lack of sound and fury.

Shakespeare – British Library

As a result, I am none the wiser about the way forward, but I do have a feeling of deep gloom. I didn’t have much confidence in the Government before lockdown, and I have less now. The only time I’ve been reasonably happy with the conduct of the Government coincided with the period the Prime Minister spent in hospital.

We don’t have a plan, it seems, just ‘the shape of a plan’.

It reminds me of Churchill – ‘ this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’

It is not a plan. It is not even the beginning of a plan. It is the shape of a plan.

Sadly, Boris Johnson, in addition to being no Shakespeare, is no Churchill.

Churchill

Forgive my underwhelming response, but I now have to plan for going back to work.

This starts tomorrow, or Wednesday, or the first week in June. It’s even more non-specific if you work in a pub or restaurant.

They would like me to walk, cycle or use my car because public transport is going to be limited due to the need for social distancing. That should quickly undo all the gains we made by staying at home for six weeks.

And there was no mention of masks.

Although we are allowed to do a bit more mixing they are going to beef up the police powers by doubling the fines for breaches of the regulations. If severe punishments worked I’m sure we’d still be hanging people for stealing handkerchiefs, but try telling a politician that.

That never looks correct in writing, but I checked it up and dictionaries seem happy with either handkerchiefs or handkerchieves. The spellchecker isn’t, but that’s life. The strange thing is that I pronounce it handkerchieves, but spell it handkerchiefs.

I’m just watching a programme about Ladybird books, which is why I’ve missed my deadline. It seems that a child only needs a vocabulary of 12 words to start reading. One of them appears to be ‘dog’ but ‘cat’, it seems, is not necessary. Adults, they claim, have a vocabulary of 20,000 words. I am dubious about that. I honestly doubt that I use 1,000, but I really can’t be bothered to count them. I do know it’s possible to get by with eight words on my drive to work. These eight don’t feature either ‘cat’ or ‘dog’.

I just went looking for a vocabulary test to see how large my vocabulary is. Instead, I started to do a quiz about how long I’m going to live. Based on diet, lifestyle and various other quasi-scientific mumbo-jumbo I have 6 years 293 days and 32 minutes. That’s a bit less than I calculated in a previous post. (2,483 compared to the previous calculation of 2,920). That’s a nuisance as I was planning on using those 500 days to write my memoirs.

A Man with No Plan

quercuscommunity

Life after the Care Farm