This is about my life in a fostering family of several young people in Wales today.
There are also all the other people in this house, my own growing up too quickly children who seem to be here less every week, and of course the student, the mistress of all we owe money on. There are three green goddesses (big green 1950's fire pumps): Gloria, Isabelle and the belle.
That's not mentioning other vehicles and items of plant, all sorts in fact.
I was sitting by the computer recently when the phone tintinabulated, it was my dear most beloved step daughter Serenity in a situation of great urgence. She was stuck in town with no diesel and unless I proceeded immediately to her aid she would remain there until payday.
So being benevolent of a mood I diverted to town pressed 2 crisp brown notes into her sweaty little palm and departed with her promise to return it the very next day ringing in my years.
Several weeks have past without visitations, phone calls, or indeed any form of communication at all.
There is a big thing in the UK at the moment about identifying delinquents from a very young age. Not sure if you should be able to do the same for cats.
Da Man might well be a few months old 3 legged kitten and Deimund might well be four time his size but it he scared?
Bring it on.... Is that a psycho gleam in those eyes.....
Of course he has grown a bit since then.
Now he's up the tree after birds. Still the same gleam. I wonder if a big part of some disabilities is in the mind set.
Now, I am trully lucky to live with someone as calm and serene as management. I would never suggest that she is in any way anything other than a model person.
However, occasionally, just occasionally her guard drops and she is moved to action.
Now, to appreciate this tale in it's context we must go back some little while, (one thing I will admit is that management has elephantine recollection of grievance).
Anyway it came to pass in the normal run of things that the management had been having a run in with one of the looked after kids.
Not long after this she decided to go in the bath and well cutting a long story short when the bath was ran, she found that it wasn't only water in there. A "Richard" had mysteriously arrived as well.
Well OK not much mystery about how the richard got there....
This in turn was enough to set management off emailing a hapless social worker to share the glad tidings.
Management is a BIG believer in accurate recording and so there could be no question of not calling a turd a turd or, more problematically shit is best described as.....
This in turn was imediatly picked up by the daycastle computer thought police who lifted the messages, sat on it for three days then forwarded it with a note attached and replied in the terms censorious to the management saying that she would be investigated and hinting there might even be "proceedings".
There are some things which can be viewed as serious mistakes and I think the IT guy who foolishly decided to sign the email he sent the management came, quite quickly to the conclusion that some emails are better anonymous.
With smoke wisping gently from her ears management got on the phone to county hall and offered the young lad what I think is best described as a comprehensive account of what had happened and a full explanation of how she felt about the situation and exactly what she thought various peoples actions.
As these things go it was not the shi.... errr jobyyest phone call I have heard her make, but it was certainly in the top ten.. I wonder sometimes if I could fit our phone with one of those filter things they have at call centres that tells you how much of a valued customer they are and that you may well be recorded for training purposes.
"Warning to those of a nervous disposition, you have annoyed the management and she is about to explain how. If you have medication, take it now....."
This in turn resulted in even more communication and communications. Some people really need to learn when it might be a good time to shut up.
Eventually, things sort of calmed down and a sembelence of normality returned.
Then of course it started, the festering team started taking back handers from other organisations and departments and a steady stream of emails for things we did not want and concerts we would not go to started pouring in.
Now the management likes email but becomes positively rabid when confronted with spam.
Meantimes we changed our email address so these mails stopped, well, they had. Today we had a phone call from the advertising person who wanted confirmation of my new email address which had been given her by someone else. Not sure that is legal I mused, I know you cannot dish out peoples email addresses willy nilly and said as much.
Management went a step further, she checked up the legal position and yes indeed a breach of the data protection act had probably occurred. So on the phone she went, she wanted these emails nipped at the bud she was fed up of spam and unsolicited mails.
The SW was sympathetic.
So she would delete me off her mail list?
No, she could not possibly do that in fact, really she needed managements new email address too, but she agreed spam was a terrible problem.
Well why did she keep sending it then.
Not really an answer to that one so one we went management is now looking into the data commisioners website and retrieving documents.
I think this years annual review could be one of the more interesting ones. Have not seen management like this in ages.
There are all these people out there who just go and get on with it and everything sort of cruises on. Not me, oh no, now if you have not been driven to sleep by my rantings you will know that on the breaking things front it has been a bit brisk here of late. But there's more....
Last Friday I went all the way across the UK to view a tender sale. The Xantia was like driving an armchair and whisked us there wiping a full 30 minutes off the normal journey time .
Chilled and chilling in the aircon we drove home. There was a funny noise as we left the M5; turns out this was the "wrong oil in the gearbox and it's lunching itself" warning noise.
So home we came on the recovery truck with me convinced that really it had just blown a seal somewhere and dumped the transmision oil.
This morning, out I went and drove slowly over to Greasy Garage where amidst much tutting and whistling through teeth doom was announced.
So, leaving the car there off home I went on eBay bent. But woe was me, the front suspension on the van promptly collapsed . Jesus H christ!!!!!!!!!
This was of course, interesting, since no one daughter is sitting her GCSE's and needed to be in school reasonably nowish.
This in turn meant a consideration of transport, I was cool with taking her there in the fire engine but management was less so. So the van was limped over to school and she was duly delivered.
But eBay has been torn apart and I can't find a spare gearbox and I really don't have a clue about whats wrong with the van, well except that the wheel is very unlikely to fall off.
The cast of players..... Bleedin eavy these pipes But the tank is now full. Pull it all apart 4 rigid suction lift Tom finds it all boring Just as eavy this way too Heave Back it up It's stopped.... Does Branwen care?? It was quite a lift Stuff it Lets go to the pub We got home in the end! Very hot and very bothered. Nitromoors away!!
This drivel is all copyright to me, an Ageing biker hippy living in west wales
I would of course be delighted if someone wanted to publish what they read one here but you have to ask first. Otherwise I might get angry and you would not like me when I am angry.
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