When I worked in the Civil Service there was a policy of Last In, First Out. You kept an eye on who came in after you, as they were more likely to go if staff numbers had to be cut. It was a tense time being the newbie I can tell you. These days I can’t afford to go back in to the Civil Service, much as I’d like to. They don’t get paid much unless you’re quite senior, and their pay rise is being capped at a mere 1% whilst MP’s are having a huge pay rise of around 10%. Today we’re being informed of all the cuts to benefits and the removal of grants for poor students to name just two, to save money and reduce the deficit. Bunch of hypocrites!

In work, I’m often the first in and the last out at the end of the day, and there aren’t many that are paid less than me. It does get to me sometimes… Our pay rise this year will also be 1% because there’s no money, whilst senior management will get around 5 or 6%. On The BBC site under Education, there’s news that Universities (in England) want to raise the tuition fees even higher, and also a story detailing how more and more students are turning to payday lenders just to make ends meet. The Tories aren’t called the ‘nasty party’ for nothing...

Work has been pretty busy and included a morning spent watching a special presentation. Representatives from 5 schools were involved and they’ve all been using iPads to showcase what they’d all learnt recently. The associate head of school personally thanked me for all my hard work and for supporting the hardware, and at the end of all the presentations, and the thanks, she mentioned my support and thanked me again. I blushed! I shouldn’t, because I’ve worked very hard keeping this kit updated, and installing apps. It’s all part of my job; I’m just not used to being openly thanked and it made a nice change. We’d already been treated to refreshments and biscuits, and at the end we were informed that lunch was ready. Wow! They’d laid on a very nice buffet lunch. It was well appreciated, especially by all the children who had waited so patiently for their turn to showcase their work.

We’ve recently had an inspection in work and were on notice that if we failed this time then jobs would be lost. We’re in partnership with another university and it was a tense time for all concerned. Unofficially we’ve been informed that we’ve passed, and we’re off the hook until a quick visit in a year’s time to ensure that we’re still meeting our targets. It’s a weight off I can tell you. If we’d failed then many of us, including me, would probably have lost our jobs. We’re having a lunch tomorrow to reward us for all of our hard work. I’m looking forward to it; a free lunch is not to be sneezed at, and it’s also a good time to mingle and be sociable :) I just hope that it’s well attended.

Weird thing this week: I was holding a tub of butter in my left hand and pulled the lid off with my right hand, and experienced a sudden pain in my left thumb. Almost immediately I had a dark blue bruise on my thumb, and it hurt for days. It looked like I’d burst a small vein in my thumb. I’ve also had petechial bruising on my left shoulder, possibly from lying on one side too much whilst asleep. I bruise easily, especially now, but that’s ridiculous. Blood tests soon…

Well, that’s the week half over with and we’re on the downward slide to the weekend thank goodness. Enjoy the rest of the week.