Work is proving to be a real drag as of late, and I seem to spend more time waiting for staff or engineers to be free, than actually doing something useful! The next 2 weeks I’ll be pretty busy away from my desk so that’ll make the time pass quickly at least.

My sister is home and doing quite well now, physically. She was seeing a Macmillan nurse, and she had a ‘regular’ nurse call often, and of course her GP was available. She was also getting some assistance from her local council. Now though, all that has changed. They’ve discovered that the ‘mass’ she had removed was not cancer after all. This is of course good news, though now all of her support structure has been removed. She’s still had major surgery, still has a stoma bag, and still faces more surgery to have some reconstruction performed, but because it isn’t cancer; no support. She’s been finding it hard to cope, especially financially, so I’ve told her to phone the Housing Association that she’s with and to explain the situation. She’ll receive some sick pay, but nothing like the amount she needs to pay her rent. She works like a dog usually, pays her taxes, and this lack of support seems so unfair.

Stories like this make me a bit of a hoarder, and whilst I need to replace some items such as the washing machine I’m often scared to spend the money just in case I lose my job. With my rent being so high; almost 50% of my take-home pay, I’d be well and truly screwed if I lost my job. So I squirrel away any spare change, or any money left over from the weekly ‘housekeeping’ money. It’s good to save, I know, but the stress levels here are not good, and every few days we hear of someone else who has either lost their job, or is fed up of the situation and gone to work elsewhere.

My ex hopes to leave the country in a couple of months, and in some ways I don’t blame him. He is hoping our son will visit him next year though so far, he doesn’t seem keen. I’m glad in some ways; I worry that if he gets him to Australia then I might not get him back. I’d never stop him from visiting his Dad, but I’d be just as happy if he didn’t go. I know children aren’t our property but I’d miss him so much it doesn’t bear thinking about… I try not to.

Enough maudlin thoughts! Have a lovely week. Apologies if I don’t get around your posts as much as I should – sometimes it’s slow here, other times crazy busy. You can never tell from one day to the next.