The final part of the upheavals.

This next week I have three interviews for posts at work. I hope that this time next week I will feel much more secure about my future.
Today's task, which I can't put off any longer, is filling in the application forms. Why we have to do that when the school already has a record of our qualifications, I am not altogether sure. Seems a pointless exercise, I can see the point for supporting statements though.
I'm apprehensive about it, because until they were told to remove the arbitrary ring fencing, I didn't have much option.  All this still feels like a deliberate attempt to get rid of me, and others. But, what they couldn't have anticipated was that some other staff have become so disheartened that they have resigned.
I really do love working where I do, just hate the atmosphere all this has caused.

First time for everything

Tonight, I started a laceweight shawl.
I've made a shawl before, but never from laceweight yarn.
It seems to be incredibly "flimsy/delicate", but I think that is how it is supposed to be. So that I don't make tired mistakes, I am only knitting it in the early evening.  Also, you can't knit lace and watch TV!

Negative sales pitch?

The national lottery are currently running a series of adverts, where celebrities are saying what they would do if they won.
Each idea is crazier than the last. Katy Price, I think it is, would air a TV channel based around her. Piers Morgan would build an amusement park, Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen would give national monuments makeovers, starting with Stonehenge, and Vinnie , forget his surname, ( the ex-footballer,) would create "anger" generating power machines.  Obviously all crazy, and the fevered dream creations of an advertising whizz kid.
But, the campaign is encouraging people to buy lottery tickets in order to make the crazy celebrity creations less likely to happen.
It's a very strange way to advertise something, but seems to be a developing trend.
On reflection, I wonder if it has any basis on the outcome of our last election, where we were promised things beforehand, and they melted into thin air afterwards?
Mind you, the trustworthiness of politicians is the subject for another post, or maybe a whole raft of posts?

Are good manners dying out?

You might think that is a strange thing to ask, but what has prompted me to ask is the emergence of this photo on Facebook.
Facebook. Click on the link to see the story.
I hope that works.
But it is a photo of a bus driver, asking you to like if you say thanks to the bus driver.
To me it is natural to say thanks to the driver as I get off the bus.
Yes, I know people could argue that you've paid your fare, and you are entitled to your journey because of that....however, it's not a case of entitlement, it's good manners, and they cost nothing.
Saying please and thank you should be as natural as breathing.  What I'm saying is, if someone does something for you, it doesn't go amiss to thank them, it shows appreciation.
But more and more often those little words are forgotten, and when you use your manners, and are met with a startled look, it brings it home that children are being brought up to expect certain things from life.  I might be wrong, but this "expectation" is breeding a harder, less likable generation.
I've done my best with my three, and am always pleasantly surprised when people comment on their good manners.
I suppose what I'm getting at is manners cost nothing, but being treated politely makes a person feel that they are a useful member of society, no matter what their "position" in life.
So, thanks for reading this.

Chest/lung infection

Wow! But not in a good way.  I can't believe how long this has been going on.  When I first visited the doctor in mid September, the symptoms had been around for at least three weeks.  I presumed that they were partly due to stress regarding my work situation at the moment, and hoped that they would clear on their own.
Turns out that the doctor thought that I had a chest infection.  So, I took the pills prescribed, but as they ran out I had my annual flu vaccine injection.  And I have reacted to them, mildly, in the past. After a couple more weeks, I was still feeling bad, returned to the doctor, who again thought it was a chest infection, but he sent me for a X-ray just to be sure.  It came back that I have a lower lung infection. So, more antibiotics, and return for a further X-ray four weeks after the last.
I thought that I had pulled muscles in my chest, and that is why it feels like someone has been jumping on it. I also have a cough, and keep going "clammy". I've been trying to rest as much as possible.  The good thing about this is that I have had very little trouble with my spinal stenosis, despite being ready for a new injection.
No doubt that this will all change tomorrow, when I return to work. I'm feeling a little apprehensive about that, but that's for another blog post.
Just for the record, this has been going on at least two months now, maybe two and a half.

Sugar tax?

So, Jamie Oliver is campaigning for the government to put a tax on sugar foodstuffs.
I'm sorry, Jamie, but the bulk of sugary foods already have VAT on them, so tax is NOT the answer.
So, obesity is becoming a more increasingly pressing health problem.  I won't deny that.  Also, sugary foods have been proven to be the major contributor.
When my parents were young there was sugar rationing, during the sixties there was a sugar shortage.  In the first place sugar was limited, and in the second place, the price of sugar became prohibitive for the working class.  I know that I had to make the decision whether to have sugar in my tea, or on my breakfast.  I wouldn't have been alone in this.
As I see it, there are several problems connected to the over consumption of sugar.
1) There is a bewildering variety of breakfast cereals available, and so many have added sugar, and or chocolate, some even have bits of marshmallow!  I don't think that  choice is a bad thing, but there are too many gimmicky cereals. Frosties and Sugar Puffs were the only sugary cereals until the early 80s, and they were usually bought as an occasional treat, not on a regular basis.
So, for me culprit number one is sweetened breakfast cereals.
2) People used to make their own meals, and baked goods.  Many of these have extra sugar added, which wouldn't be in home cooked foods.
That's culprit number two.
3) This one might seem strange, but there are very few places where you can buy loose sweets. They tend to be packaged.  Once that bag is open, it just begs to be dipped into. For example, Haribo is very popular, but the packets are at least 100g  weight, maybe more. They also have additives, which makes them addictive.  (I often see pupils walking into school tucking into a bag of Haribo, with an energy drink to wash them down! I presume that they are in place of a proper breakfast.
Culprit number 3, easily available large quantities of sweets, at cheaper prices. Bigger packs usually work out better value, but they are not meant to be eaten at one go, by one person, exclusively.
4) Fizzy/sugary drinks, in all their guises. These used to be dearer than they are now, but demand has brought the price down, and the "pack" size up.
Fizzy drinks is the fourth culprit.

BUT, the worst culprit is poor nutritional knowledge. In short, the population needs to be educated in all aspects relating to food. With food lessons in school being often the only place where this takes place, it's essential that these lessons are kept as part of the curriculum.
People need to learn moderation when eating sugary foods, as well.  Putting even more tax on will not stop people buying and consuming sugar foodstuffs, but education and moderation will help.

Really?

So ......the head of the Church of England thinks that the country should take more refugees than Cameron's Tory party  think we should.
He should take a step back, and check how much money he has in his pockets!
The way the economy is going, there may be high unemployment, and all the associated problems.
If there aren't enough jobs for the people currently living in the UK, why should we let more people in?
The government is squeezing the working class until their eyes pop out, and yet some joined religious top dog thinks we should take in more refugees?
It really doesn't make sense to bring more people into a country that can't support the current residents.
By the way, I am not a racist, but a realist.