Today is my birthday, i am 51.
Trouble is i only feel about 20 in my head, but my body is slowly starting to rebel and act its age, which i strongly object to. I am doing nothing this evening but after the Burmantofts & Richmond Hill Farce (aka community leadership team) tomorrow I shall, with friends slope off to my favourite watering hole The Spring Close , get comfy by the fire and sink a few gins before sloping off home slightly merry.
The past few days have been
strange, Monday I had lunch with David
Williams of the Fire Brigades Union to talk about WYFRS stuff and instead it ended up as a
celebration of the fact Maggie Thatcher had died. We were just tucking into our
nosh when it flashed up on the screen in the pub and unfortunately all talk of
fire stations and blogs went hurtling out of the window. I retreated to facebook to see what was being
said and Dave’s phone exploded with a flurry of congratulatory texts. We did
do one useful thing though, the FBU has very generously donated £100 to Friends
of East End Park as a kind of thank you for FCCL and COVEN helping them out. It
will be used to help fund Lark In the Park 2013 our annual young peoples shin dig which is always held
the first Saturday of the Summer Holidays. The
Fire service usually send a fire engine down to the event and small children
get to have a go, try on uniforms etc
(giving head lice to a fire fighter every now and again I am led to believe).
Such a shame most of those kids will never fulfil their dream as by the time
they grow up there will be hardly any jobs in WYFRS – but no doubt the Chief
Fire Officer will be getting a mighty fine salary!
Simon Pilling gets over £160k a year which is just ridiculous
Is he worth it – no he isn’t!
And i can say that with some confidence, having started to investigate and research how other Fire & Rescue Services engage with the public that WYFRS are way way behind in regard to the use of social media.
For WYFRS = THE KGB with its network of back stabbing and retaliation for holding the wrong opinion to the ones prescribed by the top table .Information is to be shared not hidden ( i am with Eric Pickles on this)
For WYFRS = THE KGB with its network of back stabbing and retaliation for holding the wrong opinion to the ones prescribed by the top table .Information is to be shared not hidden ( i am with Eric Pickles on this)
For example - they seem very keen on using hearsay evidence to beat people with rather than facts. For several months i have been waiting to be called as a witness in an investigation - i am even named in the papers, but haven't heard a word from them and then hey ho the investigation is said to be unnecessary, my arse it is. I hope the person concerned takes it much further - to the ombudsman if necessary!
I am seriously considering writing a blog titled
FRAUD
Fire & Rescue, About Undisclosed Documents !!!
Other brigades tweet, blog and boast - not WYFRS they seem very keen not to promote the work they do - that is assuming they do it, i am not surprised their staff morale is rock bottom.
Anyway - rattling through the week, on Wednesday after taking the afternoon off, i attended an industrial tribunal hearing. Not as a witness but just out of curiosity. Not a lot happened but i have to say the room was an absolute greenhouse, if it was in EEP it would have made a brilliant cannabis farm!
Thursday was my sons birthday - Joshua was 26. As our birthdays are only 4 days apart i always remember him coming up and saying "i was your birthday present wasn't i Mummy" and me snarling back at him " Yes darling you were" whilst trying to rearrange my face into a motherly doting smile. Josh has been bought a juicer as his present and i suspect he will shortly be more oompa lumpa coloured when the excess of fresh carrot juice consumption kicks in.
As i can see it, the only advantage to adult children is that you can take them to the pub for lunch and buy them a pint, instead of a coke, packet of crisps and a colouring book!
The weekend was quiet, probably too quiet for my darling bunny Sascha who was looking a bit grubby round his nether regions so was subjected to his first ever botty bath. Let me make it clear, bathing a bun is a two person job, but there is only one of me.
RECIPE - first take one rabbit,,,,,,,,,,, and you will also need.
1. A sink of nice warm water was run, with a small amount of pet shampoo squirted in
2. Three towels, one for the floor, one for wrapping the bun in and one to wipe the soap off my face
3. Pet conditioner - because he is worth it
4. A brush so my darling boy could be tangle free
5. Bedroom nice and warm so he wont catch a chill afterwards
6. Hair dryer (or should that be hare dryer plugged in and good to go
7. A reward for being a good bun (aka A BRIBE to stand still)
THE TECHNIQUE
a) First catch your rabbit - easy peasy
b) Transport rabbit to sink - not so easy as by now its rumbled somethings happening and it goes into Vet aversion mode
c) Dunk buns bum into sink, actually this bit went quite well, massage fur gently to ensure shampoo is well distributed
d) Pull out plug whilst gripping bun firmly by scruff of neck, use towel and other hand to wipe soap from your face, arms, body etc.
e) Refill sink with warm water and swoosh buns bum around to ensure he is soap free,
f) Repeat twice............. by now you will be soaked to the skin btw.
g) Pick up bun and wrap in towel (ok that should read pick up bun, get kicked to bits, and nipped whilst attempting to wrap said lagomorph in a towel)
h) Transport bun to heated bedroom and attempt to rub dry with a towel
i) whilst pinning bun down gently brush fur to ensure its tangle free
J) Sit very annoyed rabbit on knee and blow dry with hair dryer (he sat quite still for this bit)
k) reward bun with bribe, whilst bun is eating bribe wipe poo and wee off your knee as rabbit has objected in the most physical way to being dried that he knows how, which is why he was sat still in the first place
l) finally spend hours persuading rabbit to come out from under bed where he has gone into the furthest corner to SULK.
Please note my bun and i know the measure of each other and i know how i can handle him without causing him distress - for proper bunny advice read this by my dear friend Karen Wren of Ross Rabbits.
