Another belated mega-update...as it's Friday night and I'm still not done work(avoid)ing yet
Once more, it’s weeks since my last update, and I’ve still got a load of reviews not written (the oldest of which dates back to February. Oops).
I’m getting there with the horrendous backlog of work which built up in March, and am now part way through the fourth of the five sets of minutes I had backed up by the start of April - although this does mean I’m going to have to take work to Whitby with me when we go, next week, which is annoying.
Happily, sanity appears to have broken out re the Chair who Would Not Take Advice (Looking back through my journal, it seems that I was so busy and stressed around that point that I never actually posted about that particular clusterfuck…). I’m not sure if someone spoke to him, or if he finally actually read the documents I sent him properly, or if he just chilled out a bit now they have managed to appoint a new Head for September. Anyway, I’m thinking I can survive him for two more meetings until the end of the school year in July, and I’m planning on suggesting reducing my ‘caseload’ when my mid year review comes. That school would be the obvious one to cut to reduce the amount of overtime I’m doing and improve the chances of my being able to provide a proper service to the two remaining schools (at that job), and from what I hear everyone at Head Office is sick of him too, so they might even go with not renewing the service contract for next year even if none of my colleagues does fancy taking the school on…
On a further positive note, it appears from a recent email from the Finance team that we have been awarded a pay rise (above inflation, too!) which has been backdated to January. It’ll barely notice in this month’s pay packet, hidden among all the March overtime pay, but it’s still a good thing to have.
New School Job is still a bit of a mess, but I’m trying not to think about it too much except on days when I actually have to be on the premises (which has been not at all for the last fortnight, while school wasn’t in session). I was in yesterday and at least managed to get proper contact details and terms of office info for all the governors, not just email addresses.
Elsewhere, I’ve actually managed to have something approximating a life so far this month, as well as getting work back under control:
Over the Easter weekend we went over to A’s brother’s place for a family gathering, where we had a nice meal, were given lots of chocolate by various people and played Pass the Pigs and Jenga with those niblings old enough for such things. (And the smallest one is now walking confidently, so presumably not too many years away from being a fully functioning speaking, reasoning humanoid…)
Last weekend I finally managed to go clubbing for the first time this year. Reptile has moved from its rubbish temporary venue (which it was using when I last went) to a decent-sized nightclub in the same building. It was a good evening, with plenty of music worth dancing to and good company in between. I managed to drag A with me, and we met up with Sahra and Rachel (so I have actually met Rachel IRL before the four of us share a cottage at Whitby…). The entertainment/performance part of the evening was fairly naff - three semi-dressed women messing about with angle grinders and one semi-dressed woman posing about with a snake, and no real stage presence or performance skills among the lot of them - but it didn’t last long enough to really get in the way.
Then, on Sunday, I skipped the usual lunch with the guys and got myself down to a pub on the South Bank for a games meet arranged by the Nine Worlds crew. There was all sorts going on, but I ended up starting out on the colouring-in table, which was a nice change of pace and focus and a burst of nostalgia, as I don’t suppose I’ve done any colouring-in in a couple or three decades. I then got collared by a passing random person and joined a couple of games of Avalon. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t terribly good at a game which is mostly about lies and misdirection and trying to figure out who is lying and misleading, but it was an interesting experience. When we’d done with that, I introduced the same group to Dobble, which is a lot less complicated and a lot quicker, and went down quite well, in that one could accurately say that ‘hilarity ensued’. I think I’ll probably try and get to the next meet, but maybe get there a bit earlier so I can join in some games from the start and maybe do some of the ‘social gaming’ (some kind of low-level live gaming, as far as I could gather) being run by the Haberdashery Collective, which I didn’t manage to get in on.
I’m getting there with the horrendous backlog of work which built up in March, and am now part way through the fourth of the five sets of minutes I had backed up by the start of April - although this does mean I’m going to have to take work to Whitby with me when we go, next week, which is annoying.
Happily, sanity appears to have broken out re the Chair who Would Not Take Advice (Looking back through my journal, it seems that I was so busy and stressed around that point that I never actually posted about that particular clusterfuck…). I’m not sure if someone spoke to him, or if he finally actually read the documents I sent him properly, or if he just chilled out a bit now they have managed to appoint a new Head for September. Anyway, I’m thinking I can survive him for two more meetings until the end of the school year in July, and I’m planning on suggesting reducing my ‘caseload’ when my mid year review comes. That school would be the obvious one to cut to reduce the amount of overtime I’m doing and improve the chances of my being able to provide a proper service to the two remaining schools (at that job), and from what I hear everyone at Head Office is sick of him too, so they might even go with not renewing the service contract for next year even if none of my colleagues does fancy taking the school on…
On a further positive note, it appears from a recent email from the Finance team that we have been awarded a pay rise (above inflation, too!) which has been backdated to January. It’ll barely notice in this month’s pay packet, hidden among all the March overtime pay, but it’s still a good thing to have.
New School Job is still a bit of a mess, but I’m trying not to think about it too much except on days when I actually have to be on the premises (which has been not at all for the last fortnight, while school wasn’t in session). I was in yesterday and at least managed to get proper contact details and terms of office info for all the governors, not just email addresses.
Elsewhere, I’ve actually managed to have something approximating a life so far this month, as well as getting work back under control:
Over the Easter weekend we went over to A’s brother’s place for a family gathering, where we had a nice meal, were given lots of chocolate by various people and played Pass the Pigs and Jenga with those niblings old enough for such things. (And the smallest one is now walking confidently, so presumably not too many years away from being a fully functioning speaking, reasoning humanoid…)
Last weekend I finally managed to go clubbing for the first time this year. Reptile has moved from its rubbish temporary venue (which it was using when I last went) to a decent-sized nightclub in the same building. It was a good evening, with plenty of music worth dancing to and good company in between. I managed to drag A with me, and we met up with Sahra and Rachel (so I have actually met Rachel IRL before the four of us share a cottage at Whitby…). The entertainment/performance part of the evening was fairly naff - three semi-dressed women messing about with angle grinders and one semi-dressed woman posing about with a snake, and no real stage presence or performance skills among the lot of them - but it didn’t last long enough to really get in the way.
Then, on Sunday, I skipped the usual lunch with the guys and got myself down to a pub on the South Bank for a games meet arranged by the Nine Worlds crew. There was all sorts going on, but I ended up starting out on the colouring-in table, which was a nice change of pace and focus and a burst of nostalgia, as I don’t suppose I’ve done any colouring-in in a couple or three decades. I then got collared by a passing random person and joined a couple of games of Avalon. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t terribly good at a game which is mostly about lies and misdirection and trying to figure out who is lying and misleading, but it was an interesting experience. When we’d done with that, I introduced the same group to Dobble, which is a lot less complicated and a lot quicker, and went down quite well, in that one could accurately say that ‘hilarity ensued’. I think I’ll probably try and get to the next meet, but maybe get there a bit earlier so I can join in some games from the start and maybe do some of the ‘social gaming’ (some kind of low-level live gaming, as far as I could gather) being run by the Haberdashery Collective, which I didn’t manage to get in on.