Enter the Void....

Sunday evening and we have justhad a barbecue in the garden. We waited til after 7 so it was a bit cooler. Home made burgers with herbs and onions mmmmMMMMmmm.
There were a couple of birds in the garden too. Real birds. And I am sure they were a couple because the woman burd just sat under the bush while the male bird went to find the worms. When Mr Bird had a worm, he returned to Mrs Bird and fed her. And Mrs Bird looked huge- as if she was pregnant... perhaps she wa about to give birth to an egg.
MrS Bird: Aaah the egg has got your shine.
Mr Bird: Maybe but he does have a look of the milkman, Humpty!

Still it was a very lovely evening. We ended up talking about old fims, and I was trying to remember the mae of an actor (Paul Newman) and I said to my OH "I want to say Paul something" then Added "But you probably won't"
That made her spill her wine!

Previously on CJ blog....
On thursday I was looking up legal bits and pieces. I mentioned it before, but I never talked about why I was doing it or what happened.

Well the reason that I was researching stuff was because in our redundancy package we are only going to be offered the minimum Statutory payment which is a weeks salary which is capped at £290 per year of service. Well for many staff that is about 60% of there weeks salary so In fact we lose it in comparison to other non teaching staff. We were advised to reseach precendents set by 'certain people' and ways of gettin perhaps an ex gratia payment.

So we went to our meeting armed with our information. And muggins here ends up as spokesperson. When the Burser gave the reasons for the statutory only payments we were able to counter it with our own information and give possible future arrangement we would agree to. The burser seemed surprised that we were so organised and asked what we would propose as an ex gratia payment. So I suggested rmoivng the cap so it was fair for all staff.
Now around this table there are representatives from all the 'types' of staffing groups eg caterin, cleaners, workman ets. and when I made my proposal on behalf of the people I was representing I got my head bitten off. "Thats not fair" were the yells. And others were saying "perhaps we should suggest something like... because CJs proposal is unfair."
And even afterwards, there was "I hope you didnt think I was getting at you but your idea was unfair"
And so the staff decided to meet and discuss a fairer way. Other than mine.
Well Excuse me! but I didnt see anyone else bring up the possibility of getting anything other than minimum. I only offered the suggestion because I was put on the spot. I certainly didnt like being picked on in the meeting, especially since what I said gave us the opportunity to start considerin the chance of proposing more. I know I sound ungrateful, but this should be taken as a positive step forward, not an opportunity to grind someone down. (Actually there is one guy there who picks on everything I say and disagrees with it- even to the point when afterwars I said "I dont think they liked the fact that we were prepared" he replied "I think they did")
Anyway the staff had a meeting on friday but I wasnt there.

It’s July so its time to look at what special days are worth celebrating this month
Did you know that July is anti-Boredom month? So why not go out and get some fresh air, feel the wind in your hair! And if you really want to feel the wind then this is the best time to do it because July is also Baked Bean Month!

Specific days in July.

July 1st – Scarecrow day. That’s building one, not looking like one
July 4th - Independence day. When a big scary Alien ship will destroy the Whitehouse but Will Smith will save the day because Alien computers use Windows 95
July 7th – Macaroni day
July 8th – Video Games day
July 10th – Teddy Bear’s picnic day
July 11th – Cheer up the lonely day.
July 12th – Paper bag day- not quite sure how to celebrate that one
July 14th – Bastille Day
July 18th – Cow appreciation day. Now there’s a few I could mention here
July 19th – Stick your tongue out day. Now it doesn’t specify whether we are allowed to stick it out many times for a short period, or keep it out all day
July 21st – National Junk Food day. Sponsored by McDonalds no doubt
July 23rd – Mosquito day. If only they were around just for one day. You could stay indoors and then know the rest of the year you would be free of the little Bastids
July 27th – Bugs Bunny’s birthday.
July 30th – Cheesecake day. Although everyday is cheesecake day for me.