At least the place is clean
I've just had a bill for over a grand .....
Bluebell's breaks need seeing to as well....
I've not gone out much today.
Doing Housework all day saves money
Hey ho
Housework vers Spending
I've just had a bill for over a grand .....
Bluebell's breaks need seeing to as well....
I've not gone out much today.
Doing Housework all day saves money
Hey ho
War
Thank goodness for Auntie BEEB who is presently screening its first " handsomely" made version of The War Of The Worlds.
I've worked all weekend
So, it's time for a gin, a chicken sandwich and some good old fashioned alien disaster special effects
For Heidi
Heidi8:40 pm
Sorry to hear Winnie is fading a bit now, it's good you have reminders of her more active days. You haven't mentioned Dorothy for a while, has she settled in ok? I think you originally mentioned you were fostering her, have you decided to keep her now?
Dotty is hard work
She's still not totally housetrained
She's overactive,
She can be a bully
She can be rather silly with Albert
She can be a handfull
It's not been a one man show when it comes to getting the new mini me diva settled
I've got to thank the sexy bearded dog walker and more importantly Trendy Carol's husband Ewan who has patiently picked all of the dogs up when I have been working, for socialising her.
But She is a remarkably sweet and loving little dog
Who is still just a little nervous I am going to leave her.
Last night, I woke up around 5 for a middle aged pee
And in the darkness two sombre eyes watched me carefully before I turned to get up
She watches me carefully 24/7
Of course she is f'ing staying!!!!!!xxx
Eggs
Enjoy your saturday
Silent Call
The Samaritans Charity has faced an interesting challenge since it changed it's practice a couple of years ago by offering a totally freephone number for people to be connected to a trained volunteer.
Where we would be receiving intermittent callers over a volunteer shift, now we often have queues of callers waiting to be connected.
The charity needs more volunteers covering more 24/7 shifts,
plain and simple.
Some volunteer shifts can be challenging too
In addition to the calls you may expect to receive, there are other calls that can complicate a volunteer's work
"Snap" calls are calls where the caller puts down the phone immediately after your preamble of
"Hello Samaritans...can I help you/"
Sometimes that snap call may be a genuine caller who for whatever reason is not quite ready to talk to a volunteer. Sometimes its just a case of the caller not quite connecting to the voice they hear. Some callers prefer talking to a particular gender, that need is perhaps obvious.
Some sex callers want to female Samaritan to talk to. that's an unfortunate and sad reflection of some people's need.
Silent Calls can be a challenge too. Often these may be initiated by people who are so nervous or so distressed that their emotions render them mute and in these calls it is up to the volunteer to remain of the phone offering supporting comments in order to give space and time for the caller to start some sort of interaction.
These silent calls can last quite a few minutes and many end with an eventual hang up.
Last night I had a somewhat difficult silent call
It was my first call of the evening.
"Hello Samaritans...…..Can I help you?"
silence
I gently repeated my opening and stopped to listen
Silence again, but the connection was made. The line was active.
I thought I heard something
"Hello Samaritans?" I repeated and listened again
A minute of so later I asked if the caller was alright
More silence
I told the caller to take their time and that I was not going anywhere
I took a sip of my coffee
And a human scream burst through the receiver which made me jump out of my chair and caused my fellow Samaritan on duty to suddenly look over to me in concern.
The scream was followed by a loud thud then silence again
My nerves jangled but I remained calm and repeated I was a Samaritan and asked if everything was alright.
Silence again
I strained to listen for any clue of what on earth was going on. I wanted to hear a word or a whisper for help. Crying? or even giggling (hoax calls often can be perpetrated by children mischief making)
but there was nothing, except a faint indistinct noise that could have been a faraway tv, radio or even traffic sound.
I asked again if everything was alright
and minutes passed very slowly.
Another indistinct sound, something being moved. A groan? or was it my imagination.
I calmly repeated that I was a Samaritan
My colleague ended his own call and stopped to listen
I had been on the phone for almost ten minutes when a second much shorter scream made me jump again, I couldn't tell if it was male or female
and a moment after I had asked if whoever was there could tap the receiver to let them know they were there the handset was quietly replaced on the phone
And the call was ended with a soft click
Make of the call what you will.
My colleague came over to my desk and I debriefed to him over more coffee and chocolate biscuits
He could tell I was somewhat rattled
But we talked it out then and I talked it out with my shift leader before continuing the shift with a collection of appropriate calls, several of which were "good" calls,
Callers who obviously gained something positive from their connection with Samaritans
Ending my shift, I walked down the dark back street in Rhyl where our centre is located and hurriedly got into Bluebell with a bit of a shiver.
Before I started the engine.
I clicked the central locking button with a bang
Where we would be receiving intermittent callers over a volunteer shift, now we often have queues of callers waiting to be connected.
The charity needs more volunteers covering more 24/7 shifts,
plain and simple.
Some volunteer shifts can be challenging too
In addition to the calls you may expect to receive, there are other calls that can complicate a volunteer's work
"Snap" calls are calls where the caller puts down the phone immediately after your preamble of
"Hello Samaritans...can I help you/"
Sometimes that snap call may be a genuine caller who for whatever reason is not quite ready to talk to a volunteer. Sometimes its just a case of the caller not quite connecting to the voice they hear. Some callers prefer talking to a particular gender, that need is perhaps obvious.
Some sex callers want to female Samaritan to talk to. that's an unfortunate and sad reflection of some people's need.
Silent Calls can be a challenge too. Often these may be initiated by people who are so nervous or so distressed that their emotions render them mute and in these calls it is up to the volunteer to remain of the phone offering supporting comments in order to give space and time for the caller to start some sort of interaction.
These silent calls can last quite a few minutes and many end with an eventual hang up.
Last night I had a somewhat difficult silent call
It was my first call of the evening.
"Hello Samaritans...…..Can I help you?"
silence
I gently repeated my opening and stopped to listen
Silence again, but the connection was made. The line was active.
I thought I heard something
"Hello Samaritans?" I repeated and listened again
A minute of so later I asked if the caller was alright
More silence
I told the caller to take their time and that I was not going anywhere
I took a sip of my coffee
And a human scream burst through the receiver which made me jump out of my chair and caused my fellow Samaritan on duty to suddenly look over to me in concern.
The scream was followed by a loud thud then silence again
My nerves jangled but I remained calm and repeated I was a Samaritan and asked if everything was alright.
Silence again
I strained to listen for any clue of what on earth was going on. I wanted to hear a word or a whisper for help. Crying? or even giggling (hoax calls often can be perpetrated by children mischief making)
but there was nothing, except a faint indistinct noise that could have been a faraway tv, radio or even traffic sound.
I asked again if everything was alright
and minutes passed very slowly.
Another indistinct sound, something being moved. A groan? or was it my imagination.
I calmly repeated that I was a Samaritan
My colleague ended his own call and stopped to listen
I had been on the phone for almost ten minutes when a second much shorter scream made me jump again, I couldn't tell if it was male or female
and a moment after I had asked if whoever was there could tap the receiver to let them know they were there the handset was quietly replaced on the phone
And the call was ended with a soft click
Make of the call what you will.
My colleague came over to my desk and I debriefed to him over more coffee and chocolate biscuits
He could tell I was somewhat rattled
But we talked it out then and I talked it out with my shift leader before continuing the shift with a collection of appropriate calls, several of which were "good" calls,
Callers who obviously gained something positive from their connection with Samaritans
Ending my shift, I walked down the dark back street in Rhyl where our centre is located and hurriedly got into Bluebell with a bit of a shiver.
Before I started the engine.
I clicked the central locking button with a bang
Men
I was hanging my first and second best Walking Dead T shirts up to dry when I spied Terry walking past the cottage with his dogs.
( Terry as you may recall is my nemesis in the baking section of The Trelawnyd Flower Show)
After a bit of banter he mentioned that he had not seen me about much socially
And after I blamed work shifts for my absence he asked me if I was seeing anyone
He was interested and not nosey.
He asked about Sitges John who I assured was now a good friend and suggested I start using dating apps to " hook up "
He asked how I felt and how I was
He asked about the divorce
I kept the conversation light by telling him 57 is gay Years was very different that 57 in straight years in the dating game
" 57 in Gay years means you're dead!" I told him
He laughed loudly under his woolly beanie
I like that Terry is comfortable talking about personal stuff.
In my experience not many straight guys " do" personal, especially personal Of self ....
Having said this the straight guys I am friends with, Gorgeous Dave, Mike in Sheffield, Jason the affable despot, etc all do possess that ability to transcend those safe subjects of work, sports, news and jokes that many guys solely communicate on.
Perhaps they are just comfortable in their own skins and that's why I am drawn to them as friends
Perhaps it's just a sign of the times.
Hey ho
( Terry as you may recall is my nemesis in the baking section of The Trelawnyd Flower Show)
After a bit of banter he mentioned that he had not seen me about much socially
And after I blamed work shifts for my absence he asked me if I was seeing anyone
He was interested and not nosey.
He asked about Sitges John who I assured was now a good friend and suggested I start using dating apps to " hook up "
He asked how I felt and how I was
He asked about the divorce
I kept the conversation light by telling him 57 is gay Years was very different that 57 in straight years in the dating game
" 57 in Gay years means you're dead!" I told him
He laughed loudly under his woolly beanie
I like that Terry is comfortable talking about personal stuff.
In my experience not many straight guys " do" personal, especially personal Of self ....
Having said this the straight guys I am friends with, Gorgeous Dave, Mike in Sheffield, Jason the affable despot, etc all do possess that ability to transcend those safe subjects of work, sports, news and jokes that many guys solely communicate on.
Perhaps they are just comfortable in their own skins and that's why I am drawn to them as friends
Perhaps it's just a sign of the times.
Hey ho
The Bookcase
Before I met my husband I did have a relationship with a guy in Sheffield who collected antiques ( and very expensive antiques I may add) He had a penthouse flat in Sheffield and owned a country property in the Lake district...so lived a very different lifestyle to my nurse existence in a two up two down in a slightly down-at-heel suburb of the city..Anyhow I digress.
One afternoon he asked me if I could help in load several choice pieces of furniture into a van, so that he could take them to auction. As I recall there was a French chiffonier, an early Victorian farmhouse grandfather clock and a rather handsome George III glass fronted bookcase, which dated from 1780. All beautiful pieces of furniture.
We carried each item down 4 flights of stairs without incident and loaded the clock and chiffonier. I held onto the bookcase as my boyfriend cleared some room in the van, and for some totally unknown reason left the thing standing in the road as I walked up to see what was going on.
Sheffield streets are steep, and in what could only be described as slow motion we both turned to see one of the bookcase doors open ever-so-gently.....unbalancing the whole piece.
As I screamed ( and I did scream)..the bookcase started to topple...like a tree and with the biggest of crashes it fell onto the road.......glass doors downward.
I couldn't move. My boyfriend (who was crying silently) did however and without a word he lifted the bookcase off the road.
There couldn't have been more damage to it if Hattie Jacques herself had jumped on it from the top of a wardrobe, and even to my unsophisticated eye, I just knew that I had inflicted damage a nurse's pay could not quite cater for.
Still in silence, the bookcase (or the pile of wood and glass that it now resembled) was loaded up and driven away, leaving me to ponder my fate.
On impulse I drove immediately to one of the less attractive parts of Sheffield ( Think The Wire) and offered my old beat up peugeot 105 up to a scrap merchant to buy......The scrap merchant was a big hairy arsed bloke who seemed rather sceptical of my motives... but seeing that I looked rather distressed, he offered me a cup of tea and seemed ever-so-faintly amused that I was selling my car because I knackered the front off my boyfriend's priceless antique and wanted to "pay" for the damages
As I recall he gave me 150£ for my car....
I never knew what happened to the bookcase....
The relationship never lasted either...................
One afternoon he asked me if I could help in load several choice pieces of furniture into a van, so that he could take them to auction. As I recall there was a French chiffonier, an early Victorian farmhouse grandfather clock and a rather handsome George III glass fronted bookcase, which dated from 1780. All beautiful pieces of furniture.
We carried each item down 4 flights of stairs without incident and loaded the clock and chiffonier. I held onto the bookcase as my boyfriend cleared some room in the van, and for some totally unknown reason left the thing standing in the road as I walked up to see what was going on.
Sheffield streets are steep, and in what could only be described as slow motion we both turned to see one of the bookcase doors open ever-so-gently.....unbalancing the whole piece.
As I screamed ( and I did scream)..the bookcase started to topple...like a tree and with the biggest of crashes it fell onto the road.......glass doors downward.
I couldn't move. My boyfriend (who was crying silently) did however and without a word he lifted the bookcase off the road.
There couldn't have been more damage to it if Hattie Jacques herself had jumped on it from the top of a wardrobe, and even to my unsophisticated eye, I just knew that I had inflicted damage a nurse's pay could not quite cater for.
Still in silence, the bookcase (or the pile of wood and glass that it now resembled) was loaded up and driven away, leaving me to ponder my fate.
On impulse I drove immediately to one of the less attractive parts of Sheffield ( Think The Wire) and offered my old beat up peugeot 105 up to a scrap merchant to buy......The scrap merchant was a big hairy arsed bloke who seemed rather sceptical of my motives... but seeing that I looked rather distressed, he offered me a cup of tea and seemed ever-so-faintly amused that I was selling my car because I knackered the front off my boyfriend's priceless antique and wanted to "pay" for the damages
As I recall he gave me 150£ for my car....
I never knew what happened to the bookcase....
The relationship never lasted either...................
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