Another one bites the dust.

Normal life resumes today ... back to work after last weeks break. Getting up at 4.30 am again was a bit of a struggle, but I eventually dragged myself out of bed without too many problems. After feeling so unwell last week, I am beginning to feel a lot better .... still not A1, but better ... well enough to work of course ( not that there was any doubt about me going to work .... as my friends tell me, I don't do sick ... ).

In work itself, not a lot had changed .... a weeks worth of paperwork just left for me to complete because those covering for me DIDN'T HAVE TIME ( and like I do ? ), the oven looking not that clean ( but I suppose it could have been worse ), everything moved around so I found it hard to find anything, the orders being messed up even though I had prepared them in advance for them before I left ... all they had to do was put them onto the PC and send them on time ( which they DIDN'T manage to do AGAIN ), any stock I needed in a hurry still upstairs in the bulk freezer ( so I had to go and get it,bring it down to my work area then leave it to defrost for a while before I could cook any of it ..). just the usual way my section is left for me after a break. .... :-( ...I'm used to it by now. I just put my head down and got on with what I had to do. The human attachment to the ovens was back... not that anyone really noticed or cared ..... the invisible girl has returned.

In the store as a whole, there was some news - Stuart, our manager, was leaving after just under a year here. Not a complete surprise : he has hardly been in the store much the last few months, always helping out at other stores and their refits/refurbishments ( the classic indicator of someone probably moving on ). He is moving on to " larger projects" in mid-March... and the best of luck to him. I have got on OK with him ... he is almost as nuts as I am ... so I am a little sad to see him go, but that is the way it goes. I try not to get too "friendly" with management.. they tend to come and go, and I'm still here. Can make life difficult with the New manager if you are seen to be one of the previous one's favourites ..... Oh well, that is another one gone ... I think that is 3 or 4 managers since I've been here ( just coming up to 5 years ). They all seem to use this place and the position of Manager as a stepping stone on to bigger and better things, which is all well and good for them, but it would be nice for them to stick around for a little longer. We, as staff, just get used to one persons way of working, of what they want and how they want it done, when they go .... and the cycle starts again. At the moment, no-one knows who might replace Stuart ... should be interesting .... just have to wait and see. Here we go again ........

Every Human Has Rights

2008 heralds the 60th anniversary of the creation of a very important document, something that truly belongs to everyone, has relevance for everyone - The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Out of the supreme sufffering, pain, hatred and intolerance of the Second World War came a document which defined what it is to be Human, a list of basic entitlements that every human on this planet should have - the right to live, the right to found a family, the right to exist, regardless of religion, colour, or creed.

I have mentioned before how important these entitlements are to me - they are a huge part of my belief system, of the values I hold. Despite their age, they have as much relevance now, as much importance now .. maybe even more so ..... than they did at the time of their creation. The War on Terror has created an atmosphere where fear of the "other", of those" not like us" has allowed these basic rules and guidelines of Humanity to be disregarded, to be bent, to be broken by those who should know better ... and " in our name", or so we are told.

In this special year, a campaign has started to celebrate this important document, to promote its values, to remind people what it is and what it represents - EveryHumanHasRights.org. This campaign, created and back by various organisations such as Amnesty International and The Elders ( your can find out more about them using the links @ the side of this blog ) is to get individuals to pledge to uphold the Declaration's values in their everyday life, to sign the declaration themselves. This differs from the usual, for up until now, it has been States, Governments and Countries who signed it. The aim is to get one BILLION signatures .... one billion individual people, all over the globe, regardless of their race,religion,sex, whether they are rich or poor, young or old, to sign and say "yes, we believe in these rules , in these rights ..... and we believe everyone is entitled to them ". Only by standing together , by believing in our similarities despite our differences ( for we are not all identical, we have differences - that is the point , to celebrate and welcome both our similaries and differences ) can we start to fight injustice, fear, hate on a global scale...... you can dismiss this as " hippy" thinking if you wish, but who knows, it might just make this planet a better place to live.

I have signed the pledge ....I hope those who might read this will too, but is not up to me to tell you what to do..... just take a look at the campaign site, and read the Declaration ... make up your own mind.... that is your right..........

Forever in our hearts ...

I woke up this morning, looked at the calendar on the wall ..... and realised it is now two years since Nan passed away. It is strange - it feels like a long time ago, but then it feels like no time at all. There are still photos of her around the house, we still talk about her ( although it is in the past tense .... "I wonder what Nan would have thought of that, I wonder if she would have liked it " etc. ),but we ( that is my Mum and I )walk to the graveyard every week and place fresh flowers on the grave ... we miss her, and know she is gone but the distance of time has dulled the sharp pain of her passing. She may no longer be here in physical form, but she will always be part of my life, in my heart and in my mind .... she is part of who I am.

We have not forgotten you Nan, I have not forgotten you ..... I continue to hope you are content and at peace ... I know you are watching over us still ... thank you.

Not a well little bunny .......

It has been not a great few days. I have had a bit of a health scare ... well, it was scary for me.

Normally, I am quite a fit and well person - I get the odd cold and some aches and pains every now and then, but nothing major. I admit I am a little over-weight, but not excessively so .... I consider myself to be a generally well little bunny, compared to some people I know. Because of this, I hadn't troubled the doctor for years .... never felt unwell enough to trouble her. I have to admit though, I hadn't felt completely. A1, 100% myself for a while. I kept on getting an ache in my side and chest, which would plague me for a day or two, then disappear again. It did concern me a little, but it never stayed for long, so I didn't do anything about it.

Then, about two weeks ago, the aches returned .. I thought they would pass, like they usually did, in a day or two - but they didn't. The ache in my side just stayed there, a dull presence in my body ... I carried on working, and doing things as normal, hoping they would go away. Then the ache moved to my chest ... now it was troubling me. My mum has blood pressure problems, and had to have a pacemaker fitted to help with its control ( I know pacemakers are more connect to heart problems ... it is a long story, but my mum's heart is OK ... it is just that the blood pressure problems cause my mum to blackout due to lack of blood pressure .... the pacemaker is to ensure her heart doesn't stop completely when that happens ... as I said, it's a long story), so we are very aware of "heart health" at home. Pains in the chest are not good news. I resolved to get myself checked out this week if things didn't improve( I'm off work on a weeks holiday, so it would be the perfect time to ). Unfortunately, they didn't ... in fact they got worse. I awoke from sleep on Sunday night/Monday morning ... the chest pain was still there, not getting better ... and now my heart felt like it was racing out of my body. To say I was scared was an understatement. This feeling continued for a good 10 - 15 minutes ( I was just about considering calling an ambulance..) before my heart beat finally slowed back to normal. Needless to say, first thing Monday morning I was at the Doctors surgery. I was checked over, and to my relief , I was told my heart was OK ( the racing heart feeling was probably a stress- related reaction to my worrying about the pains ). They don't actually know what caused the initial pains yet though - I've been sent for some blood tests to see if they can resolve that mystery, and will get the results next week. That is the first time I've ever had any, an experience in itself. I am now a very tiny part of the health system .... Funny enough, the pains have now (virtually) gone away .... but now I have a heavy cold. I think my body is trying to tell me something ... perhaps I should stop and listen more often. I definitely do not want a repeat of last weekend ..........