New Beginnings

Hi All!

Well its been ages since I posted a blog and a lot has happened.

Dave and I despite the rumblings of my previous blog, are now engaged. A year later than planned but we got there in the end and we're settled.

I've also been lucky enough to get a new job as Operational Pharmacy Services Manager at Macclesfield General - a lovely Hospital but boy, a lot of work to do.

It amazes me how some people think its acceptable to get paid exortionate amounts of money for doing very little, when they should be doing plenty. Now that my permanent contract has come through, I fully intend to turn things around there to make it the Dogs Bollocks (to put it bluntly). I know I may not make many friends along the way which is sad in a way, but people have to understand there are methods in my madness and the last thing I want is for people to lose their jobs because of their apathy. So, that said, fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride....!!!

Garry Newlove - RIP

Look a these children..............

These boys took away the life of an outstanding man, who was ready to stand up for what was right. One of them only just released on bail, and part of those bail conditions were to stay out of Warrington. How dare they. Who are they to do something like that? Calling them animals is an insult to animals. They are scum and now they must pay the price. I hope the British Justice System will eventually deliver a sentence suitable for the crime they have committed, and I hope they DO stay in jail for a very, very long time.

When this crime was committed last year, it rang some very clear bells to me. Several years ago, a group of youngsters - probably no older than 14 or 15, thought it would be a good idea to vandalise one of our cars in front of us, and then give us a load of verbal on top of that. For those of you who were unfortunate enough to know my Ex - husband Lee, this was like a red rag to a bull and he went after them and squared-up to the tallest lad in the group. All of a sudden, the gang increased in size and Lee was surrounded by boys AND girls and they were pushing him towards the gable end of our house. Thankfully, our quick-witted neighbour saw what was going on and phoned the police and told them if they didn't get here quick, they were going to murder him. They were here in 5 minutes with blues n twos going, which was unfortunate in a way as they all legged it and none were arrested for assault or vandalism.

The incident passed, but since then more and more of these events are occurring in our society. Some children don't seem to understand what respectful behaviour is anymore. I worry that my own kids will eventually fall foul of something so horrendous, despite our best efforts to instill the knowledge of right and wrong, good manners and behaviour from the moment they're born.

What do you think the answer is to get the message through to these kids? Do you reckon something like Bootcamp (National Service) would do any good? Do you think it's because they play too many video games and watch too much violence on TV, thus making behaviour like that more "socially acceptable"? Breaking these street corner groups up is effective but only temporarily, and credit to the Police and PCSO's, they do their best within their means, but it's not stopping it from happening.

It's truly a crime that it took Garry Newlove's death to bring these type of things into the public eye once again. Let's hope something more positive is done about this, this time.

Recycling. Should we bother?

How many of you recycle? I never used to bother until about 2 years ago, when our beloved Tameside Council put an advert in the advertiser asking if we wanted different bins for different things. Fantastic! At last, only 10 years too late and only because the Government are putting pressure on local Government to deal with it better. In the past, it was way too expensive to recycle. The cheaper option is to shovel all our waste into Land-fills - marvellous when you see them slap-bang in the middle of countryside with obese seagulls feeding off all the crap there!

Anyway these bins! I've got one of each now and use them totally. If you asked David, he'd say I'm obsessed with recycling and often have to fish out things from the house bin to put in the different bins outside! I have issues with these bins though. Nice colours etc.. but for a family my size, they're too bloody small! They're half the size of the black wheelie bins. The ones in the picture are massive compared to mine.

We're down for pick ups every 4 weeks for the recycle bins. My green one that takes plastic and glass is usually full within 14 days. My blue bin for paper was full before Christmas, and because of new year, the next pick up wasn't due til February!! How stupid is that.

I spend more money phoning TMBC to do extra pick ups. I've requested bigger or extra bins, but they won't oblige.

My point is, it doesn't exactly encourage you to recycle when your bins are full to bursting and the council won't do anything about it. They threaten us with managed waste collection (weekly to every two weeks) despite this. That would be interesting where I live which is right behind a reservoir. I've seen rats the size of household cats occasionally. Could you imagine what it would be like with rubbish lying everywhere on the streets, not to mention the cats and dogs ripping the bags open to get at all first!

I DO still do my bit though and always will, as long as TMBC don't threaten me with legal action for recycling incorrectly (if I ever do), like that poor bloke from London that time. I'm also training the kids to do it too. My Granny Nield used to do it. Milk bottle tops and tin foil for the Guide Dogs, paper envelopes either reused or made into drawing paper for me and my brother Mike, newspaper in the compost heap as well as food scraps, pop bottles back to the pop man for a penny. There wasn't as much plastic in those days and I think there lies the problem. Did you know that once you've bought your items from supermarkets, you can give them back the excess packaging before leaving the store, although it does p*ss off the check out girls putting the fruit and veg through unbagged - slows 'em down a bit too! Hilarious!

Anyway, let me know what you think. I think that's enough ranting from me today. Rosie needs feeding and changing, then we're going for the big weigh in! I reckon she's about 12lb 4oz. I'll keep you posted.