I'm all ears...

I am fur-deep in working on a psychotherapy assignment due to be handed in at a time of year when I should really be snoozing, and perusing my last bits of Christmas thingummy-bobbies I need to get hold of, to stop my head from falling off with blind panic!

December's also the month of my Birthday, with GJ's big Five-O milestone Birthday coming up in January - For which I've got a party planned - Eek!

I'm meeting one of my bessie mates from Uni on Thursday for a decadent and languid lunch at a beautiful spot in the Cathedral City of Durham. 

I've had to postpone a visit from a kitchen designer in order to honour my prior appointment with her - We've now known each other for thirty years, which is frightening when you think of it.   Her son is my godson, she has a lovely older daughter too, and I love them dearly although I probably only catch up with her about twice a year if we're lucky...   More's the pity.

I'm terrified at what the kitchen is going to cost me, though - And I wonder if any of you can make any recommendations for reasonable priced stuff, as my builders favour Howden's and I don't believe for one moment they're going to be as cheap as chips!   My existing kitchen was thirty years old and dilapidated when we first moved in almost ten years ago, so we're desperate for a functional kitchen that we can sit and eat in - Well, blog in, in my case!

On Saturday I had the pleasure of marrying a delightful couple who were only in their early twenties, just as I was when I married GJ twenty-five years ago!   One of the registrars referred to them as "bairns".   And I thought, yes they are, and I was!   Next weddings for me will be in January, so we might get some of the anticipated awful northern British winter away before then...   We've a smidgeon of snow on the hills as of this weekend.

December just seems like the kind of month where you have to squeeze a pint pot into a half!   We're off to see Lindsey Buckingham in the middle of the month, just before my birthday and I'm also hopeful of the promise of a late lunch with some ladies who are regulars from our local pub, who fancy a bit of a "do" at a posh Italian restaurant nearby.

Suldog asked me last post whence came the expression - "I couldn't give a flying kipper's fart!"

I thought I must have picked it up somewhere on my travels.   Turns out it's mine, I think.   I googled it and found no result except on my blog - Skrikes, I'm off again!

And so, if I don't see you through the week, I'll see you through the window, mes bloggy lovers!   Ciao bellas!

This fantastic image of the atmospheric ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle in December by photographer Guy Edwardes.   Stunning.   PLEASE CLICK FOR MORE ABOUT GUY.

And I'm just going to leave you with this beauty from La Bush:

A Wish...

This last two weeks, I have been mainly getting to grips with being unemployed, for the first time in so-many-years-I-don't-even-dare-think-about-it...

What does this mean?

It means:

Loss of the overall self-esteem that I felt, I guess, working in a high-level job in an office with a regional profile, and of a certain renown;

Loss of income and potential/future income;

Loss of the opportunity to build upon a relatively secure pension with almost twenty-five years of contributions made;

Loss of the opportunity to progress within the job, to some degree - It took me years to get promoted...

I'm very proud of what I achieved, what we achieved in our small ways, and yet thwarted slightly in my ambitions to get to the next grade... To be honest, I think I've reached a settled place in my mind about this moot point. I'm not that bovvered.

That I had absolutely no control over the decision to end my job is something I have tussled with slightly, to be frank.

I swore early on that I would not give the politicians my tears. Heartless millionaires are not deserving of my valuable tears.

But I've found myself unable not to shed any tears over our plight.

I know that on the scale of recent matters in New Zealand and Japan the loss of a number of Civil Servants' jobs just does not equate.

...And yet there are many innocent lives which are already being adversely affected by the ruthless ambition of politicians and Whitehall mandarins, namely,

• The young women who were holding off on just the right moment to have a family;
• The two young couples who had picked late last year or early this year for their wedding dates, and who had to revise their plans, (or not), as the case may be;
• The lovely lady who cares solely for her very frail mother, whose husband was also made unemployed in January - That's two of them out of work;
• The couple of couples who were both employed by my office - For them, and for us, this is a step off a cliff with little cushion to bounce upon...
• Similarly, there are those of us with lovely children who have years to go at University, and whom we naturally need to subsidise heavily, albeit very willingly;

Enough, methinks.

Where there is despair, there will be opportunities;

Where there is loss, there will be re-birth and repair;

Wherever there is death, there is always new life - In time...

Have hope, have faith - Whatever it is you choose to cling to.

With warmest greetings to my friends in New Zealand, to friends of friends in Japan.

I am sorry for your great loss and enormous sadness... May you be held gently by the love that is felt for you around this world of ours.

(Photo courtesy of Fiona Andersen Photography, please CLICK ON LINK, New Zealand via Flickr).