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We had a nice e-mail of apology from the Housesitting Agency. They say their ‘internal investigation’ has highlighted a ‘routine miscommunication’ that led to us being ‘unfairly undervalued’ and they have ‘deep regret’ and are ‘instigating further staff training measures’ and ‘re-assessing agency procedures’ to ‘avoid similar future occurrences’ etc.. etc… etc… They obviously subscribe to the same “How To Bullshit In Business” magazine that the supermarket does.
Anyway, the upshot is that we’ve had our names and references passed on to the owners of the place in Suffolk with a recommendation that we be considered for the sit; so we’ll see where we go from here….
RC 30-5-14
1810 BST
Philippa was still quite down yesterday so I cooked her some tea and then took her out to the cinema. I thought it would be nice to lose ourselves in a well-made, dramatic piece of film-making that highlighted some truth about the modern world and took us away from our own strifes and dilemmas; something with real depth and meaning.
So we went to see Godzilla.
RC 30-5-14
I did something very unlike me today. I phoned up the Housesitting Agency and had a real go at them! Normally I would have just stomped around at home muttering about how shitty they were, and then just accepted there was nothing we could do about it, and then left it to Philippa to speak to them in the future. But I was so upset by how upset she’d been at the weekend that I decided to do something about it. So I called first thing today and said how unpleasant and unprofessional we thought they had been on Friday, and how unhappy we were to know they had offered the house to someone else who was new when they‘d already offered it to us, especially bearing in mind we’ve always been reliable and done well for them. I said that we were really keen on the place in Suffolk and were prepared to go through the hardship of moving there (slight exaggeration, granted) but that now we were being messed around Philippa was of a mind to give up on house-sitting altogether and resign ourselves from the Agency.
I was very calm but I did lay it on a bit thick, and eventually the owner of the franchise spoke to me and said he was sorry we were left feeling that way and that he would ‘look into it’
Not sure if that means anything in the long run, but I was very proud of myself for doing it. I got quite a buzz out of it actually, so don’t cross my path in the next few hours coz I’m looking for something else to complain about!
RC 28-5-14
I came home from work to find Philippa in tears.
She’d been on top of the world last night but the rollercoaster was back in the trough today I guess. She said she’d sat around at home on her own and kept thinking how sick she is of constantly switching houses, and how exciting it was that we’d both agreed on our little plan for life in Suffolk and beyond, and how horrible it is that it seems to have been snatched away from us, and how unfair it all is.
I didn’t know what to do so I offered to take her out for a meal, but she said “How can I be seen out with my eyes like a panda that’s been boxing?”
I assume that statement means a lot more to female readers than male ones.
Anyway, we compromised on a takeaway and a bottle of wine, and Philippa ordered a LOT of food, which is a sure-fire sign that she’s very, very unhappy.
RC 26-5-14
We cheered ourselves up today by forgetting about house turmoils and going for a play on the beach. It was windy but warm and we held hands as we walked and it was lovely.
Chips for lunch. Ice-cream later. Lots of cuddles. Philippa smiling.
Job done…
RC 25-5-14
I’ve calmed down a little bit now so I can unburden the unpleasantness of yesterday without launching into a vitriolic attack on someone that could lead to arrest and incarceration for online defamation.
Basically, the girl at the Housesitting Agency was just bloody rude. Our usual contact was off sick so this dragon had been hauled in from another office somewhere and didn’t have a clue why we were there and wasn’t really interested in finding out. Eventually she looked up the file for the house in Suffolk and told us that it has already been offered to another couple who are likely to take on the sit.
We said “Hang on - we were asked to do it last Friday and we were given a week to think about it. How come it’s been offered to someone else?”
She rambled along on some roundabout of disinterest, spilling out multiple layers of bullshit as she span past, and said something like “Looks like they’re new people and the company are keen to get them in somewhere quick so we can keep them”
We pointed out that we are currently paying rent on a place because the Agency hadn’t found us anywhere, and she snorted a bit and said “I’m sure something will turn up.”
It was all very confusing and disappointing, and we’re not sure where we stand now. So Philippa is very unhappy and tearful and is starting to panic about homelessness again.
Everything felt great on Thursday - how has life collapsed into a hole of desperate uncertainty so quickly?
It’s other people, that’s what it is, it’s always other people.
RC 24-5-14
House-sitting agents:
The very embodiment
Of incompetence
We saw them today.
It did not go well… so… please….
Don’t ask about it
RC 23-5-14
Philippa and I have had a couple of intense days of chatting, formulating, being honest, and acting like mature responsible adults. All very strange, but it feels good.
We thought we’d better get our heads straight with what we wanted to do before we go back to the housesitting agency again on Friday. They’re not very well organised, so it’s a good idea for us to be that way so we can take control a bit and steer them where we want things to go. It sounds a bit manipulative, I know, but isn’t that the way we have to be sometimes? Isn’t that the reality of dealing with the Modern World?
So……. anyway……… we’ve decided to sign on for the long sit in Suffolk, and we’re both really excited about it. Philippa likes the idea of being further away from work and family at the weekends. I like the idea of being further away from EVERYTHING, and we both like the idea of knowing exactly where we’ll be for the next two years. The owners don’t mind if we have people to stay, so Sophie and Tamara can kip over sometimes, and they don’t mind about the place being occasionally unoccupied, so we can actually go away on holiday! We had a look online, and there are some lovely footpaths and parks near where the house is; and Philippa has found a nice sports centre within a few miles so she can even join a new badminton club. I’ve spoken to Head Office at work and they’re sending me a “Transfer Request” pack which I can fill in immediately and hopefully sort out moving to a store in Suffolk! It all seems to make sense, and could actually be a lot easier than we first thought. And the timing all fits in nicely as well - Philippa wants us to buy our own place when we finish this sit, and we’ll have a nice bit of money saved up by then, and she wants to start a family in our new home, which is still scary for me, but now I have a couple of years to get myself ready for it! And I think I WILL be ready for it. I’m as committed to all this as she is, really. The excitement of the nomad lifestyle is wearing a bit thin now. It’s been great to live in different places but it is stressful when we have to move again, and the thought of us being settled down in a place of our own with children playing at our feet is one that now fills me with warmth and hope.
The strange thing is I’ve always hated people who plan too far ahead. I’ve never wanted to be like them; I’d always rather concentrate on where I am and what I’m doing NOW than concentrate on where I MIGHT be in the future. I’ve always seen myself as too carefree and spontaneous for that kind of thing. But sitting here right now, we have the next five years of our lives pretty much mapped out and you know what? I am absolutely fine with that.
RC 22-5-14
In discussions with another manager at work, it has been suggested to me that I could request a transfer to one of our stores in Suffolk, and therefore be working much closer to our (potential) new home!
It’s certainly something I intend to look into thoroughly, and I’m starting to think that the fates are steering us Southwards!
RC 20-5-14
Philippa has sunburnt ears after wearing her hair tied back all weekend. She smothered herself in sun cream but forgot the backs of her ears and, as we say in these parts, she ‘caught the sun’
She looks like a cute little angry pixie. She’s had to have her hair up all day today because it hurts too much to have it rubbing her ears when she moves her head. Bless her. I did help by rubbing some E45 cream over them but then I started getting turned on so she told me to bugger off.
RC 19-5-14
It’s been absolutely glorious weather for the past few days. If it was like this in July I’d be happy as Larry; when we get it in mid-May it makes me as happy as Larry’s older, even happier brother..
Maybe the brightness and sunshine is what’s making the days disappear at an alarming speed. I truly cannot believe how quickly May is passing…
Anyway - to the matter in hand: we had our little meeting at the house-sitting agency on Friday. They were their usual uncaring, disinterested, we’re-only-in-this-to-make-money-out-of-you selves but we did make a bit of progress.
The Willows is definitely back on for next Winter if we want it. We’re delighted, but obviously that means we have to find accommodation between June and December, and there isn’t much coming up on the agency’s listings. The only firm availability is still the place in Suffolk, but that would mean a longer commitment and that would count us out of The Willows; and we did so dearly love that place. However - do we turn down a two-year guaranteed sit for the sake of 4 months at the end of this year? I’m not sure we do. I think we bite the bullet and head over the border. Philippa would be a lot happier knowing we’re not going to be on the move again sometime in the near future. It would give us two years to plan our own lives and keep saving for a deposit on a decent house of our own, and as the family are moving to Australia for business we don‘t have to worry about keeping it clean and tidy too much! They’re a couple who are both in their fifties and he’s got a decent job in Sydney. They already have friends over there as they’ve gone on holiday annually since the nineties, and they were thinking of retiring there eventually, but then this offer came up so they moved their plans forward a decade. They only want to hang onto the place in Suffolk so that they have a fall-back plan is it all goes tits-up (which they don’t expect it to) and so that they don’t have to transport all their possessions over there in one hit (which means we’ll slowly be losing the furniture as the months pass, but hey ho…)
They’re prepared to pay two years worth of fees up front (not to us, you understand, but to the Agency) and they assure us they will not sell the house from under us within that two years as they definitely want to give themselves two years ‘settling time Down Under’ before they make their final decision and cut their final ties. They even said that - if and when they do decide to sell - they would give us first refusal!
Anyway it all sounds grand but it is a big step so the missus and I are making lists of pros and cons and we’ve said we’ll go back to the Agency again on Friday with a definite answer.
I guess I’d better try and swap my shifts again….
RC 18-5-14
Work never uttered a word about Sarah and I swapping shifts yesterday. All that moaning before the fact and then they seemed to forget it. Sarah took full advantage, I hear. I haven’t seen her today, but the word on the forklift-truck-drivers grapevine is that she was ‘trolleyed by eight p.m and may have got laid by a builder’
Glad I could help..
RC 17-5-14
Work are trying to shaft me over the housesitting appointment. I asked them very nicely if I could change my shift so Philippa and I could go to the meeting, only to be told “Well, you should have given us at least a weeks notice. Then we could have found another manager to swap with you.”
I said “Okay, well to save you any bother, how about if I find another manager myself?”
They said “Yes, fine, but you’re missing the point. You’re going to cause disruption to at least two departments at very short notice.”
I said “Okay, well how about if I take it as a day off”
They said “Then issue regarding placement of suitable quotient of management staff still remains”
I said “Well, ok, I’ll leave it with you, but bear in mind how important this is and whatever you decide, I definitely won’t be here in the morning.”
And then they said something about attitude and discipline and setting an example and how could we expect lower-ranked staff to behave themselves appropriately and follow company procedures if the managers disregarded them etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.
So I asked Sarah from the Bakery if we could swap my morning ‘on-call’ shift for her evening one and she was chuffed because now she can go out and party tomorrow night instead of working. So it’s sorted. And if those above me don’t like it they can shove it up their dairy aisle and smoke it.
RC 15-5-14
Apparently there’s a guy on Twitter who spends his time finding spelling mistakes in peoples tweets and then sending them messages to tell them where they’ve gone wrong.
e.g “Thanks for my birthday wishes. Your all wonderful”
“No…. YOU’RE all wonderful……”
I mean, how much pain must someone be in to sit there doing that every day?
To actually go searching with the intention of finding fault in things and then complaining to the person that made the mistake? How sad must it be for him to not be able to just let these things go?
Mind you, I’ve just spent two minutes writing a post complaining about him complaining about other people, so who is sadder?
RC 14-5-14
Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day.
Nursery haiku!
RC 13-5-14
We’ve been given a date when we have to leave.
The first ‘summertime tenants’ arrive on Monday June 23rd, so they want us out by the previous Friday. Bastards. They did tell us “Well, yours is the last one we’ll be letting - all the others are occupied from the end of May”
Bastards.
Anyway, we knew it was going to happen so it’s not as if our situation is any worse than it was yesterday. Obviously Philippa doesn’t see it that way and is already trying to pack and clean up and reserve a space on the pavement for when we’re homeless. Silly girl.
We have a meeting with the housesitting agency at the end of the week so that may help. The long-term sit in Suffolk is still a possibility and I must say there’s lots about it that’s attractive. My only real reservation is that it takes us even further away from Sophie and Tamara, but I’m sure we could work around that.
Speaking of work - I don’t have to go in tomorrow, so I’m hoping for bright skies and a chance to cycle… but what I’m expecting is heavy rain and a bout of cabin fever.
RC 12-5-14
Weather has been a bit awful today. Very windy and heavy rain showers. My muscles are crying out for the exercise of cycling, but my skin is pleading with me to keep it dry.
So instead of venturing out I am looking for jobs online while watching the raindrops dance upon the river.
If I would like to enter the world of care, it looks like I could have the pick of about 12 jobs within cycling distance. Otherwise, there are very few positions available that are in any way suitable for me, or tempting. We’re currently living in a part of the world that is surrounded by boat hire companies and holiday homes so maybe I should take advantage of our location and enter the tourism trade. I have a day off on Tuesday so I might actually take a walk along the river and just ask people at every business if they need anyone over the Summer. Cleaning boats for minimum wage for a few months would be more fun that dragging myself into a depressing supermarket for five days a week, plus overtime (which I don’t get paid for)
I’d better change the subject now because I’m sure I made a promise earlier this year that I wouldn’t keep moaning about work….
The river does look beautiful. It’s dark and murky and it’s getting pounded by rain but it still has a relaxing vibe about it. I just hope we get to see it in sunshine again before they turf us out for the tourists.
RC 11-5-14
I’m sitting here blogging because Philippa is drinking Pimms and watching Eurovision; which is an eye-opener, because up until now I didn’t realise I was living with a gay man.
RC 10-5-14
What a lazy sod I’ve been!
Bank Holidays are brilliant, but I had to work the whole May Day weekend, and that put me in a bad mood. What with old people shopping for sherry, green fingered gits getting weed killer and football fans wanting beer to drown their sorrows I really sunk into a mire of pain and hatred.
So, to prove some point that I have now forgotten, I decided to punish the world by refusing to write any blogs.
And now I am contrite, and trying to get back in the habit.
In the words of Bryan Adams - “Please Forgive Me” - and in the words of Shirley Temple - “Tomorrow” - (as in, that’s when I plan to write for you again)
RC 9-5-14
