Monday 21 July 2014

Catching up...

So, wow, it has been over a week!

A lot has been going on, though, and it has been a combination of lack of time and lack of good blog material.

So, the basics?

Well, my daughter finished college and set about finding some work.  While doing this she signed up for Job Seaker's Allowance, which would give her a small amount of money to help get to interviews and stuff, and get her help with finding vacancies etc.

What we did not recon on was the Gestapo-style attitude of the people she would have to deal with.

To cut a long story short, she told them to stick their money and insane pressure and harassing and intimidating phone calls help, and I somehow managed to find her 2 weeks work at the Uni.  This will give her some money and mean that she is clear go come camping with us next month - something that the helpful Job Centre people were saying she could not possibly do...  [insert really really nasty name here]s.

So, then we come to Friday - band practice!  Starting to sound good on some of the songs now - I found a really good sound for my bass, which I set into the amp's memory for future use.  It was a case of "I think I will turn this knob up a bit more and see what happens.  WOW!"

As the practice came to an end a thunderstorm was rolling in.  It was truly spectacular but I totally failed to get any photos of it.  Everytime I got my camera ready it would be all "Hey, I have finished now, put the camera away, you will only get it rained on!"  So I put my camera away only for the storm to go all "Haha, fooled you!  Bang, flash, quad-fork lightning all over the sky!"

Just to show how close it all was, on the way home from the band, we passed within a couple of hundred yards of a house that got hit and burnt down by a lightning strike.  The people got out OK, luckily!

The whole weekend was punctuated with storms and bursts of intense rain - which is all good for the plants and the pond, which is still going well.  George and Toffee Penny are both thriving, and we are contemplating a couple more...

So it is now Monday, my daughter has just gone home and I am about to head off for my weekly game of Dungeons and Dragons.  We are in a tight spot which I suspect will only get tighter before the evening is over - wish us luck (in the form of lots of 20s on our dice, and lots of 1s on the referee's dice)!

Hope to catch up with you all soon!

6 comments:

terri said...

Well here I was thinking what a great program the Job Seekers Allowance seemed to be. Obviously not! Glad you were able to find some temporary work for your daughter so she can enjoy some vacation time with the family AND start finding some realistic job options.

I did not realize an amp has memory to store settings! Although with technology what it is today, I can't say I'm surprised.

ShadowRun300 said...

I thought the same thing as Terri - what a great program that would be! Sorry to hear that it's not. 2 weeks at the Uni sounds like a much better option.
I'm thrilled you're enjoying your band time and that things are coming together. My hubby likes to play solo now, but for a while he was a member of a band and loved it.
I love a good storm, provided no one gets hurt of course. We haven't had one in a while - odd for us this time of year.
Anyway, good luck at D&D tonight! Wishing you lots of 20s! (Whatever that means...)

agg79 said...

That's a lot to cram into a week. Some of those programs designed to help with "free" money come with a lot of strings and attitude. Glad you daughter was able to find some work at the Uni for a short while.

Love a good storm, when inside. Not so much when we are out camping in tents. The dogs, however, are not big fans of lots of lightening and thunder.

Shammickite said...

Sorry to hear about the lack of help being provided by the Job Seeker people. I suppose they are only following the rules and regulations, of which there are far too many! Good luck to her in finding something a bit more permanent in the coming weeks.
Storms here can be very violent, lots of flooding in low lying areas. I like a good storm, I like to sit on my covered verandah and watch the rain smash my carefully tended flowers to pieces.

Abby said...

There are probably some bad apples in Job Seeker past that ruined it for the good seekers of the present. Glad she got some work AND gets to go camping!

We get lots of scary lightning here in summertime, but I don't recall anyone's house burning down from a strike! You're safer in the dungeons with your dragons!

Riot Kitty said...

Seeing as how you avoided the lightening, I think you already have luck on your side.

We don't have an equivalent to the Job Seeker program, but I suspect Abby is right. Working at a nonprofit, you wouldn't believe how many people are flakes even when you make it very easy to help them.