Month: April 2010

Work blog

/ Tony / Leave a comment

A slight deviation from the norm. I am writing this whilst at work ! It not something I do often, but there is not a lot of point starting anything fresh at the moment. Another late night last night. Eldest had his first talk though of his play last night. After a few bumpy moments, I think everything settled down, and it seemed to go quite well.

Mrs H and me joined him at the pub, when they finished, which was about 10:00pm. We arrived back home at about 11:50pm, after a very pleasant evening. I fancied another drink, so S**** and I decided to have a small whiskey before I went to bed. Ended up chatting until gone 01:15am. Mrs H and me had been out the night before. As the youngest is on respite this week, we went to the quiz-nite. We got back just after 11:30pm that night. So this morning, I was a little bit tired, to say the least. S**** however, was still up at 03:00am!!!! There will not be a late night tonight (probably.)

Where did the week go ……

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   Well, it must be an age thing, as I just don’t know what happened to this week. Where to start……Nothing much has happened really. Saturday was more or less a quite day. S**** came up for the evening. It was that music gig at the Albion in Clifford. It’s called Strawberry Jam (?) and is basically a getting together (hence the Jam) of some local musicians and singers, in a local pub. It is organised by a local girl, and is good fun.

   S**** went on to a party afterwards and arrived home at about half past six on Sunday morning, with the tale of drinking Vodka and stuff, in a hot-tub, with about seven others !!!!! He has no idea what happened to his wet underwear (they did wear underwear, I understand.) He appears to have enjoyed it.

   Quiz-nite tomorrow. S**** is not coming up until Wednesday, so it would be me and Mrs H, if we go. I’m not too sure that I want to go, after last week. Saying that though, I don’t suppose I can let an idiot spoil, what has become a part of my life these days. Decided, we shall go to the quiz !!!!

   R*** is on respite this week, and me and Mrs H are quite thankful for the break. He has really been up and down over the past few weeks. I think his mouth must have been hurting on holiday, and he has a sore lip at the moment. The problem we have, is that he cannot tell us that it hurts … he cannot communicate that feeling or emotion. If you ask him it hurts, he will say yes, even if there is no pain. It’s a dilemma, and sometime we have to err on the side of caution.

Another year older ..etc etc

/ Tony / 3 Comments

Yesterday was my birthday. It is beginning to sound like a Bingo call these days ….. “All the Fives …. 55”. Work was fine, and everybody seemed to wish me well for the day, so that was good. Eldest came up for the evening, which was a nice surprise, although I thought he may turn up.

We went to the quiz-nite, but that was a disaster. There was a guy came in, whom I’d not seen before, but apparently was in last week. He liked to think he was funny, or witty, but he was neither, and after about 30 minutes, he became very irritating. In the end, we gave up with the quiz, and were home by 10:30. Spolit the evening really. If he turns up again, I will stop going.

A good day ….

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   Surprisingly, today turned out quite well. Thought we may have problems, when R*** woke up at half past three, but after getting him a drink, he settled back to sleep around quarter past four. For the majority of the day, he has been fine. The odd glitch, here and there, but nothing serious. A good day. And he seems to have had a good time with his support worker too.

   I made what is called a Barm Brack today!!! It is basically a type of tea-bread, but tastes kind of like a malt loaf. It turned out quite good, although it was probably in the oven about 10 minutes too long. I will have another go next week.

   Was chatting tonight on MSN (via smart phone … cocky sod) to an old friend, whom I’ve not chatted to for quite a while. Strange as it may seem, I think the world of this person. I have never met her, don’t know what she looks like, only ‘spoken’ on MSN, but have a lot of respect for her. It is strange.

Halfway ….

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   Well, that’s Saturday over, and it’s not been a bad day. Youngest has been fine, if a little loud, for most of the day, with no real problems at all. Mrs H dropped a bombshell this morning, when she asked me to take him for his hair cutting !! This would not normally be a problem, but the way he has been for the past few weeks, meant that I was dreading it. However, he surprised me, and trip went very well.

   Managed to get to mow the lawn today. Now that usually is a chore. What normally happens is, that the weekend weather usually prevents me from cutting the grass, until it has got too long. Then, with copious amounts of bad language, I spend a good one and a half hours, trying to cut the damn stuff. I also sorted out my little ‘greenhouse’ and planted some Dahlia seeds. May plant some salad leaves tomorrow, if the weather holds.

   I now have a new page on here, that has a few photos from our last holiday. They are not the best pictures, but for a first attempt, I don’t think I did too bad.

   I posted a status comment on facebook today, whilst I was in the garden. It basically said “……has cut the grass, and is now chopping out some dead wood (why does work spring to mind ??)……”. This seems to have caused a little upset, with some of my colleagues  …… ha ha ha. Just need Doris Day singing “The Deadwood Stage” as my ringtone to finish them off, and I will have lost all my work friends … ha ha ha.

TGIF ……

/ Tony / 1 Comment

   Well the week at work, went as well as can be expected. Friends remain friends, and colleagues are just people you work with (or try to). I must re-evaluate the people I call friends !! Some of the ones I used to think of friends are… shall we say colleagues, and some of what were colleagues, I would like to have a s friends. I am beginning to get confused now !!!!

   Home !! Well R*** continues to be very challenging at the moment. I/we don’t know what it is, but he can switch from being happy and loving to being angry and violent in a split second !!! There does not seem to be a trigger at all. Unless we are the trigger !!! If that is the case, then we are completely sunk.

   Just looking at the contents of this post, and I have to say, what a miserable sod I must appear to be !!! It is not the case.

  I now have the instructions on how to post a picture slide show. That is the weekend task. Wish me luck !!

Expected

/ Tony / 1 Comment

   The backlash came as expected. He seems to keep things in his mind, pondering or worrying over them, until the bubble bursts. In this case, he woke up at 01:00am on Wednesday morning!! Now usually, he puts his TV on, with the sound turned right down, and goes back to sleep. This time, did did not go straight back to sleep, and was up and down until about 04:30 am, when he did seem to drift off. However he was back awake at around 08:30 am. Both Mrs H and me were complete wrecks. To cap it all, the eldest was coming across for a drama meeting (did I mention he was directing the local group play this year?), which results in a trip to the pub at 09:30pm. It was gone midnight, when we finally left, so not much sleep last night either.

   This evening, we had another bad do with him. All stemmed from him wanting to download a video from the internet. He had found a Japanese site, similar to YouTube, and wanted me to download from there. It could not be done, not with any of the download tools I have. Not a good night.

Long time…no post

/ Tony / 1 Comment

   As the title says, it’s been a long time since my last post. The holiday went much as expected. It seemed to take us until about half-way through the week, before we realised that R*** may have not been at his best. Stupid really ! He had just had a tooth extraction, on the Thursday, and we were expecting him to be happy. Well, thinking back, he was probably still in pain. That makes me feel a bit of a sh*t really. Apart from that, it was quite a good week. The weather was very kind (makes  change) and we were out every day.

   The Saturday and Sunday were a bit noisy. It appears that it was Whitby’s year for the annual Scooter rally. Over 2,000 scooter riders, and their partners were in Whitby for the weekend. It was good to see some of the old machines, and reminded me of the one I had when I was 16. A Lambretta Li125 in light blue and white!!! Actually saw the same model while we were there, in the same colour !!!

   I have some pictures (boring landscapes I’m afraid) and I will try and upload them to a page on here. That does, however, depend on my finding a way of uploading said pictures to a separate page. Methinks a trip to the forums may be on the cards.

   We seem to be having a bit of a backlash with him at the moment. He only want to stay at home, in his room. a great many Autistics are like that. It is his space, and he can control it. He will go to school, but that has become part of his routine, so he accepts that. But holidays, and days out, upset his routine, and he reacts to this. Usually with violence. It is as if the the violence is his only way of communicating his displeasure at what we are trying to do for him. He has been out tonight, with his support worker. He apparently had a ‘hissy fit’ as Mrs H put it before he went, and has been very angry and upset since he got back. Interestingly though, his support worker (or PA as the Council likes to call him) says he was fine while he was out. D** is very keen to engage with R***, since working with him at school, and tries very hard to find things that he thinks R*** would like. However, at the end of the day, what we, or anyone do or think, matters little to R***. His Autism does not take into account our feelings.

   The expected showdown at work never materialised. I was fully prepared for pistols at dawn, but I now feel, that both parties say my point of view. At the end of the day, I am not interested in egos or personal agendas, it is the end product, the service, that matters. If that sounds a bit trite, then I’m sorry. Saying that, however, I think everyone is looking out for themselves at the moment. A lot of people, seem to be in a very precarious position. Certain jobs, could be deemed as being ‘surplus to requirement’ in the current economic situation, and the people in those jobs are trying (if they have any sense) to keep themselves safe, so to speak. I don’t have a problem with that per se, just so long as it does not impact on me.

   I think that will do for tonight. I hope I have made up for the lack of postings while I was away. It is a bit of a chore, trying to post by email from a smartphone. Teachers report : Must try harder !!!

Broken Britain

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I saw a perfect example of so called Broken Britain yesterday. On the road from Sandsend to Whitby, there’s an open storage area, with clear signs at the entrance, that say No Parking – No Entry. It was full of parked cars. Not ferral kids, just Role Model adults. What does that teach their kids???

Better than I could have hoped for …..

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   The trip to the dental hospital, went better than expected. The staff were marvellous and understanding, and the whole traumatic episode was over and done with in under three hours. Then the problems started !!!! We got home without a problem, but by 02:0pm, he had worked out that his tooth was missing. That’s when we got the ‘Where’s my tooth ?’ questions. Of course, with his condition, trying to explain, only made matters worse. In fact everything we said made it worse. It must have been a strange feeling, to realise that part of you had gone and you don’t know how or why.

   I think I may have upset a work colleague. Not bothered !!! That person is getting too much above their position, and needs winding in a little. They seem to forget, that they are not running the show, only a bit part. So they should get on with what they have been tasked, and not try to bully their way through. I know what they are trying to do, and they will not use me to do it.

   No access to the PC next week, so postings may be few and far between. Will have to try and remember how to email my posts using my phone.