Ramblings of Ru

My blogging has now moved to http://rupert.the-bear.org/#home please come visit!

The last few months have been grim. Funding has dried up and I am now on a 3 day week and unless funding can be found the Trust will have to close down. Nell's work is also very rocky with 9 posts being made redundant and Nell having to apply for her own job once more.

Amidst all this gloom 3 things have happened to balance the bad news. 1 Nells uncle, Giacomo, who was told that there nothing more could be done to stop his cancer has been handed a chance. He is to under go an operation to remove his chest plate, which is where his cancer has knitted itself to his bones, and for a synthetic one to be inserted. This should stop the spread and give him valuable time.

The second thing is Nell and I are getting married! We have finally decided to just go for it and are planning to have a register office wedding sometime in May. I love a good wedding and i love Nell so all is great! :)

The last piece of the good news is that Birmingham City FC, my football club, has finally won something after 136 years of not winning very much. I know that winning trophies to the likes of Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool are common place but to us Bluenoses it means the world!

Keep Right on as we always say!

Well the New Year has arrived and bought with it the same old problems that were hanging around at the end of last year. I want to know why people always think it will bring new possibilities? Its just another day in the continuing circle of seasons.

The next few months are going to be very difficult. The Trust, after many years of successfully staving off a funding crisis, is going to struggle to find funding to continue. The removal f funding that was started under Brown has continued under the Condem alliance. Meaning that in 3 short months I could be out of work and picking up jobseekers. I shall be 50 by then and I would like to bet that my chances of getting back on the career ladder will be slim, and I have just heard that slim has just left town.

Well we have had Nells Mum living with us for the last few weeks and so far it has been not too bad.

After our week away in Scotland I had a further week off and we moved her up from Bristol. Nell then had the next 3 weeks off to help her settle in.
Nell has been back at college working for the last 2 weeks, the carers have been coming in twice a day and things are going pretty well.

Having said that we have had one or two sticky moments were Nell's Mum has suddenly declared "ok I think I will go home now..." to which the best answer seems to be a straight "You live here with us now Nonna" which normally gets the response "oh, I have shit brains, I don't remember anything".

Toms back from his hols and whilst he is looking for a job he is keeping an eye on "Nonna" and making sure the house is locked up when the carers leave.

Has been a strange few months, Nells Dad passing away with cancer, struggling to find funding for the Trust and Nell having a nightmare at work with redundancies and OFSTEAD doing a snap inspection and targeting her department.

Now the dust is starting to settle we are starting to make arrangements for Nells Mum, Lucia, to come and live with us. This is going to be a life changing event for both us and for Lucia. Lucia has Alzheimer’s and is struggling to live by herself in Bristol, she keeps locking herself out of her house, refuses to let the carers in and is constantly scared that someone is coming in and stealing her stuff.

So it is with the impending arrival of Lucia we have decided to go away for a week before she gets here. We are off to Scotland, we first visited there last year (see earlier blog) and loved it so we are going back. Last time we travelled round, touring as much of the country as we could but this time we are going to stay put and have rented a cottage on the banks of Loch Awe and if the photos are to be believed we are in for a treat ☺.

Cheers
Rupe

I have an interview in Bristol this coming Friday and I am a little apprehensive to say the least. Its not that I am nervous about it or even concerned as to whether I am up to the task. No my apprehension is about moving away from the Midlands. I would have to stay in Bristol during the week and come home at weekends, staying with in-laws during the week.

Now I have lived in Brum or near Brum since I was about 13 only moving to satellite towns but always being in reach and it’s a hard thing to do.

Mind you I have not got the job yet so this concern may be academic.

On the plus side it would mean that I could keep my partners mother company during the week, ensuring she is at least safe during the working week (she has alzhiemers).

The job would be an interesting step side ways and Bristol is a lovely city, perhaps its just hard taking the Brummie out of Brum.

The transfer window is almost shut and it looks like, after the signing of Michel for £3million from Sporting Gijon, Craig Gardener, £3.5million from Aston Villa and youth signing Eddy Gnahore, that the final signing comes down to Pavlyuchenko or Dindane.

Pavlyuchenko is a Russian player who is contracted at Spurs but has fallen out of favour since "appy arry" Redknap has become their manager. He had a successful season last year scoring 14 goals in 36 games.

Dindane is an Ivory Coast striker who has been on loan from Lens to Portsmouth this season. With Portsmouth being in such financial difficulty Blues could nip in and take him off their hands. He has scored 4 goals in 10 games.

Well come Monday we shall know!