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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!
I can't think of two nastier or crueller diseases, one robs the mind of its memories and slowly destroys the memories of the relatives as they watch the sufferer drift away, the other slowly destroys the body and makes you wish for a swift end for your loved ones so that they no longer suffer.
Add to the mix the totally inept National Health Service and you really have a roller coaster ride ahead of you.
For the last couple of days we have been in Bristol trying to sort out hospital/hospice care and trying to push the NHS into doing something/anything to help.
Salvatore is suffering with cancer in the area between his bladder and back passage. This was diagnosed on Christmas Eve, he was suffering before this date and in fact he was already very frail and infirm. However the local GP, a Dr Parrot, refused to admit him to hospital saying he was very capable of staying at home and looking after Lucia, his wife, and administering the drugs that help with her Alzheimer’s, despite the very obvious, well obvious to everyone including the district nurse and the palliative care nurse, that he was incapable of looking after himself let alone looking after Lucia.
We stayed with them all over Christmas to make sure they were ok and for large parts they were ok but we had to return to work as did other relatives which meant leaving Salvatore and Lucia to do what the Doctor thought was capable of them.
Cut to Sunday and we get a phone call from Lucia’s visitor saying he was very concerned about Salvatore as he seemed to be “fitting”. We called for an ambulance and rushed down and spent 4 hours in the Bristol Royal Infirmary’s accident and emergency department and to be fair the care there was very good. After some investigation the on duty Doctor decided he had pneumonia and gave him paracetamol and antibiotics which bought his temperature down and stopped his agitation (twisting, gnawing and involuntary noises) and making him a little more coherent.
He was then transferred to a ward for the rest of the night and we were promised that he would be fine and that no they didn’t need his medication as they had a full history and had everything they needed right there.
We went back to Salvatore and Lucia’s house where Lucia was being looked after by her carer, a very nice chap called Ben, and eventually went to bed around 2am.
Monday morning, before we can get to the hospital, we get a call from a visiting Aunt saying that Salvatore had been moved from the ward he was placed in to a new one and that he had not had any medication (remember he is in pain from the cancer and the pneumonia and confused from his high temperature and the original cancer drugs) and that the night before, because he was agitated, they had given him antipsychotic drugs to knock him out! His ward is over crowded, 1 nurse and 1 nursing assistant to 10 beds and everyone passing the buck!
To say we are angry would be an understatement!
Its high time I made a comment on the fantastic run the boys in Royal Blue are having.
13 games unbeaten, 12 of them in the prem has lifted us to the lofty position of 8th in the prem, just a few points from safety and with £40 million burning a hole in Alex's pocket who would bet on us doing what all the pundits said we would do and go straight back down?
However, the last Blues team to have a run like this did just that, back in 1908 Blues had a run of 11 games unbeaten and were still relegated.
Well I don't think that will happen this time but i guess you never know.
Alex McLeish has been awarded Premiership Manager of the month. this normally brings with it a string of bad results, but, so far, this has not happened.
Our last game saw us with a very creditable draw against Man Utd, in fact I felt we were unlucky not to win so perhaps the curse as kicked in.
KRO
Praise the lord! the evil empire that owned Birmingham City FC has finally gone!
No matter that they have moved us from the old third division to the prem, no matter that they changed the old St Andies from a cattle shed to a new (unfinished)stadium and no matter that they bought us a nice few wins over the Villa, I am just pleased the poison porn pedallers have left the building!
I could not stand the moaning about the fans, the fact that they practically wanted us to worship them like little diddy gods for what they did (and made a nice little earner from it), that they whored our club out to the highest bidder (yellow card sponsored by Hollywood Signs) that they promised much and failed at the last turn (unfinished stadium) and that they lied so often! Promising this player or that player during the summer transfer window just to bump up season ticket sales only for them to vanish like dust.
Well, all I can now say is Welcome Carson Yeung! I prey that you will treat the Blues with honour and how you would treat a much loved if a little dysfunctional member of your own family.
KRO
Bloody work! What a bloody pain in the arse!
I have spent the last two year negotiating with the local council about taking on the lease of a piece of land in the area I work, which would mean it was safe from developers, we could pursue those who carryout criminal damage and we could continue to use the site for our environmental projects (and it would allow us to pursue much needed funding). Only to be told that the neighbourhood manager has recommended to the council that another organisation take it over instead!!!!!
Now I really believe this is political, this person has been trying to get the Environmental Trust for a few years now and whilst we had a local resident who was very active and very much respected he was held at bay. Unfortunately last year she died and he has been sticking little knives in since.
I don't know his motivation for this but I think it must be on the lines of wanting to bring environmental issues, monitoring, education and conservation in house to the Housing trust.
Weekend
Had a fab weekend, in the most parts, met up with a friend for a drink on Sunday, Blues won and went out on a "Run" with the midland scooter club on Sunday. It was enough to lift the spirits, well until bed time when the political situation once more reared its ugly head and stopped me from sleeping.
Madame Tussauds unveil Abbott And Costello Dummies!
Ah what ever happened to Jilted John? Probably married with 2.2 kids now and perhaps no longer a moron.
Speaking of morons what is Gordon Brown up to? Now I know he is not as bad as Silvio "drop your knickers" Berlusconi with his ineptitude but he is trying bless him.
First he refused to comment on the repatriation of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi then it was leaked (or rather trumpeted) that before hand he had more or less approved that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi should go free! Now I agreed with his release, I think it shows humanity but Gordon did his old trick of dilliying and dallying and strike me down he has done it again, this time over the victims of IRA bombings suing for compensation from the Libyan government. This time he really should have kept his trap shut. Firstly he says its inappropriate to comment on this then says he is offering support! The man is quite obviously in intense internal turmoil. I bet he must take a good two hours in the morning to make up his mind about what to wear to the office.
A few issues are thrown up by this, firstly that he shouldn't comment on anything if he is likely to change his mind and secondly, by giving his backing what further support is he going to give to the victims of the protestant terrorists? Or the discrimination that was fostered under successive governments since partition of Ireland? The discrimination of the Catholics really is one of the main driving forces behind the (at the time) success of the IRA. Is he going to support them in their claims for compensation?
I think not.
I just wish this man would go, let the labour party sort itself out and get someone to lead it that had an ounce of sense! Before its too late!
Today we visited a National Trust property in Birmingham called the Birmingham Back to Back’s. This was an interesting and humbling (if that’s not too trite a word) experience. Firstly, the reason I found it humbling, my mothers side of the family lived in a back to back just up the road from there. They lived there at the turn of the 19th Century, were button/badge workers and had 3 generations living in the house, one grand parent, mother and father, five children and a lodger. So there were 9 people living in 3 or more likely 2 rooms, working a 70 hour week and having no running water and sharing an outside loo (well bucket) with up to around 60 other people. So to see this and to know how comfortable we live now is humbling.
The interesting part is, I guess, a voyeuristic one, to see first hand how the poor lived is, I feel, far more interesting than visiting a stately home. To see how they decorated the rooms, how they cooked and lived their lives. How they coped without privacy, entertained themselves and how their hard lives shortened their lives. I would have been an old man at my age, if I had lived that long.
It was interesting to see that they flavoured their food with spices such as cloves, star anise and nutmeg. I wonder what they would have thought of our bland English food that is served up in many homes today?
Bedrooms packed with children and even in one house we saw the children’s bedroom was shared (with a blanket acting as a separator) an unmarried couple lodging with the family (total people sleeping in the room – 6, 4 children sleeping top to toe in a bed).
Strangely the 1840 home, which housed a Jewish family and in fact the area was the Jewish quarter for much of its life, was despite the lack of modern trappings more homely than the 1930’s home that had electricity and running water.
I really would recommend a visit if possible, the lady taking us round was very well informed and entertaining.
Got home this evening to discover that the Internet is down and not working. This is the second time in a couple of months that it has played up. The 12 month contract we have with them is looking a long one.
But how are you writing this? I hear you cry! Well, with the old trusted mobile phone, a length of cable and bingo you have the Internet and quicker than the old dial up service used to be :)
Off to see the Birmingham Back to Backs tomorrow, which is interesting to me as some of my great grand parents lived there (or very near by) at the turn of the 19th/20th century. They were 3 generations all living in a couple of rooms and working as badge enamel workers. See! brummy to the very core!
Back in the office for a day before disappearing for a few days to Wales.
I rode in this morning on the Vespa and, of course, as this is Britain and as this is Birmingham I got thoroughly soaked. And as this is also the country of austerity (ok not quite) I am going to have to fight to get a heater to dry my wet jeans on.
Yes I know putting a heat on in the middle of summer is not “Environmentally correct” but as I did my bit for the planet by using said Vespa I feel justified!
Wales dwells in a dark part of my heart, whilst I know it has rugged beauty and even that some of my forbears came from there, it is still the place where, as a child, we moved to for a few traumatic years. I was around the age of 11, very impressionable and English and bullied continually by the local Welsh children and by the Welsh teachers alike. But this was also the place where I saw the wonderful Barry John play which almost makes up for the abuse.
Blues never give us an inch do they?
The season is a little over a week away and so far we have won just one of our preseason friendlies and with only one left, a home game against Sporting Gijon from the La Lega, to some it all looks a little worrying.
The board have put their money where their mouth is ( and no thats not David Sullivan's back pocket for a change) and been on a buying spree bringing in the likes of Christian Benitez, Scott Dann, Joe Hart and Roger Johnson, to name but a few.
With all these new signings and the apparent lack of good performances one begins to wonder how they will fair on the opening day of the season and for the season as a whole and, whilst I don't expect miracles, it would be nice for a few things to happen such as winning a fair amount of home games, playing a passing game and the biggest ask of all having a vocal support!
Should the above happen we would stand an outside chance of staying in the prem and developing further.
But, there are already people calling for McCliesh to sacked before a ball has been kicked in anger so all I can realistically see, along with the bad preseason matches, is a season of continued struggle.
Unity seems to be a dirty word at St Andrews.
I recently got back from a camping trip that we had organised for our "young peoples'" environmental activity group.
Taking twelve 10 - 13 year olds away for an over night camping trip may seem like a crazy thing to do to most and I have a lot of sympathy for that view. Also, on the face of it, it is especially crazy when taking kids from the area I work in and when the trip is in the UK where weather can be a bit of a problem (so much for the long range weather forecast of a long hot summer!)
The major obsession of the kids seemed to do these 3 things, climb anything they can, fight, get as muddy as possible. If they could have done all three at the same time I am sure they would have reached nirvana.
We were staying with at scout campsite and they had prepared several activities for the kids to take part in. The activities were led by a rather strange man who had a very slow and deliberate way of speaking and an amazing ability to make something that is interesting incredibly boring.
The kids have this ability to do everything at 100mph which was impressive as is their staying power (they eventually calmed down around 12:30am)
The second day was a dreadful washout as the heavens opened and the place became a quagmire, perfect for the kids to indulge in mud wallowing.
Whilst the trip is not high on my list of things I would like to do again, I am not naturally child friendly, it was actually not that bad.
I have had a shocking realisation Birmingham is not the centre of the universe :( I know it has dragged itself up by its boot straps over the last few years, but I believed it had progressed further than elsewhere, I believed that the rest of the country had stood still. Well I have been a fool. A few years ago I went and visited Bournemouth and came away thinking what a dump, so it was with some reluctance that I accepted an invite to go back there yesterday for a conference. Bournemouth, it seems, has also reinvented it's self and has done so in a way that is much more appealing than Birmingham. It has stepped out from the cheesy seaside town where the elderly go for their last few years and has now become a vibrant city that celebrates its proximity to the sea, regenerating its seafront so it now attracts the "surf" set, no mean feat for a bay that picks up very little swell. The city centre is multi cultural, independent coffee shops, deli's and restaurants abound. Now here is my point, Bournemouth was busy, as you would expect a seaside town to be in peak season, but not as busy as Birmingham is on a normal working day. So why is it that Birmingham struggles to deliver a regeneration that encourages pride in its manufacturing heritage, its multiculturalism and why is it that we only seem to have chain restaurants in the city centre (Chez Jule and Michelle’s apart)? No deli's, no independent coffee shops? Just chain shops, chain restaurants and chain coffee shops?
The fact is, that whilst being a busy place and full of busy people, we are not an international city!
We are a city without identity.
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