How about some pub grub

Last week my whole entire department at work headed off to the pubs and bars in our local town to have a few goodbye drinks. I had not eaten since the night before and was very hungry. I needed some food in me to justify the midday drinking session I was about to be a part of which was to last hours.

Mackerel on Toast

I have only ever been into The Fat Cat (which is often called Fat Cats) at night for drinks. So I was quite happy to know they served food and it was not the usual pub grub. Slightly pricier and more upmarket. My friend assured me that the food would be quality. I was pleasantly surprised and grateful. My only confusion is that my initial waitress wandered off after my table said we needed a few minutes and than was replaced by a waiter. Not a problem really just thought that was a bit odd. 

Now I am very cautious about ordering foods in stranger unknown to me places or unusual choices, when I go out to eat. Once my waiter confirmed that the fish was boneless (within reason - yes they had a mini disclaimer) I decided to try the Mackerel on toast which came with a free cup of soup. I have no idea what soup it was as I went from thinking it was Lentils to Butternut squash. Who knows but the little soup was an ok free edition. The Mackerel tasted so lovely. It was moist and delicious and the toast which had some fancy salad was an added bonus. I did not care for the fancy salad. Pretty to look at but awful to eat. That being my only complaint, which is a minor. My meal was finished off with a side of chips and cheese. 

Bangers and Mash

Over at the Friary more food and drink consumed. My friend ordered Bangers and Mash. I had never seen bangers and mash served up that way. The potatoes on the bottom top with big juicy sausages and smothered in gravy. It looked so yummy. If I was a pork eater I would have wanted a taste. Myself ordered a light snack of cheesy nachos with all the trimmings. Disappointed I did not get a pic of my other friends Nachos as she ordered the ones with Chilli con carne type of topping. It so reminded me of my childhood overseas and Chilli Cheese Fritos.

Nachos

My drink at the Friary was something else. I stepped out the box and copied my friend. These days I tend to stick to wine or brandy. This pinky purple concoction I was rod was on draught and was a mixture of fruity ciders toffee apple, ginger and a few more I cant remember. It was not too sweet and lasted a long time. 

Redundancy Looms

The company I work found itself in a peculiar position. Affected by the recession that I am yet to see any recovery from and this unelected government that is doing more to lose jobs than create them. So the part of the business I work for which is an FSA regulated firm was sold to a rival. We went through the TUPE consultation and then two weeks later we were told we are to lose our jobs. However in the meantime we will be needed to help migrate the work to their existing infrastructure. Such a shame really as the company I work for was quite iconic and innovative and pretty much grasped online technology for its customers as a core service that others were only offering optionally.

Anyway about 1300-1500 people are losing their jobs with me. Yes that many plus I calculated that where I live in the East Midlands about four thousand people in total will probably join the Dole queue at the same time. Sine June I have been looking for a new job and it is so dire and de-motivating. One of the jobs my friend found and sent me would have involved my childcare costs increasing by a further £410 just for four days. Plus the jobs with less hours I cant even consider unless I do two of them, because this un-elected Coalition government has changed the rules. So currently you need to work 16 hours a week to qualify for any in-work benefits as of April 2012 you will need 25 hours. I have found a job that offers 22hours which I will apply for anyway and fingers crossed if get the job I can ask for 3 more hours.

Working is my priority as there are things I want to buy and hopefully return to studying. So many people are telling me that  should now think about what I really want to do. To be honest I want to be employed. Once I am in another job than I can think about choices. Being unemployed limits your choices.

My temporary employer as I see them to compensate for the job losses are providing job fairs and careers advisors to help us find jobs. I have a consultation this week. Right now I will keep looking and praying. Oh and one more thing. They are making us redundant at Christmas. So I am facing a thin Christmas, My son's 4th Birthday will be a stretch and then my Birthday in January will probably not be celebrated. I might get a temp job but fingers crossed I get a permanent one instead as that is what I need. Please feel free to give me job hunting tips and  surviving redundancy. 

Trenance Chocolate Treats

I do find it amazing how at the start of any relationship things start off a bit rocky. A colleague at work and I used to knock heads a lot at the beginning. It turns out that we do have much in common and the differences are well just differences. Anyway, I have never been to Cornwall. I am told it's beautiful there and you can get authentic things such as cornish pasties and various other things. 

I had the pleasure to be given from my workmate a selection of Trenance Chocolate all the way from Cornwall. She was so thoughtful to get the boys chocolate lollipops with the cartoon faces.The remainder two bars was for me to share with hubby. He does not eat treats that often so  I decided I would enjoy them myself. Yummy they are gorgeous. Not too heavy and just smooth. The white chocolate was amazing. I might visit Cornwall one day just to get more.

Gifts from work for 5yr service

I have been at my current job for 5 whole years. It has been a love hate relationship. Only because I took the job when made redundant on maternity leave over 5 years ago. It is a job at the end of the day and my bills get paid bit by bit. So for 5 years service you are given 500 points to spend in a catalogue which equates to about £50. You can buy more points if you choose but I decided it was not worth me doing so.

I chose these cute little Le Creuset soup bowls that come with lids. I have 2 pairs but no idea what or how to use them. When we have soup in my family we a need a big bowl as Jamaican soup is a hearty meal that is filling to the core filled with dumplings yams green banana etc etc. Well I might discover something for them in the future. Any ideas please let me know.

Oh I also chose this Elemis facial gift set that comes with skin peel and cream mask. I was disappointed at the size as they are small travel sizes. Though as I did not pay for them I suppose I cannot complain. I have yet to try these products on my face.

Wonders never cease...

At work today a colleague says to me, as I am getting ready to leave that I look like the Black girl from Glee actress Amber Riley who plays Mercedes Jones. In my head I am thinking are you serious! Yet without thinking out of my mouth flows "What, because we both fat and black????" If you could have seen their faces. Another colleague with mouth to the floor says "did you say what I think you said?". Yes I did. Sometimes you have to shock their ignorance with the truth. The stuff I am told daily in their presence just makes me want to kiss my teeth all day long.

If you have ever met me and know me you know they were talking bull. At work someone even said I resembled Floella Benjamnin. So I do wonder when I finally win the battle with weight who I will be compared too. Mmmm maybe Beyonce or Selita Ebanks or VV Brown as she is in the M&S adverts. No regards for height build and actual likeness.

The only person who said the decent thing was - we look alike on a dark night with your eyes closed. I just really give up sometime. 

Job woes

As the title says I am having a major job problem. I am employed right now, it pays the bills. Nothing to love about my job just that I have one and it pays the bills just about. I wont say who I work for as there might be some clause that forbids me to do so. (If you do know who I work for I kindly ask that you do not mention it).

Earlier this year the company I work for was in the news. Only a few media outlets ran with the story of it being sold. Now just over half a year later those same rumours are flourishing and this time most major media outlets are talking about it. One thing for sure the parent company does want to sell but are not doing so yet. That is all they are saying to us and the media. So my current job has an uncertain undertone.

What would you do if you were in my position. I definitely want to start looking and maybe I could end up with a job I enjoy doing as opposed to one that just  pays the bills. Any future job I get it will be hard going as I have to plan around my kids. Which I just managed to do.

I do not even know where to start looking for jobs or what jobs I should consider. The UK job market is lacking in available jobs. This farce coalition government that no one voted for is not helping at all. In my area one new shop opened that had 120 vacancies and 2000 people applied. I have a colleague who has taken redundancy applied for a more skilled job and there were 126 applicants for the one job.

So I need to be proactive from now. So please if you can point me in the right direction or give any job hunting advice leave a comment. Also I am open to trying a new fields of work so suggest job titles too. It is about time I spread my wings.

January snow 2010

Why is it snowing. Yes I know it is winter. Though that snow is getting beyond deep and settling which means the whole place will be slippery very soon. Driving on crushed snow come ice is not easy. It is a slippery journey in which your wheels do not grip the roads. Where are these salt and sand gritters. I hope they are working tonight.

It is so funny how the UK practically comes to a stand still when it snows. The UK needs to start investing in snow ploughs and whatever else will clear the roads to keep the cities going. Let us hope and pray this is the worst of it as I have to work next week otherwise I do not get paid. I NEED the nursery to be open.  Food supplies are okay for now.  Oh snow please go away. I just know when you melt there will be stories of flooding somewhere. So sad but so true.

The picture is of my car covered in fresh fallen snow that is still dropping from the sky.

Secret Santa @ work

At work we did a secret Santa. This is often fun as you just never know what you are going to get. Last year I got a luxury Radox bubble bath set. I still have it only because showers are the way to go.

This year at work those who wished to take part did and we got some laughs. My boss bought washing up liquid and gloves for one girl in the team luckily he included a bottle of Rose’. There were many bottles of wine and truffles about not forgetting doggy biscuits, shower gels and pampering products. To me the funniest gift was a box of chocolates for a lady who is on a diet and doing well on it. Not a lot of thought but I suppose people get what they get huh.

My gift was a bag full of chocolate covered vanilla fudge from Thornton's. I cannot complain after all Thornton's are kind of posh chocs. I also got a fancy Red Herring key ring. It could be sign that I need to keep my car keys separate from my house keys. Well that is what my cousins told me and I bet they would be impressed if the next time I am in London they see I have taken heed of their advice. Mmm will see.

Oh yeah I bought my co-worker the Sleek sunset palette. Our budegt was £5 and I figured it was perfect. Just as well it was well received. I just do not know how she worked out the fact I was her secret santa. Oh well.

Have you taken part in any Secret Santa events at work or amongst friends? What did you get?

As for Santa not sure if I can be bothered to stand up in line for hours on end for a stranger in a red suit saying ho ho ho ask my babies what they want for Christmas. My workmates think I should. The alternative my skinny husband (he has slight stomach now haha) will have to play dress up.

Cakes from work

The other day a co-worker brought in home baked cupcakes. I am not in her team, but she had a few left over and gave me some. Aww how sweet is she. She told me as it was the last week of fasting she was treating everyone. It is a traditional thing. I had many people asking where did I get them from and what about my diet (lol). I am just trying to eat healthier….people need to stop watching me. lol.

My boys enjoyed the cakes and so did I. The big white box that the cakes are sat on contained my 4yr olds birthday cake. It seemed to have lasted so long.

Tidjane Thiam is the 1st Black FTSE 100 Boss

Whilst I was at work I had a quick browse on the BBC website. Their news is slacking a bit as I was looking for a headline event I saw on Sky News. Anyway I came across this article, which states that Tidjane Thiam is now the 1st Black person to be a boss on the FTSE 100 indexed companies.

His new position will commence in October as Prudential’s Chief Executive. He previously was employed by Aviva and was also Minister of Planning and Development.

The BBC has put together a small bio of him which can be read here. However if you want a more in depth read check out this article by The Independent Newspaper.

Back online yay

I have been gone for over a week I estimate. Well one day my brother came by and I was downloading paid for stuff and demo's only for my laptop to crash and never reboot. It just kept rebooting and would not get back to desktop.

My friends dad is such a kind man had a look at it and when he couldn't do no more asked his brother. He is one of those people that knows how to fix computers and basically he ended up stripping the whole thing down. The problem turned out to be that one of the memory sticks had died. At one point I was thinking I need to get me a desktop PC.

Saw a beautiful HP desktop in Comet for £450. I only had £200 and was this close to financing the rest in this ridiculous financial environment we are in. But hey God is good and I didn't do that I just said will think on it. But soooo happy my Laptop is fixed. It is running on half the memory it had but as it is XP and not Vista I can get away with it.

In brief I have been back at work. So weird seeing all the new faces and figuring out where all my work buddies are. So much to catch up on. Some I speak to outside of work anyway. Been in training on new products and a new department with hours to suit me and my childcare arrangements. I also have loads of holiday entitlement which I am going to book ASAP.

So far I have managed to get my make-up on each morning before work. I save time by not using foundation or powder. At present I can get away with that. Though if I could find a foundation or powder that offers sheer or light cover I would be so happy.

So exhausted and will be spending the next week gathering all my bookmarks again.