peterspeeder-snow

Hi All, Been very, very busy this year so not posted much at all. Read up on the SATSIGs threads for this winter, very funny SF. it seems as living up here over the week or so ( and being at work over night ) the horrendous weather has simply passed us by in the TOON. Never mind nice to see a good ramp developing for the north east for Sun through till Wed next week, I think it looks like a 3 1/2 RAMP for sledges and snowballs next week. :lol:

A milestone in my life has been achieved. I was awarded my exemplary work & long service medal for over 22 years service. It got me thinking, what am I going to do when retirement arrives. If the last 2 decades are anything to go by it will arrive all to quickly. So I have decided to explore the possibilty of entering the education system again with the the rather ambitious target of becoming a Solicitor on the day I retire. For a while I had nutured this idea and kept it only as a personal dream. I have though confided in my darling wife and this was her reply, What are you thinking about?, what about the exspense?, you've never shown any interest in promotion so what makes you think YOU can get a law degree?!!. I can understand this sort of reply and it was exspected given my past history of starting new things for a while and then abandoning due to lack of interest. On the other hand this idea has been in the back of my mind since school and it's something I really want to do. With that in mind I've made an appointment with the course guidance service to find out whats involved, what courses are available to an old fart like me and the costs etc. hopefully come September my darling wife will have realised that I am serious and I will be starting on a new chapter in my life, embarking on the road to a degree course in law <_< we live in hope

It's been an awful week for us, my 5 year old niece was struck down by menigitis, the viral form. She was happy alert last Friday, then on the the Saturday she began to feel unwell, she was sat in the front room on the floor, chewing. She had nothing in her mouth at the time, then she wouldn't respond to her parents or even recognise them. They'd been giving her Calpol up until then, but then the rash appeared. She was rushed to Hospital. In the A & E she began to fit and the rash flared up, within 6 hours she had been transfered to ITU and was on life support. My Sister-in-law and her partner were beside themselves, the whole family was knocked sideways. The poor mite has been through a tremendous amount, she's had a massive amount of anti-biotics, gone through a spinal tap and been ventilated for 3 days. The good news is that she is now out of hospital with apparently no ill effects. I have to say the speed at which the disease spread and just how hard it hit her, we're only glad that it wasn't the bacterial version.

As a little booster to my wife and I, we ( for this read she ) decided that we should join a gym. Now this decision was made after much discussion and in the end my wife said we were going to join, so we did. Now enrolment was particpated in prior to Christmas. This was on the grounds of; That EVERYONE joins AFTER Christmas If we start before, then it doesn't matter how much you indulge over Christmas Now the latter did appeal to me, bearing in mind that as mentioned in an earlier entry that I would be holidaying at home for 4 weeks. In any event we have been attending the Gym for 2 months now. The vexed question of is it working is now raising itself within the marital home. You see, if one measures the success of this fitness regime by only one perameter, in this case the bathroom scales, a very many will be disappointed. I am losing weight albeit very, very slowly- but I am losing inches- and lots of them. My wife on the other hand is losing inches as well-but the defining factor to her feeling of success in this endeavour, is losing pounds. This one aspect is going frustratingly slowly for her. No amount of "You do look thinner" or "Just look at the tape measure" or "Your BMI is loads of % less now dear", seem to bolster her confidence. Now there lies the problem. As I visibly shrink before her eyes and she shrinks before my eyes only; it is a trueism in life that if your Wife can't see it then it ain't happening/didn't happen. Give her, her due though, she works incredibly hard and is still attending the gym religiously, although she swears that the Legs Bums and tums on Sunday mornings is more like attending a class in male hating boxercise and self inflicted exhaustion, induced from an instructor honed and toned at the feet of Vlad Tep the Impalers personal torture advisor, if there was such a thing. Finally, WHY, whenever I log onto MY computer does my daughters MSN immediately start pinging away, which then leaves me to try and find the correct version to log out and then explain to the little darlings as to why THEY ( read me) were SO rude in simply logging on and off the other day without replying. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY dislike MSN <_<

Passed my training course at the second time of asking...........much to my relief I can tell you. I was just checking my e-mails when I got one from an old friend who I hadn't seen in years. Turns out he's been rushed into hospital to have a malignant Lyphoma removed from his nether regions. It just goes to prove that there a lot more important things in life then worrying about passing or failing a poxy course. For the first time in a while all of us are in rude health, no sniffles, coughs or headaches to moan about. So things to do today......... Housework, bit of shopping, check out Net weather, wash the car and make tea (but not necessarily in that order). <_<

Got it in one.............. But as with every public service, there has to be accountability and retraining ( at least we are getting some training it's usually the first thing to be shelved) is part in parcel of these organisations absolving themselves of responsibility and passing it onto the likes of me. Won't be long before I'll have to take out personal liability insurance, like some cops have already and is the norm in the states. A waste of time? funnily enough this course is quite useful It's just the fact that some fool has decreed you only get two go's and after that your binned. I would then have to wait 12 months to re-apply for my old post ( the fact that I'm the most experienced, one of the most qualified in the whole force, makes not a jot of difference.) Oh well it's there ball and there game so if that is the outcome it'll be role on retirement.

Well eldest is still not back to school, been to the Doctors who told us; "yes she probably did have a virus", "no she didn't know what sort" and "no she wasn't going to prescribe her anything". Which leaves us with the situation of a 14 year old telling us (after guidance from our GP) if she feels well enough to go to school. Needless to say she WILL be well enough to go!!!. Been busy on a driving course today, second go at it I might add. I am learning how to safely terminate a pursuit. some would say after 22 years, it's about time, others would say, why? I mean if I don't know how to conduct one now then I think I should really consider a career change. That said like most things in life, this is a largely back covering exercise as well being great fun and I am learning new things. The only trouble is if I fail this course, then I'm removed form my current duties ( a job I've done very well for 16 years ) for the forseeable future. So no pressure then. Any whoooo there's more important tihngs in life then worrying about a driving course. Work to Live, not Live to Work. <_< roll on retirement

It never ceases to amaze me just how poorly my daughters can get ill and just how quickly they become well again. The eldest is now unwell. She appears to have been struck down by a very severe case of schoolitis. Although genuine illness can't be ruled out, hence a day off school for her and a trip to the Doctors. I always work on the assumption that; They maybe able to pull the wool over my eyes but not the Doctors. So its' off to the surgery (again) and hopefully some rather unpleasant tasting anti biotics just to top off her day. This has the double edged affect of 1, appealing to my parental right to annoy the hell out of my kids and, 2, if she is ill-to put her on a speedy road to recovery. My Darling wife has achieved what is a first for our family and certainly unheard of by me, she has snapped the wiper stork in her (my) car. This is very, very annoying because now she has invoked that seemingly unfathomable spousely right to say, "ooh it's broke"and "can you get it fixed for me, can I use your car (which was hers but she took my new one off me for herself ..........see what I mean) and whilst you are getting that fixed can you get a new tyre put on it?" etc. etc. etc. Oh and another thing why is it when she is off I wouldn't dare to ask why the housework/ironing/bed changing etc hasn't been done, but when I'm off she can? It's probably because I'm an under the thumb, hen-pecked down trodden husband or maybe it's because I'm a bone idle couldn't be bothered bloke? <_<

what is it with kids? the first sign of a little cough and sore throat you'd think they were on deaths door. There I was at work when I retrieved my phone from my bag only to find three messages to call my wfe URGENTLY. So I did, turns out my youngest ( who's 12 5'6" and is fit as a lop) was a little under the weather at school. Could I drop everything and go get her. Of course as with everything, I called my wife back, only to be told she'd left work about 15mins earlier...why don't I try her mobile? Now my wife, bless her, hates anything techie, she doesn't know how to pick up her voice mail without help, she doesn't possess a handfree set and when her phone does ring,she 1. doesn't hear it and 2, NEVER recognises the ringtone. So although it's a pointless thing, I ring her.....no reply,answerphone......aaahhhh I hate phones. Needless to say we both got to her school at the same time, my wife said she'd go back to work unfortunately she was low on fuel. Galantly I said she could take mine. That's another thing why is that my wife and women of my immediate family all let there partners etc have their cars when there's no bloody fuel in them? Yet they moan like a drain if we do the same. Anyway taking her to the docs today as she still not right, must be be bad as my wife says it seems as though shes got man flu or something and 'she's definately your daughter' was another snide remark

Hi all, well I've just discovered the blogs so i'd thought I'd start one myself. For those nosey enough to read this I've been very fortunate in that I've managed to take 4 yes 4 weeks off from work. This is through no fault of my own. I had religiously kept close check on how much leave I'd taken last year ( I took all of August off as well...he.he I don't like working in August. August is for sun, sea, to much ice cream and lazy days at the pub ) and resigned myself to working through most of Xmas and back to work straight into the new year. Well there's the thing as I was submitting my last leave request the Admin lady said I had loads of time still to take and that I had to take it before the end of the year. After a lot 'no I haven't' and 'Yes you have' , I forced her to sit down and go through all my leave by hand.......which turned up an extra 8 days. Lovely time off though I'm really not looking forward to going back. My Darling wife has been getting up for work as usual and banging and clattering around at 6am ( i think its because its dark although unabridged jealousy shouldn't be ruled out). Even the kids are back to school and little old me has been able to sit in doors and comtemplate shaving at some stage during my day. We( that's the royal WE) have made one sacrifice...with a lot of prompting form the missus...we've joined a gym and I've been everyday. I've even done some exercise there as well. <_< Just to clear up one point..yes I am a cop..a Traffic cop at that, but after 22 years I've heard just about every form of abuse and couldn't give a monkeys what people think... role on retirement :unsure:

First day back at work yesterday........not fair why do WE have to work. Anyway should have started at 2 instead got called in at 9 to ride a motorbike, froze in the wind watching for dodgy trucks and the like on the A1. Result one bloke driving his Transit pickup with a spiders web cracked windscreen, bald tyres etc.... another locked up for making up his own tax disc on an HGV ( that's about £1600 in tax not paid for) and about 40 others stopped and checked. Then got told to be back for 2 but driving..........so had to take bike back, wash and fuel it. Go and get shirt, trousers etc. from home and then be back at work for 2. aaaaaaah. Can't keep everything at work as the lockers we get aren't big enough. Ploughed through 213 e-mails of management speak, most of which I have no need to know or digest. This took nearly 2 hours. Finally found my vehicle.( well it's not acutally mine but it's the one I always use, so washed that, fuelled it checked all the equipment was there- which wasn't, no change there- checked all the levels,tyres etc) and went out on patrol. The very first lad I spoke to, drivivng a shed of an Astra with 3 good wheels and 1 bent 1. Said the reason he was drivnig at 30 down the A1 with his hazards on and weaving all over was because he'd been hit by some bloke in a Beemer, bent his front wheel and if he went any faster he couldn't control it. He said he just HAD to drive it the 30 miles to his home as it was the only way he could get it home. Turns out after a little checking and few salient questions he had no insurance as well.... Not the brightest individual I've ever met. So impounded his car from being driven anymore and just to make sure he was okay took him the 15 miles to his exit off the A1 so he could walk the last mile to his house...... He'll be at court later this year. didn't finish till 10, my darlimg wife had to do the 'Swim' run with the gilrs to the pool, she really, really hates this- after along day at work she should be able to curl up on the sofa and "why shouldn't I do it instead."..........oh if only I didn't have to work.