Its Xmas

Merry Xmas to you all. Have a good holiday.

There I go again, talking to myself.

It seems strange being on holiday and just being made redundant and wondering how long my enforced unemployment will last. Not too long, I really believe, but I will soon be finding out. Finding a job is a full time job and come January 2nd it will be all go on the job-find campaign.

Today was another of those good and bad days. I visited my mother in a retirement home, she suffers dementia badly, and it was a miserable experience. I'm not even sure if she knew who I was and her words were mostly unidentifiable except for the occasional 'that's a nice coat', pointing at my jacket. I took her a box of chocolates and she set about eating them one at a time and playing with the foil wrappers. On her pillow was a pair of her knickers which she'd pick up, fold, unfold, hold up for viewing then put down for another chocolate. And the place reeked of urine. I can only hope I never end up like that.

Next stop was a lot more pleasant with a visit to my niece and her family to drop off presents for the children. Joseph is the newest at less than 3 months old and I had a great hour cradling him and making what I believe are the appropriate noises. When he wasn't dozing he at least seemed interested. That's my claim anyway. Merry xmas.

Penultimate Day

Tomorrow is my last day at work and today I had a presentation by the guys and was given a bottle of Glenfiddich malt whiskey (wonderful stuff). One of the contractors (the ex-marine) didn't seem to realise that a sort of thanks had to be given in return so I struggled to get it out while he prattled to one of the others. I brought in some boxes of mince pies and other tarts which were consumed throughout the day.

None of us did much today. Mostly preparing the factory for shutdown and no lines ran. What a drag. I did bring a load of my tools home to save time tomorrow.

The German engineers found a major problem with some of the computer hardware they are installing so the project will not get completed until next year after it is replaced.

A manager from one of the companies which does contract work for us came in and was shocked that I was being made redundant. He said he talks regularly to companies who complain about a shortage of engineers and took my details to pass on when he gets the chance. Maybe my xmas holiday will turn out to be shorter than I anticipate.

4 Day Week!

Here's another of those brilliant pictures. Click on it to expand, its fabulous.

The recession has finally hit my company. It had to happen sometime as we are heavily linked to the car industry. In January we go on a four day week, which isn't so bad except that we will only get paid for 4 as well. Plus an extra 3 days xmas holiday without pay. Plus a few redundancies! Happy Xmas everyone.