Wages of sin

Life can get you down and most days you can forget how lucky you are just to be still here and living it.

I was just reading my local paper and have seen that a good friend to my family has passed away.  Phil, a good neighbour and friend to my mum and stepdad.  He was a very nice man, would do anything for anyone.  He was a Bevan boy during the war. 

A Bevan Boy was a man of military age forced to work the Coal Mines of Britain in WW2 , under a scheme devised by Ernest Bevin , Minister of Labour.

If you refused- 6 months imprisonment . Men who wanted to fight for their country were given no alternative.

They were employed from 1943-1948, received absolutely no compensation -after the war the UK Government burnt all the records to prevent the men from claiming.

There is now a motion going through Parliament to get these men recognised and given compensation.

One good thing about his Bevan boy service was that Phil met the love of his life Marion when he lodged with her family during this time of his life.  He married her and they came back to his home town to live the rest of their lives.  Phil went on to be a fireman and then when he retired he took a job at the local funeral parlour and I was proud that he looked after my mum, step dad and Barb on their final journeys.  Being a Bevan boy though took a toll on Phil's health and he always suffered a bad chest.  His dear wife passed away a few years ago and I am sure they are together again now.  Goodbye dear old faithful friend and neighbour.

Here we are on a Saturday morning at 11 am and I am still sitting in my pjs!  Its a bit chilly and I will get dressed soon.  Rosie as usual is sitting watching Friends on the telly, I swear that girl is obsessed and has fallen in love with that Joey one. Her first crush was Dennis the Menace from the Beano comic, ahhh.

Paul has gone off to work and Matthew is at scout's camp, so we have total control of the telly, which makes a change in this house.  Its a shame we have to go out and get some shopping but then we will cosy up and watch a film later together.  Tomorrow I am working and maybe on Monday as well, so quite a lot of other things to do today for next week.

The tiler has gone silent!  No news is good news I suppose but Paul has promised to phone him and see "wots going on".  I shall be patient but not for too long now.

No Martin this weekend.  All has gone quiet which I hope means he is happy and more settled in his new job. 

I booked a surprise holiday for the kids this week.  I've booked a long weekend at a caravan park at Walton on the Naze, which is a seaside place in Essex.  Rosie has always wanted to go on a caravan holiday and when we spoke about it last she said it would be lovely towing the caravan and stopping where we like.  I had to put her right.  I am a woman who finds it difficult enough to park between two cars at Sainsburys, let alone tow a caravan and manoeuvre it!  I am not the gypsy type who could sit in the middle of a field either with my little log fire burning.  This caravan site is quite a busy one, with lots for the kids to do and entertainment in the evening.  Its also near the main beach and one of the longest piers.  The kids will go crazy when they see the funfair.  I intend to tell them the night before we go, so this is a secret I will have to keep until mid August.  They know we are going away at the end of the month but this will be a nice surprise for them.

Work ..... hmmmm, well I am going in to pay for this "surprise" so it will be worth it.  Apart from that I am a bit fed up as I have found that a new girl starting on Tuesday will be getting the same money as me!  I wish I hadn't been told as that makes me feel a bit peeved.  Big boss asked what he could do and I said give me a good reference!  Not that I would leave.  It suits me having the unpaid 3 weeks leave a year and also with my health background I would not be a good bet as a new employee, so I have my hands tied.  I shall do my best to be a big girl and be nice to the new bitch who is earning the same as me after I have been there 30 years!  Ooooh, can I do it????  Its not her fault, I know, just blimming annoying.

I have posted a picture of my family taken a year or so ago when my cousin from Poland came over.  We are not all there and there are a few imposters in there, the one in the polish tee shirt is a friend of my nephew but he does have a Polish mother.  You'll see me in the black tee shirt and jeans.  On my left is Matthew and my cousin, Klaudyna in the beige jacket.  Rosie is being cuddled by my sister, Chris, ahhh.

Chris is off to Ireland on her hols on Tuesday.  She is going for 2 weeks and renting out two separate cottages.  She loves Irish books and is looking forward to going and see some of the places mentioned.

Well, I have gone on and on again.  Hope everyone has a nice, restful weekend.

Hugs, Terry