Time for tea.........

Thankfully no headache after pills at 4:30am and was feeling well enough for meeting family in London for something we had arranged weeks ago.

Afternoon tea was booked in a place near Charing Cross station for 1:30pm, however, afternoon tea takes a lot longer than you may think hahaha. I drove round to collect Daughter at 10:30am and she drove (to save my head) in my car  (to save miles on her car which does oh so many) to London (to save very expensive train fare). As usual we decided to park at Newbury Park (endish of the main A12 before hitting city traffic) and use the underground for the rest. As it was raining and because of the time we tried the station car park first (also expensive but convenient) but there were no spaces so we found a space in a nearby side road. Parking around there is a little complicated if you're not familiar with it as you can park on single yellow lines during the day but not between 11am and noon unless inside a marked white box. We parked but not in a white box,  just as another car parked in front of us, but it was 11:50am so we decided to sit in the car for 10mins in case a traffic warden was nearby and laughed as the people in the other car didn't get out either so we knew they were having the same conversation as us. When we all eventually got out we had a little chat as we'd obviously developed a parking bond lol.

Newbury Park station on the central line to Tottenham Court Road, changed to northern line for two stops to Charing Cross. We were actually about 30 mins early so even though it was raining a little we went for a walk and found some gardens and looked at the statues. No sign of any geocache nearby (Daughter always checks) but we found a tap dedicated to Henry Fawcett by all his grateful women (snigger/smirk/giggle)!

Daughter and I were the first to arrive at the pretty little tea shop (straight to the loo of course) very quickly joined by SisterS and sisterP and not long after that by nieceV who is beautifully pregnant at 32 weeks. 

Lots of non-stop lovely chat between us all and lots of yummy food as you can see

SisterP had to leave just before 4pm as she needed to get a bus then get her commuter coach back to Kent but we stayed chatting nearly another hour then all walked together a little way for different journeys home to Middlesex, Surrey and Suffolk (that's why meetups are rare and special).

So for us back on the northern line at Charing Cross changing to the central line at Tottenham Court Road (disappointing lack of buskers in any of these stations). By now the trains were sardine packed and after a few stops I was getting far too hot so off at Bank Station hoping to walk a bit to cool off but it was raining quite hard so we jumped on a bus (number 25 that I used school days and when I worked in the city in my former life) and got off at Mile End (where I lived from age 6 to 20) and there is now a large park built right across the main road which we decided to investigate as Daughter was convinced there'd be another geocache there but unfortunately not. 

Back underground for the tube Mile End to Gants Hill for a very quick visit to our favourite Biegel Bakery and loaded up with enough to eat fresh and more for the freezer, back down for one more stop to Newbury Park and to the car. 

I was finally home about 9:30pm needing another cup of tea and my bed :-)

.

There's a recession on you know........

……..and I've been hit !!!!!

Heard at 4:30pm yesterday that our department is to close at the end of this month and BBB and I will no longer be needed. BBB = Best Boss and Buddy. Not sure as yet if we will be 'redeployees' or if there is any sort of redundancy package being offered, but guess if there is we will probably both decide to leave and not sure if that is end of April too.

I'm sorry, I had expected this blog to be light hearted and highlight all that is good in my life, but this job has been one of the best bits and now it is to end it deserves a fitting tribute.

When I told my BFriendM she said "I've never known anyone who has loved their job as much as you" and I always have! I started back in 1993 and instantly got on with BBB and the small team, especially as we were all similar ages so had stuff in common and understood each others daft references and humour (BBB remember the purple loons?). The job started as quite a basic admin role but soon moved on to my taking more and more responsibility until I project managed the department. I felt valued and respected and after spending many years as his wife and their mother it defined who I was as me! Over the years we lost the in-house team who then worked with us as a remote virtual team so it was just BBB and me running a department for a global company that was the biggest UK employer not so long ago. And I have to say we did a bloody good job!!!

So, after doing this job with the same boss for the past 16 years and half expecting outsourcing to happen every time they wanted to cut costs, it still came as a bit of a shock……………we have all been so worried for SisterP's job and then this snuck up and bit me on the bum!!! Not sure if there will be ANY redundancy package and mine wouldn't be much anyway as the first 12 years in this job I was a contractor so less than 5 years actually on the books. Now all the paperwork and negotiations have to begin :o(

I spent a lot of today having to tell all our suppliers that we are shutting up shop and their replies were very uplifting as they showed genuine sympathy and all said really nice things about how they have enjoyed working with us over the years. So many of them are now considered friends and I'll definitely try to keep in touch with them.

Have to say I'm looking on the bright side, no point losing sleep over it when I've more important things to think about - still no baby arrival, but will keep you posted on both.