llywela | the world, she turns

Three weeks from today will be my first day of unemployment. I'm actually feeling scarily calm about that now, ever since that tree almost fell on my head last Friday. There's nothing like a near-death experience to give you a little perspective!

Easter weekend was pretty uneventful, really, apart from that tree deciding to collapse immediately after I walked past it. Which, I feel, is a story that merits re-telling to as many people as will listen. I had all these plans for things I was going to get done over the long weekend, and ended up not doing any of them, as per usual. Went to my Nan's Saturday afternoon, and it ended up being an evening thing, as well. Actually, Saturday turned out to be a surprisingly family-oriented day all around, as I randomly bumped into the uncle and aunt I was bridesmaid for in the street in the morning, and then equally randomly bumped into my cousin's partner and their little girl in the supermarket in the evening! Sunday was spent with my parents, and then Small slept over and I spent bank holiday Monday hanging out with her. We had fun - went out for breakfast, did some shopping, played tennis in the back garden. She was really sweet; she's always easier to handle in the holidays. She finds school really stressful, having to concentrate so hard all the time to hear properly and understand what's going on, etc, and all that stress and frustration comes out at home. So, school holidays are always a big relief.

This last week or so has seen a few deaths, sadly. The first was a friend of the family last week. Now, I didn't know Barbara terribly well, but I did know her, and she was lovely. And she was a good friend to my sister, who is devastated. Horribly young, as well - barely 50. She'd been very ill for a long time with breast cancer, but it still came as a bit of a shock when it actually happened. Her youngest daughter is getting married later this year. That's going to be a really difficult day to get through now, what should be the happiest day of her life.

Then, over Easter weekend, my great-aunt Rose passed away. She was in her 80s and had Alzheimers, so for her it's more of a release than anything, but her stepdaughter Pat, my Dad's cousin, is in bits about it, naturally enough. And I'm very fond of Pat, so I'm upset for her more than for Rose. It's one of those weird family situations where Pat's mother died, and then her father married his dead wife's sister, so that the cousins became step-siblings - the same thing happened to my Mum after her mother died. Pat's cousin/stepsister Mary, who was Rose's daughter, hasn't really had much to do with her since she's been so old and frail - it's always been Pat caring for her. But now that she's dead, Mary is shoving her way to the forefront wanting to take over all the arrangements, and Pat is feeling terribly sidelined and hurt.

Families are complicated things, huh.

Rose's funeral is next Tuesday afternoon, after my interview in the morning. So, that'll be the full day off work then. I can't not go to the funeral; I want to be there for Pat and the family. They were very close to Barbara, as well, so it's a real double-whammy for them, with Barbara's funeral in Surrey this Friday and then Rose's back here in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Then I've got a second interview lined up for the Thursday. Fingers crossed one of them comes up trumps. I don't mind which, since none of this is a career choice. I just need to find a job, any job, and the sooner the better. If I can get something lined up to start right after this one finishes, without a break in employment, then my severance pay becomes a handy lump sum for saving, rather than having to live off it and watch every penny. So, we'll see what happens next week.

And in between the two interviews is my leaving lunch, apparently scheduled for next Wednesday. Possibly. Except that I'm not supposed to know about it. One of my colleagues popped into the office yesterday and mentioned it, assuming that I knew, but no. Why would Boss tell me the date she had planned? It's only my leaving lunch! Maybe she wants it to be a surprise...except that I kind of need to know the date and time, since I'm getting interviews lined up and could end up double-booked! Anyway, it isn't even certain that it's going to be that day - Pam wasn't sure, since she just had one email proposing the date and nothing to confirm. This email apparently went to the staff around Wales, for those that are near enough to come. But I've talked to the volunteers who work in the office, and they've heard nothing, and I'm cross about that, if it really is next week that it's going to happen. I want the people I work with every day to be there, not just the field workers I see once in a blue moon! And of course Boss isn't working at all this week to pump for information. Or, you know, to actually finalise the arrangements in time for everyone who needs to know to plan it into their week. Bah. She's so flaky - I'm really looking forward to maybe finding a job that's a) sane, and b) enjoys active management and structured leadership!

They say that deaths go in threes. So maybe the third of this current cycle was the death yesterday of my good friend Molly's elderly little cat Ginger. He was old and frail and more than a little senile, but she's still devastated to lose him. I went around tonight with a bunch of flowers to commiserate - which felt very Gilmore Girls!