Bee Orchid's articles

My visually impaired friend has often bemoaned the fact that buses drive off without him, despite him waiting at a bus stop. Over the weekend, I experienced some of his frustration. The Park and Ride that I’ve used for 2 years or more has undergone a change; instead of paying at a barrier, and having almost coach like buses, I found no barriers, and no special buses. I approached a bus waiting on the 'wrong' side of the road and inquired of the park and ride. He said, this is it; a regular bus.…

I’ve been watching what I think is an ‘old’ series called In Plain Sight. Basically, it’s about people who have witnessed a crime or criminals who have turned on their counterparts, who are placed into witness protection. The series deals with how they cope, and of course there is character progression for the main players of the series. I’ve been really enjoying it. Whilst I would never want to witness anything bad that could jeopardise my life, or that of any of my family, I have to admit; the…

These past few days I’ve been getting my son some information for his planned trip. He was under the naive impression that 8 of them were just going to go abroad and have a good time. I’ve not tried to put him off, I genuinely haven’t, however I’ve impressed upon him the need for travel insurance, the fact that he has to get an insurance form so that he can receive medical treatment abroad if he needs it, the fact that Barcelona is pretty hot in July (hotter than we’re used to anyway), and that…

Following on my previous blog; thankfully the week improved with no more tears. I do find my job very frustrating sometimes, and no-one ever pops by or calls just for a chat; they always want something. Always! In my previous job I worked in a very large open plan office, and although it was sometimes a bit noisy, it was quite sociable and there were often social activities outside of office hours. I don’t socialise with anyone from this job. On the subject of noise, our old building has been, a…

On Monday I had the kind of morning that makes you slink off to the toilets to have a quiet cry. Man I was having a bad day. For the past 2 weeks I’ve been going to and fro with a software supplier trying to sort out a problem with access. I was being ‘harassed’ to get it sorted, and with the way things are here, I was seriously worried that if I couldn’t do the job, that I would be ‘let go.’ After I’d calmed down, I asked a colleague who’s good at software to come and help me. After an hour tog…

After being buffeted by storms and lashing rain, the ship is at last becalmed and should remain so for at least the next few days. I’ve finally got some bedding out hanging from the rigging which makes a nice change from being stuck on a clothes horse. I think laundry always smells so much nicer when dried outside, unless of course the gulls decide to use it for target practice! The Cabin Boy shocked me this morning by announcing that he’s been invited to go on holiday in the summer after the…

On Thursday I received some mail from work, and opened it very apprehensively. With all the reorganisation, and people losing their jobs, you do not want mail from work. My apprehension was heightened because last week I was unable to access my work email. I had to change my password, and was then locked out by ‘security.’ I phoned the help desk, explained my predicament and asked if I’d been fired and they forgot to tell me. I was half serious. Apparently a number of staff had experienced the…

I’m still listening to the Happy song by Pharrell Williams every day. I think it’s a great song and it definitely makes me feel happy. After a wait of almost 3 weeks, I finally got to see my GP about my forehead. It still throbs when I bend down and I wanted him to check out some other patches of skin. He says it can take 9 to 12 months for the symptoms to subside bearing in mind how much skin I lost, I just have to bear with it. The other two small patches of skin are similar but he’s not wo…

This morning I received an email from the ex asking if I’d go and check on his house here in the UK. Apparently some roof tiles have come off in the wind, and he wants me to check that the house is water tight and to see where the damage is so that he can get it repaired. Bloody cheek I thought, and of course I emailed that I would. I’m too nice! He’ll have to wait until Saturday or Sunday, because unlike him I have to work full time to support his son and myself. I have some time off next we…

This week saw a resolution to my shoe ‘problem.’ The company no longer stock the shoes that split, so they’ve sent me a full refund which was nice. The trainers I had are no longer available in the colour that I bought, however I chose a colour from their online catalogue and they’ve now arrived. Although I’ve been impressed by their customer service, I’m not sure that I’ll shop there again. It was extremely inconvenient having to buy more footwear to tide me over, and I now don’t have a decent…

On an average morning, I can be showered, dried and dressed within 20 minutes, and that includes using conditioner on my hair. I’ll then walk the dog whilst my son has a shower. I don’t hang about. We take turns to walk the dog, and when it’s my son’s turn, it takes him 15 minutes to get out of bed. He then has a 15 minute shower, much to my annoyance and the detriment of my wallet. He then takes 15 minutes to get dried. It takes him a further 15 minutes to get dressed and downstairs to walk the…

I recently heard a great song on the radio: Happy by Pharrell Williams, which is from the soundtrack Despicable Me. I don’t fancy the animated film, but I love this song. This is the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM I’ve been either singing this every morning to myself, or playing the music video, to get me in a positive frame of mind. I love the video and there are quite a few different versions of it posted on the net. It’s upbeat, I love the dance sequences, an…

Well, no not really. We had our pay rise today and I’m better off to the tune of £10 a month. Don’t get me wrong, it’s better than nothing, however it’s a bit of a slap in the face considering the average pay rise that our bosses are getting is more than many of us could hope to earn in a year. If they showed some solidarity and had the same percentage rise as us, they’d still be in line for a whopping big pay rise but to limit us, stating there’s no money, whilst receiving an average (and some…

Last night I was looking at my shoes, which are less than 10 months old, and noticed that the sole on both of them was split. My trainers, which are 7 months old, are coming apart on the top where the eyelet holes are. 10 months ago, to my delight, I found a shop that sells shoes made in England – as opposed to Thailand, China etc. I’m a big believer in supporting British made goods where I can, but is this the price for buying British, shoes that only last 10 months? They weren’t cheap, not in…

I like Sunday morning’s. At this time (07:45) the dog is in the garden amusing himself and my son is still asleep. I’m sat here with my first coffee contemplating the day, and it’s not raining for a change. When I was younger I hated Sunday. In fact I hated weekends. When my Father was actually home (military man) he would wake us 4 children up early and make us sit in the living room and be quiet. No talking. No TV. This was so that our Mother could sleep in. Years later we told her about th…

Recently we received a new ‘improved’ list from our council detailing some changes to our recycling. The major change is that we now have to sort cardboard from our other recycling. On any given rubbish day I can leave out my wheelie bin of garden waste/wheelie bin of household waste depending on the week, a food waste container, a container for paper/magazines, a container for glass/cans, a plastic bag for… plastic waste, clothes in a separate bag, and now a separate bag for cardboard. How the…

So why is it called a Dog’s Life? The idiom means that something is hard and unpleasant. Speaking for my dog, he gets 2 good meals a day, walks, we play ball with him, he has toys and chew bones, he gets groomed, he gets to stay home and sleep, or play with his toys whilst we go to work or school. He never has to worry about bills or go to work when he’s feeling under the weather. Not a bad life if you ask me and there are days, many days, when I would gladly trade with him. Work is almost ba…

Well our 2 weeks off is almost over and we’ve enjoyed most of it. I say ‘most’ because my son and I have been quite poorly since Monday. I’m not sure if we’ve had flu or ‘just’ a very bad cold; one night I went to bed at 8.30pm and stayed there for 10 hours. I’ve had 4 layers on in the house, been clutching a hot water bottle, and still felt cold. There’s only one thing worse than being ill, and that’s being ill whilst on holiday from work! We were both ill most of last Christmas too, and I’m se…