Just when you thought it was safe….!

 Well, hasn’t it been a long time?  

This year is turning rapidly into an “Anus Horribilis” to pinch a quote from our good Queen Liz.

Work is not all it’s cracked up to be after all.  It’s Ok but a lot quieter than I expected and I am searching for things to do a lot of the time.  I hate not being busy almost as much as I hate being TOO busy!  Also the company has been VERY slack in paying our expenses , which has left me in debit with the bank a couple of times incurring charges and costing me money.  All the company meetings we have had have been money orientated, with no mention of nursing support/training needs etc.  For some time now I have thought the company was in financial trouble, as a lot are in these times of world recession.  It came to a head last week when we had the latest meeting to be told we are £1/2 million off target and there are going to be redundancies as well as other cost cutting measures, i.e our benefits!  As one of the last to join the company I am fully expecting the axe to fall my way as one of the 3 nurses they need to lose.

But that is just one aspect of the s**t that has descended on us.  Back in early September we knew something was amiss with Lee.  He has/had a girlfriend in Essex , about   2 ½ hours from here that he was spending a lot of time with, but at the same time he was telling us he was spending some nights sleeping in the car.  Unfortunately, Lee is not one to talk to people and really keeps things bottled up until the last minute.  Anyway, to cut a VERY  long story short, he got himself into a load of financial problems with the wrong sort of people and couldn’t see any way out of it.  He kept telling us that he had savings scheme with the bank that he could get cash out of but the bank was being obstructive. When I offered to help him with them, he turned me down saying he needed to run his own life, be a man, etc. Etc.  Trouble is he was making such a balls-up of it, and we could see that.  Anyway, it culminated with him coming to see me at work one day, told me all the trouble he was in and also the people it was with.  NOT very savoury characters at all, notorious enough to have a Wikipedia section on their mis-doings!  He said to me, not to worry as it would all be over in a couple of days.  Obviously alarm bells rang immediately , and I was right as he said he was going to “end it”. His exact words.  After more time and more talk, I thought I had managed to talk him out of it and to let me help him.  But I was wrong.  He disappeared that day, wouldn’t answer his phone or our texts. So next day I went to the Police and filed a “Missing Person” report.  They were brilliant.  Within 24 hours they had found where he was and we actually spoke to him after they had and had talked him into talking to a local policeman where he was which was on the Essex coast.  Apparently he likes it there, but he wasn’t with his girlfriend, who knew nothing of the trouble he was in. He had kept it all from her.  During his absence he had taken 300 paracetamols in an attempt to kill himself, but he has been that would up recently he is constantly vomiting 2-3 times per day.  Luckily, almost as soon as he had taken them he threw them all up again, not giving them time to take effect.  Even so , when he got back to us I took him the  emergency room to get his blood levels checked , which came back normal.

We also had a visit from the “heavy” that he had got into schtuck with! I wasn’t pleased about this as now they knew where we lived.  It was his “mate” that had told them.  But to be honest this guy turned out to be a real decent bloke who basically just wanted his money back that HE had borrowed on Lee’s promises of input.  Lee had had a large interim payout in June and had told this guy that he wanted to go into business to earn quick bucks, but never came up with his agreed share of the capital.  Lee had “lent” money to friends of his g/friend , who had then disappeared and not paid Lee back.  In effect , he had blown £50,000 since June!!!!  We contacted Lee’ s Solicitor, (who is fast becoming a family friend)  told him the details and basically said HELP! Which, bless him, he did.  He managed to procure another large interim, with assurances that there would be no more requested until the final settlement.  Lee is aware of this and knows how lucky he has been.  Anyway, this guy has now been paid off the majority of the money, able to pay back the money HE borrowed and all is well until the final settlement appears. 

We think Lee’s g/friend has split with him as he doesn’t go to Essex much these days.  It’s  no real loss to be honest as we think she has been half the problem.  He has spent a load of the money on her, we know for sure, and we think he was trying to earn quick bucks to keep her sweet.   Lee is 24, she is 22 and  has 2 kids who are little horrors!  They make our grandkids look like angels , which  assure you they’re not! LOL  So that is something good that has come out of all this.

The upshot of all this is, I am back on blood pressure medication, having managed to stabilise it and come off the tablets.  Dawn is again having counselling as she was as close to a breakdown as I ever want to see her during all this.  Lee is back at home with us and curbing his spending as he is having to live off his benefits.  Oh, forgot to say, during this time he has managed to have 2 minor accidents in his car as well, that has resulted in some damage to it.  Luckily it is insured through Motability, the people he leases it from, but he has to pay excess every time it needs repairing.

Vicki, our middle one, has been talking of leaving her partner of 5 years for the last 2 months, but hasn’t done anything about it.  Again this would be a good move because the guy is a total knobhead! Doesn’t treat her right, has his own hobbies, never wants to take her anywhere, and she’s only 25 and still wants some fun.  He’s a lot older than her , which worried us at the time, and now it is showing.  We know it will happen sometime soon, if she can just pluck up the courage to tell him to f**k off!

<p class="MsoNormal”>Paula and the grandsprogs are doing just fine.  Kelsie, the latest addition , is a happy cheerful little barrel, that won’t sleep at the right times! LOL The boys are doing well. Logan the eldest recently got voted man of the match for the football team he plays in goal for, and Jayden now goes to kindergarten every morning and it will full time next year. He is a real character and makes us laugh so much.

And that’s about it! I make no apologies for this being such a long entry, as you can tell a lot has happened! I guess I will try to get back into the routine of writing here regularly again, but I am not promising!

Take care all

Hugz

RNBiker