British politeness

A week I was dreading started with the warmth of home, the completion of a jigsaw and an afternoon out with BigA, D and D to watch the England v Ireland rugby- in a pub not live. I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers with the message 'you got this' delivered and I was once again reminded of the love I have around me. 

On our way home we decided to try out the new (refurbished) kebab place that's less than 5 mins from ours. Tiny to be a restaurant really but as A met us we had a lovely meal. 

The sun was in full glory on Sunday morning and it must be my middle age, but I was excited to be able to hang the washing out on the line. 

A off to work, BigA to frisbee and M still with her dad and me - off for a singing session, getting ready for the folk open mic thing E has arranged. All good distractions. It was good to sing aloud and forget my troubles. 

Monday was the hearing, unpleasant, hard and now at least over. The oddity of British politeness is clear to me, all of us bouncing from the seriousness of the information being given, received and questioned and then in the short adjournments and informal stops we talked about the weather, what the cups had written on them and random stories. After about 2 hours we were done and I was outside and on my way home. My union rep did a fantastic job and I felt he did as well as possible. It's hard to hear that someone thinks you're uncaring and bad at your job, which is what the investigating officer clearly felt. She came across as angry and frustrated, she was defensive in many ways, her investigation being very limited considering it was a 'career ending' one if it went against me. And I think not objective and fact finding either. On Thursday they reached out to see if I would accept a deal and I said yes as long as I could get a clear reference. And so more waiting to hear of they will and if I can finally put this all behind me. 

Most of my week was more domestic than anything else, getting bits done and prepping for the interview I went to yesterday. The job is regional principle for a private organisation. I enjoyed the day and felt good to be heard. 

A had good news about her art coursework, they have given her a low A* and it's 60% of her grade. They haven't had their results for the mocks back but as no one has raised any concerns I think that must mean they have done well. 

An intense week and what felt very long