Talisman

Lovely to see you back here again Virginia - I was wondering where you had got to. Well done for passing the exam as well, it sounds like hard work but I am sure will be very rewarding. Yes it is costly, but I am sure it will be more than worth it, as you can potentially very quickly earn that money back. It's great that you have managed to lose so much weight as well - I wish I could! Coran and I have an interesting weekend ahead of us. Tomorrow we are going on a protest march in London - you may hear about it on the news. It is called Unite for Europe and it is of course protesting about the direction the Government is taking us down with a hard Brexit, and for me personally the way she is refusing to guarantee the rights of EU citizens already working here. I know that not everyone on here will share my views, and that's okay, but it is something that Coran and I both feel strongly about, and so for us it is important to go. We will be marching with other members of the Liberal Democrats, which we are both members of. We have to be at Marble Arch tube station by 10am tomorrow to meet up with the other members from where we will then walk to the official starting line at the Hilton Park Lane. As this is something our leader Tim Farron is fighting hard for and has been quite vociferous about, it is important for us to be there early so we can get near the front of the march to maximise the publicity. Look out for us then on the news!

I have finished a few more books this month from various interesting countries, some harder to find than others. The first was a book of Lithuanian women's short stories - No Men, No Cry by Ligne Barauskaite. Some of these were better than others, and I found it quite frustrating that of the better ones, none of the books that they are excerpted from are not available as English translations. Some of them really are very good. The second book, from Cameroon was Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. There seems to be a bit of buzz around this book at the moment and I can see why. Set in the US, it tells the tale of a couple from this small West African country trying to make a new life for themselves in the US. This for me especially bearing the next book in mind, was an interesting take on the so-called American dream and how tough things are for those at the bottom of the pile. I won't ruin it by saying too much, except to say that for me, this is a book well worth reading. The book I followed this with was Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. I first heard of this book when the author appeared on a recent episode of The Big Questions and was delighted when I noticed that the Kindle edition was 45 percent off, as it would normally be quite an expensive book. This is a book that anyone who is interested in issues relating to poverty and inequality really MUST read. The lives of some of those profiled in this book and the abject poverty that they and their children have had to live through was absolutely shocking - and it takes a lot to shock me. If you thought the housing crisis was bad in our country, then it is nothing compared to what goes in in the US, where some families spend as much as 82 percent of their income on rent, facing the constant threat of eviction, which can occur with less than 5 days notice, sometimes just for calling the Police too many times in cases of domestic violence. Like I said, this is a book that everyone needs to read, whether you live in the US or not. The book I am reading at the moment is from El Salvador in Central America. The title is Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya. This is a short book of around 160 pages and tells the tale of a man who is proof reading a manuscript to do with atrocities against the Native population. I am about halfway through it at the moment so will report back once I have finished it as to what I felt about it.

18 so far - I expect to finish book no. 19 later on this evening.

I have found personally that this works far better than the idea that the author has to be born in that country, as like I said, with migration the way it is, people do not necessary stay in their country of birth. As both of you have said, it does give you a flavour of the country as well. It also means that if you really can't find a book from certain countries (and it can be difficult with a lot of the smaller ones), you can read travelogues. I have finished a few more books this month from various interesting countries, some harder to find than others. The first was a book of Lithuanian women's short stories - No Men, No Cry by Ligne Barauskaite. Some of these were better than others, and I found it quite frustrating that of the better ones, none of the books that they are excerpted from are not available as English translations. Some of them really are very good. The second book, from Cameroon was Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. There seems to be a bit of buzz around this book at the moment and I can see why. Set in the US, it tells the tale of a couple from this small West African country trying to make a new life for themselves in the US. This for me was an interesting take on the so-called American dream and how tough things are for those at the bottom of the pile. I won't ruin it by saying too much, except to say that for me, this is a book well worth reading. The book I am reading at the moment is from El Salvador in Central America. The title is Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya. This is a short book of around 160 pages and tells the tale of a man who is proof reading a manuscript to do with atrocities against the Native population. I am about halfway through it at the moment so will report back once I have finished it as to what I felt about it.

Our friends partner passed away during the night. He always described her as his partner although they were not romantic partners but just incredibly close friends who shared a home together - and had done for over 40 years. He rung us a few days ago to let us know that her passing was imminent although it had been coming for a long time as she was well in her 90's. She had quite a life having fled from her native Germany (she was Jewish) during the War with litle more than the clothes on her back. The two of them were and are some of the kindest and bravest souls I have ever known and she will I am sure be greatly missed.

That sounds good to me. We are having a frozen roast vegetable pizza from Sainsbury's with a nice salad.

Lovely sunshine here all all day - we had better make the most it though as the forecast for tomorrow is pouring down.

I will do, and it's good to know that others think I made the right choice. Hopefully it work out with the cleaner as well. I saw her husband at work this morning and he told me they are both very happy about it. Love the new bed sheets and glad that the two of you had a nice weekend. Glad you enjoyed the cake.

That sounds like a good plan to me Chesil. I have finally appointed a new cleaner - and it didn't in the end turn out to be the people I thought it would be. When I went to see HR on Friday their Manager had already gone home for the weekend, and so they didn't contact the twins straight away. It was a good job they didn't as unbeknown to me the HR Manager had spoken to the other lady who wanted to work full time and offered her an interview for lunchtime today. It went brilliantly and she is amazing - everything that we want and need. The fact that her husband works there too is definitely a bonus. She does have a slight shoulder problem, but that is being treated and she is reacting well to the treatment and managing her housework at home without too many problems. It is her left arm that is affected rather than the right, which she has no problems with. She will have to have an operation at some point, but I think we can manage and work around that. We decided then to offer her the job, and she has accepted, which I am delighted about as it is so much better to have one person full time than 2 part time doing limited hours. I was so happy and relieved when I got home that I treated myself to a big bag of my favourite peanut M&M's to celebrate.

Our new gardener has accepted the job, and we will be making an offer also to the twins. I feel this is the right decision, although I do feel a bit sad and guilty about my colleagues wife, as she was so keen to do the job and she sounded perfect. At the end of the day though, I don't know how long it may take her to recover - it could be a few weeks or it could be months. I need someone now. This way I get two people. As I am once again running out of Lush stuff, Coran and I are off to Guildford later on to stock up and have a nice veggie lunch. After the week I have had I think I deserve a treat. We have to do the weekly food shop first though, so I suppose I had better get off this computer and shower then .... I still can't believe it's only 2 weeks since I got back from Malta.

I hate having to make decisions like this, as you know that you will be rejecting someone who you really liked and you know could do the job, but sadly there is only one job there. Having mulled it over though, I have decided to go for the younger man, mainly because he is that little bit more flexible given the fact that he doesn't have another job. This means that he will be able to pick up the slack for us cleaners (as the previous gardener did) if needed. I also feel that there is such potential there to learn and to help him grow and develop as a person. An offer will then be made and hopefully he will say yes. If not, then we still have the option of the other man. It looks like we also have a solution with regard to the cleaning. We were approached by twin sisters last week, both older women again, who had been working as a team cleaning a local pub, but because of the way they have been treated by this pub (not paid properly, not given a proper contract and so on), had to leave. They were looking for something similar then to supplement their pension. Sadly when they did the sums, they decided they could not afford to work for us, as they needed 50p an hour more than we were offering. The company were prepared to do that, but I was not happy with that, as our other cleaner only earns £8 an hour. Our CEO though has said that given the situation, once this other cleaner has passed his probationary period, she will put him also on £8.50 and find the extra money. I have discussed with him this morning (not mentioning the extra money as I don't want to build his hopes up), how this may work and how it may change his work duties and we have worked out something that I think would work and keep everyone happy. BUT in the meantime, the wife of one of our other employees has applied and is very keen to work full time. The only problem is that she had a frozen shoulder and so may not be able to start for a while. She had an injection for it the other day, but has to wait to see whether it works or not. What we have decided to do then is to give her a call and discuss it wit her in more detail as to what she can and cannot do. If need be we can arrange for her to come in for a few hours to try the job out. I think though that given the situation and our CEO's fantastic offer, we should probably go for the twins, before they get another offer, as we really can't afford to wait much longer until we get someone. Decisions, decisions! I heard about the Dutch elections though, as they have been in the news here and am also very happy with the result, and that the Dutch people did not choose the candidate who could have taken us down the same path we are facing here. Perhaps I will emigrate to the Netherlands before we lose our freedom of movement. We have had lovely weather here as well the past 2 days. I am not sure what the forecast is for tomorrow, but I know I will be glad to finish work and have the weekend off. I have a headache from just thinking about all this stuff.

Yes it is a pain to have another large bill looming - teeth are important though and at least I have another few months before I need to worry about it. I didn't see my old Manager for long in the end because of the interviews. Both went really well though and both are great candidates, which makes the choice incredibly difficult. One is quite young - about 25 and has a few years landscaping experience. He doesn't have a job at the moment, having recently been made redundant. There is a slight concern over whether 3 days a week would be enough for him, although there are opportunities to perhaps make up the hours in another department. There is also the possibility of him doing an NVQ through the company as he didn't do very well at school and is very keen to make up for that. The other candidate was much older and has a background in the building trade and so has loads of experience. He is a really lovely man who would fit in brilliantly with the rest of the team and interacted brilliantly with the clients. He does have another job 3 days a week, as a delivery driver for a supermarket. He says that he would be okay working 6 days a week, but it is a lot for someone, as both jobs are very physical. So the decision is really between someone who is younger and more flexible perhaps or someone who is older and has more experience. Having run it past one of the other Managers, he is more inclined towards the younger candidate as he is more flexible and is so keen to learn. On the other hand, the majority of our team are in their 40's and 50's so perhaps someone older may fit in better with that. I have to make a decision tomorrow really as we said we would let them know by the end of the week. It's a really tough one to make as I like them both.

Good for you. I hope you enjoy yourself and make the most of it. I hope the noise levels are not too bad for you and you manage okay. I am recovering from the knowledge of another large bill coming my way. What I thought was just a filling come loose turns out to be a lot worse than that - the tooth is starting to crack and needs a crown. At least I won't have to pay for it until after this months credit card bill is processed, which gives me another 2 months before I have to worry about paying for it. It's a good job I got a large pay rise with the new job. My boss is off to St Kitts in the Caribbean for 2 weeks tomorrow - lucky sod. Having said that it may not be the best journey for him, as it looks like his young son may be coming down with chicken pox. On a happier note my ex boss is coming in to see us all tomorrow, which I am really looking forward to. We have a lot of catching up to do, and he is always good for a bar of chocolate. I just hope I manage to see him, as I am interviewing for a new gardener tomorrow.

Dull and overcast this morning with the sun breaking through early afternoon. Now it's threatening to rain.

I can imagine - although it might be a good cure for insomnia! I heard about the storm that's supposed to be coming your way and hope everyone is alright. I suppose at least it gives you the opportunity (potentially) for more study. It's great that you are managing to the work out schedule though. How exciting. What make of car is it? I am sure they will show you where everything is before they let you drive away in it. It will take a bit of time to get used to look and the feel of it though - and for the brakes to bed in. You will have to be very careful for the first 1000 miles or so until that happens. Coran I and I are having a quiet weekend - it's hard to believe it is only a week since I got back from Malta. We might go out for a coffee in a bit, although it looks like it's about to start tipping down with rain. On the other hand, I might just stay home and finish writing all my reviews of all the places I went to .....

We are having a nice vegetable stir fry with sweet and sour sauce.

She had lovely long blonde locks the other day when I saw her. There are some pictures and a video of the grand opening on the charity's website if anyone is interested to have a look.

Egg and chips for us tonight. I can't be bothered to do anything elaborate.

I remember him as the pianist from That's Life. Yes, he must be getting on a bit now though and I would imagine is well into his 70's. Joanna Lumley herself is 71 this May. I made our receptionist laugh though when she asked what I thought Joanna's secret was. I told her it was probably HRT and lots of make up! I am glad though that this week is over. We have made a lot of enquiries for the gardening job now that our gardener has gone. I just wish we could get some more interest for the cleaning job as well as we are starting to get a bit stretched now. There are a lot of things that are beginning to need doing that we just don't have time for. At least I got my new glasses today. I am sure my eyes will be very grateful. My bank balance won't be though.

A beautiful day here with lots of sunshine and blue skies.

If I am honest I don't really think about it either, I agree though that the language a book is written in does need to be in historical and cultural context. From the authors perspective (especially if you do self publish) it is very expensive to do two versions of a book with both American and English spellings. As the US is seen my many as the larger potential market this is the main reason why so many self published authors tend to prefer American English.

Yes it is a bit of a pain that I seem to have problems with both eyes and teeth at the moment. It would have been nice to have met Joanna, but it was more about the clients really. I got to see her from afar which is good enough for me. I am told that she was really friendly and approachable though. One of our clients who has Downs Syndrome greeted her at the door, and Joanna gave her a huge hug and was interacting with all the clients from what I hear. One of them, who has his own show on a local radio station even managed an interview. She took it in all her stride I am told, and even waded through all the mud in the horticulture department (in her high heels). Good for her I say. Yes, it will certainly be great publicity for us. Our other Patron, Richard Stillgoe was also there. He is of course a lot less well known that Joanna, who is pretty much an icon. I am not sure if it will be in this weeks paper, as it came out today, but if not it is bound to be in next weeks.

I haven't looked at them yet, so I will go and take a look as well.

I wish my glasses were that cheap MRTR. I have had another problem to try and contend with today. While I was away one my fillings (as in dental) came away, and although it is not too problematic at the moment, I know it needs fixing. Unfortunately because I missed my last appointment I am no longer registered with an NHS Dentist. The last one I went to informed me that the earliest appointment they could offer me was on 9th May - 2 months away. Luckily I have managed to get an appointment at the surgery that Coran goes on next Tuesday at 4pm, which is a lot better. We had great excitement at work today - a visit from our Patron the actress Joanna Lumley. The site where I work encompasses several different buildings, one of which is an old Victorian House. Because of the way it has been extended over the years, all the floors upstairs were at different levels, which meant that many of our clients who are in wheelchairs could not access it and so all the space was being unused. Last year then we managed to raise the funds to rectify this and to install a lift for the clients. Joanna was there then to officially open the upstairs. She arrived at about 10.30am and did a tour of the site, meeting many of the staff and clients (sadly not me) before the grand unveiling ceremony. It was all very exciting and great publicity, which will no doubt be in all the local papers.

Thanks for that information MrCat, which I have no doubt is well intentioned. We all do this challenge differently - some insist that the books they read have to be written by someone who was born in that country while for some it is enough that the book be set in a certain country. This is the way that I am choosing to do this challenge and I have found it works very well for me. The reasoning I use for this is that although you may be born in a certain place, it does not mean that you will stay there (Herta Muller being a case in point). I have a friend for example who although born in Canada has spent most of her adult life in Spain, where she is married to a Spaniard, has a business and gave birth to her two children. Spain is therefore much more home to her than her native Canada. My next door neighbour, although born in the US has lived here since the age of 16 (she is now in her 70's). Despite the fact that she has never taken out British citizenship, she nevertheless considers herself much more British than American. By the same token, I work with people from all over the world - including Romania, who although not native to this country now consider it to be their home. Everyone does this challenge in their own way, and as long as it works for them, it's all good.