Since I last posted, I've been signed off for two weeks with stress and anxiety from my job, came back for a week, went on holiday for two weeks and when I was standing in the baggage hall at Heathrow awaiting my bags (which had enjoyed the trip to America so much they decided to stay another day) I got a phone call to say I had been dismissed from my job. Fired. Well, as I was agency staff, they merely "terminated the contract". They can probably do that, although I was in the post for over a year, so I'm sure the Working Time Directive has something to advise about that. But for all that, whether or not you have a right to terminate employment with or without notice, to fire someone while they're on holiday is a fucking cunty thing to do.
I don't even know what I'm supposed to have done. The day I went on holiday a letter was sent to me telling me I was doing excellent work, basically following on from my deep concerns about the extent of the workload, lack of overtime and unpleasant working conditions. But the letter stated that it was expected that I would carry on in the position and continue to perform my duties to the high standard I always have. So what did I supposedly do while I was 5000 miles away in Arizona?
Still, not to be beaten into despair, I got myself a temping job within 2 hours of being fired (stick that up your arse and chew on it you bastards!), and now have a temporary-to-permanent job not a million miles away from the Royal Courts of Justice. I'm helping to clear an administrative backlog just now but it's possible they may need me on a permanent basis after Christmas. Fingers crossed that this is the case.
Oh yes, the holiday. Five days driving round the Grand Canyon and other places. We did the Grand Canyon on the first day, then drove east to Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest and up to Monument Valley. Saw Four Corners, a few dinosaur track sites and Grand Staircase, then went further west to Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Zion National Park and Las Vegas. Bit of an anticlimax to the holiday, having spent four days in the beautiful wide open space of the Grand Circle, then going to the pit of depravity that is Vegas. We could almost have appreciated it in an ironic sense, except that it decided to piss it down with rain the whole time we were there. Weather up until that point was beautiful, and I am so glad I was able to show Paul the Grand Canyon. I started to fall in love with America again, after the crap experiences in St Louis.
So I'm hoping things may finally start to get back on track. I'd just like a few months of things going okay. I don't expect to win the lottery or be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize - I just want a quiet uneventful life. Is that too much to ask?
