Sunday, March 24. 2013
Last Working Day
Sunday, March 10. 2013
Puff In Peace
After Steve announced his retirement from the Police, Gail decided it was time to follow the example set by Nicola and Rebecca and have stopped smoking. Instead They now use a vaporizer which is a version of an e-cigarette or more popularly known as an electronic cigarette. Since then Steve, Zena and Sue Lishman have all swapped over. The Puff in Peace Shop is across the road from Asda in Walsall.
Friday, March 08. 2013
Daniel passes his (French) Driving Test
Steve to Retire on 8 September 2013
I always intended to retire upon reaching 60 years of age as I already get an occupational pension and to continue through to state pension age kind of defeats the object of having it.
In September this year there are several major changes being made at work. Currently we have 10 call handling centres, from 9 September 2013 these will be replaced by 2, one at West Bromwich and the other at Lloyd House, Birmingham City Centre. Neither of these locations have car parking facilities.
A new 5 week shift pattern will be introduced which includes shifts such as 0700-1700 : 1700-0200 : 1100-2000 plus various others, none of which appear to be very "social." Rigid rules will be introduced including no mobile phones, ipads, cups of tea etc. at the workstations, plus it even sounds like you will have to ask permission to use the toilet.
The above relates to what are termed level 2 operators. I am officially a level 3 operator which deals with the dispatching of resources and subsequent incident management, such as calling out partner agencies and ensuring that a job is fully completed before closure. For several months now I have not worked on the dispatching of resources side of things due to slight hearing problems and so have been restricted to the other aspects of that level 3 role.
From the inception of the 2 new call centres, all level 3 operators must be able to do all the level 3 roles. In view of this my supervisors asked if I wanted to downgrade to level 2 so that I could apply for a position in the new call centres. All the existing level 2 call centre staff have to apply, this is due to a play on words. Management state that this is not a transfer but their old job will no longer exist and this is a new role (The question was raised "Isn't this redundancy!"). The workforce take a different view that this is a way to bring in a new shift pattern, pay and conditions, especially in view of the fact they will be operating the same computers, completing the same forms/reports. Speaking to the same members of society and giving the same advice they have always done.
From my own position it would seem more prudent to simply retire 6 months earlier than planned. Not only due to the changes at work, but also with the 3 granddaughters all less than a year old, myself and Gail will be in a better position to help out as and when needed.
Friday, March 01. 2013
Gunton Hall - February 2013
Our Group of 8 had a "mini break" at Gunton Hall, Lowestoft. This is just a few miles away from Great Yarmouth and is a Warner Holidays Site. Other than the very cold weather (luck of the draw) we all had a fantastic time. Excellent value for money. |
Our break was between Monday - Friday, this included breakfast (as much as you can eat), 3 course Evening Meal. This can be a la carte, or if you prefer you can help yourself to as much as you can eat at the carvery! The evening meal is followed by entertainment in the main hall, plus a free bar which is open from 1800 hrs through to midnight.
During the day there are lots of free activities to take part in - these include the heated indoor swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi, steam room. There is even a spin dryer for your swim wear. We also took part in the free rifle shooting and archery. Our only extra expenditure was the small charge to hire our shoes for the indoor bowling and carpet bowls (£2 and £1 respectively.)
Despite the cold we braved the weather and went into Great Yarmouth for the day on Wednesday. Paul, Zena and Steve visited the Sea Life Centre and then joined the rest of the group in the Town Centre.