Revolting Students

According to the MEN freebie edition, our students had a protest today. I read this in the queue for the bank at lunchtime.

Which was handy to know, when the same protesting mob reached the building opposite and stormed the doors at 4.50pm!

I don't tend to read the student's noticeboards. They tend to be full of events that the over 25's should not even consider. There is no amount of tequila in this world that will turn back the ageing process! So I hadn't been aware of this, until they turned up at the building across the way.

It had an air of flash-mob about it, or maybe our lot were not the most organised anarchists on the block. The guy with the loudhailer didn't have the clearest diction, so it was hard to know what they were protesting about. And the placard makers hadn't really pushed the boat out, so it was hard to see what they were protesting about. The clearest was a nice little A3 with "NO TO CUTS", so we weren't completely in the dark.

However, they managed to bring a nice little salsa band, got the attention of a Channel M camera crew and some community police, and the police helicopter did a quick fly-by, so I think a good time was had by all!

I wouldn't claim to be the biggest fan of students; but everything they said is correct. They are being fleeced by this Uni, and deserve better. Shame the Uni is too busy pissing-off all the support staff, to notice! The very staff who are now too demoralised to provide the service that could make all the difference.

The students are cash cows, the staff are wage-slaves. Here's a bit from an e-mail from my mate S, who is escaping into the real world in 2 weeks;

"I completely and utterly believe that we are all capable of more than what we are currently doing. I even more believe that the UoM does not have our best interests at heart and will bleed you dry over time (it has me)."

Ok, not the best writing you'll ever see. But you tolerate this blog, and that will never win prizes! The plan seems to be to take support staff who are good at their jobs, make half of them redundant (minimum), make the remaining staff overworked and then throw in a paycut. Then to be really sure, take away any aspect of the job that needs a functioning braincell. This justifies the next pay cut - if you are knackered and stressed and not performing, then how can you justify the pay grade?

But still, we've got a few Nobel laureates knocking around on a good fee, and a nice glossy brochure talking about our plans to be world leaders by 2015. What more do we want??

Go, Dot, Go!

The story of the woman who is applying for planning permission to knock down Terry Leahy's gaffe to build a park is wonderful.

Bailey makes himself at home

Here's a picture of the lovely Bailey. The cats have convinced him to join the Dark Side and he is trying to sleep on the back of the sofa.

He tried stopping over at James's last night. Apart from trying to headbutt his way through the back door, and missing the other animals, he seems unscathed. But he likes it here.

Maybe because their sofa is leather and a bit slippery...

Orange Juice is good for you

Would you look at that audience, have you seen what they're wearing, bless! Just do audio if you are easily offended on the sartorial front.



Some of us of a certain (ahem!) age may still have these items in our wardrobes. Don't admit to anything. Or leave the wardrobe doors open.

Strange what you miss about folk, though.

At the interval for ISIHAC, I really missed Sophie. Theatre intervals used to be spent outside while Soph topped up the nicotine levels and I got some fresh air. Easy to do, just stand upwind of the smokers, though it might not count as fresh air in Salford Quays. Scott would join us, just to laugh at the English softies who were trying to smoke through chattering teeth. It's always bloody freezing around the Lowry centre.

Being a creature of habit, at the interval I headed outward past the bars and to the main doors.

The smokers looked pityingly at me, marking me down as a quitter who still tried to passive smoke. But the non-smokers had the last laugh when the smokers couldn't join in with... well, just listen to the show, whenever it is broadcast...

Not so quiet on the Western front...

Life round ours has been rather dull recently. Of course things have been happening, but in the main they have been on the boring-dull-downright sad end of the spectrum, and not up for discussion.

So we were nearly caught out when a bunch of really nice things happened in a short space of time;

i) our friend Nam has finally been granted a visa from Thailand, after years of trying. So she will be living just up the road, with her lovely boyfriend Glyn. He's a mad Man City fan, so I've suggested she tries to get a job at the City of Manchester stadium as soon as her NI number is sorted. So we're all round at theirs for a Thai banquet as soon as she recovers from the jetlag when she arrives in May.

ii) James has finally found a full-time job (rather than all the temp stuff he's been doing for the last few months). About time he decided what he wanted to be when he grew up, hah!

iii) the house sale to the buyer-from-hell has finally been completed. The Big Sis will be spending the proceeds on Valium and anger management courses. The buyer has severely pissed-off the BS - you shouldn't do that to someone whose house you are buying, obviously they know where you will be living... :)

And saving the best to last... The beautiful Faye is now engaged to the lovely Kev, and my sister-in-law is hoping that she just might get to be a grandma in due course. Wedding next year on a beach somewhere, underwater if Faye can persuade Kev to study for the PADI certificate!

Added to all that, the lovely Lucy at Life Begins was christened on Sunday, and I got a last-minute invite to "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" at the Lowry! Both well worth the speeding tickets that I must have collected, either on the way to church (honestly, officer) or on the way to the altar of St Humph of the Lyttleton.