30 January 2023 (Monday) - Sick Leave

I woke feeling like death warmed up. I should have stayed in bed and phoned work later to say I was sick. But I didn’t. Over the years others have taken sick leave for all sorts of reasons, but being rather “old-skool” I’ve never wanted to myself. I’ve needed to, but never wanted to. Over the last six years I’ve taken sick leave after nasal surgery (twice) and the time my ill-fitting glasses gave me double vision. I’ve vague recollections of having a week off when I seriously smashed my leg (and got cellulitis and couldn’t walk) after playing “Piggy in the Middle” with the kids in the garden when they were small, and I can remember two instances when I felt too grotty to get out of bed.

But generally “I don’t do sick leave” so I got up.

 

The puppies were as good as gold this morning. I made toast and watched “Star Trek: Discovery” then walked three streets away to where I’d left the car. Much as it would be a monumental arse-ache I’d really like to move to a house with designated parking. Yesterday when I came home I spent ages driving round trying to find somewhere to park, and the closest place was ridiculously far away.

 

As I drove to work I listened to the radio. The Prime Minister has finally sacked Nadhim Zahawi for… well, I don’t think anyone knows what he did wrong. All that I can find out is that he is being investigated by HM Revenue and Customs. I’m not defending the chap but is this a case of “no smoke without fire” or just the rough and tumble of political life.

That idiot Boris Johnson was also in the news, claiming that during his time as Prime Minister the Russian leader Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in a telephone conversation. Did he? I don’t know, and the Russians are denying it. I would say “they would, wouldn’t they”, but there’s an easy way to find the truth here. Presumably all high-level diplomatic phone calls are recorded (if not, why not), so just play back the recording. And if there is some reason of confidentiality or national security as to why they recording can’t be made public, then that idiot Boris Johnson should be prosecuted for making the allegation public in the first place, shouldn’t he?

My piss then boiled with talk about how “trans women with male genitalia” are no longer to be housed in women’s prisons in the UK. Apparently some chap who’d been raping women declared himself a woman and got put in a women’s prison before he’d had his “meat and two veg” removed.

Perhaps I’m an old reactionary hopelessly out of touch with reality, and I am very open to being shown the error of my ways, but surely a “trans woman with male genitalia” is a man. Isn’t he? And then locking one of these up with a whole load of women... What am I missing here?

 

I got to work. I lasted an hour and a half before admitting I really wasn’t feeling up to it. I spent a few minutes talking to the supervisor… is “arguing” the right word? Why was I going home? Apparently “because I feel like death warmed up” wasn’t something that could be put on the form… even though that was the reason I was going home.

I came home, went to bed and slept solidly for five hours.

 

When I woke I saw I had a message from Hastings Direct asking how I felt they’d done with getting my car fixed after my little accident of last August. I marked them as low as I could in every category except the quality of the repair as a good fix had been done (if far too late), and told them “Having had the accident in August, not getting the car repaired until the end of November was far too long. Especially bearing in mind the local repair place (Alpha Rapid Repair)  could have done the job for only two-thirds of the price in the first week of September.

And since getting the car back  the petrol consumption is far worse. Where I used to get five hundred miles form a full tank, now I only get just over four hundred miles.

And - have you ever tried phoning Hastings Direct? It takes over an hour just to get put through to the wrong department.”

I wonder if they will reply?

 

“er indoors ^TM” went bowling and I settled myself on the sofa underneath a pile of dogs from where I watched more “Star Trek: Discovery”.

I’m still not on top form but I’ve certainly perked up a little having spent the afternoon asleep. I shall have an early night. I should really phone in sick again tomorrow… even though I would feel guilty doing so.