Some people believe I only post negative stuff so, this might come across as a little negative but, I want to explain something to you about me.

I am always tired. Sometimes I am so tired I feel like I’ve not slept in a week, other times I feel like you probably do when you go to bed, that end of the day feeling when you’ve done your stuff and are ready for sleep. Most times I wiggle between those feelings, normal bedtime tired is a good day.

So occasionally I might just not see enthusiastic about things. I want to be but I just don’t have the umph for it.

As with all of us when we’re tired, I might feel so tired I am just grumpy, that’s because actually I am sleepy even if it seems dopey to be like that. There is nothing the doc can do about it either. Don’t be bashful, if you see me like that, give me a hug and make me happy but, if you are wearing a strong scent, you might make me sneazy. This is how life is for me, heigh ho.

Even when I am mega tired my sense of humour is still there.

Whilst I am still awaiting an official diagnosis, all the other things which make us tired have been rules out so, it looks like I have M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) is a long-term (chronic), fluctuating, neurological condition that causes symptoms affecting many body systems, more commonly the nervous and immune systems. M.E. affects an estimated 250,000 people in the UK, and around 17 million people worldwide.) 

I am not looking for sympathy, just understanding will do. My sister has the condition and, to be honest, is a fair amount of my inspiration to fight through it. If she can go to work each day, so can I. I do honestly wish I wasn’t working for over 60 hours a week to get paid for just over 40 but that’s currently the nature of the work I do. I honestly do not know how much longer I can cope with that pace but I will keep going as long as possible.

You know you don’t look good when some of your clients offer you their medication to try and make you feel better! (No, I don’t accept)

Gender Equality – We have some way to go I think.

In my work as a professional carer I still get hints that we’ve got some way to go.

The profession is seen as a female domain, men are somewhat rare. As such, it seems that some employers don’t quite know how to full enact their equal opportunities policies.

New female clients are routinely asked if they would prefer a female carer, male clients are not asked this, would they prefer a male carer. It is presumed they either would or they are assigned a female as the simplest option because perhaps there are so few male carers.

Even after being assigned a male carer and saying it is OK, females are not questioned as to an alleged decision that they now require a female carer. Simply being male is good enough to reject a carer. If a male carer rejects a female carer then he will be asked what was wrong with his carer, not just accepted that he doesn’t want her because she is female.

Then there are gay and lesbian carers … should a female client be told her prospective make carer is gay? I feel so, it could make a difference to her decision, might not but might.

Either way, a talking point and we do have some way to go … I’d be interested to know what other areas there are where we are still getting it wrong?

Every year we accept more and more cuts because we’ve a government which says they are needed. It’s the deficit you see, we have to make these cuts, continue austerity because of the deficit.

Yes, all well and good but, why suddenly now are we concerned about a deficit?

We’ve had deficits this high many times in our history and no government worried about it because, it sorts itself out over time. Generally they happen because of large public sector spending projects, investment for the future which eventually pays back but, not this time. Now we are borrowing to get out of debt whilst dismantling the backbone of the country. Huge cuts to the NHS and Police are starting to show. Literally people are dying because of it. Gang Culture, knife crime, 8 hour plus on an A&E trolley. 

People seem to think that the NHS is really OK, that claims to the contrary are just a myth, sadly not the case. They are very real. Factual reports of people dying whilst waiting to see a doctor in A&E exist and becoming more common. Anyone visiting A&E now from an ambulance will have the experience of seemingly endless waits on a trolley conveyor belt in corridors before ever seeing a doctor. Once they get ‘admitted’ they are left waiting a great many hours again waiting for a ward bed.

Police numbers have been hugely cut. The Tories tell us this is not the reason crime is escalating, it is, apparently, drug use and social media. All the criminals need is to be shown a better path to choose, nothing to do with lack of police at all.

Fuel at the pumps are at record highs. Our government has no incentive to tackle the issue because they have so much tax collected on every litre, the more the base price, the more tax they collect and, what does this tax get spent on? You’d think the roads, I mean, it makes sense right the same as the revenue from road tax which has also seen a huge rise recently but, let’s just look at the roads …

Not a pretty site and, we laugh about it and tell jokes but, it’s not a joke at all, not really. If the money raised from motoring is not spent on making sure we have safe, quality roads, where is it going?

The problem with roads like this is that they cost motorists more money with increased repairs, it can’t be good for emergency vehicles either!

National Minimum Wage is being increased but nothing is done to close the loopholes which allow companies not to pay it. Let’s end zero hour contracts unless they are genuinely working and, it’s easy to tell the abusers. If a person regularly does 30+ hours a week then, they are not genuinely on zero hours, they are doing 30+ hours a week so give them a contract which reflects that and stop messing about. Large companies like Tesco put their staff on tiny hours, maybe just 10 or ll hours a week core hours yet they regularly do 40+. But, because of their low core hours, when they take annual leave they get just those few small hours paid. When it suits them, such as January, Tesco cuts the hours right back giving a 75% cut in salary to staff. Other retailers are not investing, no doubt scared of an uncertain future with cuts. With the lack of investment, with the low wages paid to staff they become vulnerable and, we know where they leads

Yes, countless companies, retails the most easily noticed, are going bankrupt under this government unable to keep going in a climate of uncertainty where low pay seems to be the obvious answer. Reality check here is, if you treat staff badly then what you get is bad staff. When the staff respect their employer they will do willingly what their employer needs often more than their contract asks for but, under pay staff, inflict loopholes on them to reduce their pay packet and the employees have no respect for their employer and it all goes belly up.

Some of these stores have gone bankrupt because of issues with their parent company in the USA but, they were all set up that the stores in other countries should still be viable if the conditions are right whereas, clearly in the UK of 2018, they are not right.

Rich Conservative donors are allowed to run their company into the ground with pensioners losing out, staff made redundant and, they keep their knighthood, such is the way this country of ours works. For the people at the top there is no reason to act responsibly because there are no consequences. 

So many of the bosses in the UK are actually tax exiles, they don’t pay UK tax at all, they’ve no responsibility to this country or the people of this country. It is proof, were it needed, that the Conservative argument of top down property doesn’t work. The theory being that if you pay vast fortunes to the men (it nearly is always men) at the top, the profits will filter down into the workforce. Who at the bottom of the company can quote any realistic percentage comparison between their minimum wage and the £millions the boss gets?

Many CEO’s, even of local authorities, get paid more than the Prime Minister. Indeed, in my own county of Northamptonshire (effectively bankrupt and in special measures) the CEO gets in excess of £150,000 pa, about the same as the Prime Minister. The current role of SEO is vacant so the salary quoted is for the deputy position. This of a council which is failing, correction, FAILED but, this is not, apparently, down the £billions of cuts by central government, this is just bad management. Many other county councils are similarly badly managed then!

Back in the day we got our bins emptied once a week, now it is once a fortnight (2 weeks) with the latest proposals to be once every three weeks and garden waste not collected at all but a fee levied on anyone wanting to dispose of it. Huge reductions and costs yet, the council tax is going up by a lot in 2018-19. 

Every year, because the government pays less to the local authorities, they have to make cuts whether they are sustainable or not. Social Services has seen one of the biggest cuts nationwide. Many authorities now admit they do not have an effective social service department any longer and cannot fund assessed needs. Thousands of social care placements have been cut, budgets have been slashed on home care and this then bumps up the cost to the NHS as they have patients filling beds who are physically fine but have nowhere safe to go.

Spending on social housing has gone too and with house prices growing ever faster than inflation there are just not enough properties to go around. The Conservative party encourage this because they were founded on one principle, sell to the aspirations of the working man. Get people owning homes and they feel they have aspired to the next class up and then become more likely to vote Conservative, the party of aspiration. The reality is, what they’ve really achieved is a nation of people in huge debt they cannot afford.

But, we maintain this illusion that the Conservative party and only them know how to protect the economy and as long as we do, everything I have mentioned above escalates and there is nothing can be done about it.

This week the mini is on eBay hopefully getting me a figure slightly more than the scrap price, what a mistake this was even though in so many ways it’s a lovely car, the darned thing don’t work! I drove it back from Luton earlier, got as far as Newport Pagnell before I admitted defeat and called out the rescue truck!

Next to go will be the one I will sorry to see go, the Chrysler Grand Voyager which is so ‘me’ but, it’s no good for work, too expensive to run (25 mpg).

It’s been a good workhorse and has had some nice upgrades but, needs must.

I really would have loved to have done one family trip to Disneyland in her though … maybe I’ll get another one some day!