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Yesterday was not great.
At work we had 'the meeting' - you know the one, where they tell us that the business is struggling and they need to save a frankly terrifying amount of money over the next year, and that the bulk of that needs to come from employees. There is a voluntary redundancy scheme starting Monday (full details not announced yet, there was at least one more meeting after the one I was in), they're open to reduced hours but if that doesn't save enough (I doubt it will) there will be compulsory redundancies down the line.
I've been here about a year and a half and I'd be very, very surprised if I made two years based on that. So time to get polishing the CV. It wasn't unexpected, but still not very nice.
So obviously when I got home I was chatting to MrsMonkey about all this (she knew it was on the cards) and possible options. I was stood holding MiniMonkey facing the window when what should I see but our car shunted backwards about a foot!
Some absolute clot had managed to reverse into it. And we're not talking a gentle parking tap getting out of a tiny space (which does happen around us), this was a proper whack from maybe a car length away. I don't know how or why, but she seemed to floor it in reverse for no discernible reason. By the time I'd managed to get out the house she'd disappeared into the distance.
I actually did get a dashcam recording (literally fitted it the night before) but the sun reflecting on the screen meant that the numberplate was illegible.
To make it even worse we're supposed to be driving up to Edinburgh for a wedding tomorrow. The car seems fine, no visible damage and it drives straight but I'm not sure how much I trust it now. So do we go through insurance, or hope its OK, or what... If I'd not seen it happen I probably wouldn't even know that it'd been hit.
And breathe. Hopefully a better day today.
Check the radiator to be absolutely certain it’s not leaking, then crack on i say.
Always remember, some days you’re the statue, other days you’re the pigeon.
9/10. That's pretty bad.
Hope today is a better one.
Meanwhile in North London there is outrage brewing.
Junior J's seaside school trip for today ,was cancelled last night!!!
The bus company double booked them and went for the corporate client(gits).
The tantrums will be felt all over N2 ,N6 and the surrounding areas for hours .
Oh man, I think I can hear the screaming from up here in Hull. That really does suck!
I had a quick poke around last night (busy with bath time) but I'm gonna have a proper look and maybe go for a spin up the motorway tonight just to double check, but I reckon it should be fine.
some days you’re the statue, other days you’re the pigeon
Ha, I like this. Last Friday a client managed to forget a process which meant I dropped a very large Sale and didn’t make my quarter or the half year number. It was a big deal deal and drew the attention of the US boss who publically blasted my apparent ineptitude across email.
On top of that, TBC today it seems I have Bronchitis which likely means the end of cycle training and racing for this season this side of our August family holiday. I’m pretty gutted as I’d put a lot of effort at the beginning of the year which all feels a bit wasted now.
So I’m at home with a mild temperature during the British summer coughing up my lungs unable to phone customers or approach a bike feeling miserable.
Still, it pays to remember there’s people much worse off than us.
Sorry to read that FMC. If the car seemed Ok I'd book it into a garage (or jack the car up, if you're confident/competent with car) when you've returned from Edinburgh to get a proper assessment and make sure all is OK.
Is there any way to get owners details if you have a partial plate and the make, model & colour of a car? Is there a dealers name visible at the bottom of the plate? May help to track down the owner if you decide to get it repaired through the insurer.
Still, it pays to remember there’s people much worse off than us.
Yeah, this is very much at the forefront of my mind at the moment. We could certainly be in a much worse position than we are.
That's rubbish about your bronchitis, what kind of recovery period can you expect?
I'm going to poke around the car tonight but yeah, we have a friendly local(ish) mechanic that I'm sure would be happy to give it the once over. We've been toying with the idea of replacing it, but until we have a better idea what's happening financially we'd sooner stick with it (there's nothing wrong with it, it's just old and suddenly seems quite small now we have a baby. And two of the fan settings don't work).
Nah we can't get anything from the video, I've scanned through it and there's no point at which you can reliably read any of the plate, let alone all of it. It's definitely a Vauxhall, probably a Corsa but beyond that no idea. I've honestly no idea how she managed to do it.
That’s rubbish about your bronchitis, what kind of recovery period can you expect?
Well, Dr Google says 5-10 days approx in general with anywhere from then to 9 weeks worse case scenario for the cough to disappear - I'm 5 days in yet with no voice currently. I'm conscious of a chest infection in November 2016 which reoccurred January 2017 that ruined a winters training for me so don't want to rush back to heavy breathing / straining my immune system.
I don't like going to the docs but I'm going this morning to get it validated.
Good luck with the job and the car - from experience that person's lack of honesty and empathy regarding your property is very annoying but hopefully it'll be OK.
Hooray, someone with worse luck than us! (only kidding about the 'hooray')
As far as the job goes it often turns out that it's the best thing that ever happened.
The car will fix & no-one was hurt, if it still drives ok you can still go away.
People are creatures of habit when it comes to parking. I'd be looking at surrounding streets for that type of cars with impact damage on the rear.
If you find her, you can leave a note inviting her to get in touch before you pass her details to the police. Or just set fire to it.
I'll be keeping an eye out for the car, plus I know (ish) what the driver looks like. We live off a fairly busy shopping street though, so we do get a lot of folk parking outside (which is fine, just I'd prefer if they didn't drive into our car while doing so).
TBH though I think trying to do anything about it now is probably just going to lead to more hassle, the best thing to do is just move on and accept it. And hope her bumper falls off.
Been in nearly constant work since 1976. Had 6 changes of firm/working regime. All but one was an improvement and even the bad move (which included a wage cut) eventually worked out positive. Sometimes a deflection out of the rut can work out. Good luck out there.
Can you post the full high res dashcam footage on youtube? Some one may be able to do a bit of tinkering to improve contrast and get you the number plate...
@drob59 - yeah I'm hoping it'll work out like that. I do like my current job (and the convenience, and the vast number of holidays) but I'm also getting a bit bored if I'm honest.
@dashed - Aye I can stick it up tonight if I get time, but I've had a pretty good look and I'm not optimistic. There's a lot of reflection off the screen so it's pretty much invisible. Although if anyone can perform Blade Runner style 'enhance' magic that would be terrific.
Update (in case anyone was wondering):
The car made it up to Scotland fine, and we had a lovely time (apart from catching a sickness bug and spending the two glorious days I'd have been riding my bike chucking my guts up, but these things happen).
I also just hit send on an expression of interest for voluntary redundancy. It's a good package (6 months pay) and I've already applied for one job, and have another three that I'm pretty keen on - all on more money and hopefully a lot more challenging.
So fingers crossed it'll all work out.
good stuff! Glad to hear things are looking up!
One Sympathises: I've spent all day dealing with insurers/car hire companies, as I drove into a Hilux yesterday 🙁
Oof! Did the Hilux even notice?
(Hope you're ok and you get it sorted quickly and painlessly as possible!).
Update: had one interview, didn't get it but it went pretty well - feedback was that both my presentation and interview were great, I just lacked experience working with behaviour change (which I do). Since it was a fairly senior role that I didn't expect to get an interview I'm happy with that.
Now got one a week for the next three weeks - this Friday I'm not sure about, next Thursday I'd really like and the Wednesday after that is pretty much a backup. I reckon I have a fairly decent chance at all three.
Fingers crossed...
Good luck
🤞
Thanks 😀
yeah, good luck - and well done getting shortlisted repeatedly