Apologies

Hi Everyone...

D here...I must apologise for the complete lack of posts over the past month and a half.

It's a strange state of affairs that having more time on our hands has meant less time to involve ourselves in our old pursuits. We've spent the past ten weeks being more of a family and enjoying time together that we would never have had had fate/providence not played its part. To be able to spend quality time with my family and be paid for it (thank you, Insolvancy Service!) has been a fantastic boost to the energy levels but alas, all good things must come to an end and I start my new job on Monday.

It's the same sort of job but luckily I will be working for people that seem to be forward thinking and genuinely concerned with their staff - a breath of fresh air after the last shower I gave nine and a half years of my life to (I'm not bitter!!). I was introduced to these guys by a rep that I used to deal with, whose company lost thousands when my former employers went bust. Mr. D (as he shall be known) had always been a good friend as well as a business associate and I count myself lucky to know a man like him - he looked out for me and explained to these guys the situation I was in. A few phone calls later and I had myself an interview.

I realised that I had nothing to prove to my prospective employers. They either liked me or didn't and I certainly wasn't going to B.S. my way through the interview, even telling them "If I lie to you now I'll be found out in three days so I might as well just tell you the truth and not waste anybody's time". It was this honesty that they liked and told me immediately that I'd got the job but that they would put a formal offer through within twenty four hours - Mr. D had "bigged me up" somewhat, it would seem!

So, I've landed myself a job with a company that have "Investors In People" and are more than willing to have their staff trained, who have hinted that they may be interested in funding the completion of my degree, have offered me a very good salary package, who will take over my pension contributions and,most of all who seem like human beings and people that you can have a proper working relationship with. I suppose mother was right: I can fall in a barrel of s**t and come up smelling of roses!!

I'm not getting too cocky just yet though as we never know what the next few weeks and months will bring. I'll keep you updated as to the working conditions and how much I'm enjoying my new post.

This post is dedicated to Mr. D (not that he'll ever read it!!) and to those friends that do all they can to help us out when the chips are down. I hope I never have to do it for one of my friends but if misfortune should ever visit them I hope I'm man enough to be able to step in and help them.

The above picture is of Fi holding onto The B*stards as they're affectionately known - from left to right they are Sasha, Tequila, Buddy and Gracie...and they're just as stupid as they look (Fi excluded!)