Update

Tonight's edition of Scotland Today - do I think it is party politics playing with people's emotions - yes I do!!! For the SNP to jump on the Farepak bandwagon now and hit out at Westminster really gets my goat - where were they 2 years ago?????

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/66795-scots-farepak-victims-still-waiting-for-compensation/

It is time that certain people stop thinking about their political careers and using Farepak as a means to an end and whilst I am still on this case, I will continue to point out such people who do same!!!

A Cheap Shot!!!!

So now we have John Mason (SNP Dept Work & Pensions Spokesperson) calling on the UK Government to compensate Farepak "victims".

I learnt about this cheap shot due to a telephone conversation with Radio Clyde last night and thankfully I was able to pre-record for both radio Clyde and Forth One in order to put the facts straight.

I am sick to death of various people using Farepak as a tool to get their *mugs* in the media when they obviously have nothing else better to do with their time. Do these *people* not realise or even think about the people they are hurting by dragging this old story up yet again !

In any event, John Mason has also managed to be headline news on Scotland Today http://video.stv.tv/bc/catchup-scotlandtoday-20081223-1350/

Thankfully, STV asked for my opinion and hopefully it will not be edited too much on tonight's evening news - fingers crossed anyway :0)

Update to follow!!

Not Such A Great Day

Well my day started off with waking up to snow which I was not impressed with. Got the kids dressed and set off to school with the questions of "mummy, why are you driving so slow........."? There was only a dusting of snow but black ice underneath and I thought 'the last thing I need is an accident'! Deposited the kids safely and headed off to Argos to get some Christmas shopping in before class at 11.

Managed to get all necessary Santa toys and boots for Chloe as it is freezing! Got home, picked up my notes and headed for Tax class. Was sitting in the car with learner driver in front waiting to turn left. Filter light came on and learner moved off - as did I. All of a sudden, from nowhere came a fire engine who decided to turn on sirens at last minute - learner driver braked fast, as did I but my wheels locked and I skidded into back of car :0( not a happy bunny was I!!! Thankfully no one was hurt but I was in a bit of shock. My car has a 2 inch cosmetic crack on bumper and the car in front has a crack along back bumper - upshot, it is costing me 2 years no claim bonus as my 4 years was NOT protected - I am such a fool !!!

Did not make class as I had quite a shock so went home and discovered the boots I had bought for Chloe were two right feet !! Phoned around Next only to discover there were NO more boots in that style and stock was NOT expected until January!!

Finally managed to find stock in Princes Street which is a nightmare to drive to considering all the roadworks.

Tonight, to top it all off, I have just been notified of the winners of this year's campaign of the year - which is an absolutely fantastic campaign but it cemented the fact that Jim Devine did in fact run off with the Farepak Savers Campaign of the year award last year - it makes me sick to be honest even although we [the campaigners] all knew the truth, it is hard to swallow seeing it in black and white. Ah well, I hope he is happy with his piece of metal!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day :)

End of an Era!!!

I was not shocked to hear tonight that Woolworths have finally been put into administration. I was quite sad though as this is *the* shop where you used to be able to purchase EVERYTHING!

That said, with over 814 UK stores and facing competition from the large supermarkets, not to mention the current economic climate, I am actually surprised they lasted as long as they did. I did wonder this time last year when the issued profit warnings just how long they could hold out.

So what of the employees??? It is becoming increasingly worrying the amount of people who are losing their jobs due to the credit crunch - can I say recession yet? I guess we should be coming up on the two quarters of negative growth soon!

I did venture down to Woolworth's Big W store tonight to use up some vouchers as I have a sneaky feeling the shutters may be down by tomorrow. Obviously the staff are dejected and ill informed. They were standing around talking, wondering if they would get their wages on Friday. I did *jump in* on the conversation to tell them the latest from BBC News 24 was that apparently money was ring fenced to pay wages this Friday !!

My friend who lost through Farepak worried me also as she had posted on the site that she had ordered and Xbox. I hastily posted back "have you paid for it yet............."? Thankfully she had not - would have hated for her to have lost money again.

I guess we shall just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings but with debts of almost £400 million, I am not optimistic that Woolies will be saved as an ongoing concern!

Exhausted

I am so tired. I guess recovering from flu has really taken it out of me plus the fact the kids have been with me all weekend and the weather has not been particularly kind!

I sat yesterday thinking I would get my Employment law ETMA out of the way. I surprised myself at how quickly I actually managed to get through it until I read the question again .............................!!! Not only had I answered it on behalf of an employer, I had also put a whole load of employee "fidelity" duties in which were not required. Upon taking out what should never have been there in the first place cut my word count drastically ! I am now wondering what more I can add to "confidence and trust.................."!! Perhaps tackling an assessment when I am not fully 100% was not ideal!

To be honest, I think I actually got stuck into it as my brain is dealing much better with theoretical right now rather than numbers and I do have a HUGE financial reporting assessment coming up! Yeh, my brain is soooooooooo good theoretically it added in a whole load of unnecessary stuff !

So tomorrow it is back to class after almost 2 weeks off sick and let me tell you I do NOT feel overjoyed about the prospect! Monday is a nippy day in any event as I have nursery/school drop off, full day of class, nursery/school pick up and then the Brownie run which I totally do not like when the dark nights have set in.

Chloe had 2 unhappy discoveries this weekend. First of all she discovered the tooth fairy did not exist (she found teeth I had kept - like I was to know she would go hunting ) so asking me a direct question and NOT wanting to lie to my daughter, I had to tell her the truth. By telling her the truth that lead into the question of the big fat man in the red suit - "does Santa exist then mummy................"! What could I say? Could I lie???? I retorted with "well what do you think..............."! She said she believed in him and I said "well that is great then........."! Would she leave it at that? Nope! She continued to press me and then begged me to "tell the truth"! Considering she is 9 I guess she has done pretty well to believe up until now and that said I have my serious suspicion she knew all along but did not let on. She has promised not to spill the beans to Ruaraidh and actually said "does that mean I can eat the cookie and drink the milk instead of grandad this year........................"!

Then came the final question "Mummy, now I know about the tooth fairy and santa, please don't tell me Jesus does not exist either................."!!!! With that, I will end - too many questions this weekend !

An early night beckons :0) laters :0) x

My Ramblings Are Gone!!!!

Through following other bloggers over the past couple of weeks I suddenly thought of my own blog "my ramblings"! To my horror I have discovered that AOHELL have only gone and shut down the journal/blogs and all my ramblings are gone!

To say I am upset is an understatement. Those ramblings went as far back as when I felt like a beached whale in the last throngs of pregnancy with Ruaraidh. My feelings, my thoughts, my tears, my laughter - all gone!

So, what do I do? Sit around and mope - what's the point in that - may as well start a new chapter in my life - also it distracts my attention away from the fact I actually should be sitting doing several hours of financial reporting at present ;0).

My morning began with a 10.30 LIVE on Sky News discussing ways to save for Christmas 2009 given the current economic condition. Tracey (my friend) found it hilarious that they [Sky] also asked for my advice for consumers who had not saved for this Christmas! Martin Lewis eat your heart out!!!!!

I think I was most impressed by the fact that I managed to get through the entire interview without coughing once - I put that down to the fact I was squirting more honey down my throat than Pooh Bear could even dream of prior to going LIVE!

Picked up a copy of the Big Issue today which featured a fantastic piece written by Adam Forrest (with a little bit of help from his *friend*) ;0) ! I was very excited to see the fact that he had finally mentioned the fact that the court case in relation to Farepak COULD make LEGAL HISTORY! Yayyyyyyy at last, someone has finally got the message! What a welcoming precedent that would be and to that I say "Roll on 2009................."!!!!

My daughter is still sick - I stripped her bed today and aired her room and am hoping that she is feeling slightly better tomorrow. I am also hoping the headache I have had for days leaves me by tomorrow as I seriously do need to get my head into that financial reporting or I am in BIG trouble!

Laters ;0) x