OK, so I might be a few weeks behind here, but I only came across this when an advert popped up on my Facebook timeline, and I looked in to it further.
There is one company in Bristol which is apparently offering period leave. Seriously? As if it hasn't been difficult enough for women to make steps towards workplace equality (and let's be honest, we're not there yet). If I had a business, I would be so reluctant to employ women who may take up to a week of every single month.
There are a number of comments on the article, one of which says period pain is not an illness and therefore, women off work because of it shouldn't be marked as off sick. I agree that there can be some cramping or pain with periods (I have to admit, I have never experienced period pain), but if it is getting to a point where a woman can't function day to day, then that is not normal.
I have heavy periods. They are horrible. As a ward nurse, I worked long hours and I never once called in sick because I was on my period. There was, and is, no option for me to slack off when menstruating. To do so would put my patients at risk. The only time I have ever called in sick was when I was a student nurse and I was miscarrying. I took two days off, had the weekend off anyway and was back in on the Monday morning, still bleeding but still at work.
All my colleagues are female. How would that work in practice? We would constantly be staff members down. And what about the idea that women who spend a lot of time together synchronise their periods. I've not personally checked, but what if that meant all the women at work who weren't post-menopausal were off work together? Should we just close the department for a week?
The woman who came up with this idea may have wanted to be seen as caring for her employees. However, she may just have damaged women's equality at work even further.
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Sunday, 17 April 2016
Growing up!
I'm fast approaching a dreaded birthday. When I was younger, I could never imagine myself as a 30 year old woman and now, it is getting closer.
It feels as though I have grown up considerably, even in the last few years. I used to go to bed late every night when I wasn't working the next day. I would go to bed regularly at 2 or 3 am and sleep until 10 or 11. I can't do that now! Going to bed after midnight is a late night (though I'm still perfectly capable of doing it, it just seems like a pointless exercise unless I've gone out), and I rarely sleep late. I woke this morning at 6am! 6am on a Sunday morning! My alarm didn't go, and I didn't need a wee, my body just decided it wanted to wake. I managed to persuade it to go back to sleep but still I woke an hour later.
It's a beautiful day and I have plans, so I'm not too disappointed. I'm going to enjoy the beautiful April sunshine.
It feels as though I have grown up considerably, even in the last few years. I used to go to bed late every night when I wasn't working the next day. I would go to bed regularly at 2 or 3 am and sleep until 10 or 11. I can't do that now! Going to bed after midnight is a late night (though I'm still perfectly capable of doing it, it just seems like a pointless exercise unless I've gone out), and I rarely sleep late. I woke this morning at 6am! 6am on a Sunday morning! My alarm didn't go, and I didn't need a wee, my body just decided it wanted to wake. I managed to persuade it to go back to sleep but still I woke an hour later.
It's a beautiful day and I have plans, so I'm not too disappointed. I'm going to enjoy the beautiful April sunshine.
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Waiting, waiting, waiting...
I feel as though I have spent my whole life waiting.
I've been thinking about having a baby for, oh, about 8 years. Eight years! That is just crazy! And I never seem to get anywhere close.
My job situation may be changing soon (for the better!) and that will be good - I'll definitely get maternity leave there. My family life is improving. And I feel as though I'm taking steps to improve myself.
Who knows, hopefully and at some point, there will be an end to this waiting and I may actually get what I have been waiting for all these years!
I've been thinking about having a baby for, oh, about 8 years. Eight years! That is just crazy! And I never seem to get anywhere close.
My job situation may be changing soon (for the better!) and that will be good - I'll definitely get maternity leave there. My family life is improving. And I feel as though I'm taking steps to improve myself.
Who knows, hopefully and at some point, there will be an end to this waiting and I may actually get what I have been waiting for all these years!
Wednesday, 30 March 2016
I'm sick :(
I don't do being sick at all (and that is one of the things I am dreading about getting pregnant) - being sick makes me more sick.
I've just been sick on the drive home from my mum's tonight. I pulled in at a layby but didn't really want to get out of the car - it's pitch black on that road. I had a few deep breaths, felt better, and drove off. And then I was sick. It went all down my jeans and my t-shirt and over the steering wheel. I accidentally touched it on the way home. It made me want to be sick again.
Getting my t-shirt off was the worst.
I've cleaned the car now and hope the odour goes by the time I have to go anywhere. I've left the window open a little to let things air.
Now I'm sitting in bed, trying to convince myself I don't want to be sick again, and feeling sorry for myself.
I've just been sick on the drive home from my mum's tonight. I pulled in at a layby but didn't really want to get out of the car - it's pitch black on that road. I had a few deep breaths, felt better, and drove off. And then I was sick. It went all down my jeans and my t-shirt and over the steering wheel. I accidentally touched it on the way home. It made me want to be sick again.
Getting my t-shirt off was the worst.
I've cleaned the car now and hope the odour goes by the time I have to go anywhere. I've left the window open a little to let things air.
Now I'm sitting in bed, trying to convince myself I don't want to be sick again, and feeling sorry for myself.
Sunday, 20 March 2016
The gym
I'm contemplating joining a gym.
It's something I have considered on and off for some time now but I have never really found one I like. Apparently, we have one at the hospital, but I've worked there for 7 years and I still don't know where it is!
Anyway, the one I have found is less the £15 per month, is in the same town as the hospital I work in and has parking, which means I could go after work. When I was a kid, I used to laugh at the people going to the gym by car. It seemed to defeat the whole purpose of going to the gym. However, we walked everywhere as kids. we didn't have a car until I passed my driving test, and I remember walking to college three times one day, and home twice (once was for my driving lesson - I asked him to finish the lesson at home), and thinking nothing of it - college was 2 miles from where we lived. However, now the nearest gym to me, the nearest tow even, is 10 miles away, so there is no way I would walk there.
Anyway, pay day is after Easter - I need to buy a sports bra and some trainers and then I will join. I'm actually really excited about it - the last time I went to the gym was when I was in school, so about 13 years ago!
It's something I have considered on and off for some time now but I have never really found one I like. Apparently, we have one at the hospital, but I've worked there for 7 years and I still don't know where it is!
Anyway, the one I have found is less the £15 per month, is in the same town as the hospital I work in and has parking, which means I could go after work. When I was a kid, I used to laugh at the people going to the gym by car. It seemed to defeat the whole purpose of going to the gym. However, we walked everywhere as kids. we didn't have a car until I passed my driving test, and I remember walking to college three times one day, and home twice (once was for my driving lesson - I asked him to finish the lesson at home), and thinking nothing of it - college was 2 miles from where we lived. However, now the nearest gym to me, the nearest tow even, is 10 miles away, so there is no way I would walk there.
Anyway, pay day is after Easter - I need to buy a sports bra and some trainers and then I will join. I'm actually really excited about it - the last time I went to the gym was when I was in school, so about 13 years ago!
Saturday, 19 March 2016
Born in the wrong era?
Does anyone ever feel they were born in the wrong era?
I love the freedom I have as a woman in the 21st century, of course I do - I couldn't exactly be considering having a baby on my own 50 years ago, could I?!
But there are so many things that we have wrong in the 2010s, things which previously, even within my adult life, we never had. I miss the formality of business communication. I just found a letter in my handbag (hence the rambling) from the occupational health department at the hospital I work at - nothing exciting, just a routine health surveillance questionnaire - 'Dear Kaitlyn...'.
'Dear Kaitlyn' indeed. Letters, particularly those of a business nature or which start with a dear and end with yours sincerely, should always start 'Dear Miss Edwards.' I know that is old fashioned, but it really, really drives me crazy. I receive letters from the bank, from my mobile phone provider and from my car insurance company addressed 'Dear Kaitlyn.'
On the phone, I also find it rude when they call me Kaitlyn. I phoned my mobile phone provider (Orange) about a year ago to complain as they had made a mistake a few times with my bill. The man I spoke to kept calling me Kaitlyn. He never asked if that was OK, or how I would like to be addressed. I mean, I was phoning to complain, you would have thought that he would be wanting to do everything in his power to sweet-talk me. But no. On the other hand, I phoned British Gas recently, and the man I spoke to there asked me if it was OK to call me Kaitlyn, and I said of course it was.
Everybody seems so egotistical nowadays, too. Perhaps that is the fault of social media, encouraging people to announce everything. Everybody seems to feel so entitled. I work in the NHS and everybody seems to think that they are the only person who matters. People turn up for their appointments and expect to be seen immediately, despite the fact that their letters say that the appointment could take up to two hours. The worst though are the patients who turn up early - and I mean very early - who expect to be seen when they arrive. The elderly, on the whole, seem much more patient. I don't know whether this is simply because they have learnt to be more patient, they have more time (generally not having to dash off to work or for the school run) or whether they were taught as children to be patient.
People now have no real need to leave the house if they do not wish to. I remember my mum having to go to the post office when we were children to collect her family allowance. Nowadays, it is paid directly in to the bank accounts. If we wanted to go shopping, we had to physically go to the supermarket. Now, it can be done on-line. I remember having to go in to an estate agents to look at houses, a travel agents to book a coach trip, or later a holiday, or the library to get information. Even between finishing my first degree in 2009 and starting my second in 2012, information was available in new ways. I could quite easily have done my second degree without ever stepping foot in the university library. I could have hid away at home to study, using e-books and e-journals rather than physical, paper copies.
One of my best friends was definitely born in the wrong era. She and her fiancé love playing the piano, learning languages and playing board games. I could imagine her living quite happily in an era with ball gowns and servants. And I, too, would be more than happy there.
I love the freedom I have as a woman in the 21st century, of course I do - I couldn't exactly be considering having a baby on my own 50 years ago, could I?!
But there are so many things that we have wrong in the 2010s, things which previously, even within my adult life, we never had. I miss the formality of business communication. I just found a letter in my handbag (hence the rambling) from the occupational health department at the hospital I work at - nothing exciting, just a routine health surveillance questionnaire - 'Dear Kaitlyn...'.
'Dear Kaitlyn' indeed. Letters, particularly those of a business nature or which start with a dear and end with yours sincerely, should always start 'Dear Miss Edwards.' I know that is old fashioned, but it really, really drives me crazy. I receive letters from the bank, from my mobile phone provider and from my car insurance company addressed 'Dear Kaitlyn.'
On the phone, I also find it rude when they call me Kaitlyn. I phoned my mobile phone provider (Orange) about a year ago to complain as they had made a mistake a few times with my bill. The man I spoke to kept calling me Kaitlyn. He never asked if that was OK, or how I would like to be addressed. I mean, I was phoning to complain, you would have thought that he would be wanting to do everything in his power to sweet-talk me. But no. On the other hand, I phoned British Gas recently, and the man I spoke to there asked me if it was OK to call me Kaitlyn, and I said of course it was.
Everybody seems so egotistical nowadays, too. Perhaps that is the fault of social media, encouraging people to announce everything. Everybody seems to feel so entitled. I work in the NHS and everybody seems to think that they are the only person who matters. People turn up for their appointments and expect to be seen immediately, despite the fact that their letters say that the appointment could take up to two hours. The worst though are the patients who turn up early - and I mean very early - who expect to be seen when they arrive. The elderly, on the whole, seem much more patient. I don't know whether this is simply because they have learnt to be more patient, they have more time (generally not having to dash off to work or for the school run) or whether they were taught as children to be patient.
People now have no real need to leave the house if they do not wish to. I remember my mum having to go to the post office when we were children to collect her family allowance. Nowadays, it is paid directly in to the bank accounts. If we wanted to go shopping, we had to physically go to the supermarket. Now, it can be done on-line. I remember having to go in to an estate agents to look at houses, a travel agents to book a coach trip, or later a holiday, or the library to get information. Even between finishing my first degree in 2009 and starting my second in 2012, information was available in new ways. I could quite easily have done my second degree without ever stepping foot in the university library. I could have hid away at home to study, using e-books and e-journals rather than physical, paper copies.
One of my best friends was definitely born in the wrong era. She and her fiancé love playing the piano, learning languages and playing board games. I could imagine her living quite happily in an era with ball gowns and servants. And I, too, would be more than happy there.
Book Review - Shopaholic to the Rescue
This book picks up immediately where Shopaholic to the Stars left off. Becky and Luke had moved to the US where she had just failed at dressing celebrities. Becky's dad and Tarquin, her best friend's husband, along with Brandon (an employee of Alicia Bitch Long Legs, someone Becky hates but who now seems to be the best friend of her best friend, Suze) have headed off across America and no-one knows where they have gone or why. So basically, everyone who has ever been in any of the books heads off across America to rescue.I'm probably really bias - I love all of Sophie Kinsella's books. I think she is an amazing author. And this was no exception. The book is funny, fast-paced and I cannot wait for the next instalment!
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