Thursday, March 26, 2009

If you want a direct answer

..... ask a direct question!

It's not a bad philosophy, but BG just phoned tonight, and *suddenly* and *out of the blue* was asking Daddy if he was going away soon.

There is no way that was unprompted. This is one of those times where I just wish the She-Ex could be a little straight forward, and if she has a question, stick it in an email and ask it! The He-Ex is the same way - he says something to the AC, and the AC asks me and then he asks the AC what I said. Why not just be honest, and ask a straight forward question? We give both Ex's the information they need to know, when they need to know it. What else should we do?

Oh well.

It was great that R got to speak to the BG again though, and he's calling her tomorrow as well as usual.

AC was slightly disturbed, but I settled him easily enough again.

And I'm going back to bed again.

I don't want to say tomorrow looks like a normal day, in case it ends up a repeat of today!

Now this, this I can do without!

Lovely day, fairly normal.

And then.

Isn't there always an "and then?"

Well, today was lovely. We went to a friends house for a cup tea after school and that was lovely too.

Then we came home, and AC and I played for a bit and had some sandwiches and so on, and that was all lovely.

Then R came home, and he was early, not stupid o'clock at night, and that was super lovely to get an extra evening together.

But then he mentioned that Student Loans had been trying to get hold of me. Fine. Weird, as I don't have an account with them any more, and haven't since September last year when I paid the beggar off, but whatever. So I rang them.

I couldn't give automated woman a loan account number - I don't have a loan with them.
I didn't fit any of her categories.
So I pressed random buttons until I got through to a person.

The person struggled with the idea that I didn't have a loan account number, and then said (after taking some details) "Oh yes, I have you, your account is held by collections!"

I'm sorry - COLLECTIONS?

So they put me through and Obnoxious Patronising Woman tries to tell me I owe Student Loans £160. OPW says that it wasn't paid off in September. OPW says that *I* have made a mistake. I tell OPW that I haven't. OPW says I have but she can't give me any proof, I just have to pay the £160. I tell OPW I'd like to speak to her manager. OPW tells me that I can't, the manager is busy, and that the manager will need time to look over my file before coming to call me back. I eventually agree to this as long as it doesn't happen around my son's bedtime.

R had had a chat with the AC as I so rarely get cross that he thought something really bad had happened. AC and I snuggled and played, R cooked tea for all of us, and the evening improved.

Manager phones at 8pm. Her first words "How can we help you?"

I'm sorry, I thought I spent a while on the phone with OPW and she said you had to have time to look at the file before you could call. Apparently not.

Eventually she understands where I am coming from on this, and is going to listen to the converstions. I request a transcript. She tells me that's £10. I tell her it flaming well isn't, as if she can investigate but I have to pay to investigate then I will be calling the ombudsman as I think her investigation will be biased. She agrees to send me the transcript of the phone call that I claim told me that I was all paid off.

She's going to investigate. She'd put my account on hold. (How generous!) She'll call me before a fortnight is up, and we would see what happened then.

I was most unhappy with their attitude, but accepted this thus far and we'll see what they say.

R is being adorable and supportive. I've had a long bath, and I'm about to have an early bed, but I'm just doing this and watching the World Figure Skating Championships.

Nothing from either Ex today, which was a bonus with the way the day went! I'd have probably said something rude if they started on us today! I think it's coming though. There's something in the air.......

Ah well.

Relatively normal day ahead!

Apparently, I have nothing exciting planned for today. Obviously I do in terms of lessons, as my lessons are always exciting and so on, but there is nothing odd happening today. Aside from a site survey for wireless, it's all good.

Yesterday morning I sat here and wrote. And wrote. And wrote. I haven't written like that for a while (a major while) and now I'm looking at a finished short story, knowing it needs a little polish, and thinking, I could send this off. (post polish!) I think I will. I think I will actually do it. I want to. But what stops me?

Well, if I send it off and it gets published, I could write more, I would have to admit my favourite genre at the moment is truly utter tripe, but I like it. Nobody would need to know - I have a nom de guerre that I used to use. And I might get paid. Might.

If I send it off and it doesn't get published, then it gets rejected, and I look at why, do some work on it, and resubmit it or send it somewhere else. Nobody aside from the Dear Reader needs to know. And R, obviously.

If I don't send it off, I get to look at it, believing it good enough for publication, but secure in the knowledge that I need not find out for real. The truth need not come out.

But truth should come out.

For a long while, my sig line was

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.”


It's an Elvis Presley quote, and it struck a chord with me at the time in the face of the lies we were hearing about us from different people. And the truth did come out, and I even had someone admit they were wrong to have listened without asking me about the truth. But that's what I want to know. The truth.

I have always been a truth seeker. R is someone who values the truth, values honesty in a relationship, and so we fit together nicely. The He-Ex made a game of hiding things, of lying, to prove that he had the control in the relationship, to prove he was man over his woman.

So I want the truth about my writing. I've always been told I write well, I won a couple of competitions as a child, and I got 'A' in my A level Language paper.

That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to polish this up, and send it off. I'll keep you posted Dear Reader, and see what happens!