WHERE THERE'S A WILL .....

Isn't it cold! I know it is December and almost Christmas and that we are just a couple of days away from the shortest day of the year but I mean! Think back to the mild temperatures we have had in the UK throughout this year. The last thing I expected was that it would actually get cold! And now I hear the bookies are upping the stakes on an official white Christmas! The last one I can remember was 1982 and that year it was unbelievable - with drifts several feet deep.

I have made a decision. I have been thinking a lot lately - and by God does it hurt when I do too much of that! I have decided that in the New Year, I am going to start looking for a part time job. At the moment I work full time as a PA and I hate it. I am sick of the office and sick of the job - not the people I hasten to add; never them. I have as good a bunch of workmates here as I could possibly want. But yesterday I was taken to lunch and I was told - off the record - that there are going to be some major changes in the New Year - a major staff re-structure, a major re-shuffle and there is a distinct possibility that my role of PA is under threat; that I may be forced to move into the Admin pool and I am not happy about it; nor the way I am being kept in the dark about it. Of course, I should have guessed something like this would happen months ago. Managing Directors do not just walk out at a moment's notice and, to be honest, things haven't been quite the same since he left.

I have been thinking that I need to reduce my hours anyway - this has just speeded things up a bit. I have been working full time almost since I left school at 16 and I really do need to be working less hours now. Plus - I am still thinking about the promotion drive I want to give the Yuck series in the New Year. I can't do that if I am tied to an office five days a week. I have already started looking into funding, grants and awards but it might take me ages to track one down - and then goodeness knows how long it would take for it all to go through. It is obvious that I can't just give up working as much as I'd love to. So the compromise is to work three days a week instead of five, and to supplement the income with school talks and by running workshops - both of which I have done before. Not only would I then still be earning a regular wage, I'd also have two days a week in which to take the Yuck books into the schools, the clubs, the brownie packs, the Beavers, the Writing Groups, the libraries and to write.

So that is the plan. I just need to think of the best way to broach the subject with Hubby, bearing in mind the problems it caused a couple of years ago when I was head-hunted and then made redundant in the space of eighteen months and then laid off after three months at another job. That is why the idea of a compromise seems the best way to do it so now I am mulling it over; the last thing I want him to do is start worrying about our finances. I will keep you guys informed. Where there's a will, there's a way.

In the meantime, may I wish you all a wonderful festive season whatever your personal beliefs and a brilliant 2008.

Have a good one!