A bed of roses

9/11 is one of those dates, right? Ask anyone over about 30, and they'll know where they were and what they were doing when the Twin Towers went down. I was in work and one of my colleagues said a plane had crashed into a building in New York. At first we all thought it was some sort of hoax, so we all went online to check it out - and the internet broke! Quite literally. I guess everyone in the university was trying to get online at the same time. Luckily, there was a small radio in the office, so we gathered around that and listened to the news reports coming in. Felt so retro!

Then there was the television news in the evening and the whole thing just seemed more and more surreal. Even now, it's hard to process it.

I read an article earlier about how the US Government helped Pinochet to power on 11 September 1973. Of course it's America's fault! The UK has never been involved in interfering with other countries' governments... Or had imperialist ambitions...

I also read something about sanctions being applied to Iran for supplying weapons to Russia. It made me wonder if there are countries applying sanctions to the UK for supplying Ukraine? It's not something that's ever popped up on the news... but would it? I do want to be clear - in that particular conflict, I think Ukraine are the victim. I also understand why Western governments are accused of hypocrisy when they support Ukraine but ignore Palestine. Which triggers a memory that a member of Biden's government was trying to broker peace...? I mean, it's not as simple as the US waving a political magic wand and the Israeli government backing down. 

The world is a mess and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Richard Rohr says the world is broken but whole - we are held in the loving embrace of God. I'm also reminded of the words I wrote on Sunday about not expecting to finish the work but being obligated to continue it in our own small, seemingly insignificant ways.

To quote Five - no-one is insignificant.

Bit of a rambling post but that's my thought process for you!

So, I was just looking back at this entry from 2017 and found that I didn't like Geralt very much when I first played The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt :O  I had completely forgotten that.  Henry Cavill probably has something to do with it...

Anyway, how is life at the moment?

Well, the daughter and her fiance have had Covid but nothing too serious from the sound of it.  The grandson has made extra efforts at avoiding them :D  We continue to lead something of a charmed life in avoiding it completely, which amazes me given that the son works in a supermarket.

The weather continues mostly sunny but cold.  Last spring was cold and damp.  Sunshine is at least cheerful to look at through the window!

Playstation Access have introduced a pod cast to their weekly schedule, the artwork for which is equal parts amazing, hilarious and adorable.

And tomorrow I'm leading a joint thing with not only the other congregations in our Parish but also a Catholic church to do with Palm Sunday of which I have only the merest grasp because the Rector has had to sign herself off for a week with stress!  Still, I shall take my usual approach of going with the flow :D

Bye for now, DW.

So, my favourite colleague is taking voluntary severance due to him having no post following a restructure of his department. This is the third restructure I have witnessed that was overseen by a particular person and, in each case, someone I give a shit about has found themselves without a job. But this is the worst. And also the one I understand least - in the other two cases, I could see why the person was displaced. It's a shitty tactic, of course. If you have issues with a person, be a fucking grown-up and deal with them! Anyway, this one leaves me gaping like a fish and screaming 'WHY?!?!?!' at the universe. The universe merely gives its best, 'did you say something?' stare in reply.

But there are some things to learn from this.

One thing I've struggled with is the fact that this colleague and I have been close forever (nearly 18 years). If he was going through shit, why wouldn't he tell me? I've used him as a shoulder to cry on (almost literally on a couple of occasions) - he knows I'm here, he knows I'll listen - why not return the favour? Well, just because I'm here for someone doesn't mean they have to take me up on the offer. It's my ego that wants him to make use of me (in a manner of speaking!).

Another thing is that I, and a number of other people, want to say goodbye but he wants to just leave quietly. Again, our egos are at work. We want to acknowledge how we feel about him and the circumstances of him leaving - he feels like shit and doesn't want another reminder of that and the shitty way he's been treated. We say we want to support him, but really we're patting ourselves on the back.

And I also feel a little adrift. When my grandmothers died within a few months of each other, I felt suddenly cut off from the past. They were my link back to the world before my parents were born - and then they were gone. My colleague was one of three people on my original interview panel. One retired about six months after I started, one moved to Glasgow a couple of years ago (also due to a shitty situation caused by the person-who-loves-a-good-restructure)… and now he's going.

I treated him to some proper coffee, yesterday, and gave him a keyring-cum-bottle-opener with 'Keep calm, I'm the Doctor' printed on it in white on dark blue. Coffee and Doctor Who are two of the things we bonded over. And he's also a Doctor (in the academic sense) and I'm a Rose - and we've been so much more than colleagues but not quite friends (no socialising outside work) - and it feels like the end of something that I never imagined would end.

There are other people I'm fond of - my line manager is a total star - but nobody who's seen so much of me. It's true that part of me is leaving, too.