Today I've mostly bin...

[chazzie]

So are you all making your way to Bunny's for cake?

[Bunnylump]

...So now the baby has been showered. We have tasted baby food (guess the flavour - yuk), drawn the baby on our foreheads, guessed the weight / sex / date, and lord knows what else. We have eaten more cake and sandwiches than you would believe. K has received lots of lovely gifts. And I am knackered.

I still don't understand the point of a baby shower.

[Wulfruna]

I still don't understand the point of a baby shower.

I had never heard of this until a couple of years ago. It is clearly another of those unnecessary American imports which introduce an alien culture to our own traditions. Out of curiosity I lookd it up on Wikipedia and find that they say exactly that - they list out the countries where something like this is done, but clearly say that it was not found in the UK until "the import of American culture". It is quite a nice idea to anticipate the Baby's birth, but could easily get out of hand! - and what happens if something goes wrong?

[Bunnylump]

Indeed. I think the whole thing is more than averagely obnoxious. The implication is that people are invited to "shower" the Mum-to-be with gifts, which K was not at all comfortable with (and nor was I.) Also, there is the issue that because nobody knows whether it is a boy or a girl, any gift must be unisex. The other major problem is that naturally all those same friends will still want to see the baby as soon as possible anyway.

But it seems to be the "expected" thing to do (I was talked into this by three of her friends) and I suppose you could argue that it's an excuse for a get-together and a bit of a celebration of the impending birth. But personally, I would rather be celebrating when the baby is safely delivered.

[chazzie]

Think your final sentence says it all...so when is the babe due?

[LAT]

I think I agree but I suppose it was a chance for K to have some fun with her friends before she has other matters requiring her attention! She's probably unlikely to want a large gathering when she has the little one to look after.

[Bunnylump]

Think your final sentence says it all...so when is the babe due?

Beginning of November. It can't come soon enough for my liking!

[kathlyn]

Not long now then granny to be.

[LAT]

..Becoming officially unemployed.
Well actually the redundancy dates from 10th Nov but today was the day the administrators came in to explain to all staff what we can claim and how to do it. In fact I've been helping collate staff salary and holiday info for them and will be needed a bit over the next week or so to help sort out more financial info, but today felt like the true end of the company as it is the last time I will see many of my ex-colleagues. I finally marked all employees as 'Leavers' in the payroll system, that was really sad.

Still it will be nice to get some money, none of us have been paid since the end of August (and it was a minor miracle we were paid then!) so it has been a rather stressful few months.

I feel rather wiped out now. Some really lovely people worked there and many were struggling over the last two months with mortgages to pay etc. It's been quite heartbreaking at times.

Still, onwards and upwards, who knows what the future holds!

[chazzie]

Sorry to hear your news..hope there's a bright light for the future...for all involved

[Bunnylump]

That's tough, LAT. But as you say, onwards and upwards!

[Wulfruna]

So sorry to see your news. Sadly, this is all too common a story these days with uncertainty hanging over far too many people. Still, it's good to know that at least your staff are being paid off properly in the end - that must indeed have added to the anxiety.
Best wishes for the future.....

[LAT]

The trouble is that no-one will get everything that is owed to them as we can only claim for 8 weeks and it is at least 10 weeks since we were paid. And it is likely to take about 5 weeks for the money to come through by which time it will be nearly 4 months in total without money coming in. Except for the lucky few who have managed to get another job and should get something next week. It's a long time for anyone who is JAM (as has been talked about a lot recently) to survive!

Mind you I haven't even had the energy to put my claim in yet!

[LAT]

Lots of us got emails from the redundancy service today to say our claims should be paid within the next few days. Fingers crossed the payments might arrive before Christmas.

[Bunnylump]

That would be helpful, wouldn't it?

[chazzie]

My fingers are crossed...

[Bunnylump]

Do penguins have fingers?

[Biscuit]

my cat paws are crossed too.

[SparkOut]

Hoping everything works out well for you

[LAT]

The money arrived! There are a lot of much happier people now.
And a few more have got new jobs too.