Monday

Good evening peeps,

Tired but not in too much pain.

Last night I slept shallowly and had nightmares about the church and homelessness, very vivid and upsetting.

I woke this morning and dragged myself through the routines.

I headed for the estate, not leaving myself much time, but with it being school holidays, I arrived in good time.

The team today was my workmate, myself, the boss and his daughter.
None of us like the estate, the work is soul destroying and the management company are horrible.
I was dreading it even more than usual. Having had the diagnosis and assessment of my shoulder and neck makes me more reluctant to do that high impact and futile work to maintain a massive estate with only one day a fortnight. We hate the estate but it has been year round reliable work.

Well it seems that it may be coming to an end. Another firm had been brought in to plant up the desert areas of builders soil, and yes, they had planted directly on the builders soil, against our advice and despite the demise of the plants we put in, the managers have been such cheapskates they refuse to listen regarding the soil being no good, and they have refused to budget for topsoil, so basically those new plants will die.

Anyway, we got on with the mowing, got the estate done. And then onto the weeding, the day dragged, and I drank bottles of squash and hydration solution, as well as keeping the painkillers and anti-inflamatories at top dose.
I also had coffees at breaktime, and endured the day.

In the afternoon I went to get some bags from the vans for my weeding, and all of us except the boss's daughter, who felt unwell, ended up in a kind of confab with some of the residents.

The residents generally like us and our mad hard work, and they don't like the management company.
One of the residents was discussing the site and situation with us, and another, who, believe it or not, I have actually known since I was a teenager, small world eh, came to talk, and he told us the management company had been showing another gardening team round the estate.

We laughed. We rely on the estate for income in the winter but we hate the way the management company treat us and we work flat out and make ourselves ill because they only give us one day a fortnight to do everything, and then they grumble. We have tolerated this and we have run out of patience. Good luck to them if they want to make another team endure it.
The only thing is, according to the residents, the amount of money the management team are taking from residents for maintenance is not being reflected in what they pay us or in any promised work being done, so the residents are sympathetic to us and furious with the management, who are raking in enough to have us there a lot more, as well as budgeting for topsoil and other things that they refuse to.

So it was a heated and sympathetic conflab, where ousting the management team was raised by the residents, one of whom would be more than capable of chairing a new management team, indeed that line of work has been his life, and we would work well for him.
But, it looks as if the current management want shot of us so that they can blame and wear down another team, they just haven't told us yet, so we are waiting with grins on our faces, and when the boss says if they wear the other team down and ask us back, he will charge double. And believe me if they stick to one day a fortnight another team won't last, we have done the impossible for a long time now. I hope I never go back there. I dread and endure it.

Anyway, I finished promptly and went to do my final duties at the farm, phew what a relief! That has been too much for me as well!

Then I came home, traffic crawled and it was 6pm when I got home.

I have had a quiet evening, supper, TV, a book, pain prevention, and now just finishing the day and preparing for bed. I did the invoices and write-up for the farm, and they will have come home to find that. Not that I am impatient but they sometimes take their time to pay for work and I could do with the money.

Tomorrow a quieter day, one old lady, one care home, no farm!

The London trip is uncertain due to the severe disruptions caused by engineering, we are just seeing what alternatives can be worked up, so it is 50-50 at the moment.