Well, the weekend started with a bang, with my wife falling out with our close friend and neighbour. Her husband took voluntary redundancy recently, and has been looking for training and a new job in his field of steel defect analysis. Wifey works for the Department for Work and Pensions, so knows a lot of the processes involved in claiming for various kinds of help. And, when he got an interview for a post down on the Isle of Wight (about 250 miles and a ferry ride from here), the jobcentre paid his travel expenses.
Apparently, his advisor said after the interview that, in hindsight, he could have funded a hotel for the night. Now comes the upset. Over coffee, his wife said to mine "I bet he'd have got an overnighter if he'd been coloured." Now, on how many levels is that a bad thing to say? My wife hit the roof.
(our relationship is no bed of roses, believe me, but there are certain things I really admire her for, and speaking her mind is one of them!)
She told her straight out she was being racist, that she had no idea what she was talking about, and that it was a slur on the people helping her husband back into work. Then she said "The trouble with some people is they always think someone is getting something they should have". Class. Now, since he got made redundant, the jobcentre have given him not only his travel expenses, but £300 for a suit and (get this), £5000 for the training he needed to bring him up to the high level he wants to be working at. And, no, I didn't inadvertently add an extra nought there. So five and a half grand, and she had the gall to make a race issue of him not getting a hotel room for the night. Given that he took a hefty redundancy package too, with which she is refurnishing the house, it was a pretty stupid thing to say.It all took place in a cafe, and in my wife's notoriously loud voice too, so you can bet it wasn't a discreet dressing down.
Ah, well. Things are better now, and they went out for the afternoon yesterday. Which is good, because she is a nice person at heart; just a bit thoughtless at times, and reads the Daily Mail, a notoriously anti-immigration newspaper, so her views are inevitably skewed.
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We also took Merlin to Chatsworth for the day...
...which he loved, because you get lots of doggy people there, and they all want to know what kind of dog he is, and make a great fuss of him. It was beautifully sunny, and the gardens are full of a sculpture exhibition at present. We went to the farm shop too, and bought loads of goodies, although it was too chilly to eat in the garden when we got home; the nights are drawing in quickly, it seems.
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And I spent the best part of yesterday in my housewife role, making a huge steak and kidney pie (it would have fed ten people), and then getting really grumpy because my wife and her friend were late back for dinner. Merlin was happy enough though, catching off-cuts while I sliced the meat - he particularly likes kidneys, it seems!
Love to all x
Apparently, his advisor said after the interview that, in hindsight, he could have funded a hotel for the night. Now comes the upset. Over coffee, his wife said to mine "I bet he'd have got an overnighter if he'd been coloured." Now, on how many levels is that a bad thing to say? My wife hit the roof.
(our relationship is no bed of roses, believe me, but there are certain things I really admire her for, and speaking her mind is one of them!)
She told her straight out she was being racist, that she had no idea what she was talking about, and that it was a slur on the people helping her husband back into work. Then she said "The trouble with some people is they always think someone is getting something they should have". Class. Now, since he got made redundant, the jobcentre have given him not only his travel expenses, but £300 for a suit and (get this), £5000 for the training he needed to bring him up to the high level he wants to be working at. And, no, I didn't inadvertently add an extra nought there. So five and a half grand, and she had the gall to make a race issue of him not getting a hotel room for the night. Given that he took a hefty redundancy package too, with which she is refurnishing the house, it was a pretty stupid thing to say.It all took place in a cafe, and in my wife's notoriously loud voice too, so you can bet it wasn't a discreet dressing down.
Ah, well. Things are better now, and they went out for the afternoon yesterday. Which is good, because she is a nice person at heart; just a bit thoughtless at times, and reads the Daily Mail, a notoriously anti-immigration newspaper, so her views are inevitably skewed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We also took Merlin to Chatsworth for the day...
...which he loved, because you get lots of doggy people there, and they all want to know what kind of dog he is, and make a great fuss of him. It was beautifully sunny, and the gardens are full of a sculpture exhibition at present. We went to the farm shop too, and bought loads of goodies, although it was too chilly to eat in the garden when we got home; the nights are drawing in quickly, it seems.
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And I spent the best part of yesterday in my housewife role, making a huge steak and kidney pie (it would have fed ten people), and then getting really grumpy because my wife and her friend were late back for dinner. Merlin was happy enough though, catching off-cuts while I sliced the meat - he particularly likes kidneys, it seems!
Love to all x
SEP 28, 2009 02:04 AM
SEP 28, 2009 03:14 AM
SEP 28, 2009 04:49 AM
SEP 28, 2009 09:24 PM
hee hee, i can only imagine you would be a perfect housewife. kiss. kmk. 
