Friday 17 August 2012

Summer's Nearly Over


I think wanna-be medics spend a long time waiting for something; waiting for exam results, waiting for UCAS, waiting for uni decisions. Now I'm on the course I was waiting for, I'm still waiting. This week finds me waiting for the uni to update their website and tell me what my timetable is and waiting for summer to be over.

I know, I'm odd but I really don't like summer. It's shorter than it's ever been for me before, only 10 weeks this year instead of the 15 I used to get, but it's still so long. I'm fed up of work. Grateful as I am for my job, I can't get away from the fact that I don't want to be here. Simple as that. This is not what I want to do. I am fortunate to do what I want to do for most of the year, but then it goes and takes a reeeeally long break. It gets to the point where I have to remind myself that this isn't forever, that I'm not a Pensions Administrator. That people's incompetence with page numbers in Word and their habit of breaking spreadsheets they commission me to make so I have to rebuild them isn't my life. I'm fed up of office gossip, although medic gossip seems to get me in just as much trouble since people are apparently only capable of talking about me, not to me. Honestly, it's worse than high school. Hopefully they grow up someday soon before they graduate. I'm fed up of the army changing mr's shift patterns and destroying our plans seemingly with the changes in the wind. I'm fed up of Facebook filling up with pictures and statuses of people's lovely holidays and trips to multiple countries - when is it their turn to join me in the real world? It's my seventh year at this company working.  I don't remember what it's like to have long empty summer holidays doing nothing.  Home is a bit stressful too as some of my family aren't very well.  It's frustrating, as when we call for an update, I get oh, well we're waiting for scan results. What scan? Not a clue, a scan.  Right. 

At work my boss has been seconded to another office for the next few months. He left me with a load of work to do. Unfortunately, the other five managers at work have realised he's not here and queue up to give me their work to do as well. Every time I refresh my work queue or email inbox there's more to do. I tried to give a bit back as I was just too busy and I had five different people going up the chain of command coming over and demanding why couldn't I do it, what else did I possibly have to do that was more important than their bit. Plenty thanks.

I got into an argument with one of my old housemates. They hadn't paid me bill money so I can close down the accounts, and when I reminded them about it twice, after ignoring me, the first thing they did was lie to me. When I caught them out at lying, they went all defensive and tried to make out it was me being mean and demanded an apology. After the third time they asked for an apology and said something completely melodramatic to make me sound like an awful person I erupted. I probably said some things I shouldn't have, but it just galled me that never once did they say anything in the way of an apology for lying to me in the first place, or even admit to it in fact. You don't take Bean on in an argument and then make her mad because you will lose.  I know it was a silly thing to do because they have a lot of friends and they will delight in telling them how mean I was and what an awful person I am. Even those these people have never really spoken to me before, it's going to be a little frosty next year I think. Hopefully they will give me a chance and see that actually, I'm a nice person. See? High school stuff.

Our landlord is trying to keep all our deposits and wants more money on top of that. Not because we damaged the place, but because the tenant he found to fill a room turned out to be a broke druggy so he lost a lot of money in unpaid rent. He also had to replace our broken boiler, rewire the lights as the switches didn't work, rewire the top floor as the fire alarms weren't connected and as he doesn't have any tenants for next year he's decided to knock the kitchen and the dining room together and put flat screen TV's on all the bedroom walls. I think new tenants would rather not have damp and mould not share there room with worms that come in through the hole in the wall, but that's just me, he's the Landlord. Rather than getting the unpaid rent from the guarantor he wants it from our deposits. It should work out in our favour though, because he never told us which deposit protection scheme he put our deposits in, and won't tell us now we've asked, suggesting he never did. This is illegal and we can take him to court for repayment of the full amount plus a fine of 1-3 times the amount of the deposit. We aren't the affable, clueless students he takes us for. Fingers crossed.

I did manage to get away with Mr for the weekend in London, which was nice. We went to watch the women's triathalon and finally got to the Hunterian collection at the Royal College of Surgeons. I've wanted to go for years, but it's always shut at New Years when we get to go to London. It was lovely to be in London at Olympic time, everything was so colourful and happy. I loved the medals hanging from the trees in Leicester Square. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we're having a mini break in Cornwall since we had to cancel our main holiday. If the army change his shifts again, I'm kidnapping him.

I am so excited and nervous about next year. I'm quite looking forward to exploring a new city now I've gotten used to the idea. I do feel a little lost and forgotten about though. If I was a Fresher I'd have been sent a welcome pack, or I'd have one waiting for me in my Halls of Residence room. Because I'm a third year, I won't get that, yet I still don't know anything about the uni or town and we start two weeks before they do, so there won't even be anything around on campus to pick up.

I want to say thanks to all the people that commented on my last post, I really appreciate them, they made my day.  I only have one more week left a work and then one week at home, four days of which I'm in Cornwall. Summer's nearly over and I can't wait. Normally, happy posts will resume when I'm back at med school.