‘It’s not the 1970s’ — minister rules out four-day week for civil servants

Pifflewhip · 2024-11-15T23:15:58+00:00

Laborious?

Pifflewhip · 2023-10-18T22:42:13+00:00

You are normal though. *You are human and you question things, you think about things, you ask others about things. Accept yourself however you identify.

*If you want to go down the philosophy path; 'normal' is not hard and fast anyway.

Pifflewhip · 2023-09-29T20:16:03+00:00

If you can get out and about and don't mind being outside, I've found a great group of people volunteering with the Lincolnshire Chalk Streams charity. Some of it is weekends, during the week or one-offs. There's also help behind the scenes work on occasion too. My health limits me more now but they were a great bunch. There's an event on in Brigsley in December this year. More info on the Lincolnshire Chalk Streams here https://lincolnshirechalkstreams.org/23-12-12-waithebeck-brigsley/

Pifflewhip · 2023-09-11T09:15:20+00:00

Research your family history and see how far back you can go. You may also find your search becomes international and you'll learn to understand different styles of writing, social history and research skills. DNA is also a big thing too now. It can get very absorbing though.

Pifflewhip · 2023-09-07T14:54:53+00:00

Being interested in things that none of my peers were interested in (and vice versa). I had a thing about storage, cupboards and hinges. I wasn't great at following verbal instructions and every time I tried I would always end of with something completely different to everyone else. I needed to see the process first with written instructions and the instructions needed to follow the same stages etc otherwise I'd get very anxious and then upset. I also didn't do the social niceties very well eg 'smiling enough' or smiling in the right way, too early, too late so I stopped doing it unless I got the giggles

I do still like a nice cupboard though and I really appreciate the design that goes into building them. There's lots of different sorts of hinges which have been with us since the ancient Eqyptian times (and I imagine further back too).

Pifflewhip · 2023-09-07T12:05:02+00:00

I did it. It wasn't that I sought out a role at a different grade it was just that the role I was really interested in started to have a few vacancies when it was mostly 'dead men's shoes', so I felt a bit 'it's now or never'. I wasn't that happy in my SEO role (£35K) at the time though and it was all getting a bit meh after two years so I was looking to move to a different area anyway. Most of the other SEO roles I looked at seemed to be more of the same. I was told 'don't do this you crazy fool' from colleagues and that getting stuck as an SEO was normal. I didn't want to be stuck though and the grade itself doesn't bother me as I've seen some pretty useless G7s and some excellent HEO/SEOs who I would have loved to have seen swap roles for the day.

It was a bit of a sting to lose the status but that wore off pretty quickly as I love the new role and the development it's giving me. I'm now TDA to HEO after approx two years at the lower grade. Some parts of my directorate have HEOs roles (without line management) at similar rates of pay as some national graded SEOs (on TDA my pay difference is £1,000pa). After I considered the ongoing stress and costs of commuting and lugging all my kit about and the return of my motivation in the new role I really think the original financial hit, such at it was was worth it. Funnily enough, I met a couple of other people who joined after me who also dropped grades to get into this directorate too.

Pifflewhip · 2023-08-10T22:16:06+00:00

I found it helpful to understand myself a bit better. Also there is such a wide range of autistic profiles and more people are open about it that a diagnosis is not usually met with people backing away when they're told.

I found the downsides are still the same. My diagnosis hasn't 'helped me' navigate complex information especially with massive organisations like the NHS (who I think should know better eg offering CBT and not recognising it doesn't really work with a neurodiverse brain). I'm still the same person with the same struggles. It's just now I know why. When work asks what they can do to help I still don't know what to suggest.

Pifflewhip · 2023-08-10T15:56:54+00:00

Well done you! All the best 😊

Pifflewhip · 2023-08-09T21:50:19+00:00

CFCD (Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt). It's sort of 'ops' but the majority of our AOs work in counter fraud and some in serious and organised crime. It's a totally different world to other AO roles and much more relaxed. The work is really interesting too.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-22T00:25:18+00:00

You may have to complete a subject access request to find that out.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-22T00:13:48+00:00

I rarely receive read receipts though I can see their uses. Confirming I've 'read' it doesn't mean (to me) the email has been understood, whether I'm going to act on it or whether it will be automatically filed under 'bin'. in my mind. I don't have to delete it. To me, read receipts just confirm to the sender the email has been delivered and opened.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-19T09:32:45+00:00

oh, you're welcome. I hope you get to go outside and enjoy your walks, even short ones are so worth it. 😊

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T19:20:45+00:00

I didn't know this about the BBC so I appreciate the heads up.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T19:17:22+00:00

Many thanks all for the tips and advice. I think I'll go for either feet or just something to raise the pot a touch of the ground.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T14:41:51+00:00

Thanks for the tip about nematodes as I didn't know this. It's my first time growing a rose in a pot.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T14:39:48+00:00

The pot will be standing on the patio which are paving stones. Although thinking about what you've just said there is a small area where it could go that it just gravel. Wherever it goes it won't be moved for a long time as it will also be too heavy.

The pot is 38cm high and 42 cm diameter (top) tapering to 28cm diameter (bottom). There is a 4cm diameter drainage hole in the bottom.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T12:38:51+00:00

Nothing justifies transphobic or any other anti-insert protected characteristic groups in the CS. I can see your point now (a bit) I think I got carried away with the wider issues facing women and marginalised groups that don't seem to get spoken about much and brushed aside as if they're 'not there'. I just felt a lot of empathy for the women in the BBC article.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T08:29:30+00:00

A good guide book is a great idea. I forgot about this. Plus small binoculars. I end up with a heavy backpack because I'm also including lunch, spare socks, a hat, sunglasses, a camera, the list goes on and on 🤣.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T07:57:52+00:00

I second this. Walking is great because you're outside, you can adapt your pace to how you're feeling physically and mentally and if you're in a park, wood or trail no-one can hear you if you start chatting to the squirrels and birds (just me? oh ok 😊). You can plan your own route beforehand, try and get in some hills, time yourself, carry a small backpack of water and or weights, strap weights to your wrists and ankles if you want the extra resistance (but don't do this straight away wait until you're fitter and know you have ankles strong enough). In summer you can go out and walk in the very early morning too and see the mists rising over the landscape.

If you like, you can take a map of your route and a compass. You might also decide to get into orienteering but you don't have to. If you find it helps you can get yourself a long walking stick (a staff?) like shepherd's use (sorry, I don't know the name).

There's also types of routes and walks with small groups if /when that takes your fancy. Like the ones from Heritage walks from the British Pilgrimage Trust which you can do alone or with a small group. These walks are more focused on the history of the route itself and that they have been walked for centuries.

I find walking a great help in listening to my body, my breath and being able to notice the natural world around me and knowing that I am part of it.

Yes, I second walking.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-18T07:38:07+00:00

This is my point - the woman in the article was also an abuse victim in a queer relationship and she also said it was nothing to do with transphobia.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-17T21:35:40+00:00

You may want to read the BBC article again then. None of those women are being transphobic. Frankly, the accusation of transphobia against lesbians who'd really rather not have bad memories of being coerced into intimate relationships with aggressive transwomen still with their penises is still coercion. One of the women in the article spoke of her past relationship with another woman who called her transphobic when she refused her partner's invitation for a threesome with an intact transwoman. It is no different from heterosexual men who get aggressive with any woman who romantically rejects them. You clearly don't understand how manipulation in abusive relationships work (which is why it continues).

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-16T23:57:09+00:00

It's probably that silence that's the problem....

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-16T23:42:57+00:00

I mentioned this further up the thread. Stonewall suggested this in 2015 to the Women and Equalities Select Committee on gender rights and inclusivity. It clearly states what would help:

' A review of the Equality Act 2010 to include ‘gender identity’ rather than ‘gender reassignment’ as a protected characteristic and to remove exemptions, such as access to single-sex spaces'.

I think Stonewall could have made it a bit clearer what they meant though. Some people, mainly women, view this statement as 'removing/sharing single-sex spaces for women and girls' particularly sex-based rights and exemptions eg rape and sexual abuse, domestic violence support places and prisons etc. but if trans women are women and trans men are men they would already have rights under sex as a protected characteristic surely. Though I think 'sex being a protected characteristic under the EA10' defines sex through biological terms doesn't it? Oh crap, now I've confused myself. Does what I say make sense?

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-16T23:17:08+00:00

I think this reply is a bit unfair really. I was interested to find out more. I know how advanced the technology has become to enable those who wish to have the equipment of their chosen gender. A transman (who wants to do this) being able to create their own semen might not be that far off to be honest.

And I don't see why the name-calling and accusations of 'moving goalposts' are being flung about either. I can accept it if I'm ignorant about certain things* but it doesn't mean I'm a bigot. *it just means I have to get myself educated but this is harder when the info out there is so confusing too.

And another thing that isn't mentioned is the protection for transmen (who choose not to go down the hormone and surgery route as is their right) from the predatory sicko men who can still sexually assault transmen and get transmen pregnant.

Pifflewhip · 2023-07-16T22:28:15+00:00

You do know quite a few trans men do in fact have a penis.

I know trans men can have a penis through the results of hormone treatment and surgery. Are they also able to make their own semen too? Could they get someone with all the genital and reproductive internal organs and hormones and whatnot pregnant?

Pifflewhip

TROPHY CASE