I am really starting to think that people like myself and Erin can never make an international relationship work. We both work like crazy but still never seem to have any money at the end of the month. Last month I had 200 pounds saved up towards my airfare for June, but it’s now the 1st April and I have less than 100 pounds towards it. My target of having 300 pounds saved up by now has been completely destroyed and I have been exceptionally careful with my money this month, but I still have less money than I started the month with. What can I do to save money? I haven’t been drinking and eating less than what is realistically healthy. Work has been inconsistent at best, and I haven’t helped myself by destroying my laptop in a fit of rage (see previous entries for info on that). I have been deep in thought this morning after waking up early and I am starting to think it would be less cruel on Erin (and myself) to break it off and let her get on with her life, I don’t want her to have to wait forever for me. I am deeply and madly in love with her and being with her is all I want, but are our ambitions realistic? Erin offered to pay for my airfare but I refused as she may need the money from her tax rebate in case of emergencies in future and I don’t want her or Conner to have to struggle because of her spending money on airfare no matter how much we want to be together. Those fears have already come true as her washer and dryer have stopped working, also her car is refusing to start so has been sent into the mechanics to be looked at. All three of these things are likely to dent her savings and rightfully she is thinking that she can’t get ahead in life no matter what she does and I am thinking the same, now more than ever. We need to talk about what we want to do as the June date is slipping away fast. Do we scrap the summer visit and just go for the Christmas visit, but I fear that I simply don’t have the resources to make this happen. I could get a day job but that doesn’t allow for me to talk with Erin as by the time she gets home from work I’ll be asleep and I am really not a day person. Also a day job wouldn’t actually make any difference to finances as I wouldn’t earn any more money and I would have to work a lot more hours, even if it would offer more stability in wages. It really seems that we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t, what do we do? We can’t keep on having this relationship over the phone and internet, that’s no good for either of us, but just hearing her voice and seeing her beautiful smile makes me feel like I am walking on air; ARGH!!!
Whilst I am on the subject of airfare and airports, Heathrow terminal 5 has been a complete disaster from day one with many people having to fly out without their luggage or even worse have their flights cancelled completely. Which all comes down to British Airways incompetence, not training their staff in the use of the new high-tech systems and in some cases employees didn’t even know where they were supposed to be working in terminal 5 and/or couldn’t find parking spaces. The whole baggage loading systems failed because of a snowball effect because of the lack of training by BA. People have had to pay upto 200 pounds per night for hotel rooms for delayed flights and others have had to buy new clothes abroad because they didn’t have anything to wear as their luggage was still stuck at Heathrow T5. There are 28,000 bags being stored around Healthrow that need to be returned to their rightful owners. This has been a complete farce and British Airways should be held accountable for their incompetence over the past week, they don’t intend to reimburse the people that are out of pocket because of BA’s massive screw-up. It’s not even like they are a budget carrier, far from it infact, they are one of the most expensive carriers in the world. I doubt that many of the people that have been screwed about over the past week will fly with BA again and I don’t blame them. British Airways are supposed to be the UK’s flagship carrier, but this week has made them look like a bunch of amateurs.
I have been watching Panorama this morning about the alleged child abuse at Haute de la Garenne in Jersey. I was shocked (and I am not shocked easily) by some of the stories that have come from former residents at the home including rape (both of boys and girls), pregnancies and forced abortions, physical abuse, being chained up, hit with sticks and much more. The abuse appears to be more widespread across the children’s care system on this island than suspected, and even worse the authorities have been turning a blind eye allowing the individuals to still work with children despite the alleged abuse. This has been going on for more than half a decade and no-one seems to give a damn about it. It creates a compelling case for Jersey to come under UK jurisdiction if they want to be part of the UK if the internal police force and local government can’t regulate themselves properly, how this sort of abuse could be allowed to go on for 50 years is beyond me. Check out the scale of the problem for yourself on the BBC iPlayer service (available until Sunday 6th April).
A quick round-up of sport, Plymouth Argyle were comprehensive beaten by Coventry City away at the Ricoh Arena. The Pilgrims went down 3 – 1 to the The Sky Blues on Saturday afternoon and were lucky to have that scoreline as they were 3 – 0 down with nine minutes left to play when Steve MacLean grabbed a late consolation goal for the Pilgrims. Manager Paul Sturrock blames himself for the loss making wholesale changes to his squad but also pointed a finger at his players (lack of) commitment. Plymouth have fallen out of the play-off positions because of this loss being leapfrogged by Wolves and Ipswich and are now two points off a play-off spot. Let’s hope for better luck when mid-table Charlton visit Home Park on Saturday afternoon, it’s a must win game really if we are to maintain our play-off hopes with other teams around us having a game in hand! Liverpool have almost certainly secured a fourth place finish in the league and claim the final champions league spot after beating local rivals Everton at Anfield on Sunday. But there wasn’t much in it, despite Liverpool dominating the first half they could only find the target once and of course it was Anfield’s hero Fernando Torres who scored his 28th goal of the season for the Reds. Frankly Everton didn’t deserve anything from the tie looking lacklustre for much of the game, Liverpool should have done better with their chances, but I guess that the scoreline doesn’t matter as long as its in our favour. The next tie for Liverpool is a biggie, Arsenal in the champions league tomorrow evening at the Emirates Stadium. Let’s hope that Liverpool’s European form is better than league form as league meetings between the two teams have invariably gone the way of the Gunners. I’ll have my fingers crossed for the Benitez’ men!
I know that I am a little late on this one, but I thought I’d give it a belated mention. England have managed to win a test series away from home in New Zealand beating the Kiwi’s in the second and third tests. England set a first innings total of 253 largely due to Kevin Pietersen finally doing something with the bat in this series scoring 129. The home team could only manage to knock up 168 in reply with Ryan Sidebottom claiming 7 wickets for 47 runs while Stuart Broad claimed 3 for 54 to give England a first innings lead of 85 runs. In the second innings Andrew Strauss who is fighting for his international life knocked up a fine score of 177 from a marathon innings facing 343 deliveries while Ian Bell hit 110 from 167 deliveries. Cook, Pietersen, Ambrose and Broad all made useful contributions of 30+ runs on the way to an innings total of 467 for 7 declared, setting the Kiwi’s a total of 553 to chase for the win. Monty Panesar was the hero for England in the New Zealand second innings claiming a personal best of 6 for 126 runs while Broad claimed another 2 wickets for 78 runs and Sidebottom polished off the tail leaving Tim Southee standing on 77 not out.