Honda

I now am on an enforced break for 4 months, I don’t work at Honda but the company I do work for relies on them for about 99% of our work.

Today (Friday) was a really bad day at work because in spite of Honda’s claims that no one is being made forcible redundant, the same cant be said for those company’s that keep Honda making cars.
Today I saw many of my work colleges being escorted from the building, not to return. They face a very gloomy future in this town because if your looking for a warehouse or drivers job, you will be looking for a long time and forming a very long queue if you are lucky enough to find a vacancy.

All of this week the usual faces seen in my normal daily routine have been disappearing as other company’s in the same position as ours make their staff redundant too.

We had a visit from ‘Jobseekers plus ‘ (I think the ‘plus’ bit means the added bullshit just isn’t hidden), this week to assist those that faced redundancy and advice what benefits and help they could expect. I will sum up what that means…. not a lot and little. The world of the jobcentre and unemployment is a world unknown to me and to be honest I don’t care to look too deeply into its murky sad door.
But as I said earlier, many of my fellow workers will be in that world now, not because they did something wrong, not because they were lazy, not because they didn’t conform to rules or failed to do their best. No they lost their jobs through no fault of their own and a thing that was given a name that sounded innocuous and something greedy bastard bankers had to concern themselves before we did…. the credit crunch.

I am one of the lucky ones, for 2 months at least I am paid for being at home.
Many good, decent people today are now in a situation that no one could have foreseen as early as 6 months ago.

From boomtown to gloom town in less than a year.

Mr Grumpy Goes to the village fete.

Mr Grumpy goes to the village fete.

Mr Grumpy is going to the village fete. ‘The Missus’ packs a banana and jam sandwich for gutsy Mr Grumpy. Doesn’t ‘The Missus’ sound kind? Funny old English language.

‘The Missus’ says “have a nice day but behave yourself”. Mr Grumpy says he will. See the glint in his eye.

Mr Grumpy has promised a lift to two of the local WI ladies who will be entering the same fruit, veg and garden competition as Mr Grumpy. Mr Grumpy likes 'the older lady'.

Mr Grumpy carefully packs his Victoria plum samples and his giant marrow into the dusty car boot then sets off.

When Mr Grumpy arrives at the ladies house, the garden path is blocked by their prize exhibits in large plant pots. Worse still it’s started to rain. Lucky Mr Grumpy is wearing his wellys. Clever old Mr Grumpy.

Mrs Frontage sees Mr Grumpy arriving and shouts from the window. “Hello there, come round the back, our plants are ready there on the path but we'll have a cuppa before we go. Besides this shower will water the plants nicely”. Mr Grumpy sees the large plants are getting damp from the rain and skips round the back as instructed.

Mr Grumpy sits at the table with Mrs Frontage and Mrs Jones. Mrs Jones is from Wales. See the wild look in her eyes, there’s a welcome in her valley.

“Do you like your cake Mr Grumpy, it’s spiced fruit dumpling. I’m entering it in the cake competition again, and I won last year”, says Mrs Jones. Greedy Mr Grumpy does like the cake it is very spicy though.

Mrs Frontage says “those are nice wellys Mr Grumpy; you can’t beat the real thing. My boots are leather and look, they chaff a bit and hurt, I really love proper wellys”.

Soon it is time to go. Mr Grumpy loads the car and the ladies comment on Mr Grumpy’s competition entries. “That marrow is one of the best I've seen, and if you don’t mind I'll use my hanky to polish your fruit up a bit”. Mr Grumpy says thanks to Mrs Frontage as she uses a bit of spit and polish and they set off to the fete.

Mr Grumpy wins second prize with his marrow but soon it is time to go home.

‘The Missus’ asks how the day went.
“‘Well”, says Mr Grumpy, “first I picked up two of the WI ladies. Their bushes were so big and wet I had to use the back door. Mrs Jones' dumplings were lovely, they really made my eyes water. Mrs Frontage was admiring my boots. Whilst she showed me her well worn parts, she told me she’s always preferred a rubber upper. Later she said my prizewinner was the biggest she'd ever seen whilst she wiped my plums with tissue”.

Can you imagine the strangest place to put a prize-winning marrow without the benefit of lubricant? ‘The Missus’ can. Poor Mr Grumpy.