Dark clouds on the horizon

Here my usual mid-week non-football musings and updates on how I am getting on with life without Sally.

Last weekend Sally's friend Sylvia came over for a 2nd visit and took away more of Sally's items. She informs me that she has managed to sell a few of her items on ebay making just over $100. The proceeds of the sales will eventually go to me, when all items are out and either placed on ebay or whatever else. I am surprised that they are selling cos it is mainly Sally's craft items, and when over the years we tried to sell on ebay we never got much, often not selling at all. So Sylvia must be doing something right!! However there are yet more visits by Sylvia, we almost finished cleaning out Sally's craft room but haven't even touched the garage yet. Sally is a bower bird, she collects stuff and stores them everywhere!!!! In the days after her death I managed to confine them to both the craft room and garage!!!!

Anyway I did say that I am beginning to deal with Sally's affairs beginning with the phone account. Well it seems there is progress. When I log into both my telstra account and Sally's old account I find both has been closed, however, I haven't been told of any new account. There MUST be a new account cos the cell phones still works, as does the tablets and my portable wi-fi device - it is what I use to get online at work during my breaks and quiet times without resorting to departmental resources that being my office computer, cos every so often they do audits of our computers to uncover any "unauthorised" uses, that is, accessing websites that has nothing to do with the job - even during breaks. So I have a Telstra account that I haven't been told about! Typical Telstra!! Well I won't jump to conclusions just yet as there might very well be mail from Telstra waiting for me at my South Perth box, it is where I have all bills and other financial affairs directed to. It is why I had the PO box, it was back in the days when I was single (or with Barbara) and we moved house every five minutes!! Having a PO box and having all important mail going there saves the bother of having to send change of address notices every five minutes!!! Of course in more recent times we have led more settled lives as Sally hated moving and she much preferred to have her roots firmly planted in one spot!!! But now Sally is gone, it is likely that I may return to my nomadic lifestyle!! LOL!! So anyway there might be Telstra mail in my PO box which I visit only once per week on a Friday. If there is no such mail in my box this Friday then I will get on the 24/7 chat facility on the Telstra website and bug them for answers to - where's the hairy heck is my new account!!!!!

Now just one more week of extreme austerity measures as I have next to no money left due to paying the last of Sally's bills stemming from her medical expenses. Payday is next Thursday. After that things will improve - the "Three Weeks" notwithstanding as I explained in the previous non-football blog!!!

This brings me to another subject. Our much esteemed (NOT!!!!!) state govt announced job cuts in the public sector - that means ME!!!!! Indeed 1500 jobs is set to be forced down a vortex into a parallel universe of Liberal/Conservative values never to return ever again. That may not sound much but there is less than 20000 of us, so at face value the odds of my job suffering this fate is approx 1 in 12, that is really not such long odds. At first they will offer voluntary redundancy to affected souls, however if not enough souls accepts the offer, the govt will resort to FORCED redundancies - a nice way of saying, being sacked, given the boot, shafted!!

However there are a number of factors in my favor. Firstly I work in a school, albeit known as the SCHOOL of Isolated and Distance Education, nevertheless, it is a school. Jobs at schools tends to be left alone, to be targeted only as a last resort, due to political sensitivities. Furthermore this is not the first time they pulled this stunt, indeed a few years ago they were fixin to privatise the Despatch/Warehouse area - that is where I work. In addition, we would be forced by law to go with the private company even if it means taking a pay cut of up to 15%. So we were freaking for a bit until the manager called us to a meeting assuring us that it will never happen to our area, it was indeed more cost effective to keep us public rather than privatising us!!! Hence we are still here. And this is why it is most likely that our jobs will be safe this time around, we perform an essential service that would be far too expensive if it was performed by a private company!!! It is cheaper to keep us on the govt purse strings!!

Furthermore if and when they start on forced redundancies, the first to go will be the contractors. These days most public employees are employed on a fix term contract basis which comes up for renewal each six months or 12 months. Very few are employed as permanent employees. I am one of the lucky ones, I am a permanent employee. So the first target will be the contractors, their contracts will simply not be renewed. My work mate who helps me with my job, he is on a contract, so he would be the one to go, not me. Then after the contractors, the redeployees will be next to go, that is, those permanent employees who have not been slotted into any positions due to their previous positions being abolished, they just turn up for work each day and help with odd jobs, etc. I had been a redeployee several times in the past but I have been in my current position for over 13 years now, the longest time that I have been in any position in the public service. But there are still many redeployees around, a few around my dept, so they would be next to go. Then and only then they will work on permanent employees in actual positions. But for the reasons stated above, it is very unlikely that I would lose my job.

However I am a Virgo and one of our traits is we like to plan for all eventualities regardless of how unlikely it is. Virgos are not gamblers!! We're not even good football tipsters! LOL!! We like things to be in order and to make plans. We Virgos like certainties in life!! And well as unlikely as it is, there is still nevertheless a chance that I will lose my job and be back on the dole - or Newstart as they call it these days. Once I lose my job that will be it for my working life, it will amount to an early retirement. Fact is no company will employ someone who is over 50 nomatter what any govt or politicians says, or what laws are passed. Getting a job when over 50 simply will never happen. But of course I am too young and too healthy to qualify for  a pension, so I be on the lesser Newstart, and in order to keep the payments I would have to make substantial efforts to look for jobs. But it will be nothing more than going through the motions to satisfy Centerlink requirements for in reality I will never find a job at age 50 or above - I turn 50 this year, and the job cuts will occur over two years, so if I am going to lose my job it won't happen until well into next year - after all of the voluntary redundancies and etc has been processed.

But the good thing is I will get a healthy payout if I lose my job and I understand it is tax free. So with my accrued vacation time which I still have several months of in spite of having to take much time off for Sally, plus a redundancy package which is I think a fortnite's pay for every year of service - and I have been in service for 24 years - well it will amount to about a year's worth of salary. So I will have money to play with to allow me to move out of this house as there is no way I could pay the rent, it is more than the fortnitely Newstart allowance!!!! Of course I will never find cheap housing here due to the housing crisis, there is a 5 year waiting list for public housing. Mother is gone so I can't go stay with her!!!!! I will be left to fend for myself!!! However there will be nothing to keep me in this expensive city!!!! I will do what Barbara did - move to a cheaper city in a cheaper state - Hobart Tasmania!!!! There is no housing crisis there. Well there is a different type of housing crisis in Tasmania, the one favoring tenants. Landlords are complaining they can't find tenants and are losing money on their properties. Rent is dirt cheap there. I still have contact with Barbara and she is doing very well for herself on her pension - everything is cheaper, the rent, utility bills, the groceries. My boss at work is from Tasmania and he owns properties in Tasmania and he can't find tenants to save his life!!!! Most of those properties are empty!!!! So with my redundancy package I will get rid of my surplus items (all of Sally's items will be gone by then), move out of here, and head off to Tasmania. Air fares are cheaper these days especially one-way, and do what Barbara did - stay in a motel until she finds a rental, and it took her less than a week to find a place to rent. But mostly likely I won't fly anyway, I would just drive there, via the ferry, as I will still have my car!! Indeed I have a trailer with the raised sides, so will also be able to cart most of my items over as well - though will probably sell the large items such as the fridge and bed, and just get new ones when I move into a place in Tasmania. Also motels are much cheaper there than here in Perth. Rents are dirt cheap and landlords will be begging to have me to move in!!!! I will be in hog heaven!! Plus I get to see Barbara again, so at least I will know someone there. Barbara didn't know anyone in Tasmania when she moved there but she has quite a few friends these days. And so Tasmania will be where I will spend the rest of my days....... Only snag is the bloody weather, always bloody cold, rarely hot in summer though it does get hot on occasion. But a small price to pay for a far better lifestyle on what will be my very limited income.

So anyway I have all possibilities covered!!! But the most likely is that my job will be safe, and I will continue on as a govt employee on what is a pretty good wage. Storm clouds are indeed on the horizon but I should be spared the worse of it - my workload will just increase but it's not anything I can't handle, it is just part of life under a Liberal govt!!!!