Heaven & Hell

Don’t panic! This is not a post about religion. I haven’t seen the light. I won’t be standing at the seafront this weekend with sombre-faced pensioners preaching at bemused passers-by.

I’m having a really strange time recently. Surreal. Bizarre.

While my work life is going steadily down the plughole, family life is improving in so many ways. Life in the Levee household really is pretty magical at the moment!

Heaven At Home

Ray - our eldest daughter - is becoming quite the social butterfly. She’s out visiting friends, being visited by friends, going to her little dance class, off to mother and toddler group and everything else. She’s got a more active social calendar than we do, the tinker! But whatever else she’s doing, she still has time for her old dad and we’ll sometimes sit on the kitchen sofa for one of our ‘wee chats’, or she’ll ask me to make up a story for her. The favourite at the moment is Ray’s Magical Flying Bike that takes her all over Northern Ireland.

Jay - our two-year-old boy - is coming along at a different pace, but no less affectionate than his sister. He’s taking advantage of his sister being out of the house by getting some quality time with his mum and dad.

It’s funny what a bit of special attention can do for a child. In the last few weeks (especially while I was off work), Jay’s come on in leaps and bounds. He’s chatting away with us, asking all sorts of questions. He’s helping around the house (never one of Ray’s fortes) and going for walks with us.

Little Dan - our youngest - is really starting to respond to us and loves nothing more than cuddles, tickles and the odd sing-song. In fact, last week, I was walking out of the kitchen when I looked back for a moment and saw my family sat around the table. Dan on Mrs Levee’s knee with Ray cooing and tickling him and Jay running around with a plastic guitar throwing ‘rock star’ poses. I think that’s a memory that’ll stay with me for a long time…

It seems Mrs L and I are always sharing a smile over some little thing the children have said or done recently. Yep, family life’s great at the moment.

Hell At Work

Isn’t it bizarre, then, that work’s such a pain? Since that sequence of events a few weeks ago that led to me doing the work of two people, I’ve been more and more stressed.

It hasn’t yet dawned on my illustrious employer that there’s no way in hell I can manage the workload alone. I’ve complained to my line manager about it, but it’s falling on deaf ears. Quality of work is falling. Projects small and large are lining up and my Helpdesk is filling up with support calls that I have less and less time to answer. Oh, and did I mention that there’s been no offer of a pay increase in light of this virtual doubling of work?

Moreover, my co-managers are bitching about this like crazy. Speculating about every tidbit that comes down from above. Talking about it all the time. But I’m tired of it, sick of mulling it all over and wondering why. And really sick of the conspiracy theories. Yawwwwnnnn…..

Oh, the CV’s out there folks. Dusted off, updated with the latest high-flying achievements and coming soon to an employment agency near you.

You should never stay in a job you hate. And I’m starting to hate this one with a passion. More importantly, you should never stay with an employer you hate. It’s not a one-way street. If your employer isn’t up to scratch, find a better one. I hope to be interviewing potential employers in the (very) near future!

All this could get me very depressed, but thanks to our little family, I can see the real priority for me right now. And it’s keeping me sane.