Manic Kitty

Stupid Migraine.
First day at the new job went really well, would have been better had I not had a nagging head and felt mildly rubbish.

The first 2 weeks are training. Today we've done boring things like General Inroductions, Policies and Procedures, and Confidentiality. Also scary things like Fire Safety (I'm thinking about putting doors on the rooms downstairs, and I'm NEVER having a real Christmas tree again.)

Later in the week we get to do the fun things like First Aid, Breakaway Techniques and Challenging Behaviour. I've been working with people with Learning Disabilities for 10 years and I've never had training on Breakaway Techniques or Challenging Behaviour... although I have managed to train other people on them. So I'm quite looking forward to that.

I've also found out where I'll be based. Gatley. Which isn't great, but I don't care. It's not an office job and I'll not be doing it in rush hour. Annoyingly all the homes they had in Tameside are being sold off in December to a different company, so there's not much chance of being moved closer to home. Apparently it's a really nice easy home though, and the manager is very flexible so it should be good.

In the interview I said I'd like to work Part-time, but they obviously didn't make a note of that, so I'm Full-time. I'm pleased though, Full-time means that when the maternal instinct gets too strong I can have time off and get a decent wage, we'd struggle if I was Part-time. It also means more money if I want to try for a secondment and do a nursing course. But they're both thoughts for the future.

The main reason I wanted Part-time was so that I'd have flexibility with holidays, but thanks to Agenda for Change I've ended up with 27 days + 8 bank holidays. That's 7 weeks! That'll do me fine.

Now time for bed to sleep off the headache. I don't start till 9 tomorrow. Which means I get 2 whole hours extra before the alram goes off than I did this time last week. Luxury!