Another bus route walk

Today we jumped on a number 16 bus and went to the terminus at Silverknowles. It took us an hour on the bus to get to the terminus and an hour and a half to walk the 5 miles home?!



It was a bit busy on the bus. Ann likes to sit in the wheelchair spot because there is lots of room for me to lie down, but someone in a wheelchair got onto the bus so I moved to the buggy spot. Then someone with a buggy got on so I had to move again. And two other people with dogs got on but I ever such a good girl and just ignored them. Doggies travel for free on Edinburgh buses but I think it's up to the drivers discretion how many dogs are allowed on the bus at one time.



Anyway half of my walk home was along cycle paths. I was desperate to be let off my lead because there were zillions of squirrels that needed chasing. The trouble with cycle paths is....................... there's cyclists on them. And that means that I get kept on my lead most of the time because I have a dreadful habit of walking right in front of them and making them fall off their bikes. Actually, I've never made a cyclist fall off their bike but they've had to stop a few times to prevent running me over Ann's always worried that I might?!



When we got home we both flopped down for a snooze and then Ann phoned the swimming pool to see how busy it was. Seriously need to have a bit of a RANT here......................... so switch off now if you only want to hear about my life........................



After Ann had taken me for my morning walk, off she went to the local swimming pool. She's doing the ''Aspire Swim the English Channel Challenge'' so needs to swim about 200 lengths a week until the 4th Dec. This is harder than it seems because Ann works three days a week, is doing two adult ed courses, has to give me two walks a day, has socialising to do obviously and also has to do stuff like shopping and domesticated chores. Plus the local swimming pool is only available to the public at certain times due to swimming lessons etc. Sunday is the only day of the week that it is available to the public all day.



Ann arrived at about 9.45am and spotted a sign on the door that said, 'Due to staff shortages only 25 people are allowed in the pool at a time.' Obviously she didn't know how many people were in the pool so she went to reception where the poor receptionist was trying to explain to a guy with squealy brats that he would have to join a waiting list and wait to get into the pool. Well no way was Ann going to wait for more than 20 mins just to have a swim they don't even have a cafe so she just came home and had a bit of a rant on FB. But it's a 20 min walk there and a 20 min walk back. What a waste of time!



But the thing that is really annoying is............................. Staff shortages? It was a Sunday morning, all the lifeguards are about 12 young and as Ann has had a lot of experience of working with youngsters she knows that Sunday mornings are notorious for them phoning in sick. They are not sick. They just have hangovers??? And somehow over the years, this seems to be a valid reason for not turning up for work. It is soooo, sooo irritating.



Anyway, even though Ann was really tired after my big long bus route walk, when she'd phoned the pool and was told there was space in it, she jumped in the car straight away (free parking on a Sunday) and went back there this afternoon and swam 50 lengths.

Still really annoyed that the pool wasn't staffed properly though.  Ann's best friends son is a 'relief' lifeguard and he works more than 50 hours a week covering shifts due to staff phoning in 'sick'.

#whydoyoungstershavenoworkethic