Things are happening fast right now, and I'm not completely in control. That stinks.

Sometimes life isn't fair, sometimes it's just unreasonable.

I had my rejection letter in the post this morning.

News that an 11 year old trans girl in Berlin, Germany, is about to be committed to a mental institution by local authorities – following intervention by her absent father – has prompted grave concern by the International LGBTQ Youth and Student Organisation (IGLYO).

I visited the new apartment again today but am still not allowed the keys so had to arrange for the estate agent to meet me there. He was late, so late I called the agency. His diary was on his desk, closed, while he was otherwise doing nowt. His PA chased him out of the door.

I went for a job interview this morning with the local office of a national community group. I have volunteered for them for a few years but this was the first time I'd applied for a paid position. It was also the first time I'd been interviewed for a job since 1987!

I thought on Monday that things might roll along and the plan was to ask my son during the half-term break in February what he wanted to do. At least that was the plan.

The continuing saga of my life with my children, but now re-united.

We're a family again.

It finally looks like there's going to be some movement in my life, of the positive sort.

Please, please, please remember that you should backup your work regularly (weekly is commonly acceptable) to somewhere other than your hard drive. External drives are good (flash memory has a finite life) but DVDs are ideal if the data is less than 4.7Gb.

If you are prepared to lose every story you've written then feel free to ignore this advice.

Topsy
Hindsight is free, you pay for everything else.

For those who have been following this saga I can honestly say that this is the final post on the subject. In two and a half hours this morning my children's future was safeguarded, albeit not quite how I would have wished in an ideal world.

The house felt a little empty for a few days after my son's return to his Northern home. School restarting occupied us however.

The new social worker made the trek North a week into January to visit my son's home, this passed without incidence although I have some personal reservations. She, in turn, produced a report on each of my children that contained no real surprises, just one challenge, her ideas about future contact. I was praised, however, several times.

The following article arrived in my newsfeed a few minutes ago and deals with an assault on a post-op woman. The assault seems to have been caused by an earlier article in the Daily Mail. No surprise there.

Topsy

I've been somewhat distracted since mid-December and haven't managed much more than a few pages of A4 during that time. The latest post of Tammy's Xmas brings me up to date with my edited/proofed scribbles so it'll be a few more days at least before the next chapter appears.

In the meantime however ....

A week before the schools closed for the Christmas break I left home early one morning and travelled North, arriving at my son's school some fifteen minutes prior to my due time.

I had a meeting with the Inclusions Manager whom I had last met in September, the day after my son finally started at that school. Generally she was very happy with him and there were few problems. French is his poorest subject, art and sport his bests.

I'd like to thank everyone who has given me support throughout the past year and I do hope that Christmas treats you all well.

The new social worker phoned me last week and we arranged a meeting for Tuesday (yesterday), She asked if I'd spent any time with my son and when would I next take my daughter to see her mother. All sensible questions. The answers aren't simple though.