Australia HERE WE COME

Finally our Honeymoon is coming into a reality. We have purchased our tickets for Australia. We leave at 7:00 pm February 27th and fly from Calgary to San Francisco. We board the Australian airlines in San Francisco and fly all night to Sydney, Australia. We then have a few hours lay over in Sydney and board a domestic flight to Wagga Wagga, North South Wales. That is where Annette and Brian live. We will stay with them touring around for the whole month of March and return home on March 27th. We will then have two day to catch up from jet lag and then go back to work on March 20th.

The ATB Bank is given me the gears about my vacation time. They will not let me schedule my holidays until January/09. Then I told them that I had to book our trip by November 14th to get the seats and the connections that we wanted. So I booked it on the risk that another person may come into my department who MIGHT have more seniority over me for vacation time, and could bump me. I asked them if they would not ask such a person to try to book their holidays around my schedule. They said they could not verify my vacation time, as this could happen and if it did that person could bump me. So I told them then I would take that risk. Then they asked me what time I wanted. I told them I would be away from March 1 - 2yth inclusive. I knew I would only have three week and 2 days vacation time, so I asked for 3 days of leave without pay. She said she would have to check into that for me. So I left her office with knowing that risk. Then she called me at home that night and told me I could not have a leave without pay for three days as an extention of a vacation. So I left it at that, as I had already come home and booked my trip. So I put the request into human resources and was told the VP had made a managerial decision that they would not allow anybody to take a leave without pay as an extension of a holiday. I told them that the Union agreement does not state that. So now I am going to take it to the Union and see where I get with that. Human Resources says leave it until January. I may be able to buy vacation time with my variable pay or the new benefits package that is coming out in the spring, but won't be effective until April 1st until it is negotiated with the union agreement which expired March 31. The employer is really pushing to get this flex benefits pushed through. They have asked that the bargaining commence in December this year, before the agreement expires, which is very unusual. There must be something in there that they want to open negotiations. Employers don't do that thing.

So I am just going to leave it as such. They are saying that if I don't return to work on March 27th for three days then I have abandoned my job. I pleaded with them that this was my honeymoon, but it didn't matter.

So I will either have a new job before I go on vacation, or not have one when I get back. It matters not to me. They can't expect me to fly back on the 25th, and be to work the next morning. after flying some 21 hours. I could be there physically, but now awake I guess.
Anyway such is my life, always something to worry about. Ardell says we are going to come home March 27th and have the weekend to sleep. We will see what happens. I am going to grieve it with the Union.

I have made a picture memory quilt to take to Annette and Brian for them. It has 16 pictures of them as babies, teenagers, their wedding picture, our wedding picture, their grandkids and pictures of us when they came to visit us in 2005. Annette will be thrilled. L.A. helped me do two blocks with embrodery on them - one says "To Annette and Brian", and the other says
"From Ardell and Shirley". It will be a cherished quilt for sure. I have worked on it for 9 months now and I just have the binding to do on it to finish it.

Brian is building a tour bus his buddy and him bought to take us all around, so we won't have to stay in hotels. He is a carpenter so he has built melamine cupboards in the kitchen area, and installed a shower and bedrooms for us to travel in. It should be fun. It looks like one of the movie stars buses they live in. We will just share the gas for the bus. He has sent my a list of places we might like to visit, like the Great Ocean Road and the coastal area and such. We will go to Tamakan where their friends are too to visit with them. So we are looking forward to packing up and leaving February 27th. WOW I am going to Australia.

This weekend the movie Australia premiers with Nicole Kidman and I want to go see it on Saturday night.

Ok now I want to hear from the rest of the family. What have you been up to????? We are neglecting our news to the family on this blog. Let's all make a New Years resolution to write at least once a month now.

Love you all.

Auntie Shirley