Catch up.

Well it's been a frantic, stressful and strange few weeks but we've made it.
CJS Weekly has continued to be produced as normal and most people seem to be coping with the new log in details without too many problems.
In the midst of it all Hebe has been fitted with her zip, she was very brave and didn't even look at her stitches, she's been unpicked but now has a frozen tail. Totally unconnected with the surgery but from playing too roughly within a visiting small person, she's feeling more sorry for herself about her tail than her zip, however, it is beginning to defrost and to wag again. The Owls have visited regularly, especially in the frequent downpours. In the high temperatures of a few weeks ago we were adding ice to the tropical fish tank! And KH was asking for a walk in freezer (doesn't do hot, but loves the snow). The plum tree is infested with greenfly which have also damaged the hop, roses and apple trees, the birds have been feasting but not really making any significant impact on the population explosion. Although it is nice to have flocks of long tail tits in the garden at this time of year reinforcements were called for and yesterday a package of ladybirds was released. It was really funny the way the ladybirds suddenly spotted (no pun intended) dinner and stormed off into the worst areas.
At last this week's edition of CJS Weekly is being printed. This week it's thirteen pages containing details of 106 new paid posts of which 33 were sent direct to CJS.

Lots of news.

Sorry for the brief hiatus, the blogger in chief has had some time off! So lots of news for you.

First, last week's edition of CJS Weekly was 10 pages with 67 new vacancies of which 29 were sent direct to CJS. As Royal Mail have now ceased Sunday collections this was the first time CJS Weekly was been collected on a Saturday. It would appear that the system was not quite ready for the sudden influx of extra mail on Saturdays with many more than usual subscribers this week reporting non-delivery. Let's hope the wrinkles have now been ironed out and that copies land on doormats on Monday as usual. This week's edition is now streaming off the printers, it's 12 sides of 85 new paid posts of which 34 came to CJS direct from the employer.

You'll find the results of the Subscribers Survey and our responses. A couple of changes are that we're looking carefully at the types of posts we advertise, excluding some we previously included and possibly adding a few ones. We're also reviewing the look and format of the voluntary vacancies. Many thanks to everyone who replied and sent us their thoughts; and congratulations to subscriber 37634 - the lucky recipient of a set of Bird ID Insights cards.

Now, just in case you hadn't noticed Monday is bonfire night (see the article about hedgehogs and bonfires in this week's edition). Being a rural area we're very lucky in not plagued too much by excessive and inappropriate fireworks. But one CJS subscriber has become an unknowing victim. This package was received in today's post:

Once opened we very gingerly handled a soggy envelope and extracted the contents which still smell smoky. There was also a note from Royal Mail which states, " The enclosed correspondence intended for your address was unfortunately damaged and recovered in this condition. I would like to assure you that whilst every effort is made to ensure your mail is secure at all times, you will appreciate that acts of mindless vandalism by unknown member o f the public do sometimes occur and are beyond our control." In other words, some idiot put a firework in the pillar box!!

Last week we had to light the wood stove for the first time this year, but then we've let it go out and now have the windows open again, this must be one of the warmest beginnings to November. We've also cleaned all the bird feeders and refilled them and now the garden is full of very hungry birds, they were just waiting, no sooner had the filled feeders been put on the hooks than the first finches arrived – even before we'd got back inside! This year there seem to be more cole tits than before and several large families of long tailed tits have been checking us out but as yet none of the large flocks of siskins that have been reported elsewhere. Several skeins of geese and one of swans (probably whooper but too far away to confirm categorically) have flown over this last few days. Hebe has discovered that she likes bird food and is digging under the feeders for all the scraps, she's not yet realised that a couple of them are within reach – yet….!

Oh, and for those of you worried about the poor traumatized pup - Hebe managed OK during the rugby, we were very restrained despite wanting to scream – it was a try, it was a try (it wasn't but there you go), so well done to the boys for a sterling effort and roll on 2011 when we'll do all again! In the mean time I think we'll have to go with some desensitization exercises prior to the six nations.

It's been a busy week.

It looks like it might be good news on the postal front with RM & CWU having reached a provisional agreement and this week's strikes being called off – let's hope that's an end to it. Well CJS Weekly is now printing, this week it's 12 sides with 113 new paid posts of which 27 came direct to CJS including a small splurge from the Environment Agency. It's been a busy week and AN has been on holiday; just after sending out a tranche of Special Edition letters resulting in lots of enquiries!

Our latest round of recruitment was not successful – how hard can it be to find one slightly mad, computer literate, doggie person? Apparently in this corner of the country extremely! So here we go again, new ad, new approach and everything crossed.

The local peregrines have been across a couple of times this week scattering all the garden birds but the falcon was just passing though not actively hunting. Hebe (the new puppy who's almost 5 months old now!) is claiming slave labour, that it's not right for a such a young personage to have to work such long hours – I couldn't agree more but how else is she to earn her bonios? She got rather upset last Saturday at around 9.30pm when her people (or Beans as she refers to us) got rather excited at events in Paris. We already on tenterhooks today so heaven help her tomorrow…..

Dog news

Well Hebe's put her mark on the office – or rather her tooth prints in one of the invoice folders! Ah, the joys of Labrador puppies!! Bill (AN's collie pup) is now nine months old and as his sore shoulder didn't get any better he went under the knife yesterday. The surgeon says it all went well and after surgery like this an improvement can usually be seen in a week to ten days, so fingers crossed; he comes home this afternoon.

Proper CJS information now! CJS Weekly went according to plan and is now dropping off the printers, this week it's 10 sides with 65 new paid UK jobs of which 27 were sent direct to CJS. There's a new page on the website too, it tells you all about the types of jobs you can expect to find within the pages of CJS and the employers who advertise, read it here: http://www.countryside-jobs.com/Jobs/Types.htm

It's Friday.

At last, it's been a long week and a strange one at that. Mixed post deliveries and collections means the usual publication subscriptions didn't arrive and we searched for the jobs from websites instead, all outgoing post seemed to go as normal it was just the incoming that was sporadic, today there was a small mountain. It's reported that Royal Mail has a backlog of around 10m items. R is settling in and learning the peculiarities of the CJS office and yesterday Niall came for coffee and sticky buns to meet the 'newbies' R and Hebe. Taking of whom she's doing remarkably well for an 8 (nearly 9) week old and has not disrupted office life anywhere near as much as we thought she would – but give it time….

Anyway despite all of that CJS Weekly is now being printed and should be with you as normal, RM permitting. This week's edition is 12 pages long containing 89 new paid vacancies of which 43 were sent direct to CJS.

New recruit.

The CJS Office has a new recruit. Please meet Hebe:As you can see she's small, has four feet and is canine! Already been pressed in service in the recycling department - munching empty boxes. She's a very intelligent little dog and has her own blog at: http://black-labrador.blogspot.com/
So if you hear strange noises in the background when you call us it's probably Hebe!