The crash in oil price has finally hit us here in the Middle East Learning Centre, and the staff have been instructed that in Q1 everyone that is not teaching will be on a half-work/half-pay deal. For the Don, this means that March will be a part-time month, which on the whole, apart from the lack of money of course, will be quite nice.
Anyway, along with all the staff that have been cut in the last few years (34,000 across SLB I think so we count ourselves lucky!), other things are also being cut: no more class dinners at the end of each course; no more free mugs/t-shirts/baseball caps for student, despite the fact that they have already been paid for and are just sitting in cupboards; and the one that is perhaps hardest to stomach *boom boom* no more free food.
Because it's a training centre that the Don works in, which has accommodation for about 500 students, as well as two gyms, a sports hall, an outdoor football pitch, squash courts, and of course a mosque, there is a canteen that serves hot, cold, and everything in between, meals three times a day. This was greatly utilized when the Don first moved here and was living in an empty house, and is certainly still enjoyed once a day. I have to say, though, that when I first heard about the canteen I was a bit disappointed. Generally I've enjoyed making the Don his packed lunches for most of the last ten years, though I will admit that in Midland he went through an even more enjoyable stage of coming home for his lunch most days.
Don't get me wrong, although I'd say I've enjoyed making lunch for the Don, I do not actually enjoy making lunch boxes for children, especially not day in and day out for weeks at a time. Nevertheless I'd say that probably eight out of the ten days in a two week period I do pack them with pride (I mean I'm not proud of them per se) and full of healthy and nutritious food that the kids all enjoy. I, personally, hate sandwiches and did not enjoy my lunch box growing up, so I do try and give them variety and a bit of excitement every now and again. So when the Don told me he'd have to start paying for his lunches I thought hey! time to start packing him lunches again too, I don't mind that at all.
Not that he now has to pay a lot for his meals: 7 dhs I think is the rate for each meal, for as much as he wants, which is just under $2, or only £1.50 or something. But you know, take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves... or whatever the phrase is.
So I started the new year with enthusiasm, adding a few extra things to my shopping basket like crisps that I know he likes. But then he was out on the wellpad for a week, and they have lunch brought out to them there, and then in was International Week, and birthdays, and shadowing work and then starting work, and, well, the packs of crisps and other goodies bought for him are still sitting there. Last week I barely had enough in the house to give the kids at breakfast let alone scrape together for their lunch, but that's the thing, you can scrape together a lunch for the kids, and sometimes the more weird and wonderful the more they enjoy it. But that's probably not quite so suitable for a grown man.
So now I am thankful once again for the canteen and the lunch vouchers that the Don stocked up on a few weeks ago. I'm sure my feelings will change depending on when I've done my grocery shop and what food I have leftover (which is not as common feeding 6 as feeding 2-5) but you know, on the whole, I have enough to do without adding an extra lunch box to the mix.
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