ABSTRACT
All the pressure on Nick was taking its toll and he was too ill to go to work again for a few days. Apart from all the disturbed nights and not knowing what to do to help me, he was under intense stress at work. Staff constantly asked him how I was throughout the day – just as he concentrated on something someone else would ask. They felt they should enquire and genuinely did want to know but he could not give them real answers. He did not know. I had started being very snappy, pleasant one minute, horrible the next. He did not know if he was coming home to me still in my nightclothes, not washed, crying or smiling when he came in. Alternatively he might come in to find me wearing make-up, dressed, a meal on the table, with me brightly asking if he had had a good day. Poor Nick just never knew from one night to the next what it was going to be like and neither did I. My absence was also causing problems because the supply teachers were proving to be unsuitable. Hence the other staff in our senior department were complaining and asking when would I be back. Surely she was better now? What was she playing at? If she was fit to be shopping at Marks and Spencer then why was she not at work? Was she just ‘playing the system’?
