Another Day

Well it’s been a few days since I wrote anything here so it’s time to let everyone know what developments have been going on since I last wrote. Life is still hard and there is still no real prospect of anything even remotely resembling a job.

I had a long conversation with an agency on Monday about the prospect of a contract job. It’s interesting as an alternative as it gives me the opportunity to look at a slightly different, less secure, but possibly rewarding way of working. That said the conversation was concluded, as all of them have been in the previous month, with the simple prospect of my CV being submitted to the company and then I wait a week to see if they are interested in taking it any further. If I’ve not heard in a week then I’ve not been successful.

I’ve applied for a lot of jobs paying a lot less because of the situation with the housing benefit but apart from the one last Thursday I’ve not heard from a single one of them either. It would appear that I’m not even capable of doing that either. Perhaps the CV is just not good enough. I’ve arranged to see the company I’ve been provided with to help me as part of the redundancy package. I have a meeting with a coach next Thursday. We shall see what they have to offer. So far, despite promises, they’ve not even managed to send the confirmation e-mail with the details of exactly where I’m supposed to go. Oh well.

Shortly after there were other developments with regard to the issue with housing benefit. The council called me to discuss another issue I had with them. The woman I spoke to was helpful and then went onto discuss the situation with the claim. She seemed to think that I would be entitled to claim and that it was nothing to do with anyone but me. She offered to check further and called the next day to confirm this. I have to say that this was quite impressive as this was not actually something she had to do at all. It’s at least been something positive to come out of the week.

I’ve also got somewhere to go. My friend called me to talk about the situation and has said I can go and stay in his spare room. Technically this will actually make me homeless but I’ve got no option. My landlord has sent me the notice to leave the property by July 31st. I’ve explained that I will more than likely leave before that. I’ve got to sort out storing everything over the next couple of months. It is far from ideal but I have not really got any choice. My life is going to be very different.

I am going to have to get used to a great deal scaling down. I won’t be able to luxuriate on my own as I’ll have nowhere near the amount of money that I have had. So I’ve got to look to find someone to share with. I will have to go back much further down the career scale and go back to somewhere near the bottom. It is really difficult to sit and comprehend this.
The one positive is that there is a possibility of working with an old work colleague. She said if I went in at the agent level there might be prospects later. Once I’ve moved from Croydon this seems like a possible way out of things. There is a lot to sort out and things are still going to be difficult but it does feel like there is a way back up again.