Horace's Biting the Bullet Diary

Horace

Nipped out for a bit - I now have a tank full of petrol £30 went in (thanks mum), I picked up my prescription (another huge box to be kept in the fridge..*roll eyes* now I have even less room for food. I also wafted into the butchers on a waft of homecooked roast pork loin - I came out with 4 slices of loin and a beef & onion pie. Also nipped into the newsagent for a paper and picked up a bag of pear drops.

I rang Remploy to chat about the Sainsbug's job and asked that my CV be submitted to my local store for the 20hr night shift job this could mean working from midnight til 6am or something equally mad - ideally I do not want to work nights but as I will be able to walk to this store as it is local then I am prepared to consider it over the day job where I would have to drive to work. They are going to ask if Sainsbug's will allow my CV to be put forward.

Now to do my applications.

As for house, job and divorce - my nisi will be sorted on 21 May so I would like a job before then and certainly some money because my car needs a service and MOT (MOT due on 5 June), I do not have money for the service - I do have money for the MOT in my credit union account. The auction money has had to go into my current account as I seem to be permanently overdrawn, I get money coming in but I am never in the black long enough, I always end up in the red:mad:

I have a plan though - when I get the house (I have told parents that I will move in once the fuse box has been done and the windows can wait) I will switch to the account that fellow MSE'rs told me about at Barclays as I will no longer have HB coming in and I would rather be able to keep my money. I will also ditch the tv altogether as I cannot afford it and have the internet etc.

Horace

Right then - I have been to see the health trainer and I have lost some weight (whoo hoo). Despite eating chocolate and cake and other things that he considers to be bad e.g. dairy products such as cheese and butter - I have managed to lose all the weight that I had put on last time plus a little bit more:j

Just had a flick through the paper - the columns I read most are the family announcements (to see if any of my old school chums are matched or dispatched:eek:) and the jobs column. Whilst perusing the jobs section I have found a job that would be right up my street and there would be no discrimination issues either because it is working for a sight impaired charity. It would mean a drive to Worcester which is quite far but I could also get the bus and possibly the train if I get a train to Bham first (stupidly the Worcester trains do not stop at my local station).

Oooh yummy...am loving these pear drops which are wearing a hole in my tongue:eek:

Horace

Did not sleep well at all last night due to intense eye pain:( This morning I felt a bit better after using my pressure reducing drops which I have to use twice a day.

Decided to go to Aldi this morning where I spent £7 on store cupboard items plus I fancied some pears - a whole bag for 69p - I had wanted a fresh pineapple but they were 99p instead of 59p as advertised but I was too mean to fork out the extra.

Just back from the shop and noticed a large padded envelope poking out of my letterbox - it contained a full size rimmel mascara to trial for Glamour magazine. Now I have had a few things from Glamour usually Johnsons stuff but I have also had Special K cereal to try too. My voting card came too for the elections that took place yesterday:mad: I didnt go and vote because I didnt have my card so now we have a labour council in Birmingham after 8 years of a LibDem/Conservative coalition - which means that next year our council tax will rise:mad: Must admit that the conservatives havent done themselves any favours in this ward as they tend to keep a very low profile and it is only the labour candidate who was willing to listen to resident's complaints. Also in the post was an envelope from Remploy containing an invitation to a workshop on 24 May for Marks & Spencer:j If I could get a job at M&S that would be fantastic as I know they look after their staff - my uncle worked for them after his redundancy and twice a year he gets 20% off vouchers to share with family so everyone in the family gets one.:cool:

Today is signing day and I shall ask why they are underpaying me by £3.50 a fortnight when I am supposed to get dole of £71 a week.

beanielou

Remploy are certainly being helpful.
Here's hoping.
Have a great weekend.

Did you ask why they were underpaying you?

Eager_Elephant

Horace wrote: »

Today is signing day and I shall ask why they are underpaying me by £3.50 a fortnight when I am supposed to get dole of £71 a week.

£3.55 is the maximum deduction if you have Council Tax arrears and have not paid them - they are able to deduct from your benefits.

Or did you have to have a crisis loan at any point while waiting for your JSA as they deduct that from your ongoing benefit.

Other than that I have no idea - hope you managed to find out.

Horace

Hi gang

I found out about my dole money - one week was paid at the old rate of dole and the other at the new rate, this week I will get £142 to cover for 2 weeks. I have never had a crisis loan nor am I in arrears with the council:j

Spoke to mum on the phone last night regarding the house - the vendors are such liars, they said that they had sent all the papers to the solicitor a fortnight ago but it appears that they were only sent off on Wednesday of this week:mad: The agents are surprised that our solicitor is being very thorough because he has approached the agents himself regarding various things - mum did say that it was why he was being paid a lot of money. The agents were expecting mum and myself to make an appointment to re-view the house and take measurements but mum said that as the vendors cannot be classed as reliable and trustworthy that no further viewings will be made until such time as the contracts have been made and we have the keys.

I am off to mum's on Monday as she has planned that we visit the large D*nelm store in Worcester and we shall go armed with a notebook to note down details of items that I like.

Methinks that the menopause has started - I woke up last night in a cold sweat and couldnt get back to sleep for ages - as a result I didnt drag myself out of bed until 9.45am:eek:

Horace

Spent the whole of yesterday at my parents'. As it was a lovely day Mum decided that we should go to Worcester to visit D*nelm, we nipped into the Ap*llo electrical shop and priced up a fridge freezer and a decent gas cooker with extractor, from there we wandered into D*nelm to look at curtains. We picked out three sets of curtains - the original pair that we liked and these will go in the living room plus one pair to go in the front bedroom (these are ones that we didnt like from the brochure but they looked better in the flesh) and a pair of retro 50's style that can go in the back bedroom. We bought a lamp shade for my new bedoorm and a mattress cover for Dad's bed. We went to another shop called H*me Sense - this is great for the odd things that you need to finish a home and I saw things that I would like in my new home which can wait until I have the funds.

I was back at Mum's today - she offered me use of her tumble dryer but I declined as I only have one item that I washed today. Mum is giving me a duvet set that she has never used as we think it would look quite stylish in the bedroom and I took along a table runner that I got in Singapore which we decided would look great on top of the tall oak chest that belonged to grandma. I got nagged a bit about money again - I refused to let on that I have some debt remaining and as I had forgotten to pay something off my Visa card this month:eek: Paid off more than I would normally. I do hope that I get some settlement as that would let me pay off all my debts (Amex included) and then I can buy things for the house. I don't want my folks looking down their noses at me for still having some debt but at least it is not as much as it was and I am determined to clear it. Vile bully is not getting any more money out of me as the letter to him will be written and sent off - I have taken a little while to do it because I want it to be right. I may also do a little piece for my blog about copyright and scam artists.

Horace

Spent the whole of yesterday doing nothing at all - I never even switched the computer on. I just didnt feel able to do anything as I felt mentally exhausted.

I am back from seeing my nice doctor - I shall miss him when I move as I will be unable to stay with the practice as I will be out of their area by 2 streets:( He has confirmed that my blood pressure is normal 120/80:j when I think back to the time at the Uni when I was being bullied I cringe because my blood pressure then was 143/90:eek: I asked about the menopause and he said that I would know when I start to get more frequent hot flushes - at the moment I occasionally go really hot for a few minutes in the evening and then I am ok again. Also went to Ald* who are introducing parking charges at all their stores. I spent £6.25 buying essentials like bread and milk as well as some fruit fools and some treats.

Managed to speak to soon to be ex and laid it on the line either he gives me the cash that I want or we let the court decide which will mean that I am awarded half and he may have to sell his mother's property - the mere mention of that got a few grumbles about clearing him out and how he is willing to pay in instalments (fine by me) - this means that I will soon get some cash which could not have come at a more opportune time as I told him that I needed to service my car and insure it and I couldnt afford it. We will discuss more when he comes back from his motorbike rally next week.

Unsure about Scottish Power too - did they come and read the meter or not? I have no idea because I was unexpectedly out of the house the day they were due to come but other folks were in the block so they could have gotten in to read the meter. I havent received a bill or any other notification so I am confused as to what is going on.

Horace

I will be so glad to leave this place and cannot wait for everything to be sorted out. Two girls have moved in upstairs and last night I heard screaming coming from their flat and I thought one of them was being murdered so I called the police - turns out that no-one was and they were in fact doing what comes naturally:o Over excitement makes them scream louder than the vixens on the waste ground - so from now on I think I will have to start wearing my earplugs to drown out the noise.

Today is application day as I am in the process of doing two online applications - one for a job in Coventry which is quite far away and I would need to get two trains to get there (one into town and one out) and the other at the local hospital. I had to suspend the Coventry job to give my eyes a break as the online form is certainly not user friendly when it comes to sight impaired people.

Last night I watched a programme about hoarders and realised that after living with one, I too have become a bit of a hoarder myself:o Things will be changing as I am having a clear out and have already gotten rid of some stuff. I also discovered what the building on the corner is - it is the office of the psychologist who appears on the show. I have acknowledged that I have become a bit of a hoarder and am taking steps to rectify that - at least I am not as bad as the folks featured on the tv.

Horace

Well it is Saturday and the sun is out. The day did not get off to a good start as I made my first drink of the day with sour milk..bleurghh so had to remake it. I have run out of coffee so I am using up my teabags (I bought these teabags 3 years' ago and they have been sitting in an airtight box ever since).

It will be application day today as I know I have online applications to do but haven't finished them yet - again too much overthinking.

Need to get in contact with my accountant too to see what she will charge me for my self assessment (she does it online) and to see when I need to submit an annual return for my ltd company which is dormant (I am already getting pestering letters from other accountants who must look at the Companies House website) again I need to find out cost. This will have to be paid from money received from soon to be ex.

Dinner tonight will be a piece of pork fillet (courtesy of mum) which is being defrosted now - I will serve that with spuds and peas seeing as I have run out of cabbage or I may just use up those awful watery steamed veg things that mum gave me.