It has been a long time since I last published a post on this blog, in fact the last time I actually wrote on the blog was back in September (the articles published after that where all guest articles by someone else).

Goodbye Dad

Unfortunately the day before my birthday my dad passed away peacefully in his sleep. He had been at home for a few months and was completely bed-bound and had to rely on me to do pretty much everything for him.

To say this came as a sucker punch to me is an understatement, even now, some two months on, I am still struggling to come to terms with it as I spent the last 20 years looking after him and now I find myself lost.

It was great to see so many people turn up for his funeral and most of them came back to the pub for the wake – and the only bit of trouble was when my sister’s boyfriend fell off his stall. I was very pleased that Reiss and Alison turned up to offer support, which was gratefully received.

It was a very good send off and I think he would have been pleased.

Fighting The Council

Now that my dad has passed away I had to contact the housing association and submit an application to take over the tenancy of the flat. You would think this would be straight forward, but this is Tower Hamlets Homes we are dealing with here and they seem to love making things as complicated as possible.

I submitted the application form and provided my birth certificate (to prove I’m related to the tenant) and a year’s worth of letters to prove I have lived at the address, they refused to take my passport – which I found to be odd.

It took A MONTH for my application to go upstairs to the housing officer. It didn’t take them long to send me a council tax bill – 3 DAYS after I submitted the application form!

When he came round to see me he noticed it was a two bedroom flat and immediately started putting the pressure on me to move into a one bedroom flat, something I have no interest in as I like where I am living.

He then asked for my passport. Now I had recently lost my passport and I was a little bit confused why he wanted it when the women at the office has refused it, turns out she was meant to take it and photocopy it. If I couldn’t get another one within the next 10 days then I’ll be made homeless. I’ve used some of the money dad left me to buy an emergency one and am currently waiting for it to arrive. That should be in a day or so.

Going on the Dole

I’ve had to go on the dole again, and my adviser is hellbent on getting me a job and is sending me for every single one that comes along – whether I’m qualified for it or not. I’m not allowed to drive, yet he has sent me for several driving jobs.

The good news there is that he is sending me on two courses: he first is for a CSCS card and the second is to gain qualifications in home help.

Podcast

I have spoken a little about my internet radio station days over the past year and this has sparked my interest in presenting again. I don’t think a full-blown radio station is going to happen, but producing a podcast is certainly something I’m looking into. The outlay isn’t as expensive as I thought, all I’d need is a decent microphone and a sturdy xlr cable.

Photo by Rogerio Cunha from FreeImages