t's a ten minute drive into Huddersfield for me.
I've gotta go the jobcentre for half past ten, so i give myself plenty of time, and leave the house at quarter to ten..... i try to grab a free parking space round the Greenhead Park area so i can enjoy a leisurely walk into town and if i am early, maybe I'll sign up for a library card.
can't find a parking space.
drive round and round.... traffic lights and traffic everywhere......
drive round some more, find a spot, turn round, realise the spot is on yellow lines, turn round, turn round, disappear up a spout.....
eventually i get parked and it's a fair old walk into town...... it's now ten past ten and I've got twenty minutes to hot foot it across town.....
at one point i was at a pedestrian crossing waiting for it to start beeping..... just a cop car waiting at a red light and me waiting at a red light..... i could just cross, surely, but you bloody well know the lights would turn green and the copper would tut and scowl at me...... turns out the crossing had been on green all the time and i must have looked like i was on crack.....
i need a wee now..... dashed into Wetherspoons. got stuck behind some guy walking down the very centre of the staircase, shambling from side to side clutching his bottle of ketchup.... eventually passed him and manage to get to the bathroom..... coming out of the bathroom I have to do the dance round the same guy who is trying every chair for size at a table for four.....
eight minutes to go.....
straight down the main street, round the corner..... get there at 10:28am just two minutes early..... ask the lady where to go and ushered to a central seating block....
made it. It was more stressful than necessary.
signed on... had a nice meeting with the lass on the desk actually, she was very sympathetic to my plight.....
Total meeting time.... ten minutes.... of course!!
celebrated with a breakfast muffin and a coffee on the way back to the car.....
Here I am looking pitiful outside the "dole office"
Almost makes me glad they won't let me drive any more.
ReplyDeleteyeah i would happily give my driving licence back if public transport was reliable!!
DeleteWell, you certainly got your exercise today in your mad dash across town!
ReplyDeletei did.... i was sweating a bit when i landed - unfortunately didn't hit my "steps" goal for the day but that's based on how much i've done over the last few days...... am sure i can do better tomorrow :)
Delete'What have you been doing to look for work?'
ReplyDelete'Work? Looking for work? I spent most of the morning looking for a parking space!'
she was very sympathetic - told me to park in sainsburys..... cheeky
DeleteVery smoky in HD8 overnight. Moors on fire already.
ReplyDeleteyeah theory is three fires were lit intentionally by some kids who got told off for riding their trials bikes over the moors - don't quote me
DeleteI remember signing up for the dole many many years ago, the amount of paperwork needed proving who I am was ridiculous! and then I learned that I didn't qualify as I had a (small) payout from the company when they closed and in spite of still having kids at home, I had to spend what could have been a nice beginning sized nest egg, I managed to stretch it quite a bit and one of the kids got a job during those months and helped out. then I got a new job and mentally told the dole office where they could stuff their allowance. Fast forward a few years and I was older and achy and working far fewer hours per week and I was grateful to be considered old enough to be allowed a part pension until I retired then the full age pension was given.
ReplyDeletethey really like to make us jump through hoops - most things are means tested now and i have some brass so i don't qualify for much - i think the concept of "dole" has long since been replaced with "universal credit", so the whole "dole" process is quite creaky.
DeleteThe shambling guy with the ketchup bottle still haunts me, after reading this!
ReplyDeletehe still haunts my waking hours
Delete