game face

As part of my schedule today, i had to make the bi-weekly pilgrimage into Huddersfield town centre....

It starts by me driving to the place where i used to work, it's on the outskirts of the Town but the parking is free, and i don't have to worry about those silly height restriction barriers above the car park entrances that threaten to either jam my popemobile firmly underneath them, or rip the aerial from its roots and render my radio/cassette player less useful than it already is.....

On the subject of the radio/cassette player - it has a tape jammed in it, and it also refuses to play that tape, or any other tape i managed to get jammed into it.  The radio itself..... always, when you turn it on, turns on at a volume so low that it's inaudible, and no matter how loud it was when you turned it off, reverts back to this state.  When you wind (in electrical terms) a window down or up then one of the speakers cuts out - usually the passenger side one. 

So.... parked out of town..... and walking down the road towards the centre in glorious sunshine.....

Through the town centre..... i don't want to be one to be a town-centre-knocker but it was pretty grim..... vape shop, barbers, closed, empty, empty, pound bakery, cash convertor...... you get the idea.  I remember the better days when it was all C&A, Thomas Cook, Jaeger, Woolworths, Wilkinsons.....  Not much left to interest me enough to drive in and pay for parking, that's for sure.

I am early for my appointment at the Job Centre  Plus (I take it the "plus" means that the poor staff are also expected to undertake other duties along with the traditional duties of the Job Centre before it was amalgamated with housing, or Universal Credit or summat?).....

I slink into the library in the new, unceremonious setting, where it is indeed amalgamated with the housing department.....  reading a local newspaper for a few minutes, overhearing the staff at the reception desk dealing with anything BUT library queries.... lots of old people being told that they can no longer get face-to-face appointments for this, that, or indeed the other.... and the very patient desk staff helping them access internet, phones, forms, you name it.....

I feel sorry for the oldies who just can't cope with the technological interface to services these days.

Now.... this is the crux of the tale.......

In order for me to head next door, to register as unemployed, and to explain all my efforts i've been making over the last two weeks to find work..... i need to put my game face on.... not just the face but i almost feel the need to apologise for holding out my begging bowl for the £12.93 that i am allotted for my day.

It's a sad thing, signing on..... i don't enjoy it.

Truth be told.... i actually left the process three minutes before my actual appointment time - my story checked out.... my efforts were deemed adequate..... and i was allowed to continue.

I walk back a different way and discover a shopping arcade that seems to be enjoying a little revival, with independent shops, and even a Pokémon trading card vending machine.....  my faith is a little bit restored, and the sun starts to shine again.

I did 'member to take a photo of the pokemon vending machine, but i know you'd be less than thrilled, so here's a picture of Saint John's Church in Birkby....  a mate of mine got married here.... i used to live across the road from here, and i've spent mebbe 15 years working within sight of this building......  the tip of the steeple is relatively new (in geological terms, or at least within my living memory) after some scrap metal thieves tied the lightning conductor to a vehicle and drove off...... it pulled the spire off the top and it crashed through the church roof...... very sad to see.  Looks good now though.