Tell me why I don't like Mondays.........

Today really didn't turn out as I had planned or hoped. I woke up to torrential rain and on checking the forecast for Portsmouth and Aldershot it became clear that this rain was going to last. I have say that my heart sank. I've been looking forward to this research trip for some time now, and the thought of not being able to go was upsetting. I spent ages thinking about how I could make it work, whether I could go and cope with being in soaking wet clothes (or whether I could take enough changes of clothes), whether it would be safe to go etc. etc.... When I looked at the BBC weather site there was a recommendation that drivers only make essential journeys but even that wasn't enough to convince me that I couldn't go. It took a phone call from my Dad (I'd texted mum asking her thoughts) before I accepted that it wouldn't be a) safe or b) sensible to go. So that was it. I'll have to go next week instead - weather permitting. I was going to have to cycle into Portsmouth (20 mins) and then from Ash Vale to the museum (15 mins approx.) and finally into Aldershot (30 mins approx.) and then back to Ash Vale station (20 mins approx.) - as you can see this is a lot to cycle in torrential rain. As gutted as I was that I couldn't go, I knew it was the right decision. This was confirmed when I went to sign on, and was soaked from the knees down in about 2 minutes, if I hadn't had my umbrella then I'd have been worse off.

Signing on is always a depressing experience. Normally I sit there and grumble, sending texts to my mum and my friend C. Today was different - as I've said to several people, never annoy a woman with PMT, especially on a Monday and doubly especially when said woman is cold and wet. Every time I go in to sign on I sit and wait with many other people, we sit and we wait, and whilst we wait the staff are sat at their desks, some of them working but most of them either gossiping or doing nothing. Every so often they'll look up at us, smirk a bit and then go back to making us wait. When I finally get seen I am always asked the same questions, despite the fact that the answers are on their screens - am never sure whether they can't be bothered to look, or can't read or are just enjoying driving people nuts....maybe it's all three.... When they've finished making me feel bad for wanting to improve myself (that would be by doing a degree and an MA), they tell me off for not applying for enough jobs - some arbitrary figure which bears no resemblance to the jobs which are a) available and b) suitable...eventually they deign to sign me on and send me on my way.... Today they added a new twist - booking me in for an appointment (on Wednesday) without asking if I could make it....previously all appointments have been booked in for a time suitable to me...naturally I, politely, explained why I couldn't make it. Bless her, I don't think she knew what to do, poor thing.. So off she trotted to a manager, coming back to explain that I needed to wait and see the person I'd been booked to see. To which I, politely, explained that um, no I wouldn't be waiting and could she please just sign me on and re book the appointment (at this point I'd already been waiting for 25 mins just to sign on). She popped off to see the manager again and came back to say that I really did need to wait etc. etc...patiently I explained that I wasn't going to wait, that it wasn't my fault that they were so rude as to book an appointment without asking if it were convenient and that just because I'm unemployed does not mean that they get to be rude to me, oh and please could she just sign me on. At which point I think she just gave up, signed me on and gave me a new appt for a convenient time. Woohoo for politely losing my temper.

I get that I'm on benefits, and receiving money from the government...and I get that this makes me, in some people's eyes, a piece of scum...what I don't get is why those people are employed in a job which requires that they interact with said pieces of scum....weird...and most annoying. I'd love to get a job, of course more than that I'd love not to have to get a job, to be able to focus solely on Uni and on A, but life isn't like that and so I spend days applying for jobs, being turned down and in some cases being totally ignored...and then on top of that I have to put up with being treated like I'm something they trod in....hardly surprising that I get a tad cross sometimes...lol...

Anyway, rant over.... I came home fully intending to do some work - only to find that my get up and go and had got up and gone....well, there's only one thing a girl can do when that happens - put feet up on the sofa, read a book, have a nap and chill..so that's what I did.. The best bit was that A thought I wasn't going to be here and came back after school to pick up his phone - his face when he got to the top of the stairs and saw me was an absolute picture...he had a (girl) friend with him as well - am very glad I was here....

So today didn't turn out as I expected..but I did end up having a better day than I thought I would. Once I'd dealt with the job centre that is. Anyway, I've had fun this evening setting up a flickr account...it doesn't take much to keep me happy, lol... The rain has continued all day but hopefully will have stopped by tomorrow. I've got J and her son N coming over for lunch and I'm really looking forward to seeing them both. Then Wednesday it's off to London....

All in all, a good day - diet kept to, not much exercise (oooops forgot the book AGAIN), but plenty of relaxation..... :D