Bit windy out...

There are many uncomfortable ways to awaken in the morning.  That awful feeling you have forgotten something important.  That tingly feeling caused by sleeping heavily on one part of your body, i.e. the dead arm, the cricked neck.  That realisation you are not dreaming there is an extra long freight train passing on the railway track that is a mile or so away, the noise is real.


Pick the last one, that is what I heard in the wee dark hours of whatever o'clock it was.  


At the beginning of December we had the grandly announced hurricane that caused a minimal amount of damage despite the general public being assured that it was very windy out indeed.  As will be seen from the upcoming photographic evidence a rather wobbly couple of fencing panels fell over from our neighbour's garden.


Last night I heard but not a peep about any up and coming contender for the windiest day of the winter.  Our poor elderly neighbours two-doors down have lost most of their roof and the slates are stabbed into our grass.  They've also lost a portion of fencing which at some point flew across the gardens beheading the neighbours whirly-gig as it passed the already downed fencing panels, one of our washing line posts impaled the fencing allowing it to crash down and squish the other fence.


All in all at least it wasn't the bloody roof.


This used to be their playground...




Oh but there is more!




On other news.  I have decided that there is no way that mother is coming home on Monday.  If this results in us losing this house then so be it.  I cannot cope with her, she is not able to come home still incontinent and unable to hold a cup of hot tea.  I won't be here 24/7 to watch over her and it may sound cruel but I have a feeling that the social work department have timed this so I wouldn't be able to ask for help and once she is dumped at home that will be it.


I go to the Docs on Thursday, I need backup.  If I'm too sick to work I'm too sick to care for her properly.  Once I'm fit then ok, we can deal with it then but until that point there is no use my stressing out, being physically sick over it.  


I spoke to someone once in this position.  They confirmed that once social work have gotten them home then the carer is left pretty much to deal with it and to fight tooth and nail for any help or advice at all.  As far as I can see this hasn't been done at all correctly, I wasn't involved in any of the arrangements which will impact on me and my children.  I cannot cope with a fight with the social work department but they have been very sly about this so let battle commence.


Argh what a fricking mess it all is but I have to stay strong and make sure I deal with my illness first, what is it they say on airplanes - put your own oxygen mask on before attending to anyone else.

Poo Bum Sticks

So, looks like once again luck is not on my side, or anywhere near my side, or even within spitting distance.

As far as I can tell we will be staying put. The one thing that would have made my life and that of the Hobbits so much nicer is once again out of reach and it is so frustrating, so horribly frustrating that I could just burst.

Not ideal. In fact very far from ideal. But what should I expect? It seems to be my lot in life that the easiest path is the one denied. While others seem to glide through life enjoying this and that I get the shitty end of the stick.

It is hard to see the good side in things at the moment, it is very hard to see anything at the moment.

Little House Quite Contrary

There is a housing problem in this country that no one seems to be facing up to. In our town and the town next to us, in fact in every town in West Lothian, hundreds upon hundreds of houses are being built.

Unfortunately these houses are now priced so far out of our league we will never get on the housing ladder and I don't know how people are able to afford these houses. Worse still, and in an Emperor's New Clothes moment, the houses are not worth the price they are asking for them!

So we are stuck in the frustration of renting hell.

We have been on the Homeswap site for nearly 2 years now. That is 2 years without promise of a move that would improve our lives significantly and we have lived here for 5 1/2 years now, it is like living in purgatory. You would think we were asking for £1million (actually that would be nice too, please.) Thanks to the right-to-buy scheme and the cooncils apathy in allowing single older people to remain in 3-4 bedroom houses the whole situation is stagnant and will remain so until someone somewhere has a bright idea.

That bright idea would be to make the system fairer. Amazing concept I know.

In Britain now, particularly in Scotland, the only way you can get anywhere in social housing is by not working, having no intention to work and never having had a job ever. That and the ability to fake illness (back ache, depression, stress anyone?) for points. And yes, that would be the points system they supposedly stopped using.

If you become a lay-about not only do you not have to worry about rent or council tax but you also get support to have as many children as you wish and to have enough money to enjoy yourself. Don't believe me?

How many people do you know that are truly struggling on benefits? If they are then at some point they probably were working and therefore don't fall into the professional scrounger league, they missed the training on how to get as much money as possible out of the system.

How many people do you know who work like navvies just to pay a mortgage? Indeed, Noo Labour punishes those on low wages particularly harshly.

It is a ridiculous situation. And what will happen next I wonder, or should that be worry? But for now my biggest concern is for the Hobbits, we need to move nearer their school, it would make life so much easier especially for them. They are missing out on so much and I really try to compensate but when Husband needs the car for work and we are stuck in this town it becomes really hard to see the positive side of anything.