So in just over two weeks time My daughter and I will be moving out and unless steem decides to make a giant bull-run that will mean we are off to live with Mum. As my situation has now been given a safety net, thanks to My Mum, I can now sleep a little sounder. My 2nd meeting with the debt agency to apply for bankruptcy is fast approaching and I am looking forward to seeing this progress.
I now find myself with the opportunity to wander through the homeless services and see what is on offer. On the of-chance they have something safe and secure to offer, I will be in a position to help myself and if not, then I can be safe in the knowledge that I can stay at my mums. Sadly, many families do not have the luxury of being able to say "no". This may all sound a little selfish, due to the fact that I am not exactly going to be "homeless". Maybe so, but renting a 2 bedroom home while supporting a child isn't cheap and much is taken up by spiralling rent-costs. A council property has the benefit of a much reduced rent and this would be easily sustainable for a one-parent family. I've no intention of going through all this again and if I leave it fate this is what could happen. I have to maximise my potential here and exploit the exploiters. If that means playing the game then I will, especially when that means securing a safe and affordable place to live. As of yet I'm not impressed with the urgency shown or the abundance of homes on offer. I have taken a look at the homesearch website and there is nothing in my immediate area. Also I was instructed to contact them "Immediately" so they could "take appropriate actions"...
Had it not been for the Judges leniency, giving me 28-days rather than the standard 14, I would have been having my initial meeting with the councils homeless service, on the same day I lost my home. For many reasons this is not an ideal situation and as this is only down to "a lack of available appointments" it seems quite avoidable, especially when considering that Broxtowe council carry a surplus income of £2.5 Million. So we will have to see how that all pans out and I will be sure to post my findings on steemit.
Other than housing and bankruptcy I only have employment to worry about and I am pleased to say there have been movements on this front too. Today I have applied for a part-time position at a local restaurant. It's a little business open in the day and the work only involves cleaning with the possibility of bar-work, I guess. I know this isn't reaching for the stars when it comes to employment but I feel the gradual approach is best. Plus this allows me to carry on writing and exploring other possibilities.
Before I carry on with my recollection of how this situation arose I will say briefly how I visited a service named "Mind". This was suggested to me by the debt adviser when she asked about my well being.
I won't go into how it all went, but I will say that taking this step seems worthwhile. I never enjoy delving into my own feelings on a one-to-one level and the only reason I am so open about things here is mainly due to the fact that you and I will never meet. As emotional as these meetings are I have signed up for a return visit and will carry on doing so. The guy who I spoke to had been through similar times to me and had a great understanding about how I feel.
I know this video may appear "cheesy" to some, but I had never seen this until we watched it on his smart phone. He introduced this video by telling me about how Winston Churchill coined the phrase "Black Dog" when referring to his own bi-polar condition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCrniLQGYc
# Back to the past and how the debt started to grow.
As far as you all know, so far, I have been tied to a 2nd payment plan by Robinson Way. I have also taken you to a time before that when my ex-employer took me to court(and lost) over a fictitious cleaning bill. Going back to the future(sorry it literally typed itself) I informed you about a brief relationship and it's collapse, leading to me coming to live in the property I am currently in. After returning to living as a single parent, but this time finding myself working at the same time, I realised how tough things really are out there for so many people. I had no transport and my job was a decent bike-ride away. This wasn't to be an issue, well not a big one, as I would soon be jumping ship and working elsewhere. The company I worked for was due to relocate and there new premises were going to be far away from any viable bus-routes. A job appeared at East midlands airport and I have a direct bus route there.
After successfully applying for the job I was now employed for a company called "Swissport" and I was working on all the ground gear you see racing around the runways of an airport. This was one of my favourite jobs to date and I still miss working with those guys. The job began at 8am and this meant being on the bus by 7am. Seeing that my daughter stayed with me every other week, this meant getting my daughter up at 6am and us both being fed and ready for 6:30am. I have to admit finding these times very tough. I was happy with how I had coped with moving again but the pressure was beginning top mount. I was frequently late and if it wasn't for me being good at my job, I would have been fired a long time before I left. This situation led me to look for another form of transport and when my bro offered me his busted motor, I jumped at the chance. It was only 8-years old, a peugot 206, and the mileage was still quite low. The bodywork looked good and that just left me with the engine to repair. I'll put my overalls on at this point and give you all fair warning to check when your car's timing belt need replacing. When these things break they cause devastation to the engine. So after major heart surgery and a nice whole in my wallet the car was ready for the road and I was able to have a bit of a lie-in.
I soon found out that convenience comes with a price-tag and my insurance costs were crippling me. Along with paying Robinson Way their pound of flesh and all the other household bills, I was just managing to stay afloat. When I had switched jobs I had left a period of a month without employment. I tried to use the benefit system to cover me through this period, as is expected in a "Welfare State". Due to the system being totally disjointed and unwilling to cooperate with anything, or anyone, they failed me completely. After failing to share the basic information with me(My appointment time) they assumed I had not wanted their help and cancelled my application for housing benefit and job seekers allowance. All told this cost me almost 3 months earnings and I was only able to pay some of my rent. This led to me promising my landlord an extra £50-£100, every month, to pay back the debt. The last thing I wanted was to lose my home and I offered this foolish amount out of fear. It was instantly far more than I could afford and had horrible consequences.
I made a stupid decision and applied for what is commonly known as "Pay-day loans". You and I will know them better as loan-sharks and as you may already be aware they have extortionate repayment plans.
This is a slippery slope and one that intends to keep you there. Once you sign up to one you need another to pay the interest of the first and as your finances are always strung so tightly, you are always due a £30 bank charge at the beginning of every month for going overdrawn. I did request an overdraft limit but they said I needed to have 6 months without any "unauthorised overdrafts".... Yeah right, like that's ever gonna happen.
As I mentioned the loan companies do their best to keep you in debt and this often involves offering you things like "extensions" and "unlockable-limits". One company seemed to have a canny knack of always offering an increased borrowing amount when I was in a bind. I'm not for one minute suggesting they were somehow colluding with the bank and monitoring my financial-status, I'm just saying that fate has a cruel way of offering both the very best in life and the very worst.
After a while I was well and truly buggered and it wasn't long before my out-goings massively dwarfed my in-comings. After a few more weeks I had letters coming out of my ears and they all demanded their money back "IMMEDIATELY".
The pressure now was more than I could bare and I simply gave up paying any bills whatsoever. I was paying my rent, just, but not much else now. I was missing days at work, due to a reversal of my sleeping pattern, and the "black-dog" was starting to grow once again. To put a time frame to all this, it was around the time of "The Syrian migration". Without googling it I would guess this was around 2015/2016. I mention this event for 2 reasons and not only was this a time marker, it was also a turning point in my life.
In my last post I said I would begin telling you about how I found "solace" in a group named "Practical Lawful Dissent"(PLD). As the screen has now begun to sting my eyes and my neck is starting to cramp, I can only assume it is long past the time to wrap things up for another day. So because of that I will tell the tale of the PLD in my next post. In my next post I will also conclude the story of swissport, which ended in a very painful accident at work and, subsequently, more unpaid time off work.
Fingers crossed it will be accompanied by the announcement of my employment. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and good wishes and I will see you all again soon.
PTYAY
hiveblocks