It has to be said, there is something to be said for this unemployment lark. It has taken me a long time to settle down in my new roll; as something of a workaholic, the idea of getting up in the morning and not going to work is very weird indeed. I solve it by getting up in the morning and going next door to where the computer is. For normal work hours that is my place of work and I try to do a normal day. For the most part this means writing letters for jobs - a surprisingly time consuming business even in these days of computers and cut and paste, calling Geoff in a panic, dealing with bits and pieces of NMR! administration left over, calling Geoff in a panic, fobbing off creditors and so on.
But the signs of the gradual fall off are there. Principally it is in my radio listening. I never listened to Radio 4 at work; it is too distracting when you are on the phone, doing quotes and so on, but now I suddenly find my conversation dominated by what I have heard on the radio. Did you hear that line on the News Quiz (Everyone worries because Gays are supposed to be sexually prolific... if they let them get married they’d be celibate in a year like the rest of us), or the superb monologue by Billie Whitelaw (the retirement of a woman who wrote obituaries), the utterly brilliant Andy Hamilton vehicle about the Devil (Old Harry’s Game) or of course my favourite of all radio programmes, From Our Own Correspondent. Confirmation of this came on Sunday when I found I had heard everything on Pick of the Week.
But as I slowly start to relax, I am starting to get less rigid about my working day. Returning from an interview last week and being generally unable to settle, I took the bike out for a couple of hours. As I write this the sun is streaming down outside, and the idea of having a little bit of free time as (hopefully) Spring becomes summer is quite a nice idea.
Unfortunately I cannot let these thoughts go to my head. I am almost out of money already and the need to start earning something is rapidly becoming paramount. In the meantime I have had the opportunity to try out the benefits system at first hand. Now this is surely the quintessential 90s experience, and I think it is very important that we all know how the system works and what it feels like.
The first step was to find out where I had to go. A medium length phone call (only 3 hand-overs) confirmed that I had to go to Wimbledon Job Centre. There I was given a three bulky forms, the most important being the Job Seekers Allowance form. On examining these at home I had my first surprise; if you are in rented accommodation you can claim Housing Benefit from day one, but for those of us with a mortgage, we have to wait 9 weeks before we can claim. I waded through the JSA form and returned to Wimbledon two days later for an interview. This was very pleasant; a charming retired photographer was quite interested in what I had done so far and was suitably impressed by my computer print out of jobs applied for. My signing on day was fixed as Thursday.
I now received a much more formidable form from the benefits agency which demanded to know how much money I had (minus a lot) whether Margaret was claiming benefit, how much time I spent with Matthew, extent of saving and proof and so on. My first signing on day went well; I chatted happily to the harassed official who clearly thought I was slightly mad. The next form to arrive was from Wandsworth Council, and this was for claiming a discount on Council Tax. It was the usual stuff - benefits, savings, bank balances, situation with wife/child and so on. I then had the pleasure of a home visit from the benefits agency. A very jumpy little man arrived, very twitchy indeed, and asked for proof of balances, savings and so on. I think I disarmed him with my openness (I put the telephone to loudspeaker and dialled the automatic bank line for balances which we all listened to together). ‘I’ll just put overdrawn’ he decided. He left me the long-awaited mortgage relief form. Hopefully I will get some help toward my mortgage in mid-June.
So far my open and honest approach to this minefield has worked well. All the officials I have dealt with have been pleasant and there have been no big rows or traumas. On the other hand, I have yet to see any money... and when I do, how much will it be? Worry not, I will keep you informed as the saga develops!
In the meantime, have you heard on any jobs for video producers, paying about
£ 30,000pa?