Dec 23 2008
You just might find you get what you need
Another day spent bouncing around on public transport: Morden to Stockwell to Tottenham Hale to St Margarets and back to Vauxhall; thence to Raynes Park and Wimbledon then home … with few hiccups or anything else untoward happening at any point. Surely a first.
Nautical upgrades were agreed, tarpaulins held water out, engines started first time, bilges were pumped, leaks were checked - all without incident, followed by a fabulous pub lunch and an outstanding dessert: fig, pistachio and plum tart with ice cream - dreamy.
Surely, I thought, this cannot be happening to me: no disasters or mishaps; forsooth, something in the essential form and nature of the Universe is certainly awry. When is Jeremy Beadle going to leap out of the shadows, leaden pitchfork in hand, to announce it was all just for a joke and that normal misery would be resumed with added vigour? But no, no bearded pointy-tailed harbinger of doom was to be found anywhere. Curiouser and curiouser.
My journey to Raynes Park was to see someone from “Reed in Partnership” to find out what sort of “safety net” was available if I were to return to work but quickly found that I had bitten off more than I could chew. The DWP proposals to get just about everyone singing or digging for their respective suppers had played some part in this; feeling pressurised into working doing something that I resented for someone I at best despised would raise my hackles and levels of paranoia to new heights and I was worried that I might then make ill-advised decisions and become more ill and unable to cope. Since that would be extremely counter-productive, I sought reassurance that, were I to try to return to the wider world of work, matters could be readily resolved should things not turn out as well as expected.
Well, it turns out that there is such a safety net in place - my astonishment and relief was complete. It turns out that if a job doesn’t work out in the first 8 weeks - probably quite long enough to realise if it is an ill-fated match - then one’s disability allowances wiould be restored. There is another system in place which, upon registration in the week prior to commencing work, seems to guarantee a return to previous benefits at any point in the following 2 years should ordure and air-conditioning combine in an unfortunate Portaflecking alliance.
At least some part of the benefits system appears to have had a compassionate overhaul counterbalancing what appears at times to be the uncaring face of capitalism and the Protestant Work Ethic. Surely a miracle in our times.
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