I AM BEING SUED BY THE COUNCIL TAX! A notice to appear (not a summons as they proclaim in blazing red writing that I need not attend (probably don't want me too ~ speeds up proceedings). I can't believe this is happening as I've only been there 4 months, have STILL yet to receive an Accommodation Charges Payment Card or any payment slips and yet they're taking me to court over a silly council tax bill I should get near-95% rebate on. The money they're demanding is about £395 ~ but if the figures are right from the last place, I should owe about £40 tops.I went straight down the Council where the lady told me I am STILL NOT ON THE COMPUTER. No payment card will be forthcoming. The computer has me still resident at my last address. This despite my having written to head of section detailing my move and written again to Income Recovery politely demanding said payments card. "So how did I get this council tax bill at my new place if the computer thinks I'm still resident at the old one?" and the Countermeister said "because your landlord informed us you were living there" (at the new address). DUUURH!! I kept quiet but shall thoroughly enjoy detailing this farcicality in my official letter of complaint.
Anyway, the nice lady did get my court date cancelled (by a "note" on the system). Handed me a Housing and Council Tax Benefit application form (which I thought I hadn't needed to fill in: nobody told me so before. In fact when I asked the Head of Section whether or what else I needed do (because my name wasn't on the system at my new address ~ therefore officially I didn't exist, yet of course I do (though I sometimes wish otherwise) because the landlord and council were refusing to communicate with each other; the landlord refused to give me proof of tenancy. I can't remember their excuse but I just wanted to flee from their offices and so took it and did.
I am STILL officially nonexistent. "But I've been signing a register" (for emergency accommodation dwellers) and am on the landlord's and your computer system!" I countered.
Except apparently I'm not. I am used to living in a surreal paisley-patterned world peopled with hamsters talking in turnip accents, and so did not dare disagree. I have run out of (decent) food by the way and have obscene cravings for more diced beef piri piri dumplingated casserole ...
Nice Lady spent ages tapping in "notes" to the system. And now I have a Housing and Council Tax Benefit Application form I ought, apparently, to have filled in MONTHS AGO (I'm not happy about that). And I need proof of residency from the landlord (that'll be fun, trying to get that) and proof of benefits from the DSS or Jobcentre Plus as they're (perhaps) now called. Oh no, the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions ~ what am I saying...?) As I sheepishly admitted to Nice Lady this might take some weeks to sort out as I do believe I omitted to inform the Benefits Agency (their 3rd name) of my move. "I wasn't feeling very well," I claimed.
Well I wasn't. O I hate all this. And how come loads of others who aren't even in the same dreadful pickle as me get SOCIAL WORKERS to help them out? Why do I not qualify? I want a bloody social worker to do all my forms for me. What do I not pay my Council Tax for~??!?
***
And now on to matters smoother: I am determined to become an MC Hammer (oo: no, I mean Pee Pee Daddy/whatever his current monicka)-style hiphop Impressario. I will specialize in ripoff perfumes and unimaginative streetwear. I shall put my hamsters as Lil Kim/Queen Latifah/Missy Elliot-style rappers. I've already got names and stage personas sorted. Spherical shall be MC Carrot Nose; Bashful's new name is MC Little Trotter Donkey ~ isn't that cool?? In fact I think that's a name so wonderful I might use it myself when my 70th birthday approaches and Grandad and the Smurfs record release time comes due. I shall instead be MC LITTLE TROTTER DONKEY and rap in a posh voice about the horrors of ready to wear clothing, flying commercial (ugh!) and having to mix with the rifraff of the world and other people like me. I don't know. I need my theme, man. Gotta stream da theme; know what I mean..?... I did some work on a hamster gangsta rap earlier it goes something like this:Don't gimme no jip cause I'm nibblin' seed
I ain't shottin' crack now 'cause I'm shottin' weed
Oregano man. You put it in your curry.
Trot to the toilet and hurry-hurry-hurry...
OK it needs some work, but imagine how entertaining MC Carrot Nose and MC Little Trotter Donkey shall look in their first video. I want it done in the style of Lady Ga-Ga's Poker Face ....
And now PIRI-PIRI: I must go! I've a manic casserole-craving...
BTW talking of maniacality ~ thanks for the comments re yesterday. Though I DID notice my experience of withdrawal seemed to be different, I'd always told myself "well everyone feels horrible in detox" and so didn't worry about it. Also severe insomnia and some degree of agitation and depression, anxiety etc are ordinary features of opiate withdrawal ~ and so I assumed mine were normal. It's only when I compare the intensity of physical to mental withdrawal experience that I realize my symptoms were 95% "psychiatric". + agitation, depression, etc are a matter of degree. Mine were very extreme.
From what I found out on the subject there's no question I'm on a "bipolar spectrum" (so are loads of people). I would have said I was cyclothymic in temperament (that is: subclinical bipolar) or mild bipolar. To cut a blabbersome story short, this IS important because it impinges on any psych meds I might take. I cannot tolerate a lot of antidepressants because they make me agitated and/or "high". Last time on mirtazapine I was hyper enough not to bother going to bed for the best part of a week. Then I came crashing down into depression worse than ever before! I was having random hallucinations (faces in the grain of the wooden fire door; dead body in the bathroom mirror) ~ I was convinced these were down to alcoholic DTs and didn't recognize I was "depressed" till afterwards. I believed I was "hitting rock bottom as I was spiritually bankrupt". That mirtazapine (Remerol/Zispin) disagreed with me so intensely that by the end (5 weeks to 2 months into taking it) I was so physically ill I just had to stop taking it. Then amazingly I felt better. It was my old Drugs Worker who pointed all this out. "Stop taking the pills!"
Anyway cheerio I must dash. PS: any ideas for the first Carrot Nose and Little Trotter Donkey music video?
TALKING OF "WRAPPERS" ~ HERE'S that Eminem one you might have heard of, y'know the one featuring Amy Winehouse, Sarah Palin et al...
8 comments:
Forms..Forms..Forms... dont you just hate them .. and people that work in the council offices too :-(
The department of Work and Pensions don't know their arse from their elbow! Don't get me started!
Those little ones are too cute. The name Carrot Nose makes me smile. I don't know enough rap songs to even make a comment. But I'm sure that others can come up with something entertaining for their first video. I'll watch for sure.
wow that's a lot to take in today Gleds. I spend my life filling in forms for clients for a self perpetuating public service. I swear they do it to retain their jobs! Fo shizzle nizzle!
Councils are useless esp with Council Tax. They sent me a bailiff letter claiming I'd missed a payment. It was because I made it online which apparently is handled by a different company. I wonder how many suicides they're responsible for?
Well done for staying off the b. I'm back on my subs script (no £). The bit I struggle with the most is probably psychological. I just feel down and so lethargic. It's also hard to break the routine of getting b... waiting for that special knock on the door etc. Sometimes, especially at weekends - and this makes me sound so pathetic - I think I see dealers cos I'm lonely.
100mg! I was put on 30ml when I first came off (via my GP). But then I never used needles and had only been addicted for 2 months. I feel like such a wuss complaining about my struggles with this.
There's much much more design stuff I want to send you btw but problem is I don't spend much time online cos my home computer is in the office (my stepdad didn't have a mac or the software I needed to work for him). So it's really working hours, lunch break, after work and in this case weekends (I come in to apply for design jobs and you're right, the market is bad. Design is seen as a luxury during recessions. Everyone cuts down their print or branding budgets).
Anyway, that's why I wanted to talk to you via email. Then I could send you attachments to look at as well. I also wanted to send you my contact details (as I'm London-based). Don't worry, I'm not a freak and not trying to get into your trousers or your pockets. I wanted to give you the option of meeting face-to-face to borrow books etc (also got a great DVD about the font Helvetica). I really want to encourage you in your career endeavours. As well as being an addict, I also suffer from clinical depression (taking 40mg Prozac at mo and on waiting list for therapy).
It's just in my nature to help. I'm non-judgemental and don't believe in telling people what they should do. Far better to encourage them to talk through until they reach the conclusion themselves.
Better go now and get this application in. It's for a Senior design for Penguin books. Dream on. I very much doubt I'll get it. Probably didn't go to the right university or am the offspring of the wrong parent (lots of nepotism in this business!).
take care, i do worry about how much you're suffering with this (esp the depression). i hope you can get to the point you feel you're on the right track soon. it feels as though you've been bandied about like a ping pong ball not reaching any sense of closure.
xxKelly
oh! forgot to say... totally diff subject... bought some Tescos Finest BEEF sausages. Went to cook them for lunch today, really looking forward to them. When I turned the packet over it said 'in natural pork casing'!!!
I can't tell you how livid I was. Aren't there enough varieties of pork sausage??? I was brought up as a muslim but I'm not really practising apart from not eating pork or blood. I was really looking forward to them. The thing was the ordinary beef sausage (not Finest) don't have pork products (I've checked) so presumed this would be the same. They also put the bit about the pork casing at the back of the packaging (alongside the title). Not the front.
grrrr! Had to have Welsh Rarebit instead (with bit of paprika). Was yummy but not what I planned.
Hi Gled,
Can't you claim that your an artist? From what I understand in the UK you don't have to pay taxes if your an artist.
Good luck on the drug treatment, it sounds like your improving.
Janice~
Gled, if you ever need help with anything like this again, make an appointment with the Citizens Advice Bureau. I used to do voluntary work for them and know from experience how good they are. They will help you take control of things and help you with forms, make 'phone calls on your behalf, etc. They can advise on all sorts of issues from health ones to financial ones, and just having someone for support takes a great burden off your shoulders. Personally, I think they're better than social workers. ;)
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