Benefits Land the Update

I apologise for my abscence , the school holidays are proving rather hectic , A none stop round of work, childcare and garden chores  while its cool enough to do big stuff . Rain has now stopped play.
In the world of benefits claimants we "may" be making some progress. Mr Bah Humbug is a recipent of PIP payments this is the replacement for DLA , when he finally got this benefit after 5 months and a medical the letter from the DWP stated he must inform the council if he was in social housing . This was back in April , it didnt say why you had to inform them , I presumed it was because at that point you are officially in the eyes of the government a disabled person . So I rang them and informed them , only to be told .

Why are you telling us?

Err ...because it says on this letter from the DWP that i must .

Well youve informed us , it will be noted, goodbye .

Role on to July , im rooting through UGOV the government website , for some other aspect of disability payments , and find the well hidden reason why you must inform your social housing landlord .
Ring the council yet again

Ive just read on UGOV that we should be getting Housing Benefit

No you have a family member in full time employment

Err thats not what it says here sunshine , it says that if you are in receipt of the higher rate of PIP care , one family members employment income is automatically deducted from the calculation .

Give over, where does it say that .
So I tell him the UGOV page

Arrrrrrrr....it does indeed say that

So can we do a new calculation ?

New calculation is done , we are entitled ( I hate that word soooo much)It can take months to progress the claim but it is applied for now .

Fast  forward to yesterday , theres a nice smiley housing officer at the door , come to discuss the rent arrears.

We have put in a Housing Benefit application , we have the letter saying they are going to pay part of the rent at the least , but how long is a bit of string until its processed.
I pointed out that we should have been getting this since April , and that we have sold vehicles and anything of any value to pay the rent since January when this lousy adventure started .
He was bewildered even he didnt know that PIP payments trigger Housing Benefit , it seems no one does and as he pointed out to me the council will be claiming the money from the government back to April , so why isnt all of it being credited to the Housing Account .
We await the results of this intervention , as he was going back to the Housing Benefit department to find out why they arent up to date with all the changes that have been made .
It would seem that unless you ask for a recalculation when you receive the PIP claim descision they dont tell anybody about this

A Walk Around The Graves

What do you do with a bored munchkin on the first day of the school holidays?, well of course you go for a wander down to the graveyard . I have a confession ,10 years in the village and i had never been , It a large peaceful place but sadly faceless , the church is of course locked up , it has been Victorianised to death , but that was when this was a thriving wealthy place when the fens were first drained .

 Up until  WWII this would have been a very sleepy farming community , then suddenly it was surrounded by RAF bases , nowadays a lot of those in the village are RAF personnel or retirees , most of the bases went after the Cold War but the runways and nissan huts often survive .
I just find it sad that theyve layed most of the headstones down and allowed the grass to grow over them , theres wildflower areas , codename for chunks of overgrown brambles with headstones peeping out , its infested with dog poo , despite the signs and bins .

 There was a sadly much overgrown war grave tucked in a corner . Deeply impressed by the crocheted poppy wreath at the war memorial

I love the lichens and the weathering on the few stones standing , there doesnt appear to be many recent burials , so a beautiful peaceful place but not the graveyard for me , im going on the mantelpiece for a year then onto the compost heap

Gone Fishing

Well I was coerced into going fishing with Mr Bah Humbug yesterday , hes wittered for 10 years so i gave in . A truly beautiful very windy day on the fen .
Now the problem he has is that its not safe for him to go on his own anymore , his balance is crap , plus he struggles with the fiddly stuff,  everybody else was either working or on holiday . It was gorgeous at 6 am watching the swallows and the other wildlife , the Fen is pretty amazing in the summer , I got settled down with a good book and my patchwork , I think he thought i'd decide that fishing was wonderful , I used to go sea fishing with my dad many years ago , which i loved , I have a cast iron sailors stomach and I could see the point in catching stuff to eat , sport fishing however leaves me pretty cold . I just cant get my head round spending all that time fishing then chucking it back , the fish are gorgeous but I just felt sorry for the poor things . I did point out to him how would he like it if I dangled Burgers in front of him but he never got to eat them . He did catch some quite big ones which I had to help him land . but for the most part i just took in the scenery and enjoyed the sun and the picnic .

This beauty wanted a wrestling match and spat water everywhere it nearly had him in the water .

The Poor Saga

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not very good at this poverty stricken lark , I'm getting very blasé about the latest summons stuck on the fridge, we will sort something out eventually, like everybody else they will have to wait.
But the problem is that financially it's just going from bad to worse, come September we may be in deep do do . They are changing to universal credit in this area from then, and our claim is to complicated to consider, so the Job  center states. this despite a letter from DWP stating we will be £60 a week better off.
But on a plus note, we have a running legal vehicle, I've not had time for a lot this week as it takes a good couple of hours a day just to do the school run if your walking , at least we have a path of sorts to the next village , it's a very quiet lane , so not to bad for a six year old and granny.
it's a good job the garden is starting to get into gear, we can't do groceries this month due to funding the van, lots of salad and bad sausages methinks , freezer is packed with cheap bread, no shop means it's just to much of a trek to go out every day , I'm not about to start baking my own , to time consuming , we eat at least a couple of loaves a day and they won't eat home baked either. me and Mr  Bah Humbug like real bread but it's a waste for just us .
Now here's a strange one for the ebayers among you. I'm receiving umpteen phone calls every day asking to buy the eBay business all from the same bloke , it's currently mothballed due to lack of funds and lack of transport, now I'm well aware that this is a scam and it's just drop shippers after using the feedback to make it look like they're a legitimate business with good feedback, but how many ebayers are saying yes? I know an awful lot of people who are calling it a day after many years, due to the fees and the daft ratings system. what comeback to buyers have if it all goes wrong , if you've legally sold a business?

£1 Worth of Thrift

So its been a funny old week , we are officially without a vehicle and Mr Bah Humbug is going round the twist , his vehicle miserably failed its MOT and is parked on the drive in bits as we speak . Now he hasnt had his usual helpers , his eldest and young Baldrick , hes had to make do with my youngest whos the only one currently at home , hes also the least likely mechanics helper on the planet , this is a young man who has a squealing fit at a spider and if he chips his nail varnish he has an episode ...lol ..Theyve been out there for 3 days , Mr Bah Humbug sat on a plastic patio chair supervising and Will under the vehicle , I havent heard a single shout , though Will keeps coming in moaning at oily hands and the condition of his nails , Mr Bah Humbug even admits that Will has done really well, actually listens and tells him when he doesnt understand and that its beyond him how he hasnt been able to get a job . Well ..the last verdict at his endless Job Centre course is that hes not pretty enough and doesnt present well. You see he has really bad skin , acne is the bane of this family , he refuses to go back to the dermatologist , they admit theres nothing they can do , because the stuff that could work cant be given to someone with a history of depression , does it cross there mind that his skin is why hes depressed?

Ive managed to borrow my daughters car for a couple of days ,just to catch up on some holiday jobs id picked up , so ive done the scenic tour of grimsby , cleethorpes ,immingham , scunthorpe and gainsborough  and i bought nothing , it was a thrift dessert full of overpriced rubbish but I did spend my £1 lunch money at the Moorlands relate back in Lincoln , all this for a £1 !!

Dont you love vintage 50s sci fi book covers , these are very tatty but gorgeous , still debating what the hell to do about ebay , now we have no post office and no transport , ive run my stocks down , with a few car boot sales and im trying to be more selective about what i buy .

Building up my reading stocks for the winter , even found a couple of Biggles books , but im also building up my usual pile of varied crap , i cant read the same genre all the time , it becomes to monotonous, about the only thing i wont read is chick lit , if its got a pink cover its not for me . so in my £1 bag i purchased 9 books , which then go to car boot in the spring .

More fabric for the piles , still hand hexy quilting myself into infinity , not sure quite where this is going , but its half a duvet cover and more flowery cotton ...
Im at home for most of this week , so I may get some crafty projects finished , but its veg garden season and im having to water by hand, due to Mr Nobody having strimmered through the hose pipe , ive developed the arms of an orangutan, its a long way from the tap to the veg ...lol  connection is on its way from China for a whole £2

Christmas in July

Well payday came and the bank is still ringing me , 10 calls a day over £50 has nearly driven me mad , I went into the branch and explained it all they said fine but India never gives up . You can understand why people do them selves in over debt , I have a single different creditor each month the wages dont meet the bills and theres nothing i can do about it at the moment , still job hunting and getting nowhere , cant shut the business down even though its making nothing because that would be making myself unemployed ..AAARRRGGGHH
If people payed the invoices in 30 days it would be fine , but its months sometimes ,just been paid for jobs done in April . next month will be dire , but im just picking up a load of holiday cover for which i need fuel money to be able to do it now , plus my car is off the road and im forced to use his van which is fuel hungry .
Worked yesterday and screeched to a halt when I saw the magic Jumble Sale sign , it was just finishing but i managed to use my £1 lunch money to buy of all things a huge bag of xmas baubles , what can I say nobody had paid them an ounce of attention in July , hidden among them though is quite a lot of 50s glass indents so im well chuffed I will pick them out and carboot the rest , do you like the basket?  it was yet more loot from the wedding

Gin & Glastonbury

You know those hot humid summer nights when you can't sleep and the thoughts just keep running through your head?

The KKK Kardasian Klan of Klingons were haunting me the other night, hardly surprising as their existance has always baffled me , are they the next stage of human evolution ?  I was trying to escape from the Glastonbury prison camp and the miles of tents were getting longer and longer , Kanya west was selling vegan kebabs and Kim had a stall selling his designer gear .
Old Mother Kardasian was at the slave market buying hipsters with man bags, so they could be skinned and she would be rejuvenated , meanwhile dad was dressed as Shirley Bassey doing a DJ set with the Dali Lama , have to say they were pretty good . Karma is a wonderful thing, boy it must hurt when your discarded ex hubby , turns into a far prettier female than you , no amout of money or imagination could make that plot twist up and still the miles of tents stretched on .

Vix , you and John were there you'd got your own department store , full of crying boy  pictures and poodles?  , not quite sure why Florence was in a cage in the corner but little boys with sticks kept poking her to make her fling herself about and she seemed to have mislaid The Machine.

The Who we're performing to a herd of skeletons wearing parkas with mod targets on the back , think I've met most of them at scooter rallies praying at the altar of Paul Weller tribute bands, or carrying boxes of 45s  and still the tents stretched on

And the moral of this story is don't take painkillers and forget then have a large gin and tonic to cool yourself down...menopausal dreams are great ...this was even weirder !!!!!