Lighthouse

I'm going to have to get myself sorted out soon and get back into the old routine. I've only had time over the last week to read a few postings and drop a few comments. I've also had to catch up and reply to the usual Christmas letters and notes in cards. The 'once a year' one's you get at this time of the year. It all takes time if you're a one finger typist.

True, I've had a little extra work with my mother visiting over Christmas and for the New Year, but she's not a lot of trouble and is easy to get along with. Her mobility is a real problem though, and I can't see how she is going to manage if she wants to return home. A big drafty house with far too many stairs. Everything is to hand here. It's only a few steps to anywhere, so I do hope she takes up our offer and decided to stay, permanently.

I can see some shuddering at the thought, but there is far more worry in dealing with problems at a distance rather than on the door step, especially if one can't drop everything and run. Anyway, a day or two and we shall know what's happening.

I've been tagged by Fiona.......... but I had to visit Sunny to get the details. Nearest book, page 123, down 5 sentences, then write the next 3.

I had two books to hand. One was Your Rights (Money benefits for older people) by Sally West, and page 123 was about working and receiving Incapacity Benefit. Not very inspiring, but after what we have been dealing with recently, a useful tool to find out what's what.

The other book, and fractionally closer was more interesting, but page 123 had only ten lines....... end of chapter! So I've copied the last few lines to give more sense to the words.

His knees went weak. Omi followed his glance.
A ship was rounding the headland. She was a large galley with a multitude of oars, the swiftest of the Japanese coastal vessels because she depended neither upon the wind, nor upon the tide. The flag at the masthead carried the Toranaga crest.

James Clavell's Shogun.

Christmas day nearly over and I feel tired out. We collected my Mother last Thursday, and she is staying with us for a couple of weeks. There's very little extra work for me, just some leg washing and dressing first thing in the morning. Apart from that, she's very easy to get along with. The trouble I have is not sleeping, or not sleeping well. I'm waking up with every strange noise, and then finding it difficult to get back to sleep again. It is getting better and, no doubt, in a few days I'll be back to normal................... I hope.

Now I have to be careful. My daughter informs me that she is getting a notebook for Christmas. I was hoping she meant something you write in with a pencil, but no. So it looks like I'm going to have to take great care in what I say and how I say it from now on.

I may not even tell her that I have this Blog. Why would she need to know? But if she did find out, I must think about using a more secure way of editing comments. Or you might find out what she really thinks of me!

I don't think I have ever posted an untruth or an over exaggeration, it's not really what I'm about. There might be some confusion about my age, but I can assure you, the first seventy nine years are the worst. Ha, Ha!

I've had enough. I have been patient, nobody can argue with that, but it came to a head on Friday. My wife still hasn't received the Benefit owed to her from the beginning of November. We've had so many excuses, most based around the need for information from our local office, but on Friday I managed to contact them and they firmly stated that all relevant details had been passed to the main office at Swansea.

So I rang Swansea, and gave them this information. They were unable to pass this to the payments team because the office was closed for the afternoon. They were having a Christmas party! I then asked for the contact number or address of the Ombudsman who can deal with a complaint about the way our situation has been handled, and was told that the information was not available......... but someone would phone me back on Monday. I put the phone down.

To day, I had written to The Rt. Hon. John Hutton M.P, the minister for the D.W.P, the top honcho. I have fully detailed times, dates and subject discussed, the excuses and the broken promises. Even the fact that when I mentioned to one operator that I would have to go around with a begging bowl, she suggested that I take a dog with me as people are more generous when you beg with animals! Funny? Not really!

Now it's a case of wait and see. I didn't really think this would be settled before Christmas, but I did hope. Merry Christmas Department of Work and Pensions. Merry Christmas.

18th. Dec.

A part result today........... after another five phone calls, and for once they actually returned a call! The confusion has come about because my wife is older than me......... a whole three weeks. Her disablement benefit alters and three weeks later the Support I claim is transferred to another department. The information has not been transferred when it should have been as it was only asked for on 11th Dec, not soon after the 7th Nov. as we were lead to believe. Anyway, they have agreed to pay her four weeks benefit to the end of December, and have promised to rectify any back payment by then. We will see.

The fact that I mentioned my letter to the Minister might have had something to do with it, one can only wonder!!!!

I was afraid it would happen, and if I was a betting person, I could have made a pound or two. I've had to write to our local Member of Parliament to see if he can help in getting my wife's benefit paid.

After her birthday at the beginning of November, her Disability Benefit changed, and the benefit was transferred to a national office from our local office in town. It was quite obvious to me that as it was linked to other benefits we receive, there would also be problems with them as well. I was not wrong!

I've spent the last month phoning, writing, and passing information to the new office, in an effort to get the monies owed paid into her account. I've heard all the excuses. We're waiting for information. Still not received. Received but lost. It's here...... but we can't find it (sounds like 'lost' to me!). I've even been told not to worry, that it can all be backdated, and that we don't want to over pay you as we will have to claim it back! Better that than no money!

Then there was the broken promises. I'll phone you back. The coordinator will phone you. A supervisor or your accounts operator will phone. But nothing! Not one of the promises kept....... and that's the thing that annoys me the most.

So I've called in the heavy brigade. Someone with a bit of clout to sort out the problem. Fortunately we are not desperate for the money, even with Christmas on the horizon, but there will be others in our situation that are, and if they've had no money coming in for over a month, some could be in dire straights.

It's now a case of wait and see. But I do hope that someone get a rocket up their ass, now I've lit the blue touchpaper.

In the words of the internationally famous philosopher Victor Meldrew, "I don't believe it!"

But there it was, in the centre of yesterdays newspaper, 'Your choice of Christmas and New Year Viewing'. No, No, No, this can't be happening. Is there a prize for being the first to publish these details? Is it supposed to send us into a frenzy of Christmas viewing planning? Or does it encourage people, like me, to switch off for Christmas and the New Year?

O.K, so I had to look. And what did I find, every other entry was 'To be Announced'. To be fair, most of the smaller Channels have got their act together and worked out their schedules for the Holidays, but the main programme broadcaster were floundering............ or is it a ploy? Perhaps there will be something new, something different for our entertainment, rather than the same old repeats that we are subjected to every year. Perhaps.................. but I doubt it.

Hanging on the Telephone......

Another day spent hanging on the telephone. Then, finally, when I managed to get hold of a human voice, I asked, "I need to know your complaints procedure". Silence for a few seconds, and then I explained the telephone calls that were not returned, promises that were not kept and the inability to get an answer. Within two minutes I was talking to the Supervisor who went through the whole problem with me, and promised (fingers crossed) to have it sorted by Tuesday at the latest.

It appears that two Government offices have not been 'talking' to each other. Now where have I heard that before! It's no wonder some people are driven to desperate things, especially at this time of the year. So I wait for Tuesday........... with baited breath.