Furious

I am interrupting my recent and inexcusable blog-silence to say that I am furious.

The Sunday Times sums it up nicely:

House of frauds

…Amid publication of the excesses and abuses of MP’s expenses, the mother of parliaments stood revealed as the mother of all fiddles.

Phantom mortgages, moat cleaning, antique rugs, £8,000 TVs…..the politicians who lay down the laws of the land were shown to be all too grasping and vain.

MOAT CLEANING?!

WTF?!!

It seems that if you are a politician and fiddle your expenses, say for example, claiming £16,000 for a mortgage that doesn’t exist (tip of the iceberg by the way), all you have to do is say sorry and promise to pay the money back. What? Not fraud, not gross misconduct leading to dismissal? Seems not. Seems to me that if Joe Bloggs stole £16,000 from their employer, saying sorry just wouldn’t cut it.

One MP even claimed the cost of a couple of porn films that her husband had watched in their hotel bedroom!

So, here we are in the UK in a deepening recession, thousands of people losing their jobs and their homes and bankruptcies at an all time high (my own added to that number of course), and our leaders, those with “moral authority” are completely taking the piss and charging not just the cost of homes or mortgages that don’t exist but the cost of their porn movies to us?

Fuckers.

I hope the Official Receiver is as incensed as the rest of the country appears to be when he comes to look at the situations of people like me and deciding whether or not to slap them with 3 year payment orders. Yep, I’m still waiting to hear about that and whether or not they’re going to take my car.

Anyway. Rant over.

Now that blog-silence has been dealt with all I can say is – I’ll be back.

A Furious Femme

AKA QRx

No BBC?

I was in court yesterday. At the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand – where, last year, the inquest in to the deaths of Dodi Al Fayed and Princess Diana took place and where the Court of Appeal hears miscarriages of justice – just the other day freeing a man who has spent the last 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. And then yesterday, my bankruptcy.

I was expecting the BBC to be there but no. :-)

My brother, who has been SO supportive and generally wonderful, was there with me. (Boo has been in Spain for the last week and is back tomorrow – Yippee!). I was very glad of his support cos I was more than a bit wobbly. The process was straightforward enough, but you know…

The Courts are an amazing warren of corridors & staircases leading to a multitude of grand, imposing court rooms and halls. You can almost taste the pomp, ceremony, legal bills, judge’s dusty wigs - and angst. Sounds are respectfully hushed but there is a soft, ambient soundtrack of shuffled papers being rubber-stamped. Thankfully, my bankruptcy petition received six of those stamps.

Now I’m waiting for a call from the Official Receiver to find out how long the order will last for, whether they’ll take my car etc. Whatever. And I really mean that.

I’ve been feeling quite tired today. I think getting to this point has been pretty exhausting to be honest. I feel relieved and although I haven’t had the euphoria yet, I’m sure it’ll come. I am, after all, debt-free, and how many people can say that?

Onwards and upwards

QRx

Phew!

Blimey! What a few weeks I’ve had! Let’s see, I’ve moved twice, had my gall bladder out and been moving the bankruptcy machine closer to it’s final destination.

The move to X’s place was…. good on paper but in reality not so. I was there for a week and it was really hard on all of us. But, something very positive came out of it, in that X articulated some of his feelings about the end of our relationship. In fact, he seems to have found a whole new zest for life and is using words not in his vocabulary before like “feelings” and “happy.” All good stuff.

During the week I was at X’s place I actually spent most nights with my Boo (who has been amazingly lovely by the way) and one evening we were sitting around chatting with Denver who is Boo’s ex and best friend. (Lesbians! Honestly!)

I like Denver a lot, she’s smart and kind and has a really dry sense of humour that has me in stitches. Anyway, Denver’s job involves giving benefits advice and there I was with no income and homeless. So, she gave me a good talking to about what I was entitled to claim. Cos who knows, right? Well, I didn’t. I’ve never claimed any state benefits before and even though it doesn’t sit well with me I had no choice but to swallow my pride and do it.

So, I’ve been signed off sick by my GP (with depression – thanks again to my good friend Prozac) and I’m receiving Employment and Support Allowance which pays the princely sum of £60.50 a week. Yikes! And I’m claiming Housing Benefit which pays all of my rent – or at least it will do when it comes through (come on people!).

Which leads on nicely to where I’m living…… you wouldn’t believe it! I’ve moved in to a lovely flat in East London that has floor to ceiling windows in the lounge and overlooks a river and park!! I’m also only a five minute walk away from my Boo. It is THE nicest place that I’ve lived in a long time. The sun rises directly in front of me and I am entranced by the barges and canoes that use the river. Did I mention the swans, coots, cormorants and herons? Did I mention that I can see all of this not just from the panorama offered by the lounge window but from my BALCONY?! I swear someone is looking over me. And doing the best job of it too!

Of course, the most wonderful part of all of this is the continuing and overwhelming amount of love and support from my Boo and friends and family.

The Lovely f.i.m.g. came up to see me last week (she really is Lovely you know) and sorted me out with my internet connection. Wherefrom I speak to you now. She’s coming on Tuesday with muffins. Yummy! Can’t wait! We’ll be exchanging lots of money saving tips and recipes. Queer Rose will be baking!!

I’ve filled in my bankruptcy forms and will be popping along to the High Court in London next week to file for the big B. It will be a huge relief to get that done and dusted I can tell you.

As you may already know, me and Boo are taking our relationship to a whole other level by getting….. a dog. Hopefully in April / May. Can’t do it before then cos we’re off to Spain for two weeks at the end of the month – cheap flights and a free apartment you see. HOW AMAZING IS MY LIFE?!

I’ve missed Blogland and can’t wait to catch up with you all. Put the kettle on, I’ll be with you shortly.

With love

QRx