you look like me on Monday

[tielan]

• At 5am I wake up and realise my sister hasn't gone to bed because she's doing work reports. She has a carer job from 10am to 6pm tonight. An hour's drive away. She goes to bed at 5:30am and wakes up at 9:30am and goes to her job. I hope she makes it back in one piece.


• At 8am, my mother calls. She wants me to apply for the unemployment benefit - a.k.a. "the dole". She mentioned this last week, I managed to put her off. But things were looking a bit iffy about Canberra, so I figured I should. And considering the PM made an announcement about an economic stimulus package last night, it seemed like a good time to do this.


• At 8:35 - five minutes after opening - I rock up to office that deals with unemployment benefits: Centrelink, a.k.a. The Nadir Of All Hope Of Financial Solvency. There's already a queue out the door - 30-40m, not really practising 'social distancing', because who has time for a sickness that might possibly take you when you know the electricity and gas companies will switch you off if you don't pay them, and your landlord will turf you out?


• 8:40am, I send the Canberra job contact a message asking what's going on. I get a call back from him; he asks me to check my inbox again for documents I've looked for several times. I ask if the email is correct again - I asked on Thursday. He insists it is correct. He forwards the email that they sent along to him. The email is not correct. I tell him so and he says they'll resend the documentation.


• 8:55am, I bug out of the unemployment queue (which was running along a major arterial road in the region, no less; so not just the shame of having to beg for scraps, but having to do it in public).


• 9:15am, get home and chat with saramund about this email snafu, the shutdown situation in each of our states, life, the universe, and autoimmune deficiencies.


• 9:30am, B1 goes to work. On three hours sleep. I deal with the chooks, the cats, and the internet.


• 10:15am, a meeting is scheduled for 10:30 about things our organisation is putting together to help people who want to grow things at this time


• 10:30am, meeting until about 11:15

I'm only just now settling down, getting off FB, and I can feel the hindbrain of internet stimulation wanting to go back onto FB 'just to see'. But that achieves nothing, and I need to write. I was planning for 1000 words to three stories today and that's not presently looking very good.

Maybe I'll do a load of washing first?

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

I really hope it all works out with the paperwork and stuff

[grav_ity]

*hugs*

I hope Australia gets itself together for you!