Day 325

Finished The Siege of Krishnapur. More snow showers today. Hope my journeys tomorrow aren't too badly inconvenienced. There won't be any trouble at the Busywork Trust, but the mental health people at Marish present more of a challenge. Still, it seemed to do M good when she went there.

Funny how M's and my differing financial circumstances have failed to come between us: probably because we're both unemployed and so apparently our circumstances were the same, and also because I've only once borrowed money off her - at her suggestion, 18 months ago for the 8086 book. I paid it back of course.

Day 324

Week Ending quite good since Alistair McGowan came aboard.

I see 80% of people surveyed are dissatisfied with the Government; surprised it isn't 95%.

Last Sunday of the month and of winter tomorrow.

Day 323

Unusually interesting news today. The IRA blew up a gasometer in Warrington and on the 6 o'clock news it's announced there's been an explosion at the World Trade Centre in New York. In the Warrington thing the flames went up 400ft straight up into the air and no-one was killed.

Maureen from the Busywork Trust rang up to say that they'd forgotten how to operate the DBase library system I was working on there 3 months ago. I offered to go in on Monday morning to see what I could do. She seemed very grateful. If my parents lend me their car I can be back for dinner, then drive down to Marish for the mental health assessment.

Lot of horse mutilations recently. Also apparently that kid being murdered in Liverpool a fortnight ago was big news in America, but only because the Yanks were surprised at the national outrage...

Re-reading The Siege of Krishnapur. Triffic stuff.

Day 322

Finished Vanity Fair. I see 13,000 jobs went today - rotten Government, rotten system, corrupt committees, truly shameful. Only an armed communist uprising or a mass campaign of satyagraha can save us now.

Day 321

Did some sit-ups. Mastered Fortran file handling.

Day 320

Returned a library book (9p fine). Was successfully doing a bit of Fortran when M came round in the afternoon. She's got the job at Debenhams, btw - permanent part-time. Lucky cow.

Day 319

Signed on: went to the library. Came back through snow flurries.

Day 318

With M to Do It All, Homebase, Texas and B&Q without success for a simple 72" x 9" shelf. Short shelves seem to be the thing nowadays.

J. Major says society should condemn crime more and understand it less. Why would anyone appeal for less understanding of something?

Day 317

Walked round to M's to get my baccy tin, which I left there last night. Admired the new wardrobe.

Suffered semi-paranoia all day after reading that the far right were publishing names and addresses of left-wingers and anti-racists, leading to threatening phone calls etc. A dishonourable course of action if ever I saw one. We can only fight back with mass action. United we stand, divided we fall.

They've charged a couple of kids for murdering that other kid last Friday in Liverpool - pity their families.

In the evening read on with Vanity Fair but found it was making me depressed and switched to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Only nine days to the counselling interview, feel it can't come too soon.

Day 316

Attempted a batch-file display enhancer. Rang the Mental Health people to confirm my appointment. Went to MFI with M, and back with the flat-pack wardrobe she'd bought. In the evening J joined us and we watched Point Break. J gave me a lift back at 12.10.

Day 315

An alarming-looking letter this morning, with 'Weffolk Mental Health Services' on the letterhead. I was almost afraid they were coming to cart me off, however it was just to offer an 'initial assessment' on March 1st. Auspicious date.

Cycled into town with M, got Engels (which I've been looking for for some time) and a C and an MS-DOS book from the library. MS-DOS 6 is out, btw

Unemployment over 3 million for the first time in 6 years today - 3,062,000. Wrote a polemical song I thought up in the bath - The Last Decent Tories, about Macmillan and Heath of course.

Day 314

Cashed my Giro. Wrote a BASIC2 program to calculate expenditure. M came round at 4.30 - talked about employment again, the presence of it on her part and absence on mine. She has finally decided not to retake her MSc.; as I said, if she's got no motivation, it's probably for the best.

Day 313

Went to the DHSS. I only had to wait 20 minutes, they are improving! The actual interview didn't last long, as usual.

Watching a lot of telly recently, a good sedative though.

Day 312

Read Software Tools in Pascal again. Met B on my way to the offy for Rizlas in the evening: he mentioned an employment agency which I'll keep in mind. New claim tomorrow.

Day 311

My parents had said I could use their car while they were away, so I drove down to PC World. Quick C was still in stock; would be nice to have all the different memory models and a proper manual. Still, until I've got £63 I'll have to leave it.

Rumours that the Government could defy Parliament if it votes for the Social Chapter (albeit for mixed reasons) - a bad course in British history.

At least it's Monday now and things can be done when I wake up. I don't think I'm ever going to like Sundays.

Pershore (where Jonathan Small comes from in The Sign of Four) in Worcestershire actually exists - just heard of it on the weather report.

Day 310

Went to M's brother's party - there was a tasteless stripper. Still, I came home with £3 left, and here we are in the early hours of St. Valentine's Day, first outpost of Spring.

Day 309

Had my hair cut. M came round at 1pm: she's been offered a job at Debenhams.

Worked on the latest version of FORTH more, carried on with Vanity Fair.

Inflation down to the lowest since 1967 - but that's because (as I've been saying for the past year) lots of people have got no cash and those that haven't daren't spend it in case they lose their jobs.

With the pound plunging, unemployment soaring and crime going up massively (burglary up 168% under the Tories) it begins to look like there's something coming after all. Even the South African government has come to a power-sharing agreement with the ANC.

Eastern Europe seems to be heading for fascism though.

Day 308

Rode to the Workshop for the last time. Came back, read Private Eye.

To Mum's. She gave me £10 to have my hair cut, saying it would cheer me up. And to keep the change.

Finished Conrad's War again - M remarked yesterday how good it was and that we must've bought it out of the book club at school at the same time. Carried on with Vanity Fair.

Day 307

Into town to make a new claim appointment for next Tuesday at 9.40 am. Came back, listened to Woman's Hour while programming.

Norman Tebbit makes a vitriolic attack on Maastricht as it begins to look as if the Social Chapter might perhaps get through, if enough Tories vote for it under the delusion that reversing the opt-out will bring down the whole treaty. The British people will lose out if we become the sweatshop of Europe. N.T. truly is a 'spiteful narrow-minded slick of effluent'.

I see Labour are 7% ahead in the polls, seen as more competent to manage the economy than the Tories. Budget deficit is huge and that gives the Tory bastards an excuse for cutting public spending, when taxes are obviously too low.

'That was a highly articulate outburst, Vyvyan.'

Day 306

Up at 8.30 - listened to Call Nick Ross, about 'workfare' - gleefully listened to the pro-'workfare' bloke being abused by unemployed callers.

Wrote a QBASIC double-precision version of the Normal curve program. Went to Asda to recycle newspapers. Repaired my darts.

Day 305

To the DHSS - not much luck there. Walking back beside the railway I had a very low moment. I realised that it was Monday morning, February, raining, that I'd been unemployed 19 months and couldn't even get an appointment for a new claim till the end of the week. Luckily it went away when I got home and had some caffeine.

In the afternoon did some useful programming aimed at calculating the area under the Normal curve.

Day 304

Dismal weather. Sundays very rarely are interesting. Can't be many other people who prefer Monday to Sunday, though. Must ring the DHSS tomorrow.

Day 303

My building society card arrived, also the final Access statement.

Been unemployed 19 months today. Not good, but what can you do?

Day 302

An alliterative date. To my parents': stopped the cracks in the porch in the morning, had dinner. Painted the porch in the afternoon. Improved my morse program.

Over 60 Tory party jobs go. That'll teach them!

Day 301

Went to the Workshop, got a flat tyre on the way back. Apparently I've got to make a new claim when I finish, so I'd better get on to the DHSS as soon as possible as in my experience they take fucking ages to sort things out.

Went round to my parents' and arranged to paint the porch tomorrow. Perfected my morse code program, got it to transmit bits of text files for practice.

Bought the new Viz - quite good, not as good as the last one though.

Day 300

Collected my Giro. Radio 4 comedy drama excellent today. Bit of programming: a Morse code prog and a C program to search for executables.

Day 299

Saw the doctor, had quite a good talk. He said I was suffering from low self-esteem and transferring insecurities about unemployment etc into physical insecurities. 'I won't give you any more drugs,' he said - 'I think I'll write to the head of Marish Rd Counselling.'

Felt much better, went into town and put £29.14 in cheques from Christmas/the placement into the Abbey National - another constructive act. Experienced a Gordon Comstock-like financially-caused revivification as I walked to the library.

Day 298

Sainsbury's lager back up to £1.92 for four, £5.54 for twelve. To the library, renewed the Fortran book.

The evening was rather long but I beguiled it with the Radio 4 play (Northern Ireland again).