I Am The Pigeon

Yesterday was a good day and, incredibly, there was no chocolate involved.  First, I received an email to say that one of my poems has been accepted by puppywolf for their Best of Manchester Poets collection.  Then the Hub received an email to say we are back on the list.  What list? you ask.  The new kitchen and bathroom list, I reply.

You may remember that I embraced a stranger bearing kitchen plans last January.  It is now May and there is no new kitchen in sight.  Someone told me that they had received their new kitchen and bathroom within two months of the plans being drawn up, so I sent a querying email to Stockport Homes.  The reply stated we were not on the list and not likely to be on the list until 2012.  The puffaHub expanded to three times his normal size and emailed back in polite outrage to say that it wasn’t good enough; to question why they would have someone draw up plans two years before necessary; to complain at their shabby treatment of us; and with a promise to contact our local councillors.  Guess what?  We’re back on the list.

I need the work to be done so I can get on with the hall decorating: I’m panting to get painting to release pent-up paint expression but there’s no point painting until the work is done.   To keep me quiet, I have started peeling off the downstairs toilet paper.   I mostly do it while I’m in there, if you get my drift.  It’s painstakingly slow work, though, so I’m thinking of posting a sign: Guests should feel free to strip to pass the time.

The third bit of good news is that our Beloved Job Hunt Leader called to offer me a work placement at Base Camp.  It is four weeks of part-time unpaid work with no job at the end of it but it is something to put on the cv and I would be on the spot to hear about the latest vacancies.  I would be working in admin and I am under no illusions: several times in the past four weeks, she mentioned that the admin guy who left was not replaced and the work was handed onto her, on top of her normal job, so I’d be doing her a favour; but I’ll get a reference from it and some up-to-date work experience.  I have an interview with the Boss on Monday and, so long as he doesn’t read this, I think it will be fine.

It’s like the old saying: you have to accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue.  Today I am the pigeon.