[status report for friends] others please skip this post

To post on personal matters is a high-risk activity because there is this danger of coming across as woe-is-me and no one wants to read what I've previously described as "bleat". Most bloggers keep their private affairs to themselves, if only because there are those out there who do wish a person ill.

I'm well aware that some who purport to be friends are actually saying different things privately, I know who they are but that's the same with anyone, I think. Emails say many things and it's not worth bothering about.

I've also been asked, by email, by a few people, for the current state of play with my setting up over here and I've answered by email but one letter came yesterday from Russia, saying that people are checking in via the blog to see how things are going.

So I'll take the risk - plus it's longish. This is as realistic as I can see it at this moment and where there is hope, I'll try to state that.

First - the good

I'm registered for work and have made some progress but not a lot. It is still early days though and every day I am exploring some new possibility. Today I'll try the local council.

The home situation is very good but it could end at any time as the real friend here is also looking for work and might have to leave and go to where that is. This is understood, as well as the fact that this is a temporary measure and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm abnormally sensitive to putting upon someone, to which certain purported friends might well say, "Well you've done a damned good job of disguising that sensitivity in Sicily and Hull so far."

True but to such people, with great regret, I reply, "Get knotted."

There are two accommodation possibilities but one of those might well evaporate. The other is real but finding work from there would be tough with no internet. Still, tough does not mean hopeless and that's a positive. I really think there has to be some lateral way to go, e.g. buying and then selling on eBay is a thought. No doubt other thoughts will come in. Don't think anyone will pay for writing.

In this area I'm no different to most Brits who are hurting and who are very, very worried about the coming times.

One good thing is that I sent passport and application to the Driving Licence authorities but they have a history of being bastards and refusing people [according to all I have spoken with so far] plus losing documents. I have to have a current licence to get a job [photo licence]. This is semi-OK, as technically they must reissue my old paper licence for a new one - it is that plus change of address.

If, by some miracle, the whole thing does get back here in three weeks, then I have some sort of ID.

I passed a medical with no worries and registered with the NHS and that means a particular doctor - that went off OK.

The Russian university I was at has asked for my resignation for this year and I have sent it as I am not in any financial position to even go south to London and submit documents and they have an inspection in October.

I sent a similar letter to my Minister friend [both had written, asking when I was returning]. It was all amicable and they regret and hope I'll come back next year. We'll see.

There is a fair bit of good advice coming through and much of that I'm following up.

One other very good thing is when an agency phoned the Home Office re my status as a Brit and they were told that of course I was - within Britain, that is. So, on the strength of that, I'll go for the new bio-passport again in the New Year, if the DVLA haven't lost my papers. The complication is that the EU doesn't recognize me plus others. Can't forget Ellee asking, last year in post comments, "Are you a UK blogger, James?" Er ... well ... I thought I was.

A great thing is what I call the Andrew Allison mobile and that is a Godsend [or Andrewsend] but it has to be used quite sparingly for mainly work purposes. Interesting that Vodaphone charge £5 for incoming skype and 50p for any incoming voicemail. A call is 30p and a text message 10p. Guess which one I use?

Now the downside:

Almost impossible to find work above dole level - the available work is basic wage of £5 plus [an hour] but costs are about £8 an hour, all up, including transport. I'm registered with different job agencies but my age and narrow academic field don't help.

Can't teach because it requires a CRB certificate [criminal records] which you must already have to be taken on. They won't take you on as it costs them £60 to request and an individual can't apply. Has to be a firm. No school or similar is going to pay that on a foreign returnee with no recent history, given that it takes 18 weeks and they can't employ you in that time.

Can't get a bank account for the reason of no recent history [3 years required] but you must have a bank account to get a job [it's on all registration forms]. There is a way round it and that is an old account from 15 years ago and I left the book in Sicily and am trying to get the lady [not Welshcakes] to understand where to find it in the bag I left. She did find an expired Canadian passbook and sent those details but the British one beside it she could not see and I can't seem to contact her again. Will try again today.

Can't get benefits [dole] as it depends on past working history and tax paid. Plus it looks bad anyway on the record.

Can't get housing as it also depends on years in the country. If I was black or disabled I could claim special status but as a white British type, Equal Opportunities puts me at the end of the queue. There is a safety net for those who have lived here for some time and are ethnic but not for my type. If I was an unmarried mother I could apparently get £180 a week. Well, that's the way it is so no point crying over it.

Paypal. I've been strongly advised not to do it and I completely agree. It looks bad and would dry up any remaining support there is for me plus it depends on a bank account and that's the circular argument again.

The long and the short of it is that a person cannot come into the UK after a long time away because the system is set up against immigrants who can't claim special status. My difficulty is that I'm only a bog standard, white Brit type.

Immediate problem is clothing for winter but if I find work I can afford that. My Russian ladyfriend wrote and said that a 3kg package of clothing I left with her to here is 1500 roubles so she couldn't afford that but was looking for other ways, so no clothing from there at this time. Against that is ASDA and their prices are amazingly good. Shoes £12, shirts £4-12, suit £50, jeans £8-12.

In Russia, I wore mainly dressy jeans but to get a job here requires suit and tie. I have one suit now [half courtesy of my friend here] and it is enough for now, with two summer shirts.

Am exploring buying local products and selling them on eBay but that has to fit into the other jobsearching.

So that is the state of things at this moment - not a disaster and a lot of support from people I shall always count as friends and these have kept me sane, warm and fed. It's no idle comment to say that that friendship will come back to them one day and not so far away either.

To the purported friends ... well ... that doesn't worry me any. It's always been the way and it's more their problem than mine. To real enemies, of which there might be three or four, by my estimation ... hope we can find some sort of rapprochement. I have no desire for enemies whatsoever and wish no one ill.

I think we're agreed that the system itself needs drastic reform though [or at least revision to cover all contingencies].

More at another time.