Unemployment

Today a new chapter of my life begins. The summer is over the autumn begins, and I am no longer a student, no longer a volunteer Summer Helper in a scenic caravan, I am now a statistic. Today I phoned a freephone number, told a stranger lots of personal information, and became a Jobseeker. I am officially unemployed. The great job hunt begins, and this is what I shall be doing until I am successful. I hope and pray that this won't be too long.

This blog seems like a clever wee place to document how I get on, what life on jobseeker's allowance feels like, what I do each day, how well I stick to my own rules* and how well I deal with the reverse culture shock  of returning to my own life. It's going to become a "This is what I did today" sort of blog.

So today I got up, dressed smartly (I looked good, if out of place at the jobcentre. Brown and pink-ish fatface skirt which came from a clothes swap, brown jumper I've owned for years, brown tights and tan cowboy-ish boots, plus a cream wooley sleeveless cardigan thing. I'm going to make it, or variants of it, my interview outfit.) and left the house. Flatmate has kindly given me a groupon haircut (right now I look like someone who had a neat, short hairstyle about  months ago and has now got to a point that is most kindly described as "shaggy". Perfect for hippying it around in the cairngorms but not the neat tidy professional look I'd rather be sporting) so I went with her to print it out, and headed in to town.

Stop #1 Jobcentre Plus. Here's a phone number, off you go and phone it. Oh, and there are some computer's in there you can use to search for jobs. The computer things were actually quite useful. They let you print off little bits of paper with vacancy details on. I spent a while playing with it. Anything in Aberdeen, or thereabouts, that didn't ask for a particular qualification or experience. All I've really done though is found vacancies and printed them off. Applying is the next step.

Stop #2 Hairdressers. Nope, hairdressers are cool funky types who just don't do Mondays. No-one to answer the phone either on Mondays. Tomorrow morning, bang on 9am I'll be on the phone.

Handed in 3 CVs on my way back and made a list of places with adverts in the windows asking for online applications. One of the places even sounded like I might have a chance. No prizes for guessing what I'll be doing tomorrow.

My achievements for the rest of the day also include making a vat of very yummy carrot soup - yesterday I got hold of 2kg of carrots for 10p - and a few loads of laundry. I'm off to wash up and make spag bol for tea. There's even a chance of a swim tonight - for which I will try using my out-of-date student card to get in cheap. This has set me to thinking about the things I enjoy. In short I'm happy when I'm busy, and I'm very happy when I'm helping other folk out and looking after them. I love to host. I have so many pie-in-the-sky dreams but one of them sees me running a coffee shop or a restaurant or both. Sadly what I lack right now is and proper cooking experience of qualifications. This has got me thinking about back doors in to this. I plan to apply for a bundle of Kitchen Porter and waitressing jobs with this in mind.

That'll do. I'm off. Something to leave you with - QI reliably informs me that we make our best decisions when we really need the toilet. So next time you see me hopping up and down outside the bathroom door with my legs crossed - ask me what I want to do with the rest of my life.