I've just finished a rather epic 30 minute long phone call to Job Centre Plus to establish I'm eligible for contributions based JSA which given my advancing years is a not too shabby* £60.50 a week. I have an interview at the job centre on Thursday which should …

I attempted to sort out my JSA claim today. Unfortunately everything has been centralised behind a single 0800 number. I can call it on my mobile but I don't really want to spend my first week of dole money paying for the call while I wait in the queue. Of …

Yesterday was the first "proper" day of unemployment. Despite the snow on the ground I still cycled in the long way round to pick up my redundancy papers. I then tracked into town to pick up a rabbit for the evening meal before finally relaxing with a bath. With all …

..although the atmosphere does in fact seem present. I can't decide if I'm coming down with man-flu or not. When we finally arrived home yesterday my nose developed a distinct runny edge which I combated with Lemsip. However this morning it all seems pretty much fine and I'm about to …

So now the Christmas celebrations are over and we head towards the new year I thought I'd better do a quick write-up.

This year we split Christmas between the two families over two days. This resulted in me feeling a little over fed by the end of the process. Christmas …