On Break

This blog is a bit of grab bag of things, but recently its been dedicated to a sort of workplace diary in a factory. I had planned to keep that going for at least a little while longer. My position as vacancy filler meant I was seeing a lot more of the factory floor and the machinery than is typical. Unfortunately I will have to take a break from that, as I've had a break myself in my right ankle.

About a month ago on my way to work a cloud burst above me and I came off my moped. Could've been a lot worse, thankfully I was wearing a helmet and a jacket with armour plating, so I came away with one broken ankle, two stitched up wounds and a bit of gravel rash. Since I was thrown and rolled and skidded and my head took a few glancing blows I shudder to think what would've happened if I hadn't been wearing them.

Public service announcement aside (seriously, wear protective gear it works), its put a halt to my shifts and since I was agency instead of paying me sick pay the company gave me my accrued holiday pay and ended the contract. No fuss, no muss. Once I'm better I can go back, though I personally would prefer to have found alternative employment. I'm back with the jobcentre for the time being. I submitted my doctors notes, informed them multiple times of my status and requested that any interviews be conducted over the phone. I was told this would not be possible and they would need to be conducted face to face.

This was a problem as I am still housebound but for the first week needed assistance sitting up. With the help of a relative I managed to make it to my appointment, I was there for five minutes, during which they agreed to switch me over to a video conference system going forward. In short, I had to physically turn up, to get them to accept that I couldn't physically turn up. Bureaucracy at work.

At present I am much better, the stitches are out, the infection is gone, and I've been stretching and exercising, hopefully I'll get a discharge soon. Unfortunately it and the arguing with insurance has thrown most of my projects up in the air. I'm only able to write this out thanks to a loaned chromebook and some spotty wifi boosting. I did have a blog on waste in mass production that was mostly finished, unfortunately that's saved on my desktop computer which I can't access as its upstairs. Maybe I'll try it from memory.

I thought this short update was in order and a good excuse for some practice, and as a bit of a glimpse into what the Universal Credit regime is like nowadays. In lighter news, I've finally found time to organise my online presence a bit. My general blog is a bit more active if you're interested, and I've finally made some progress on my translation of Georges Bastiens Libertarian Society.

Also been making some headway through my novel back log, I was half way through Gerald's Game and Misery by Stephen King at the time of my crash and confinement, which is a little ominous in retrospect.