TROUBLE AHEAD?

 

The Christmas market in La Roche-Posay, December 2016.

Well Christmas chez nous (the UK chez nous) has been and gone.  We had a nice time, my brother, his daughter and my dad joining us for lunch.

On Christmas Eve, after phoning round numerous pharmacies, we managed to get the last box of covid lateral flow tests to be had locally.  The last one I phoned said they only had two left so to go straight round.  I changed out of my PJ's in record time and got there just in time to get the last one.  We performed the tests on Christmas morning and with negative results we felt as comfortable as we could be to go ahead with the lunch.

Yesterday, Boxing Day (a very British celebration I believe) Nick and I went out for a drive in the fog.  One of the disappointing things about Christmas this year is that the weather has been so AWFUL!  Fog, rain, drizzle, not a drop of sunshine for days.

However, it was nice to get out of the house but not so nice to see that every pub car park was full of cars.  Which means every pub was full of maskless people enjoying themselves.

My neighbour has a friend who works in a nearby major hospital.  She says the NHS is already overwhelmed, long queues of ambulances outside A&E, corridors full of trolleys, operations and clinics cancelled to divert staff to covid wards to cover for absentees.

There is trouble ahead I think.  Time for us to keep our heads down.

I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST OF NEW YEARS.

May 2022 bring us nearer to normality.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

Chenonceau in winter.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Keep safe and well and let's hope for a good year in 2022.

THWARTED AGAIN

 

Well it looks like our plans to return to France for a couple of weeks just after Christmas are thwarted yet again.

With the Omicron variant running rife in the UK I'm not surprised that France has introduced restrictions for visitors from this side of the English Channel.  For maximum impact they start this weekend, in two days' time.

 I was expecting it, glad that our plans were not to be there for Christmas itself and having to make last minute cancellations.  Although disappointed I don't feel as bereft as at this time last year.  

We could have coped with all the testing and the self isolating when we get there but the real stumbling block is the "imperative reason for travel".

I'm not sure that "need to sweep up the leaves from the grass" would cut it.

Nor would "desperate to get back now that our Schengen 90 days has clocked over".

This is becoming monotonous and once again we question whether owning a house in France is a worthwhile and sensible thing to do.

I know that once we do get there all such thoughts will be swept from our minds.

AN ISOLATED INCIDENT?

The rooftops of Le Grand-Pressigny in winter.

Well it seems that the refusal to accept my father's application in a Freepost envelope is a one off - an "isolated incident" unique to our local post office, according to the reply received by my MP from The Post Office, who looked into it very swiftly.  

I wonder.  My experience in the workplace is that employees rarely make a mistake only once, that they are not usually found out until it's happened several times and that for every example you find there will be several more that remain undiscovered.  

However, we are reassured that because the assistant did actually put it in the collection bag it probably will have been delivered.  No doubt we will find out in due course.  I expect there is also some relief in the MP's office that at least this particular system isn't broken.

Of course, the same principle applies to Christmas parties...for every one that is discovered there are almost certainly several that have not been found out about yet and that nobody will admit to !!

Bon weekend !!

MISINFORMATION

The château at Le Grand-Pressigny in winter.

We decide that the time has come to get some help for Dad.  Carers will need to be paid for.

I go online to the Gov.UK website and find the form to claim for Attendance Allowance*.  It has to be filled in accurately, not missing out any detail, so that DWP can see exactly what the situation is.  

The form is a 28 page document, taking a Very Long Time to fill in.  I fill it in using a PDF file, printed it out and take it round to Dad for him to sign it.  "What am I signing for?" he says.  I tell him and he immediately forgets, asking me the same thing twice again.

I return to the Gov.UK website to find out where I should send it.  The wording on the web page is:

"Send the completed form to:

Freepost Attendance Allowance

You do not need a postcode or stamp"

You can see it for yourself here.

A 28 page document doesn't fit into a regular business envelope, or even an A5 envelope, so I use an A4 size envelope.  I carefully address the envelope as per the instructions given and take it to the post box.  It doesn't fit.  The slot in the post box is too small for an A4 envelope.

Nick takes it into the post office to hand it to the post mistress (Nisa shop assistant) who gives him a telling off.  It seems that the Post Office advice is that they should not accept items with a hand written Freepost address on it.  They are only supposed to accept them if in a printed Freepost envelope or with a printed Freepost label.

Nick points out that that is what it says we should do on the Government website and she agrees to take it "at your own risk with no guarantee that it will be delivered".

This means that, having followed the instructions on the DWP website properly, there is a possibility that this document, containing very personal information about my father, including his bank details, might not be delivered and could go astray.

How stupid!

I write a polite but succinct letter to our MP about it.  Meanwhile, instead of thinking "job done" and being able to sit and wait for a decision, I now have to worry about what happens to the blasted form.

Why does EVERYTHING have to be so damn hard?

A reply comes from our MP's office very quickly, after only two days in fact, saying they are writing, in the first instance, to the Post Office, to seek clarification on their policy regarding this matter and will keep me informed. 

I can't help wondering if this incredibly prompt response has anything to do with the beating the government is taking for their appalling record on Social Care.  And that maybe our MP's office staff have their computers set to filter out and prioritise any emails that contain the words "social services" or "care for the elderly".

Not that it will help one bit if my dad's bank details end up somewhere they shouldn't. 

*Attendance allowance is a non-means tested benefit that can be used to pay for help with certain tasks in someone's own home.