Walked into my lounge yesterday morning, scantily clad (at least I had my socks on), to see a cat in the tree opposite. Not such an unusual sight you might think, cat in tree, not me naked bar socks.
Thing is, I am on the sixth floor and the cat was even higher than that at about 70 feet. I then spotted a fireman at about the same level as my floor, so opted to get more suitably attired. Took a look out and a crowd of about eight people had gathered and another fireman was squirting a fine spray of water up into the air which was not reaching the desired height.
The one clinging to the trunk of the tree, was holding out a hessian sack and verbally trying to coax the cat to jump into it (from quite a distance). Tiddles wasn't having any of it.
I took photos like some cub reported on the scene of the drama and went about my chores. Checked a little later to find the crowd and the fire brigade had buggered off. As we are all of two hundred yards from the town's fire station, I thought they might have gone to get the Simon Snorkel platform to pluck the little blighter from the branch it was perched on.
No such luck and as it got dark, the cat was still there. It didn't seem at all distressed, in fact at one point it sat there licking it's paws and washing behind it's ears.
It was still there when I went to bed, but gone when I got up at 5am. When I went out to the supermarket at 6:30, I had a look round for a kitty corpse and there was no such item.
I spoke with my sister last night (on a different matter) and as a cat person of many years experience, she said when it got hungry enough, it would find its way down and so she was right.
I'm a little surprised the fire service didn't own the problem and come back to finish the job, but that's the way things are these days in many avenues of life. Best to adopt the mindset that if you're in the shit, you're on your own.
The reason I was at home at 11am on a Wednesday was that the job I've been in for 4 weeks went down the pan on Tuesday.
I'm now a jobseeker again. As for my being in the shit on my own, it applies to relying on the DWP for help.
Filled out my application for Iain Duncan Smith's white elephant Universal Credit. Have to applaud the simplicity of the online system, but in the summary, it says I will not get any help until December 17th, by which time I will be 6 weeks in arrears with my rent.
As little as 8 years ago, I remember the time when the Jobcentre would actually help you find suitable jobs to follow. A little farther back, I remember when the vacancies there were placed by employers and not like it is now, 99% agencies.
I also remember when employers turned to agencies in the belief they would be sent a higher calibre and pre-screened candidate for the jobs on offer.
So, if all the jobs in the jobcentre are agencies, they are just screening from the dross (like me) and therefore not doing what the employers think they are doing, QED.
So, in the next few weeks, I have to do something to get noticed. Paper cvs handed out, not just applying online where you're just another e cv or as the line from the Company Men movie goes "you're just another asshole with a resume".
After the socks only encounter with the fireman, I'm considering adopting the technique on a traffic island in the locality with a placard reading GIZ A JOB. Should get me noticed no ?
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