Parker was planning his redundancy for March. As my hip grew stronger and the PMR is taking a back seat for the time being, I thought I would let him have a short two week break alone in our house whilst I cleared off to the south off France in Thunderbird 2 with respite Parker (more commonly known as Denise my sister).
My son had followed my instructions some years ago to marry for money. His wife's is French and the family have an apartment near Marseilles. They gave us unlimited access to stay as long as we liked. We just had to make our own way there.
Parker had recently completed another module in his qualification.
How to Deal with the DWP.
The framework criteria he had to meet was:
1: Collect sick note from the Doctors without getting involved with the Spanish Inquisition on content and dates agreed by the named sicky.
2. Photocopy the sick note as evidence of collection and for when DWP deny any knowledge of it.
3. Hand in sick note at the job centre to DWP without any police intervention.
As most if the staff are just learning the new Universal Credit system it is quite a complicated process trying to get ESA contribution based benefits. It took me 4 tries and 8 staff to log the initial claim.
As Parker approached one of the security guards to complete his mission they would not let him see any DWP staff as he had no appointment. After a somewhat heated discussion ensued a member of staff came across to talk to him.
He handed over the paperwork in an envelope with the Job Coaches name department and contents on. Unfortunately they didn't want to take any responsibility for the envelope as it was more than their job was worth if it went missing.
Parker is not a patient person when dealing with people who are not too sure why they got out of bed that morning to attend the place that pays the mortgage/rent and feeds the family. This is why part of his module clearly stated "no police intervention". After a loud discussion that was neither productive or of any value to those involved he asked for an envelope addressed to the person who could actually use this information and ensure the claim was not stopped or any sanctions put in place due to non compliance of the ESA agreement. Parker the left and found the nearest post box to stuff it in taking photos of each stage in the process.
On his return home he was in a bit of a state so my idea to go away for a while was readily accepted as he retired to the pigeon loft muttering profanities about jobsworths and their employers.
Off I went on my jaunt without even leaving him a To Do List!!!
I have sent him pictures each day of the Scenery, Fromage, Du Pain avec Vin but he doesn't seem to think he got the best part of the deal for some reason? I mean he still has his other job to go to to pay for my travels doesn't he? Where would the money come from otherwise? He wasted his holidays looking after me when I had appointments to go to then doing everything for me when I came out of hospital after the operation. He only gets 4 weeks a year and they were soon used up. He can be so needy sometimes.
Well I will be home soon and how we will laugh at the jobs he hasn't done and the photos I've taken. Then everything will be back to normal if hasn't won the lottery and cleared off with his pigeons.
