the expense and the relief

I woke up with a splitting headache, 3rd day in a row I had woken up with a headache but this was by far the worst. I was trying to force myself to get up after taking a couple of tablets. It was no good my head didn't want my body to move let alone stand. I knew that it was going to be a quiet day in the office and I just couldn't face the constant moaning from across the desk so I text my colleague to tell him I had a migrain. I am guessing that he must have got my text as nobody phoned to see where I was. I would normally phone in but at 6.22am when I sent the text I didn't want to wait until 7.45 for there to be anyone in the office.

I settled down to sleep, at 6.45 (I later found out) there was a tapping on my hip, JA asking why I was still in bed. 8.55 more tapping OJ asing if I was going to be very late for work! It was nearly 11am before ET tapped my leg........'are you ill?' So much for sleeing it off!!

So I had managed to sleep until about 11am took a couple more pain killers and had a session on face book, nothing that meant concentrating (that would have taken too much effort). I think it was around 12.30 before I staggered downstairs to grab a cup of tea and a bowl of cereal. Back to bed a bit of blogging before tackling what had probably been the cause of my headaches. Paying a few bills etc.

First things first though I had received my Child tax credit renewal pack in the week and now I have my P60 from work I wasn't going to leave it until the last minute this year like I normally do. I phoned them and gave all the relevant details including informing them that ET completed his college course on 17th April. I also enquired why my weekly payments had gone down by £40 pw since start of April 'because ET has finished his Further Education' hang on I only just informed them of that!!

Next was the council tax, I have had a letter telling me that I was late making my April payment and must pay up within 7 days or face a court summonds. I am still playing catch up from 2008 @ £175 pm there is no way I can pay £120 on top of that!! I phoned the council and explained my situation and offered to pay £60 at the same time informing them that I never received notification of my bill for this year so had no idea how much I had to pay or when the payment date was. Apparently its the 1st of the month so now I already owe May as well! As I only have one more payment to make for 2008 I will then be able to start paying more to the council so will have caught up with my payments by the time DC and OJ go off to University at which time my Council tax will go down because I will be the sole adult in the home. No they won't even make a note of that until September. But anyway this time next year I should be in a position to pay my Council tax on time as I should be straight long before the end of this year's scheduled payments. So thats another worry sorted.

Next I made my penultimate payment on last year's Council tax which is a great relief to know that that is almost finished. So now I could turn my attention to the TV licence. when I was on benefits I had gone onto the weekly cash plan. But for ages now I had been trying to change to monthly direct debit. I had tried to do it online bt couldn't because I didn't know when the renewal date was. There is no phone number on the website grrrrrr. A couple of weeks ago I got a reminder that my licence exired 31st March. so I have now set up a monthly DD. One of the things that have annoyed me about they way we have to pay for our licences now is not just the cost but also that they take the money for the current licence in the first 5 months then you start paying for next year's licence. Talk about greedy. Perhaps I should demand to get the programs for next year early!! Why should I have to pay 6 months in advance for their service. Suposing anything (god forbid) happened to me or even (not likely) I moved in with someone else and didn't need my own licence next year will they pay the money back?

Tomorrow I have to cancel my motor insurance with dialdirect who had failed to collect my direct debits for 6 months then demanded it in one lump 3 days before I got paid. Obviously the DD rejected due to lack of funds so now I have bank charges of £8 and interest for the day the money left my account. I was about to ring them to make the payment (which would leave me seriously short of money this month) but I didn't. DC organised a new policy for me through the company he works for he also added himself as named driver. Next week he is going to see about selling his car (that will save him £100 per month) my new policy which he will pay half of is £35pm. So tomorrow I shall pay some of what I owe to Direct dial. It is their fault they didn't take the money each month so they can have it a bit at a time.............they can't cancel my policy as I am going to do that myself.

By this time I was feeling quite good, so after a salad and a bit more rest I had a bath, dressed and went off to a Rock gig. (my head was pounding again after it though). Plumber was soundman/roady for the band. He came over to my table for a chat during each break. Ithought it was funny that he didn't introduce me to the band (he was going to say I was an 'aquaintance') but it must have been obvious from the attention he was giving me and that I had to wait for him while they were clearing up after the gig that I am not just an aquaintance. A friend of his (chippy) was coming to the gig with his g/f and another couple. They sat at my table, we hardly spoke but thats ok. But when I first saw Chipy he looked familiar but I dismissed it until I heard his mate mention his name. So I checked with Plumber what the chippy's full name was. Yes I did know him. I used to hang around with his ex wife for a couple of years when the kids were little. He didn't recognise me but thats not suprising it must be a at least 12 years since he last saw me and in those days I had very long hair and wore shapeless baggy clothes ie joggers and t-shirts/sweatshirts ( thats how SF wanted me to dress). SF hated me being friends with Chippy's wife.

After the gig I followed Plumber home (until I got bored of doing 65mph and over took him) but he had to go and unload the equipment at the Drummer's house. I went home took some pills and had a bite to eat while I waited. It was 1.44am when I got the call that he was outside in his van. So we had a chat and a few kisses before I came back in at 3.3oam OMG it was that late!!