2011 closes as 2012 hammers on the door

2012 is here and who the hell knows what life will chuck at us in the months.  Just sitting here and thinking about 2011 which has certainly had it's highs and lows.

Here are some of the things that stick in my mind:

• I found  a job that I am still in and in many ways still enjoying it.  Six months of searching and I finally got one. No easy task but back in the construction sector so I was one happy bunny. Hopefully 2012 will be my year and I'll get a perm job and be able to save up for a home of my own. 
• The London riots were shocking and disturbing, I've never felt uneasy in London, the city I call home.  A sad week of chaos in August was certainly not an image that we should have been portraying to the world.
• I learnt more about me and how to cope with the dullness of having to look for work for six months. Writing this blog, being active and getting out and about helped me a lot. 
• That life is precious, you can't plan for everything and that the simple things can make me happy. 

Being Mute Has Its Benefits!

So today's highlight had to be my fortnightly visit to Jobcentre Plus in Wood Green. To be honest I didn't really want to go today as I had an interview at 3pm and quite frankly signing on happens to send me into a state of depression. When I called last week to see if I could change my signing on time as it was depressing and I had an interview in the afternoon, I was told "it'll delay your payments and they didn't have alternative times for weeks and weeks". Anyway, the long of the short of it was I thought I would still go along as normal.

Anyway, I selected 2 comms roles off the jobpoint machine and took my printouts to the signing on man. This time he wasn't chatty at all. In fact he was mute - maybe he had swine flu or maybe he had decided to channel his efforts into following his dream to be a mime artist. He literally said nothing to me, pointed so that I sat down, tapped a few bits and bobs rather slowly onto his PC (he ain't no touch typist that's for sure). Then he highlighted where I had to sign and nodded his head to signal my exit.

The silent treatment was kind of unnerving - maybe he was just trying to not waste his breath anymore on the 'tainted unemployed'.