Be a post whore!

[Sundae]

Good news/ bad news mixed, so I thought I'd put it here rather than spread it around the happy/ unhappy threads.

I signed on for the first time today.
No worries.
Of course there shouldn't be - I AM actively seeking work after all.
The only position I have found advertised, I have applied for. Fingers crossed. But I'm looking every day, because I really want to work as a Teaching Assistant. I'll step up a gear and start approaching schools directly after the holidays.

Saw an advert in the Milton Keynes Citizen this morning. A temp agency offering permanent positions for TAs. Cuuld it really be that easy?!
Nope.
They want 6 months experience so they can obtain two references. Still - it's a way in. If I don't get this job in Great Kimble (which would be the best possible option) I'll return to Bierton as a volunteer to get more experience. By October/ November I could go back to the agency. Not ideal, because the agency is in High Wycombe - 30 mins train ride away. Which would mean 1.5+ hour commute once I factor in home-station-school. But still, the idea that I could be in employment, adding to a currently poor CV and working in a paid job by end November... Wonderful!

And I still have the Guides to add a string to my bow from September anyway.

No Govt money as yet, sadly. Last received benefit on 5 July.
Bless my parents for understanding. They're completely carrying me at the moment, although luckily I had a stack of tinned/ packet/ dried food for me, and plenty in for Diz. Thank goodness I took up a pet website on their 20% off first time order back in June!

I think Mum is bearing it because she can see I'm so much healthier these days and sees the real joy I got from volunteering. I said to her a couple of weeks back, before my benefit was suspended, that I was so lucky to have found something I wanted to do. Yes she was still being negative and all that, but I said, "Have you ever had a job you liked so much you'd do it for free two days a week?" The answer was no - I knew she was desperately unhappy in her last job, so I was cheating a bit - but it brought home to her just how much I wanted this.

I have a real sense of progress today, despite my hopes being dashed by the agency.
It wasn't a total NO at least. There is a light.