I forgot to say, the cat went back to my husband again. It took him 12 days, god knows where he's been. My new best friend paints a picture of him leaning on a dustbin in a back alley, talking in a NY accent - who knows?
My husband's not too keen on keeping him, especially as he's acquired fleas. But my younger daughter's happy as she goes over there a lot and gets to see him. I'd buy some flea stuff only I'm in a financial crisis right now.
I promised my daughter an 11th birthday party. She's never had a party and things have been pretty tough for her lately, what with feeling caught in the middle of me and her dad. But now I've got a summons for my council tax. I thought it was due the end of the month but it was the start. I've paid July's now, but August is due tomorrow, and they want it before they'll cancel the summons to appear in court on the 19th.
I'm financially screwed on account of having had to pay nearly £600 back rent on my old house in order to get my name off the tenancy. I was told, before I left, that I would only be liable for half the arrears, but it turns out we're both jointly liable for the lot. As he's unemployed there's no hope of him paying anything, so I copped for the whole debt. That means I'm now only renting one council house, instead of two, which is a relief.
But I'm also still waiting for my child benefit to get sorted. I was told it would take a minimum of 13 weeks! Now it's gone up to 15, with it likely to take more if their workload is heavy. Which it obviously is cos it's taken weeks even to get through to the helpline.
I should get a single person discount for the council tax, so I'm not even really liable for the amount I'm being summonned for. But I can't get that without a child benefit number. And the Student Finance people won't assess my daughter's uni loan without a single person council tax bill to prove that I'm separated from my husband.
I really do feel like I'm caught in a web of bureaucracy and it's fucking annoying.
But on the plus side my little girl is so excited about her party on Saturday. I've got to go and buy food and stuff and party bags and prizes for pass the parcel and all that shit. My other daughter said she'd help but I haven't seen her all week and she's notoriously unreliable.
And, on Saturday night, me and my gorgeous 21 year old are going to a party. It's a girl at work's 30th birthday and we're gonna be the only people from work there. He was iffy about going at first, but he texted me last night and said he thought it could be fun.
She knows about us, she saw us kissing when she went to the toilet in the pub a few weeks back, and she's been quite supportive. All the people who know have been, someone said we fit together cos we've got the same sense of humour. We have been mates a good while.
And I've told the kids I'm going to a party so I can tell my son not to wait up - he's nearly 16 - and then I can go back to my friend's and stop the night. Yippeeee!!