Diary Monday 18th July 2016

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My planned visit to the potential new flat in Preston was postponed until tomorrow due to the driver not feeling well, so I visited the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) in Manchester’s Town Hall. They used to have branches everywhere offering free welfare rights and legal advice but cutbacks have butchered the service. I told them I wanted to discuss my housing crisis, family conflict and not being paid by a former employer as yet. I was told these were three separate issues and needed three independent consultations. I was invited to pick one for now and settled on the easier lack of payment from an employer. I was then invited to sit and wait. After waiting nearly an hour I was told they were not seeing anyone else for one to one face to face interviews today though it was only 11 am. I was given a Freephone number accessible only from the town hall phones to talk to someone in London who eventually just advised me to talk to a different advisory body entirely – a totally wasted visit to a once marvellous advice centre. I set out on a photo taking trip until late evening and came home to find again that my mum has been taken out without any effort to leave me a note as to where or why. For all I knew they could have had to rush her to hospital again. I phoned my sister’s husband who told me they were enjoying a meal in a carvery restaurant. A text or note in the house would have informed me. The photo is of a war memorial in Blackrod, Lancashire, a metal poppy fragmenting out like an exploding shell. Arthur Chappell