Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

Myself and clothes don't really get on. I have a lot of problems with them.

Here's a list:

Shirts/coats which split across the shoulders or under the arms.
Problems with fastening and unfastening sleeve buttonbs on shirts.
Shirts which don't reach far enough down my back.
Waistbands which roll up on my underpants.
Trouser legs which are too short.
Socks that keep rolling down.
Zips breaking and getting stuck.
Static electricity discharges when removing certain items of clothing.

An old school friend who I haven't seen in years has got in touch via Friends Reunited asking me how things are. Sadly I had to let him know that a mutual friend who moved down south over twenty years ago has terminal stomach cancer and hasn't got long to live.

I was out walking on Barnburgh Crags first thing this morning and I came across a large black rabbit and a slightly smaller sandy coloured one. I'm assuming they had only very recently been released by their owners because they were both very friendly and were quite close to a car parking area.

Clifton Hill, near Conisbrough is the highest point in Doncaster borough at 460 ft above sea level. Travelling due east it is the highest land until the Ural Mountains are reached; the traditional delineating point between Europe and Asia.

A league table has been published showing the relative success of football teams based on their financial resources, the average size of their crowds, the amount of money spent on players and the general state of the local economy...and the Rovers are placed right at the top.

I shall start by briefly explaining my personal circumstances. 46 yrs old; never had a job, never come close to having had a job and fear that I'll end up never having a job unless things change...drastically.

So, how did this happen?

Well; when I was looking for my first job the mining industry was beginning to collapse and there were very few other employment opportunities where I was living in an isolated, insular pit village with somewhat inadequate parents.

As an unemployed person at the time - no support, no job club or training agencies, no free access to postage or telephones [many families didn't have telephones then] no help with bus fares or interviews...there was nothing, you were absolutely on your own - in my case I would queue up for up to half an hour just to get into the building to sign on, and that was it - no questions asked...just sign on the dotted line and come back in a fortnight.

What specifically can Jobcentre Plus do now to help me?

Well; first you need to recognise that I exist....a man who's 46 years old and is still looking for his first job.

Every time I'm recycled after completing another training programme or placement I'm classified as a new claim at the jobcentre and therefore just short-term umemployed and not eligible for any more help for another 6/12/18 mths - whatever the latest directive is.

Nowhere on my files at jobcentre is it flagged up that I've now been unemployed for 28 yrs and AM NOT A NEW CLAIMANT everytime I sign on again.

So many assumptions made about you when you're unemployed and training agencies are no different to the jobcentre here - they always assume that you must be a criminal/alcoholic/drug addict or disabled or have problems with basic literacy and numeracy.

I consider myself to be a fairly well educated person - I've got 3 A levels, an OND and several vocational qualifications; yet every time I register with a training agency I have to sit a basic literacy and numeracy test.This just destroys my self-confidence and makes me somewhat cynical about the whole process.

So…now that in theory at least, you've recognised that people such as myself exist - well-balanced, intelligent, law-abiding citizens who have a lot to offer any employer...what needs to be done next?

Well; I suggest that you rip up the rule book and throw it away and from behind your desk at the jobcentre, lean forward a few inches and just ask me the one simple question, "What can we do to help you find work Mr Firth?" and then listen to what I have to say.

Specifically; I'll ask you to allow me to take up any temporary/PT/contract/casual work without putting my benefits at risk...no matter how few or many hours I work, whether regular or intermittent I need to be financially better off in work than on benefits- and to KNOW that I'll always be financially better off. I don't need the hassle of temporarily signing off and than back on again, or filling in complicated time-consuming forms every time I visit the jobcentre either...and the problems and delays with Housing Benefit are even worse. Like many people, I'm trapped by the benefits system...at the moment there are many scenarios where I could actually end up worse off than I am now - especially in the short-term. There's a concept called the 'citizen's wage' or 'social wage' which would instantly solve this problem...it would also mean that there would be no need for JCP though.

As I've alluded to, the benefits system and the services offered by JCP aren't working for me...and never really have; so, what I need is a radical intervention on my behalf...namely regular job trials/job advocacy/guaranteed interviews/secure benefits...ideally even set-aside jobs, or job quotas for long-term unemployed people such as my self. Additionally I need the stability, security and continuity of seeing the same advisor whenever I need to; someone who knows my details and current situation and who has the authority to take appropriate action, these radical interventions I've already mentioned; without an interfering line manager or head of department, without an unrealistic and unfair limit on his/her budget and no constantly changing petty targets to be reached....but, most important of all I need the JCP and its members of staff to treat me as a human being who has the same fears and aspirations as any other human being who finds himself in such a situation because I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time…and possibly as the wrong gender.

One final thought: I need to be able to contribute to, and participate in society to the best of my ability; it’s a basic human right...but I need help...and I need that help...now.

.

I'm currently working on a ten minute speech which I'll soon be giving to a small group of local/regional Jobcentre Plus staff; when it's finished, I'll post the script. However, this isn't the first speech I've given; previously I gave one on the subject of the social wage to senior members of staff working for the charity where I was on a placement eighteen months ago and I also stood on a stage in front of several hundred people at a conference organised by the Diocese of Sheffield and talked about the effects of long-term unemployment.

P.S. I’ve now written the speech and will upload it as my next posting.

I'm going on another training course on Thursday, this time at Conisbrough. It will be the third course I've attended in six weeks.

I've also received a telephone call from one of the council offices where I sent my spec letter and C.V. reminding me that canvassing isn't allowed and that my correspondence will be ignored. I've known this for nearly thirty years, but the staff at the training agency obviously don't. Although it's utterly poinless, I just do what I'm told.

My friend reckons that because I've sent my C.V. so many times over the years, I'm now blacklisted...I tend to agree with him.

Consider these two short sentences 'He shouted at him. He then shot him.' Who actually shot who? You'd never know without the context of more information about the two men and the circumstances.

In Spanish, 'Sala de Esperanza' can be translated as 'Waiting Room' or 'Room of Hope/Expectation.' Which would be the better translation though if you were in a hospital, or a doctor's surgery, or a railway station?

This is a copy of a spec letter I've just sent out to eleven employers. During the next few weeks I will sending out several hundred more copies. It is much more direct and personal than other other letters which were totally ineffectual.

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am writing in order to enquire about the possibility of working for your organisation.

I have spent twelve years working in the voluntary sector in community arts and community development, undertaking a broad range of mainly administrative and managerial tasks. During this time I accrued experience of staffing the office at a local Community Resource Centre; answering the telephone, initial contact with visitors and members of the public, and dealing with any day-to-day contingencies involved with the operation of a busy building.

I am comfortable working with computers, but, due to a minor eyesight problem cannot spend prolonged periods of time in front of a screen. However, possessing excellent written English standards, being one of the country’s leading writers of imagist and minimalist poetry, with several hundred examples of my work appearing in magazines or online I can guarantee that any documents and correspondence produced under my supervision will be of a consistently high quality.

Considered to be hard working and enthusiastic, I enjoy rising to a challenge, whilst being equally competent working alone or in a small team. I realise though that I’ve got very little work experience, although I did do voluntary work for a dozen years. When I was looking for my first job in the 1980s the coal industry was being dismantled, and living in an isolated and insular pit village meant that there were very few local employment opportunities; additionally I wasn’t able to travel further afield for work because of the poor public transport links.

I enjoyed my voluntary work, and don’t regret doing it. However, it didn’t result in my securing paid employment. Over the years I became involved with a variety of projects and I consider the highlights to have been being the licensee of the local community radio station, treasurer of the local community transport project and being an elected member of the City Challenge Community Forum.

In these three positions in particular I felt that I was really contributing to my local community, learning new skills and interacting with people from widely varying backgrounds; including some quite senior officials.

Because of my current employment status I’m able to participate in the Work Trial Programme, whereby I can try out a job opportunity at no cost to the employer for a period of up to three weeks. Please see the enclosed leaflet for further details: additionally I have included copies of my C.V. and skills audit, containing additional personal information and the names and addresses of my two referees.

For the last couple of weeks my garden has looked better than it has all summer with rudbeckias, marigolds, fuchsias and the aster all blooming profusely - plus a few poppies.

It's a pity it's so late in the season; I wish I could find some earlier flowering plants.

It's been several years since I last did a poetry reading or led a workshop. I'm just recalling the venues where I've read or been involved with a workshop.

DARTS Community Arts, Doncaster
Alcohol Services, Doncaster
MIND [mental health charity], Doncaster
Poacher's Inn, Rossington, Doncaster
The Leopard [pub], Doncaster
Goldthorpe Library, Rotherham
A pub at Otley, Leeds
Dean Clough Arts Centre, Halifax
Sheffield Hallam University
De Gray's Rooms, York
A community centre at Wakefield
A pub in Sheffield
Huddersfield Library
Ilkley Playhouse
A cafe in Lincoln [during a literature festival]

Well, it's obviously in the north east of England - however because the county is so large parts of it end up in several different neighbouring jurisdictions.

By some definitions the parts of Yorkshire south of the River Humber are in the East Midlands.

Northern parts of the county are served by Northumbrian Police.

Small areas along the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire boundaries are served by Anglian Water or Seven Trent Water.

Most of southern Yorkshire is served by the Trent Area Health Authority....at one stage the local health authority here in Doncaster was merged with South Humber based at Scunthorpe, but we've now joined with Bassetlaw in north Nottinghamshire.

Some western areas have Lancashire postcodes and quite a large part of the North Riding has a Darlington [Co. Durham] postcode.

Some train services out of Sheffield are/were operated by North West Trains and the main line to London is called the 'Midland Main Line.'

The variety of the Yorkshire Dialect spoken in the West Riding is actually classified as a Midlands dialect.

A major naval battle of the American War of Independence [Battle of Flamborough Head] was fought off the Yorkshire coast.

I was watching a programme on TV last night about the Arctic and the lost Franklin expedition in the nineteenth century and I got around to thinking that when I was at school in the 1970s we were using atlases that still showed large areas of the Arctic as being unexplored.

There's a man I know who's mentally ill; in particular he suffers from paranoia. At the moment he's convinced that there's an army of long-legged, blonde, sexy Polish women trying to slip viagra into his food and drink.

On Saturday I was reading a library book and after about fifty pages I realised that I'd already read it. This is the first time that this has happened - I must be getting old; or maybe I'm just running out of suitable books to read.

I wonder why we have golfers, cricketers and footballers; yet rugby players, hockey players and tennis players?

So, Peter Mandelson is back; he's returned to the cabinet again. This man just about represents everything that I think is wrong with the current Labour government; he's sleazy, arrogant, elitist and aloof.

I've just read a poster here in the library this morning stating that the library will have reduced hours of opening; opening either thirty minutes or an hour later, depending on the day. Additionally, we won't be able to use the computers until fifteen minutes after opening time so that the staff can undertake health and safety checks.

I didn't know this, but the hard drives are atomic powered and take a few minutes to reach their optimum operating temperature, and during this period there is a slight risks of a radation leak...also, each mouse has to now be individually anaesthetised due to the threat of bites and any subsequent infections. I've always just snapped the mouse's neck before using the computer, like I imagine most people do.

The Industrial Society - when I was student

National Union of Students

Royal Automobile Association - when I had a moped [I still can't drive]

Derane Valley Venture

Dearne Valley City Challenge Community Forum

Community Radio Association

I've just found this: it made me smile.

Now that food has replaced sex in my life, I can't even get into my own pants.

I now live in Doncaster, and so I'm a Doncastrian. I used to live in a pit village called Thurnscoe; people from there are called Thurnscovians. Such adjectives discribing the place where someone lives are rare in English - the only other local examples I can think of are Sheffielder and Pomfretian [Pontefract].