I’ve finally been made redundant, which means I can apply for the dole and get my mortgage protection up and running. Had a lot of fun trying to get a machine that was running Microsoft stuff so I could use the on-line forms to set up a tribunal to try and recover the £11k they owe me. It just would’t work on my Ubuntu machine and then, when I booted it to Windows it started playing up. Meh.

I’m not sure if I’m going to need benefits because there are a few jobs out there but I think it’s best to get the ball rolling. I’ve paid a small fortune in tax and NI over the years and it’s supposed to be there when I need it, so we’ll see.

Having a row at the moment with some folk from a company called G24 who want me to pay for overstaying on a car park that has no signs saying what the time limit is, or that they will attempt to charge you. I wrote them a letter and they sent a useless form reply saying “my appeal had been denied”. I had’t appealed – I’d told them that they were’t being paid because I did’t know there was a restriction, clairvoyance not being a necessary requirement for a driving licence. It’s a racket, scaring people with official-looking letters and offering them a discount if they pay straight away of only £75! The local council only charge £30 if you overstay in a pay and display, they must think the people who live in Birkenhead have gold-plated toilets or something.

Also gonna give the DVLA a rocket for selling my personal details to these dodgy folk. Not amused. I do not remember giving them permission to use my details for any purpose other than legitimate legal ones required by the law. Going to ask for compensation because I believe that the only way to stop the govmint selling your details is to make it uneconomical. Yes, that’s a cynical view, but probably correct. Will give the compensation away if I receive any, but the principle is sound.

On a different tack I sent a letter to my MP Frank Field saying I supported his stand against people who were on the now abolished 10p rate of income tax being robbed by the government. About bloody time someone stood up to Brown. When I think of what he gave away to the banks, this dimwitted attack on some of the poorest people on fixed incomes really gets me cross.

Had a job interview last week that came to naught. Up for a contract role based in Woking on Monday. Busy looking for things to keep me occupied and learning new stuff, like for example cascading style sheets, that I have’t had much reason to look at. Funny thing is it reminds me of what I used to do in the old days with tools like Oracle Forms, where you had to mess with pixels and so on to get the layout right. Nothing changes, nothing is new. It’s a good time to look at all those hints and tips videos you bought or downloaded and did’t really look at properly, so that’s what I’m doing.

I don’t want to be an employee any more and am looking for enterprise grants and the like. Will see where that takes me next week.