So, after 8 years I finally got back to the old country.
It was a much needed trip, and a bittersweet at the same time. Five weeks just dissapeared and I don’t think I really stopped as there was so much to do with tying up loose ends and getting an over view of what needed to be sorted out. I went out there blind in every sense of the word.
There was a lot of bureaucracy to sort out and a lot of late fines to pay , everything relating to mum’s death and probates etc by law should have been filed within 12 months of her passing.
Standing in the cemetery and tidying her headstone, it was the first time I’d seen her since loading her onto the stretcher and then into the back of the ambulance, as you can imagine it was an emotional moment.
It was also difficult to come to terms with just how desolate the village was now. Whole tracts were empty, and so many people had died. I found myself asking after this person and that person who I knew when I was knee high to a grasshopper only to be told that they’d died some years ago,
Like most of the small villages in southern italy, there’s no reason to stay, there’s no work in those parts, and the birth rate is low now, so when the elderly die, there’s nothing to fill the void. The young want to leave as soon as they’re able and they don’t even move to the north of the country - they just get out altogether and make lives for themselves abroad.
I stayed with my cousin for the whole while, and in truth dreaded coming back as I knew what I was walking back into.
I managed to come down with bronchitis and a cold as well a week after I arrived in Italy, that’s still not fully shifted - which was nice!
During that time, Steven Mynett of Guildford Borough Council came back to me. He appologised for his delay in replying - he had taken the time to go to his legal department to cement his case,
He once again said how sad he was for the situation regarding my partner - a social pleasantry at best.
He produced two court cases where councils had proven that a person was not resident at their proeprty and fined accordingly.
He made it clear that as far as he was concerned it was a second home and would be billed as such.
He cited my own words regarding how long she had been ill and how long I have been looking after her. He knows that given how open I have been about finances I am in no position to mount a legal counter.
The long and short of it is that I have to find 8k for three year’s council tax and were I to say I am going to move back into the house the onus is on me to prove to GBC that I am actually resident in my own house - going on to the council website and declaring I have moved into the property like anyone else will not be enough in his eyes due to the weight of evidence provided.
Angela goodwin my local councillor’s only help was to recommend that I send him all my evidence as I had done and that I review my care package - in other words, no help whatsoever.
In a nutshell, I being as honest and open as I could and laying everything on the table, it’s royally screwed me over. Between the carers benefit and the council I’ve come to realise that honesty isn’t the best policy, it damages you doubly rather than help.
The greatest lie offered is that these services are here to help, they’re not. They’re there to make sure you pay. Nothing more.
However, in his great Mercy Mr Mynett has removed the court summons and invited me to suggest a payment plan, although I can’t begin to think that he’s open to accepting one pound a month till I find a job.
Returning home the live in carer had made herself quite at home. My fridge was practically empty, there were random towels and dish cloths littered around the place, and one set of blinds was broken (now fixed) and my door lock won’t work smoothly anymore.
She obviously used all the mega pack of washing powder and fabric softener on her cornflakes as I can’t believe that she could go through those in the space of 5 weeks, and she obviously liked a doughnut as one of my pans looked like it had been through a blast furnace and the smell of burnt oil was pretty noticeable.
She had pretty much ignored everything I told her and I found my other half asleep half way down the bed, she looked pretty rough.
She’d lost a lot of body weight, I’d say easily a stone if not more and was dehydrated.
The next day I picked her up and gave her a proper bath, washed her hair and changed the bedding which was covered in grease spots - that explains why her skin felt like a wax candle and I couldn’t find the vaseline.
She’s her old self again now, and she’s eating and drinking well again. She’d obviously not been getting anywhere near enough given the way she ate and drunk these last few days.
I’ve decided that the care agency has to go. They’re not serving me at all. I can’t even be bothered to argue with them anymore, I just want them to be served notice and a smooth transition to occur.
All I need is an agency that’s willing to take sponsorship staff - I’ve a whole team ready to drop and hit the groud running, as the staff will defect in heartbeat.
I don’t want to leave it very long before going back to Italy again, but my thinking is that perhaps I go for two or three nights on a cheap ticket, that way I can probably pay for the sleeping night carer out of my own pocket rather than have the fun and games I’ve had with agency and social services for funding, I’ve broken the back of what I needed to do out there, had I had three more weeks I could have got everything sewn up completely and walked away knwing that everything was sorted.
SO what now?
First tidy the house!
secondly start looking for work and also annoy council tax manager dude off by suggesting my offer of repayment.
Thridly, make a complaint against the carers allowance. They came back to me with some form that even an accountant I have in confidence said he didn’t know what they were asking for.
Again in being honest with them i’ve shot myself in the foot. They are arguing that I need to provide proof I didn’t earn anything since january 2021, I’m arguing that you’re the government - walk across to the inland revenue and ask them.
Oh and start looking for another care agency.
… and breath…
