Yesterday I spent nearly an entire day trying to at least register for welfare payments. I try to avoid claiming it whenever possible and it's been so long since I last claimed welfare payments I had to be reactivated on their system. More and more people are losing their jobs - it is insane. More insane than the last GFC and that was really bad although that was a time when I got the opportunity to do something I would not have applied to do and looking back I may have never done what did if there wasn't the GFC or met the people I did which goes to show it really is a small world and there really is 6 degrees of separation ( not to be confused with social distancing) .
2 hours in the queue snaking up the street outside the Centrelink office , a further 1.5 hours being interviewed, getting a linking code, instructions on how to set up and link services online and updating ID etc as well as trying to get onto a system that kept timing out hanging or just not accepting your details. There until 4.30 pm when the offices closed and we were about to be kicked out - no technical support on-site as well. The whole process was so lengthy and complex and it took so long to load I gave up with another lady I met and went home to try again closer to midnight. 5 hours later it's around 10 pm and I only managed to complete 80% of the intention to claim application steps before the system hung and timed out again on the final section of steps to upload supporting documents. Exhausted I decided to try again tomorrow morning.
Still not completed this morning - I give up for now. Could not continue trying any longer so tried to lodge some feedback ( no I didn't lodge a complaint and I certainly did not send a compliment!) and the landlord decides to have installation of conduit put in yesterday downstairs and upstairs in the apartment block today so there is a lot of hammering drilling and banging going on all day to around 5 or 5.30 pm. I had to use my ear plugs for the first time. Time to tune out and take a walk to clear my head.
I was planning to take a walk down to the IGA and back about a 40 minute round trip walk down the road but when I reached the sign and a road leading to Greenwich Village / Greenwich Baths ( I didn't quite make it there this time round maybe next time) etc , I made a right turn down this road to see where it led. Fancy living in Greenwich for a year and never having walked down this road which is leads to Greenwich Village - this is Greenwich Proper where I live I don't think it is even anywhere near Greenwich!
So off I walk with a mask on eventhough there are not many people around. There are the occassional walkers up and down this road but no one wearing masks. I am wearing a mask because there are so many trees around and you know what that means for me - allergies. There is something else that may be a threat to me too which I only spotted walking back. The trees are planted so close to the footpath and houses, I walked along the road to avoid walking under and through them.
I heard there was a small IGA supermarket in Greenwich Village but wasn't sure how far or where it was in Greenwich so I asked a local family who advised me it was about a km down from where I had stopped along my walk. It is sure a nice walk full of little interesting things to spot along the way.
After removing a stone in my shoes by sitting on the sandstone outside one of several churches along the road, I continue and spot painted in yellow on a stone wall the following (see photo below). I love it - there is a similar landmark near Edgecliff/ Darling Point with a painting of a lady on a grey concrete wall below what may have been a lamp post which divides the street into 2 - an upper and lower section , although over the years people have modified or painted over the original painting of the lady.
"THE GREAT WALL OF GREENWICH"
I keep walking and finally arrive at Greenwich Village and there it is a cute little older style but adequately stocked IGA ( independent grocery store or supermarket) which was probably once the local general store. My bus buddy had told me about this little IGA in the middle of nowhere. This is an IGA where the owners knew by name probably most of the locals or regulars and it really had some great grocery products there, as well as being able to tell customers when products ordered would be arriving. In I went with my mask on as it became rather busy in there about 15 - 20 minutes after I arrived. I spent quite a bit of time looking in there as I knew what I needed but wasn't sure if I would be able to find it in there as I hadn't been able to find these items anywhere else. There still was no toliet paper at all but there was hand sanitiser behind the counter, boxes of tissues with signs advising 1 packet per person - same with no name paper towel packs and there was quite a few bottles of antiseptic ( yes!) in more then one fragrance and in different sized bottles so I grabbed a small bottle of pine fragrance. I also bought on special a punnet of fresh figs ( quite nice figs and well priced too) , some slices of turkey for sandwiches, a pkt of tropical fruit leather ( which I could snack on during my walks) and a packet of tapioca ( because it was a cheaper gelling agent option with a longer shelf life) . OK I had spent enough time in there so it was time to queue up on the social distancing marked lines and crosses to pay - tap and I was gone packing my groceries into my own Boomerang bags
( thanks Boomerang Bags for the free hand made bags they are my favourite and I wash and use them every day) .
Time to have a quick look around Greenwich Village before heading home as it was beginning to get dark. The village has not just a supermarket but a small seafood shop, a beuty salon of some type, a school across the road, a pharmacy and of course a bottle shop ( doesn't every village have a bottle shop if there is no pub? Yes no pub in the village) There was no bank I could see in the village or post office but there was a third party ATM inside the IGA right in the back corner if you are desparate for some cash ( you need to be super skinny to get to it and it had a sign over it possibly out of order as I could not see). The area is quite secluded however there is 1 bus that travels along the main highway and turns off down this main road of Greenwich all the way down to Greenwich Baths I assume as I didn't walk that far down where the road begins to slope downhill.
Walking back I look at the apartments and properties for rent and for sale and look them up online. There are a few of them.
I keep walking and notice a few mushrooms growing along strips of grass under the tree trunks. In fact there were clumps of them everywhere under a few trees - some didn't even look like mushrooms until I touched them with my shoe ( no way I was going to touch them with my hand as I am allergic to wild mushrooms fungus and moulds ) - yep they were real wild magic mushrooms just growing freely but not the edible ones they were definitely poisonous. What village is complete without some wild poisonous magic mushrooms - I wonder if they could cure the Corona virus?
(photos below)
By the time I get home the trucks that were in the car park with the tradesmen who were putting the conduit in had disappear for the day and I though there would be no more drilling banging or hammering inside the apartment block. Good some peace and quiet while I get some things done. Dinner and bed - another day of no tv except for the food channel - I am actually quite sick and tired of being bombarded with Corona virus news coverage - as if there is no other local or world news to report.
Bed time ( after trying to complete my Centrelink application form again - no luck still hanging). I start to fall alseep when suddenly there is banging drilling and hamnering going on right outside my window. I can handle the traffic on the main highway constantly as it gets lighter and even stops during the night but really does construction have to continue throughout the night into the early morning? I think I didn't sleep very well even with my earplugs in - yes ear plugs again all day and all night and I could still hear it all) . Nothing I can do just try to sleep until it finishes. I hope they don't return for a third day and night! I could see my neighbour wasn't happy, accidently saw him as I was leaving he opened his door when I opened mine to leave for my walk - in his underwear!!!. Looked like he was trying to have a nap too.
It is now Friday morning ( day 3 of joblessness) sun is out and I tried again to upload my documents to Centrelink. Still no luck another complaint lodged.
Trying to catch up on some sleep now - will skip lunch. Trying to figure out what to do now that I am not at work. There is not much to do everything is gradually shutting down temporarily or going into administration and shutting down permanently.
( thanks Boomerang Bags for the free hand made bags they are my favourite and I wash and use them every day) .
Time to have a quick look around Greenwich Village before heading home as it was beginning to get dark. The village has not just a supermarket but a small seafood shop, a beuty salon of some type, a school across the road, a pharmacy and of course a bottle shop ( doesn't every village have a bottle shop if there is no pub? Yes no pub in the village) There was no bank I could see in the village or post office but there was a third party ATM inside the IGA right in the back corner if you are desparate for some cash ( you need to be super skinny to get to it and it had a sign over it possibly out of order as I could not see). The area is quite secluded however there is 1 bus that travels along the main highway and turns off down this main road of Greenwich all the way down to Greenwich Baths I assume as I didn't walk that far down where the road begins to slope downhill.
Walking back I look at the apartments and properties for rent and for sale and look them up online. There are a few of them.
I keep walking and notice a few mushrooms growing along strips of grass under the tree trunks. In fact there were clumps of them everywhere under a few trees - some didn't even look like mushrooms until I touched them with my shoe ( no way I was going to touch them with my hand as I am allergic to wild mushrooms fungus and moulds ) - yep they were real wild magic mushrooms just growing freely but not the edible ones they were definitely poisonous. What village is complete without some wild poisonous magic mushrooms - I wonder if they could cure the Corona virus?
(photos below)
Bed time ( after trying to complete my Centrelink application form again - no luck still hanging). I start to fall alseep when suddenly there is banging drilling and hamnering going on right outside my window. I can handle the traffic on the main highway constantly as it gets lighter and even stops during the night but really does construction have to continue throughout the night into the early morning? I think I didn't sleep very well even with my earplugs in - yes ear plugs again all day and all night and I could still hear it all) . Nothing I can do just try to sleep until it finishes. I hope they don't return for a third day and night! I could see my neighbour wasn't happy, accidently saw him as I was leaving he opened his door when I opened mine to leave for my walk - in his underwear!!!. Looked like he was trying to have a nap too.
It is now Friday morning ( day 3 of joblessness) sun is out and I tried again to upload my documents to Centrelink. Still no luck another complaint lodged.
Trying to catch up on some sleep now - will skip lunch. Trying to figure out what to do now that I am not at work. There is not much to do everything is gradually shutting down temporarily or going into administration and shutting down permanently.
There was a story of taking out the press buttons used to activate the green walk/red don't walk indicator lights at pedestrian crossings and automating them so you don't have to be in contact with public surfaces. I thought most of tthese were already automated in a loop sequence and pressing the button won't make the indicator lights change any faster. Is this the future? (photo attached in a very crude example I found on my walk)
Friday afternoon and they are still drilling hammering and banging all afternoon!! Inside and outside of the apartment block!!
Where's the button gone?
No comments:
Post a Comment