A bit lost

There was no routine to follow yesterday, so I felt a bit lost.

Monday mornings were already a bit of a challenge for me, even before I was retrenched. The kids spend every Sunday night at their dad’s place, so I always wake to an empty house.

It’s a strange feeling and I don’t like it very much.

To take my mind off the emptiness, I usually get dressed and walk the dogs to the coffee shop. But it was raining yesterday and the fur princesses don’t like getting wet.

Since there were no children to roust out of bed and get to school, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. I would normally throw myself into work, but that’s been taken away.

So I made myself a breakfast quesadilla with scrambled egg and cheese and jalapenos. I checked the morning news. I waited for the morning traffic to ease and did the grocery shopping. I applied for a pie-in-the-sky job.

I felt a bit aimless.

Eventually I bit the bullet and started doing my least favourite thing: cleaning the house.

Well, not proper cleaning, but it was time to remove the layer of brick dust from the piles of stuff in the back room and start packing everything into the youngest’s former bedroom, which has been converted into a storeroom.

The renovation is inching towards being close-ish to finished. Soon the painters will roll Glinks Gully onto the walls and I will need to stack all my furniture onto the deck so the floors can be polished for the third time in six years (and hopefully the last time during my habitation of the residence).

Oh, I also rang Centrelink twice. My first call was because I‘d received an email saying my application for JobSeeker was on hold because I didn’t have an Employment Separation Certificate. But when I went to the Employment Separation Certificate page it said that requirement had been suspended due to COVID-19. The young lass at Centrelink explained the information was out of date because the website hadn’t been updated since June. Honest answer, but huh?

When I got the Employment Separate Certificate, the site wouldn’t let me upload it. I called another young lass who said I should get the Centrelink app, take a photo of the certificate and upload it that way. Except the certificate is electronic and I don’t have a printer. So I had to get DD to print it out for me and drop it off on his way to see a Van Gogh exhibition in the city with his kids.

Such a palaver.

I don’t think I’m cut out for being on the dole. I like to be busy and productive and not constantly on the phone to Centrelink.

I’m sure I would manage better if I won the lottery, but my anxiety over finding a job means I don’t feel I can have leisurely lunches and wander aimlessly around homewares stores looking for the perfect bread bin.

I must wait for the daily job updates from LinkedIn and Seek and write proposals and cover letters and contact people to let them know I’m on the job hunt.

During my hunting, I came across the advertisement for my old position yesterday. My role has been given a fancy new title: Content and Business Development Executive. I felt a bit sad as I read the job description.

Oh well. Onwards. Upwards.