News

The news bulletins seem to be going from bad to worse. It really is depressing, what with all the tales of suffering on both a small and a large scale. I don't understand why people can't at least try to treat one another a bit more kindly.
What for me is quite terrifying, is when the leader of what is apparently a democracy, acquires for herself by stealth almost dictatorial powers. Who are we to lecture anyone on the virtues of democracy? The terrifying thing about it is that the game-show-watching majority will believe the woman to be doing good, and will vote for her time and time again. Governments and societies that persecute their weakest members are not manifestations of a healthy democracy.
What is also of concern is, that what we are told is a 'fair, free and impartial' press is neither of these things. It broadcasts those things the Government wants us to be told, and in a way that reflects well on the Government. It manipulates the truth. It gives little or no coverage to matters that would rock the boat. One example is the recent U.N report on H.M. Government's treatment of the disabled. Another is the many thousands of suicides and suspicious deaths of disabled people, whose benefits had been stopped. Another is the recent anti-Brexit march. Is this really the sort of world that people want to live in?

A roof over one's head

A couple of weeks ago, the letting agency called (Bastards. I asked them to either text or email me.) to say that the landlord was going to sell my flat, and that I was going to be given notice to vacate the premises. At the time, that was devastating news. The following week I received several further calls, informing me that potential buyers were going to be shown round the flat. I've had no further calls since then, so I'm assuming that the sale is going ahead. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really loved my flat when I moved in. It was more than I could possibly have hoped for. I still love it, but for quite a while I haven't enjoyed living there. It has become noisier and noisier, and the noise goes on well past a time which would (or should) be considered acceptable.
Well I am going to get somewhere much quieter at the end of all this. It will be lovely to be able to sit down in peace either thinking, or watching a film without having to keep pausing it. I've quite forgotten what that feels like.

Confused

What is happening in the world today? Everything seems to be upside-down. We have wicked callousness in positions of power and importance, telling us that they themselves are really the good ones, and marginalising those people who don't quite fit. We see the structures of co-operation crashing down around us. We see greed glorified and the vulnerable vilified. The countries of the world seem to be ruled by those who do not want peace. There is so much rampant 'lower common denominator', populist, isolationist stuff going on. It really is frightening.

In general

I've been having quite a time of it lately. My autism is not always apparent to other people, as I tend to 'wear a mask' in the outside world, with the intention of going about my business quite un-noticed. My mask hides the things I struggle with, from those I come into contact with. Sometimes the mask won't come off, for example when I hide what I'm thinking from those who really ought to know about it. As a result I tend to 'slip through the net' time and time again, when in reality those people and systems that are supposed to be there for me do not spot the telltale signs, owing to the lack of a searching question or two on the part of the service provider. So here I am, still trying to resolve my long-standing, ongoing issues with H.M Government's agencies.
Then on top of that, I have been told that my landlord intends to sell my flat, so I am going to be given my marching orders. Initially that piece of  news came as a devastating blow, but not anymore. My support worker is fucking brilliant. It look like I'm going to get something better at the end of it. I'm going to be really hacked off if the landlord changes his mind.

News

For the past three months I have been hanging on my post, waiting for a tribunal date to be set. Well a letter came yesterday, saying that the tribunal had already been heard, and saying that 'I had elected for the case to be dealt with on the basis of the paperwork alone'. I certainly hadn't made that decision. In fact I wasn't even asked that question. So I have been tried in absentia, as it were, at a hearing that took place some two hundred  miles from where I live, and without me being told about it. So much for British 'justice' and 'fairness'. These are nothing more than a figment of the national imagination. It has left me feeling heartily sick. I've sent the paperwork to my support worker, in case anything can be done.

A history lesson

I've just finished reading a substantial (but very well-written) biography of Marie Antoinette. The woman was nothing more than a product of her background and her times, as are we all. Yes she was treated shamefully at the end, but I don't blame the people who rose up against what she stood for. I don't like the idea of violent revolution one bit, what with all the gas-bags spouting ideology for ever after, and for all the intolerance and cruelty which inevitably follow in its wake. However I fully understand why revolutions occur, living in the country and time that I do.

In general

My week has been, mentally, very exhausting. I have written to appeal against the decision I received recently from H.M. Government's agencies. In the meanwhile I have taken them to court over their previous treatment of me, and am waiting for a date to be set. Earlier on this week I had the sad task of cleaning up a flat whose occupants had been arrested. The flat was in a shocking state and I almost threw up once or twice. Add to this my usual round of harpsichording and psychiatric appointments. It does tire me out.