Memoirs Of A Graduate

I know I blogged yesterday, and have been blogging all week in fact. But this morning something happened which was the final straw for my vented up anger on a certain matter of the government and public services.

 I’ve cracked my tooth, or done something to my tooth. I don’t know, it started with a Eton Mess dessert and a little raspberry seed getting stuck and ever since when I clench my jaw I envision the game Lemmings because it feels like there’s a fuck load of little Lemmings with their little pick axes knocking away at my tooth and gum. Last night was the final straw for this pain when I realised I couldn’t really eat anything other than soup without feeling intense zaps of pain. So, I set my alarm and got up at the time the dentist opens to phone them for an emergency appointment.

“Our next available emergency appointment is next Thursday.” I get told by this sickly sweet voice down the phone. Thursday? As in 6 days away Thursday? Maybe you don’t comprehend the words ‘emergency’. That usually means attention is required fairly urgently. I pointed this out to her and explained the tooth-pain situation. “Well, I can book you in for Thursday and just avoid eating and drinking until then. That will help prevent pain.”

 Oh ok, that’s fine. I’ll wait 6 days and in that time just starve myself or die of thirst, because that’ll probably be less painful than a toothache. I tried to limit my sarcasm with her in case she actually could offer help and she threw me a number for an emergency dental hospital where the wait could be up to 6 hours. (Again they’ve really got this post-haste thing nailed when it comes to emergencies.) Unfortunately however, at 1pm today I start training for my new job so I can’t really be fucking about in a waiting room all day. So I left it.

I’m also pissed at the government because of a letter I got earlier this week. I’ve been on the dole for 5 weeks (yet to see a single penny actually enter my bank). Then the letter came. They’ve assessed my claim, and have decided that with my £200 per month rent, roughly... £50 a month in bills plus you know, that whole business of eating and general survival – that £53 a week is sufficient to live on. Really government? Really? Because it seems to me, that’s my rent. And ... £12 left over for bills. Or food. More likely bills since you, like the dentist, seem to think starvation is quite acceptable. Bastards.

It worries me this whole; public service business. A few years ago upon breaking my neck and being ambulanced in to hospital, I spent 5 hours in a waiting room for them to not even X-Ray me and just prod my neck a bit and diagnose it as a pulled muscle. It was in fact a vertebrae fracture as I found out from my Chiropractor 3 months later when I went to him still suffering neck pain. So all hope for the public health service went out the window two years ago. And this week dentistry and government support and benefits jumped out after it.

The upping of student fees left me screaming furiously at the government because that’s such a stupid ‘solution’. I didn’t realise education was about having money, and don’t you think it’s going to fuck the country over more when banks are dishing out larger student loans, eh? Make it so you need, I don’t know... 3 C’s at A-level to get in to university. Anyone who doesn’t get that, if they’re dedicated enough can resit their A-levels. That will reduce the massive influx of students without bumping the price up. This seems like common sense to me? Education is about learning, not being able to pay for learning.

I have no interest whatsoever in ‘politics’. But honestly, I’m starting to think myself and a handful of my friends who are all quite articulate in such matters could run the country better. That’s not me being cocky, that’s me being realistic. Health, education, and even benefits - I think I could least make a good go of improving the whole system. Given what it is now, truth be told, it wouldn't take that much to improve it.

Vent over. Now, can anyone lend me a pair of pliers? Or some pest killer for these fucking Lemmings.