Don't let them get away with it

Our landlord is evicting my wife and I in two months. This is not because we are noisy or messy or uncooperative tenants who don't pay the rent on time. We are simply too much of a bother because we haven't been so easy to hold under his thumb.

Our flat is part of a converted building, which itself is very old and so contains no damp proof course. This has lead to rising damp and problems with mould (not to mention many other problems besides).

We went to the landlord with these complaints but he was unresponsive. We also went to the council since, as we were housed through one of their schemes (due to me struggling with a mental health diagnosis), we thought that they might be able to help. 

That didn't seem so be going anywhere so we sought the help of the citizens advice bureau. In the end the CAB pressed and got things rolling.

Not long after we heard that the Environmental Health Team were to get involved we were served our notice by the landlord.

All we are guilty of is not allowing a person to get away with being a bad human being. I guess that is the way of the world though - you can either compromise, play by the rules and accept the way things are, or hold with your values and get struck down at every turn. 

There is no first strike in karate & justice

“No first strike” doesn’t mean waiting to be attacked and then retaliating. It goes further than that and can mean avoiding a situation that is dangerous or harmful in the aid of self-preservation.

But what if seeing the state of the world and what people are doing to each other and to themselves is causing you mental distress? Should you then take steps to stop the crap that goes on?

Then there’s the indirect effect something like people over-eating has on you; in the future more money will have to go towards treating the illnesses they will develop as a result of their obesity and this will have a knock on effect on taxes.

And what about global warming? Can you help but be pissed off with the oil companies for engineering politics to their own gains whilst destroying the planet and damaging our health and well being at the same time?

So what's the answer? In a way you're already under attack so you need to take the initiative in the name of self preservation.

The problem is there seems to be a lot of ignorance around; and people who are too caught up with the trivialities of their daily lives to stop and think for themselves.

Others are told they are mentally ill for thinking and put in a medical straight jacket to prevent them from telling the truth.

Are you beautiful?

I heard that voluptuousness used to be a sign of beauty because it was associated with wealth. Now skinniness has widely taken it's place, so is that related to wealth too? 

Do people aspire to emulate things about movie stars and models because they are rich; as though if you were to be slim/well built like them, then you would appear to be wealthy and be more attractive to potential mates? 

State Benefit Stigma

Why am I so embarrassed for people to know that I am on benefits because of a mental health condition and why do I constantly feel like a cheat whenever I think about claiming?

I don’t work at the moment because I am physically unable to do so - I know, this sounds like a cop out even to me; as though I am just making excuses and I could actually work if I were to simply put in the effort.

But I shouldn’t feel that I am being stigmatised (even if it is all in my head).

Yet I still don’t want people to know that I claim benefits because somehow it feels like I’m doing nothing for something whereas they are working bloody hard for their paycheque.

I have a freedom pass (which lets me travel, as you guessed, for free) however the fact is that it isn’t really for free because I have to pay, not by money, but by the torment of not being able to earn my own way like other people and also by struggling in everyday life.

An interesting article:

http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/quote-of-the-month/krishnamurti-measure-of-health