It's a new week and in some respects not alot has changed. This is a long blog post!

My daughter (15yo) and myself are still sharing a hotel room in our seaside town. It's not a bad room but there's no aircon and the weather has been very humid/hot. The wifi has also decided to fail me, although other guests don't seem to have a problem - five separate devices are failing to connect for no good reason. That restricts online activity to emails and occasional searching using the 4g connection on my phone. My daughter managed to use 200Mb of my 1200Mb allowance in 30 mins and swears she wasn't streaming video!

I successfully co-ordinated a public event involving a thousand folk over the Mayday bank holiday weekend, which ended a week ago today. That got me public recognition in the local newspaper which I suspect is a double-edged sword. The follow up from the event meant visiting many of the venues who participated and talking about the next one. My apologies if I don't specify this any further as it would lead to me being publicly outed via a very simple google search.

Anyway, by the end of last week I was shattered. I wasn't eating properly and I wasn't taking my medication. This came to a head on Sunday when I was just not right in any sense. My appetite is currently near zero but I am drinking plenty of water. My medication is back on track as well.

I had stopped talking to my family as my depression reached rock bottom at the end of last week but I made sure my daughter ate and had clean clothes. She was reporting back to her Nana on my state of mind/body which created other issues that were not my daughter's fault. I finally this morning spoke to my uncle and briefed him on my position.

So, the agent for my ex-landlord told me on thursday that I had one day to finish stripping the apartment of my possessions. It was unfurnished when I took it 4 years ago so all the furniture comes out. My depression meant that I did nothing - mea culpa. Today I have apologised and asked for a date when I can do this before he trashes the place. Most of my male clothing is still there but I have taken my female clothing. All of my daughter's clothes have also been removed so far. So I wait to hear back from the agent.

I've also been dealing with the housing folk. I received a referral via my daughter's school and saw a lady on Wednesday last week. She basically told me there was nothing she could do as I wasn't mentally ill(apparently!), a drug user, alcohol abuser, violent, ex-con etc etc. I was shuffled to the next desk to speak to a housing officer, not one I'd seen before. He decided I needed to complete two more forms, bringing the total to six or seven so far. One I could do there and then, the other needed research from my records. I also, on friday received an email asking me for my accounts for the last 2 years. I've been rather slack there as most of my clients pay cash. I've had to reconstruct the accounts from diaried appointments, emails, text messages and vague memories. The last 5 months weren't too difficult but last year was a pain. It took me all day yesterday when I was feeling awful and I emailed the spreadsheet last night. The completed form (some of the numbers came from my accounts) goes in the post today as I don't have access to a scanner.

So, have I done enough to satisfy the housing folk? If so they will settle with my ex-landlord and authorise a new apartment. Until I hear back I can't speak to any letting agent. My history won't help either! So, no real movement forward on the housing front but the number of negatives is reducing. I'm now on top of the paperwork and even managed a paid job this morning designing a new menu for a cafe, including research into the building (17th century).

Many thanks to those who have contacted me and offered support, I hate to think what dire straits I would be in without it.

Shiraz