The Chat Room

[Rouxenator]

We had supper at the Spier Wine Estate once, All African cuisine and face painting.

When I was a kid I used to take a shit off the bridge on our farm just above Spier. I found it incredibly funny because in my mind I had this picture of these posh people having a fancy dine out, sitting next to the river at Spier when my floater comes bobbing by in the water.

"Is your gourmet sirloin to your liking dear?"
"Why yes love, it is marverlo......I say! Is that a turd in the water?!"
"By George! It does seem to be someone's sirloin from yesterday!"

 

[Nicholas]

No, I have applied for my ILR (settlement), it'll be up to the end of October before they make a decision for me to settle here, then I will have 12 months to make arrangements for the application for my British passport and ceremony for it after that.

My problem is that I can't get a job in the field I want, even after having my qualifications and so on, you would say most companies are discriminating people with disabilities - it's not just SA but it's everywhere in the world. UK is supposed to be protecting people with the equality act but a lot of the companies are getting away with it using minor details such as not enough work experience, or something stupid.

I am not surprised that a lot of disabled people are living on disability income because of this. There is a guy in my town, he's 22, British national and has learning disabilities - he has been looking for work for over a year now, no one wants to employ him and he's been applying for so many different jobs.

It pisses me off that people with disabilities are not being given a chance to get some sort of full-time work. I do not want to be stuck in cleaning or some menial manual unskilled jobs when I can do better than that.

Ouch! Do you at least benefit from free public transport? My sister does.

 

[Nicholas]

VumaTel is doing maintenance work on its fibre infrastructure in my area. [The sent me messages well in advance.]

I'm scribbling/writing again. I blaim CoPilot and ChatGPT for that. Have reverted back up to high-school level from pretty much nothing at all. Nothing publishable-a sentence or three unless I use AI but it is enough to keep myself amused. I'm not deluding myself with thoughts of being published. I still can't write people who are anything more than cardboard cut-outs, and don't do dialogue, but no worries.
AI "art got me doodling again.

Oh....hi. Good morning. How are you?

 

[Nicholas]

Dang! We have Trusc 100/50 at R399. It was the launch promo price you got if you signed up for 24 months. Usual price is R499 - still not bad compared to the rest. At home in Stellenbosch I pay just under R900 for 80/80 Afrihost over Frogfoot.

Trusc seems to be extending their network, did a ride yesterday to your neck of the woods, up Koppiesveld, and there was a few Trusc vehicles at sites and on the road.

View attachment 40782

That's cheap! I am in a Vumatel Tactical area. Getting 25/25mbps for R449/m. Uncapped, unthrottled, uninhibited.

 

[Rouxenator]

That's cheap! I am in a Vumatel Tactical area. Getting 25/25mbps for R449/m. Uncapped, unthrottled, uninhibited.

It's cheap because they own the fibre network and you have to sign up for a 2 years contract when you join. The only competition is Herotel, not sure how they work, but we have had excellent service from Trusc.

 

[BloodrayneZA]

Ouch! Do you at least benefit from free public transport? My sister does.

yes I do, there are some services that are exempt such as ATW (Access To Work) for disabled people, the government pays for interpreter support for the workplace and you can even apply for support to go to job interviews. It's been really great in this aspect, even the hospital in Bradford when I went for my cochlear implant assessment, they asked if I needed a BSL interpreter and it's provided free of charge by the Bradford Council as the government pays for the rights of deaf people for access to communications.

That is one reason why I am staying here - I applied a year after I was in the UK to get my bus pass (free transport after 9:30am), I can also apply for my disabled rail card (I need a doctor's letter proving it) and only pay 2/3 of the train fares. It's cheap to travel by train to Leeds - 2 way ticket only costs just under £10 for coach and it's really good, very clean as well. The government also provides access as well as being able to make phone calls without relying on another person - we have an app in the UK called Relay UK and it actually calls the relay service centre who then makes the phone call for us, texting / communicating in real time between a phone call to the dentist, doctors, hospital and they even provide access to emergency services too.

 

[BloodrayneZA]

Still employed, i hope?

Yes I am, I work for the council as a passenger assistant to keep SEND children safe from their homes to their school. It's not a bad job, you have some good and bad days with the children. Most of them are non-verbal and don't speak more than 2 words at a time so it works fine for me as I can read their body language and calm them down if they get upset.

 

[Nicholas]

It's cheap because they own the fibre network and you have to sign up for a 2 years contract when you join. The only competition is Herotel, not sure how they work, but we have had excellent service from Trusc.

Herotel has the cheapest fibre in East London, from what I have seen. Telkom/Openserve, while not the cheapest upgraded my brother's 20mbps line for no extra charge.

 

[Nicholas]

yes I do, there are some services that are exempt such as ATW (Access To Work) for disabled people, the government pays for interpreter support for the workplace and you can even apply for support to go to job interviews. It's been really great in this aspect, even the hospital in Bradford when I went for my cochlear implant assessment, they asked if I needed a BSL interpreter and it's provided free of charge by the Bradford Council as the government pays for the rights of deaf people for access to communications.

That is one reason why I am staying here - I applied a year after I was in the UK to get my bus pass (free transport after 9:30am), I can also apply for my disabled rail card (I need a doctor's letter proving it) and only pay 2/3 of the train fares. It's cheap to travel by train to Leeds - 2 way ticket only costs just under £10 for coach and it's really good, very clean as well. The government also provides access as well as being able to make phone calls without relying on another person - we have an app in the UK called Relay UK and it actually calls the relay service centre who then makes the phone call for us, texting / communicating in real time between a phone call to the dentist, doctors, hospital and they even provide access to emergency services too.

They certainly do take better care of the UK than they do here, it seems, even if the NHS is under strain. You have more taxpayers, too, don't you?

 

[Nicholas]

Yes I am, I work for the council as a passenger assistant to keep SEND children safe from their homes to their school. It's not a bad job, you have some good and bad days with the children. Most of them are non-verbal and don't speak more than 2 words at a time so it works fine for me as I can read their body language and calm them down if they get upset.

My sister is a teacher, so she has had her of difficult children!

 

[Nicholas]

Pouring with rain again. Leftovers from Cape Town?

 

[satanboy]

Fog here in St Helena Bay.

 

[satanboy]

I am on a 50Mbps package. They must be testing.

 

[Nicholas]

Yum! Enjoy it while you can.

 

[BloodrayneZA]

They certainly do take better care of the UK than they do here, it seems, even if the NHS is under strain. You have more taxpayers, too, don't you?

Yes probably, although the recent prime minister Rishi Sunak hiked the tax costs.

I was just talking to my interpreter about any possible jobs and I mentioned an area called Doncaster - that area has a large community of deaf people including a deaf club and a deaf school so I will probably start looking for work in that area as well.

 

[Nicholas]

Okaaaay

 

[BloodrayneZA]

@Nicholas I just spoke to my Support Worker and she said that Doncaster is not ideal because it's mostly school or college jobs working with deaf people.

She reminded me that like her, I'm also a lone wolf and prefer to work alone. So Leeds is a better opportunity for me, I'll even go further for the right job and the right pay.

 

[satanboy]

We went shopping late today. Arrived at Weskus mall after 3pm. Woolworths was empty as the rest of the mall.

We also went to Builders and you could park anywhere.

Small town living is fucking great.

 

[satanboy]

View from mall parking lot.

 

[satanboy]