the full heelers

A sub office of the Department of Social Welfare.
Located in a discreet(!) side street.
A tidy busy little office humming with life.
An unexpectedly optimistic atmosphere.
In any case, not the sort of thing we've come to expect from television drama.
In fact the only really negative thing is a woman at the front counter who occasionally shouts "Next" while mildly nonplussed members of the citizenry are still trying to explain their situation.
Further inside the office you might see an unusually handsome man who is sitting at the aperture known only as hatch seven.
He is being interviewed by a bored civil servant whose name tag proclaims her to be Vanessa Baines.
The mighty Heelers (for it is he) has already looked around the room in search of potential partners for his proposed touring company of strippers.
Those of us who live on the margins of society have to be creative when it comes to making ends meet.
At least so I've heard.
But there are no potential partners here.
A jovial faced middle aged chap in a golfer's cap. A teenage girl in a business suit.
That's it.
But lo!
At hatch seven the social drama is thickening.
"Mr Healy why were you fired?"
"I was accused of gross misconduct."
For the first time Vanessa Baines' bored eyes show a glimmer of interest.
"Can you explain?"
I racked my brains.
Have to make this good.
"Okay," sez I. "The company was taken over by a British corporation. There was a change in the work culture. Very aggressive, you know what I mean. Everything was just different. The human factor seemed to have been taken out of the equation. It was like I wasn't even in Ireland any more."
The ghost of Maggie Thatcher appeared at my shoulder.
"Oh Heelahz," she murmured shooting me a wounded look. "Not you as well."
"Shush Maggie," I told her. "This is for money."