Into the office, a quick chat with my caseworker and then out to Weymouth. No motorcycle at the moment as it's too cold! I took my battered landrover instead and promptly had a pheasant fly straight into my left headlight as I drove along the A35 to Dorchester. I went down to the Adult Education Centre on Dorchester Road to meet the lovely Karen Giles, who works for the charity Rethink Mental Illness, based at Bridport. There's still a lot of stigma attached to mental illness and Karen and her volunteers try to help sufferers get back into work. I spent more than an hour talking to several clients and then listening as they were taken through a job interview. The key is to get them back into work, where they all wanted to be. The difficulty is persuading employers to take them on. I was very moved by their stories and with people like Karen around, they have a chance to start again. I then drove to Winfrith to visit Mr and Mrs Cook, who run a small business selling hanging baskets. Sadly, they've been badly flooded, with rain water coming down off the hills, over the road and on to their property. I spent some time talking to council officials and the couple to see what could be done. To be fair, a team were working on the drain and culvert beside the road and that will make a huge difference when completed. It was back to Weymouth after that to listen to a couple struggling to deal with, what appears on the face of it, a huge injustice. I am not going to mention names, because I don't think that will help and we spoke in confidence. I can say that we chatted for a long time and the more I heard the more concerned I became. I am now investigating their concerns, which I share. Back to the office and I worked through to about 7pm.