flat

Glad that’s over . . . hopefully

/ Tony / 3 Comments

The past ten days or so have been a bit stressful, to say the least. It started on the Monday when my father-in-law was rushed into hospital with suspected pneumonia. My wife stayed with him until 3am on Tuesday, in the A & E department, hoping to get him onto a ward. That didn’t happen until Tuesday evening. Then on Wednesday, in a bizarre twist, my Mother was rushed into the same hospital with the same suspected condition. She too was left in A & E for over 19 hours until a bed could be found. The staff, what little there was, were brilliant and did all they could with the limited resources available, but unfortunately, they tend to bear the brunt of patient and visitor frustrations.

They are both out now and on the mend, hopefully.

<><><><><>

Another bit of stress came when our youngest came for a home visit. He has an obsession with Mickey Mouse and his flat, at the care home has many pictures and wall stickers of this cartoon character. Towards the end of July, he came for a visit. He came with a request for “51 Mickey Mouse stickers!!” He was able to show me the ones he wanted. They were located in South Africa and at a price of 1900 Rand (plus postage), but I managed to explain that they were too expensive, as it worked out to around £100. He accepted this, but almost immediately ask for “4 Mickey Mouse stickers.” He then showed me the new ones, and I agreed to get them.

That’s when the problem started. The seller was on holiday and wouldn’t be back until the 16th of August. He seemed to accept this, but then the nattering began. He was asking everyone for “4 stickers.” We managed to order them eventually and told him that they would be arriving at his flat on Monday 22nd. All was going well but then a new phase came in. He started asking for “16 stickers on Tuesday!” Nobody had any idea about these new stickers, but he kept mentioning them.

The stickers finally arrived on the 23rd and he is very happy with them. It was later that day when it suddenly struck me where the “16 stickers on Tuesday” had come from! I had told him about the seller being on holiday and had said I would order the stickers when he came back … the 16th of August, which was also a Tuesday. I am convinced, that in his Autistic mind he was checking that the stickers had been ordered on Tuesday the 16th!

More panic ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Mrs H got a call from the letting agent this morning. They had tried to get hold of either of the two lads, as they needed the old flat key. They said they have to go and check it, but I suspect that they may have someone else lined up to move in. Of course, nobody could reach either of them. Both phones were going to voicemail, so I suspect they had switched them off. It appears that they had spent all night working on their Uni stuff, and had only got to bed at 05:00 this morning. Hence the difficulty in waking them.

Dad to the rescue!! I drove round to his new place, managed to knock them up and then drove to the agents with the keys. All done!

His room is a tip though. I know they’ve not been in long, but all his bags of clothes were still piled up on the bedroom floor. Hopefully he’ll get it sorted today.

Weekend all gone…..

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   The flat move went as well as can be expected. It was hard work though. I arrived at his place, at around 10:30, and it was around 21:00 when I managed to get away. R*** was not away, so Mrs H could not help at all. R***’s dad came and moved most of R***’s stuff, and the really heavy items in his van, but after two trips, he had gone. That left me, to finish of and lock up. I suppose S**** could have come with me for the last trip, but I felt that he wanted to start getting his flat in order. Took me about an hour or so to pack all the last bits up. And they were just bits. If I had had a crate or something, it could have been easier. Still it’s done, and the new place seems to be a lot better. Fingers crossed, they keep it tidy.

   A bit of a rest today, if you can call three loads of washing a rest !!! My legs seem to ache a lot. I think it is the knees that are the problem. I’m sat here with support bandages on both knees. It seems to work. When you think, I must have walked up and down the steps in S****’s old flat, at least 30 times yesterday (3 flights of stone staircase each way), its no wonder I’m in the state I’m in. Too old for this kind of game.

Just like starting over ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   Eldest moves into his new flat tomorrow !! They went and had a look today, and signed on the dotted line there and then. So now Dad’s Removal service comes into play. Saturday is going to be a long long day. From all accounts, the new flat is better than the old one. But it’s going to take a bit of time to get everything moved. R**’s dad, is coming across with a van for the big stuff, but it’s not too clear at what time. Mrs H appears to be a bit happier about it all now. Looks like it could work out for the better. I’ll have a look at the security at the new flat, though, and we may get the police crime prevention lot to take a look. The letting agents are going to love us.

   So what else has happened. Not a lot really. Work grinds on the same. Nothing much changes there. The same people, playing their silly games. I have a few days off next week. We (that is the ‘Royal We’ aka Mrs H) were going to make a start on the decorating. We both feel, that the walls would benefit from an undercoat of white paint, before the top coat. The walls are quite bright colours, and the new colour is a lot lighter. But cleaning down is going to be the biggest job, that and painting the ceiling. It’s not a big room, until you have to start painting, and it is impossible to move everything out, so it’s a case of climbing and clambering.

Not a good start .. then gets worse

/ Tony / 2 Comments

   This week has started so bad. Work was the usual mix of coping with half-wits, and then it got worse !!

   I got home to find that the eldest lad had had his flat robbed. Bad part about it was that they were in at the time !!!! Even worse, one of the bast*rds had a gun !! S**** thinks it was a BB gun, but that is not the point, it may not have been. Apparently, what happened was that someone knocked on their flat door. His flatmate went to answer it, and was confronted by two people, and one was carrying a gun, covered with a cloth of some sorts. The robbers then started putting S**** and R**’s stuff into bags. Got away with a couple of laptops, mobiles and some other computer stuff.

   I trolled off down to his flat as soon as I got in, to find that they had gone off to the local Police station to make statements. This was about 6:15pm. After a lot of waiting about, they finally got back into their flat at around 11:15pm. I got home around 11:50pm. Both lads seemed to be okay. Very shook up and very tired.

   Mrs H was a complete wreck !!!! She has only just got used to him being so independent, and then this happens, and sets her back 6 months. no sleep for her last night, and I can’t see her getting much tonight either.

   Things seem to be moving fast though. S**** has got some of his stuff back, and some people have been arrested. They are both going to an ‘ID parade’ tomorrow, so we will see what happens then. 

   To be continued ……

Gone ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   Well, he went back to his flat today. Mrs H seemed okay. she managed to tidy his bedroom up, and put a few things right in his kitchen/living room. It was not as bad as it could have been. It took about an hour or so, and I think he was grateful. It was a good job that we did not have any more time, or i think she would have vacuumed the stair carpet before we went.

   Youngest seemed to have had a good time at his weekend club. He has been a bit off for a part of the evening, and like I mentioned, it could be the cold sore.

   That is just about it for the day. Mrs H wants me to take down the decorations tomorrow. I probably will and get it out of the way. I never like waiting until 12th night.

First day over and done

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   That, as they say, is that. Day one down. Only 364 until 2011 !!!! When you think about it, it’s not really a long time. Or is it just me, dreading the countdown to next Christmas smile_sad

   Eldest lad goes back to his flat tomorrow. Mrs H is not going to be to happy about that. She hoped he would spend the day with us today. That did not happen. He went to the New Years party at the village hall, after we had had a few drinks in the pub. I think we expected him home around 2am or maybe 2:30am. Mrs H rang him at 3:30am, just to see where he was, and he texted back to say he was at a friends and would be sleeping there. Now, would you not think he could have let us know ? Anyway, we thought that he would be kicked out about 10:00, but no, he arrived back at just after 2:30pm. A quick hello, and it was up to his room to chat on the computer with all his friends. Saying that though, it was 2:00am when I finally stopped chatting this morning smile_embaressed

   So it has been quite an odd day really. We did not get out for a walk. Youngest would not go anyway, but he has been a bit off today. He had his medication for the first time in 5 days, as he seemed to be getting quite upset. He started with a cold sore, and both of us think that this may have been causing him a bit of pain. Mrs H has been attacking it with Tea Tree oil, and it seems to be working. He goes to his weekend group tomorrow, which is useful. It means me and Mrs H can get the eldest, and all his washing, back to his place without too many problems. He is then on respite from Monday until Friday, so it is going to seem a very empty place next week. Shall Mrs H and me do the quiz-nite on Tuesday ? Probably not, but never say never.

Successful, but expensive day …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   A day out in Harrogate today. We bought a new TV !!! We have gone for a Sony Bravia, 40” LCD model. It’s not going to go on the wall though. To be honest, I don’t really like wall mounted screens. S****s always look out of place, and the one at work is similar. No we are going to see what it looks like on the current stand. We get an option to ‘upgrade’ our Sky box to a Sky HD box, but unless it’s a Sky+ box, it will not be worth it, and we don’t want to be paying another £10.00 a month for HD. Going to pick it up tomorrow as we were not prepared to fork out £25.00 for delivery !!

   I upgraded my phone too. Mrs H convinced me to go into the ‘3 Store’ to have a look. Fifteen minutes later, I came out with a new Nokia E71, a new 18 month (+ 2 month) contract, and a free Pay As You Go (PAYG) sim card. As from Wednesday, I will have 200 minutes calls, unlimited 3 to 3 calls, unlimited texts and unlimited internet access. All this for £20.00 a month. It is the phone and contract I have been looking at for a while.

   I also ordered some new RAM for the PC. Play.com finally had the 1gb module I needed. It had gone up in price, by £1.00, but it is still a good price. Looks like it will be delivered next week. It has been an expensive day !!!!!

   Eldest had his ‘house/flat warming’ party last night. Sounds like it went quite well. We have not spoken to him, but I texted him at lunchtime. He said it was around 6am when the party broke up. I don’t know if anyone stopped  after that, of if they went home then. Mrs H was hoping that he came on line tonight. She wanted to try and talk on Skype, but he went offline around 8:30pm, and has not been back on.

   Have changed my blog theme again. I will see how this one goes. I am going to try and indent each paragraph, just by a couple of characters. See if it scans better.

   All done for tonight.

Interesting day…..

/ Tony / Leave a comment

The hospital appointment went quite well. Youngest was extremely well behaved, and the Dr/Consultant was very positive. He is going to get some things to put the the R***’s ears, that might help. He seemed to agree that tinnitus could well be one of the problems. It appears that these ‘moulds’ have a low background noise, similar to running water. This it seems could help to counteract the other noise R*** may be experiencing. He did say, however, that it is quite possible that R*** may just pull the things out, the first time he used them. Then he would have to think again. R*** was very calm and relaxed, even during the the time the Dr was making the templates. This involved injecting a rubber/latex compound into his ears. Touch wood, he has not had an episode at all today, despite getting a bit frustrated with Movie Maker again.

Eldest went back to his flat today. The living room looked a right tip when we got there. I don’t think his flatmate understands the concept of tidy. Mrs H appeared to be okay with him going back, although she did not see the place. I suppose that is how students live. I never lived away until I was married, so I have nothing to compare. We have to learn to let go.

Still no reply from the Labour Party with regard to my subscription. It is now 4 days since I emailed them. Doesn’t give you a lot of confidence. Ironically, I received a letter from the Constituency party office today, inviting me to the hustings for the next candidate. Our MP is standing down before the next election. I’ve been invited (amongst many others) to elect the new candidate. I will decline.

Doctors tomorrow. I have to have my blood pressure measured. R*** on the other hand is having his ears syringed. I’m not too sure how that will go down. If he is half as good as he was today then there will not be a problem.

Rain and more rain

/ Tony / 2 Comments

I did not get out at lunchtime. By the time I had finished troughing, there was no time left. And then it was raining when I got home.

It was another day of non-returned calls. Both the software house and repair company did not call back. I’m sure its a plan to get extra time.

Last family quiz-nite tonight. Eldest goes on Saturday, so it may be a little emotional. Then again it may not. I think a couple of his friends are joining us. Hope it is as fun as last time. We cannot move in here at the moment. Everywhere you turn, there are boxes and boxes of pots and pans and food and stuff for the flat. It is going to be hard work getting everything over there. I think it will take more than one trip, but we will see.

That is it for now. There may be more later.