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Hey, well done Toots - you can scoff them while you watch the new telly
Sorry to hear about the flat though, hopefully you'll have better luck with your latest application.
Well, I think you're on a roll here, Toots! You win a fandabbydoozie new telly, THEN you win a hamper full of lovely sin (stuff the diet, you can go back onto it AFTER you've dealt with the hamper!)...and they say good things come in threes, don't they? So maybe these new flats will give you the third piece of luck! I really hope so.
When can you go see them? When are they ready for occupancy?
One way to solve your boiler problem would just be to move out
)))
woo congrats on the hamper - a little treat each day is essential in my view so a whole hamper of goodies is perfect
Sorry to hear about the flat but these things happen for a reason, your perfect home will turn up soon and at least all the paperwork is in place for when it does.
No news until Friday at the very earliest ..
Got a very busy week ahead ..
Monday .. engineer arrives to look at the back boiler and decide if it's repairable & chox hamper arrives
Tuesday .. monthly grocery delivery arrives from Sainsburys's
Wednesday .. visit flat I've put a bid in for and the flats I found nearer to the centre of town
Thursday .. doctors to hopefully find out what this lump that keeps coming up on my leg is
Friday .. being assessed by Social Services to see what help I need ..
Phew .. that may not seem very hectic .. but Monday I have to get all the things back out of the airing cupboard (again) .. get stressed waiting for him to arrive .. then replace everything yet again .. Tuesday once the groceries arrive I have to scan them (get rewarded to do this) then put them all away which takes me several goes and try and tidy as I go .. Wednesday .. highly unusual for me to drive on the day immediately after being so busy with my groceries, but I have to do it .. Thursday got to get up ridiculously early for a 9am appointment (very hard normally without having had two very busy days prior to it) .. properly washed, decent undies and all that for the doctor .. Friday have to appear 'needy' but not incapable, home sorted to look clean enough not to warrant interference .. yet just untidy enough to show I am struggling to cope .. Saturday and Sunday may well be bed rest to get over the full week I'd just had
It sounds pretty hectic to me, Patootie! That's a major project every day, some of which involve a lot of careful judgment (do you like the flat? how to make the right impression with the assessors etc) and all of which are quite important one way or another (yes, even Sainsbury's: you gotta eat!).
So DO plan on a restful weekend at the end of it!
That said, it all sounds like good stuff, and by the end of the week hopefully you will be healthier, safer (with that bliddy boiler being properly looked at) AND looking forward to maybe making the house move in the foreseeable future!
Can you tell us any more about the flats you're looking at? Do they sound more like what you're after?
The flats are all pretty much the same inside .. one bedroom, lounge, kitchen, bathroom .. quite bijou .. hence the need to be weeding out my belongings .. so far I am stuck at the .. I must have this, I shall need that, can't get rid of this .. stage .. there'll be nowhere left for me to move around hehehe ... but I have already disposed of a LOT of things .. mainly to charity .. some things I have sold .. I just can't see where the blank spaces are yet .. how on earth I managed to pack so much stuff into so small a home I shall never know ..
Most worrying about downsizing is that the kitchens are very small in these sheltered housing places .. I have every known gadget to make life easier in the kitchen .. I shall HAVE TO cut back on what I can take .. but ... 
The 'new' flats are quite a bit nearer the centre of Cambridge but still in a fairly quiet location .. and they are almost half the rent .. however I am not sure whether I can go to them or not .. it's all this new 'bidding' system that councils have had to adopt .. I have no ties to Cambridge and so the council has no obligation to house me .. even though I have lived in Cambridgeshire practically my whole life ..
My sister arrives in 3 weeks as well as everything else that is happening .. and she wants to come and stay for a few days .. so whilst I am trying to get things ready for the boiler man .. and the assessment people I am also trying to make the place look decent enough so my sister doesn't go back home to Australia and worry that I am not coping ..
It's a big headache for me .. trying to pull myself several different ways at once .. and when you think that after only one 'outing' or 'major event' like shopping arriving my fatigue levels go sky high .. you can see why I am 'dreading' the whole week .. there are times when I really do wish I didn't live alone .. even having someone to drive me to Cambridge would make a huge difference ..
But .. there we go .. somtimes things just happen all together .. got to get on with it .. and at least I have the assessment at the end of the week and so if I look drained and utterly done in it can only help me out with the way they see me
Oh Toots, I do hope they find you somewhere nice in the town! Such a lot of the benefit of the move will be being able to really take part in things, get out, go places, meet people, that stuff. Even if you haven't lived in Cambridge itself, surely it must help being 'local'?
And I can see the kitchen being awkward. All the gadgets DO take up room, but if your hands get tired easily, then a lot of those gadgets are really important cos there is so uch manual work in cooking. Maybe you shouldn't get rid of any of the gadgets until you've actually moved in. Then you'll know how much room you really have, and you could also try doing without a gadget for a week or two, to see how much you miss it. If you really need it, then you'll find some way to store it.
YOU ARE HAVING A HOUSE GUEST IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THIS?? I tell you, woman, you're a saint! Or at least the best juggler of time and energy I've ever seen. At least you have a couple of weeks to try to get more things organised.
Is there no way to get just a little more help in his very tiring period? Someone who could give you a lift to town? Churches or lcoal charities often can provide volunteer drivers--nothing like that in your area? Just seems like you have so much on your plate right now that a bit of help would be really sensible if it's possible.
Anyway, it's all good stuff, Toots---and you should be really proud of yourself, cos all these different things are signs of how much you're changing your life! If you look back at the start of this thread, and see how much you've done in such a short time, I think you should feel VERY proud of yourself!!!! xxxxx
Reply to ...
Paragraph 1 .. nope .. because the Labour Party has capped the monies councils get they can only afford to rehouse people who live in the City itself .. cut backs are going on everywhere .. and sadly it's the disabled and older folk who are being hardest hit round here ..
Para 2 .. yes I have been trialing my gadgets this last few weeks to see what I really MUST have .. I think I could just about manage without my spoon rest
but that's not a lot of space saved is it hahahah
Para 3 .. my sister chose the weeks to come and pay a visit .. aside from coming to spend some time with me we have some unfinished business with dads estate to talk over .. and as sole executrix I need to go through all that was done with dads will .. can't believe almost 6 years has passed by .. seems like only a few weeks go it all happened .. sadly dad died suddenly on my 50th Birthday ..
Para 4.. I have thought about that .. there are volunteer drivers but they cost a lot of money .. and I want to spend some time looking round and getting the feel of the neighbourhood .. so can't really expect folks to sit around for hours ..
Para 5 .. funnily enough I reread my first tentative post a couple of days ago .. was that really me ?? My goodness what a difference all you lovely people have made to me .. I can't believe I was so despondent and 'hopeless' .. you must have thought me a right ninny ..
Well what a surprise wake up call I had this morning .. 7.37am .. and a loud banging on the back door abruptly ended my sleep .. in one of those .. who am I, where am I, whatwasthat .. moments I decided I must have been dreaming .. was just about to drift off again when THUMP THUMP ... omg .. it's the door .. it'll be the Visit Scotland prize hamper arriving .. so I shouted a mighty .. I'M COMING .. leapt out of bed (awkwardly flung myself about a bit and finally got my legs out) .. grabbed my walking stick .. and hobbled, still night stiff with my mobility problems and only half awake, for the door .. thrust it open and .. ohh no .. GONE ..
So I dragged the door shut again and dashed (think waddling at speed heheh!) .. to the other door just in time to see a grinning TNT delivery man saying I have a delivery for you .. actually he is a lovely man, been here before, kind and very helpful .. he apologised profusely for getting me up so early, but the delivery instruction read .. 'must be delivered before midday' .. and as my village geographically has to be either one of the first or the last on the delivery round he knew he had to wake me up to make the delivery on time .. then he kindly brought the box right inside for me .. made sure I was ok and could get to the box to open it .. then left with a cheery wave ..
Still a bit bleary eyed I studied the box .. found an edge to the sticky tape and started ripping it off .. once I'd found a way inside the box and discarded (will be recycled) several metres of scrunched up packing paper .. then I saw my prize .. !! Even the box makes you think instantly of chocolate .. a sumptuous deep chocolate brown in colour with a matching chocolate brown and cream ribbon .. carefully removing the ribbon (will be recycled on the greetings cards I make) I took a deep breath .. and pulled open the lid ...
Continental white chocolate collection .. a whopping 400g box .. White Chocolate bar .. 100g .. Cappuccino half rounds .. coffee mousse covered in white chocolate dusted with cocoa powder 130g .. 3 x white chocolate bars 50g each .. 3 x Sicilian Lemon Mousse (no weight shown) .. these are truly gorgeous and very much coveted by me
Phewwee ... what a lot of delicious Thorntons chocolate .. it's far too early to start thinking of opening anything .. but I shall try one (grins wickedly, maybe two) of the Cappuccino mousse chocolates with a nice cup of coffee for my elevenses ..
ooh sounds wonderful Patootie
you are so great at describing stuff, I feel I am right there. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) no choc in the flat here, but I am seeing a friend later and we always share some choc - you have whetted my appetite!
Good luck with the week ahead, hope the flat viewings go well x
I've been watching this story unfold for many years .. without so much as a 'can I, or may I' .. they are going ahead with their biggest and most crazy of all the Big Bang tests ..
"Around 19 years in the making, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), also the largest scientific instrument ever made, is expected to be put into service in the summer. If things go according to plan, it could help to unveil a sub-atomic component, the Higgs Boson, which has even been dubbed "the God Particle. The LHC will whizz protons to 99.9999 percent of the speed of light in two parallel beams in a ring-shaped tunnel 27 kilometres (16.9 miles) long and up to 175 metres (568 feet) below the ground. The tunnel stretches out from Switzerland into France, looping back into Swiss territory."
<!-- m -->http://www.france24.com/en/20080406-crowds-flock-discover-big-bang-secrets-nuclear-research-cern<!-- m -->
The main thing is .. they have no idea what will happen when they finally make these Higgs Boson particles and crash them into each other .. they've already had a couple of scares way back when the tunnel first was built .. but since then they have got bigger and bigger with faster and faster acceleration potential .. and even the scientists running the operation have no idea what will happen when they finally get their 'Big Bang' ..
"CERN, officially called the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, wanted to reassure those living in the region who are concerned about the dark matter, or dark energy, that would be created artificially under their feet. "There is nothing to worry about -- the quantity of dark matter would be minute,"
Umm yes .. but .. dark matter is what dark holes (in space) are made of .. it's anti matter and the one rule I know about anti matter is that it cannot exist without pulling other matter to it (thanks Stephen Hawking) however FLAMIN' SMALL the amount .. and they are actively making dark matter .. YIKES
"In July or possibly August, the LHC will start its work with a programme of tests before cranking up to full intensity. "
Until then .. party hard dudes ..
LOL Patootie,
Reminds me of reading "Angels and Demons". That concerns the particle accelerator at CERN.
The whole point about black holes that they are impossibly small and invisible. We could be sucked into one at any time, not sure we should start creating our own!
The opposite is quite scary too. Since no one knows what came before the Big Bang, presumably no one knows how much "stuff" it took to bring it about - what if they acidentally create another universe?
I wouldn't want to be there when they do it. Although I would love to see the footage if it works - not that there'll be anything to see I don't suppose, they'll just "prove it" with a mathematical equation or a geiger counter or something.
Screamapillar said* .. "The whole point about black holes that they are impossibly small and invisible. We could be sucked into one at any time, not sure we should start creating our own!"
Precisely .. they have no idea if they can even make this anti-matter in the first place (and they have spent BILLIONS in the 19 years they've been tinkering around building this place and testing stuff ) .. .. they've merely done the math .. but more importantly they have no idea if they do manage to make it if they can contain the anti-matter or if it will start sucking it's surroundings into it .. and inevttably that will mean the whole world get's sucked into a black hole of our own making .. no way to stop it either .. once started it just carries on ..
Leave well alone I say until they know how to contain anti-matter properly ..
*sorry can't make the quotes thing work for some reason
As no one is going to ask me, and there's nothing whatsoever that I can do about it, I guess I'll just have to face the possibility of instant annihilation with my usual insouciance!
In the meantime, however, there is your splendiferous box to be considered, Patootie! Your description was positively dreamy----hope you and your lucky friends savour every bite, and that it's just as delish as it sounds!
And I should be very cautious about leaving that spoon rest behind--you never know when you may need it desperately
))))
I'm sure it will be lovely to see your sister, with her living so far away you prolly don't get to do so often, and it is important for everyone that your father's affairs are concluded well. So even though it will be busy, Ihope you will enjoy the visit.
And yes----you have covered an awful lot of ground since your first post, haven't you? I wonder if you realise how much the rest of us are uplifted by your courage, your lovely sense of humour, your determination? Well, we ARE, so award yourself a giant gold star!!!!!!!!
And by the way: I noticed that a loooong time ago, when you were first posting, you said you quite like a hug now and then, so here's a big one:
(((((((((((((((((((((((((PATOOTIE))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
So glad you are feeling so positive Patootie but YOU did it hun, we just provided friendly encouragement and virtual hugs
Hope it is a lovely day where you are. It is cold in London but nice and bright, so I'm sure it will get much warmer later.
Bet you can''t wait to get that shiny new telly up and runnning? I like new gadgets, tried my new juicer out last night - very noisy but it does the job
Have you started on the chocolate yet?
Time passes .. one engineer arrived but not the 'right kind' of engineer so he wasn't able to diagnose the fault .. just look at it and see if it worked or not
Almost 4 weeks after the blow up I finally get sent the 'right kind' of engineer .. very efficient ... very helpful .. a father and son team .. while 'dad' was dealing with the boiler the 'son' sat and chatted to me about why the boiler had been left not working for so long .. so I told him the whole sorry saga .. and said it's been a disastrous month .. everything going wrong .. the only goods thing was winning the TV ..
With no further to do the 'son' said shall I get that old TV out for you .. well yes I said .. after all I know I can't even lift the 21" cube .. 15 year old super heavyweight TV .. so that would be a HUGE help .. next thing he's lifted it up staggered out with it and is back to set up the new TV ..
Within 10 minutes he had it out the box, all plugged in and working .. but a typical man, instantly assumed I would have no clue about electronic gadgetry, so carefully and SLOWLY showed me the buttons on the handset .. on/off .. volume up/down .. programme up/down, hehehe bless him .. (and me with City and Guilds electronics hahaha!) .. it's a truly beautiful picture .. makes me realise just how bad my old TV had got .. it's got really crisp, bright colours and soooo easy peasy to do everything with .. it's got several settings for picture and sound modes .. the sound quality is simply superb .. .. and it's so light weight I can lift it one handed ..
He may have treated me as a non starter for understanding how to set up the new TV .. but what a brilliant young chap to set to and do it all for me .. a very kind and generous young man ...
Well, what a nice chap!
The world could do with a few more like him. Enjoy your lovely new telly - oh and having a working boiler of course
B's got it just right, Patootie----I'm sure both father and son fell for your warmth and friendliness, and I bet they went home last night with a good feeling about the way they spent their day.
How wonderful that that telly has gone to someone like yourself who actually appreciates electronics! Makes it doubly nice. And I agree, when you get a new telly after an old one you do realise how much technology has improved in the last years!
And I'm with Screamy, too----YOU have taken all the steps that are getting life moving again for you, we've just been your cheering section. So in addition to enjoying all these nice new things that are happening, you ought to be feeling great about yourself, cos it's down to you
))))))))
Is it next week your sister arrives? I bet she'll be impressed by all that's going on for you!
My central heating is now fully functioning and will be more economical than before .. seems the problem was an incorrectly fitting heat sensor .. one of my supposed professional yearly service engineers had fitted a 'wrong un' a while back .. it had almost fallen out of it's position .. so the boiler was racing away with nothing to regulate it ..
I think it may have been the recent earthquake that started to shake it free and then the severe gales giving my home a good shaking that made it come off .. but it was a 'bomb' waiting to explode after that .. just lucky I happened to be here and awake when it started going out of control .. if not .. well .. it almost certainly would have blown the heating chamber and showered the lounge with scalding hot water ..
They've also fixed the hot water problem I'd been struggling with for ages .. only now and then would the wretched thing work .. all too often I'd switched it on but got no hot water in return for all the gas I wasted ..
So everything works .. heating, hot water, new TV .. they even put back two inside air vent covers that had blown off in the recent gales .. honestly they were really helpful men .. you don't meet many folks like that these days ..
Hello Patootie, fancy finding you in here! I'm the editor at GadgetSpeak -and sometimes reluctant runner! You exchanged a few emails with Caroline - who is my other half.
I'm glad you're enjoying your new TV - and were lucky enough to have someone help you shift the old one. We had a review model here for a few weeks and were definitely impressed with it - and that's with our own TV only being a few years old. It was a pity to see it all packaged up and returned.
I'm sorry there wasn't any warning about it being delivered - we did ask them to let us know when it was to be delivered - or to get in touch with you directly.
All the best
Pete
It is indeed a brilliant TV for it's size .. I am very impressed with the picture quality .. and the sound is superb .. far better than many more pricey TV's I'd already looked at with a view to replacing my old 21" cubed 15 year old monster .. and even though I had a bigger screen on my old TV .. somehow this one looks just as big .. a lovely crisp picture .. with absolutely no distortion or other 'weird' things I;ve seen on some other TV's .. great value for money .. and an excellent prize win
Yes .. thank goodness for the boiler engineers (and incidentally another 'small world' .. I found out that the lady who made all my appointments was a girl I went to school with) .. just shows how simple the TV was to set up because it was out of the box, plugged in and fully set up within 10 minutes ..
No probs with not knowing it was coming .. in a way it just made the event all that more exciting in an .. IT'S HERE ... kind of way
And I hope you noticed I managed to get Gadegetspeak into my posts several times hahahah .. credit where credit is due I always say .. 
Ey up - small world eh?
Toots, if you are around today have a lurk on some of the Flora London Marathon threads. It is the last weekday before the race and there will be lots of nerves, excitement and general good vibes across the forum
Just said goodbye to my disability assessment team .. two really nice ladies who really listened and understood why I was wanting to move at such a young age .. they both said I had clearly thought it through very carefully .. and had been and checked out the area .. and had made realistic choices ..
Now let's hope that gives me the extra 'points' to get me moved ..