As you know, I was really excited when I put my put my new post on the blog last week. Not only was it my 300th, but also Mum’s plans seemed to be coming together at last after weeks of unexpected problems and delays.
It started towards the end of October when the light-fitting in the living-room in her partner’s house needed replacing – though it didn’t seem like much of a problem at the time, apart from the fact that the bulbs supplied with it didn’t give out a very bright light. As me and Mum like to read in the evening, rather than watch television, we decided to swap the bulbs for some which were really nice and bright – and were said to last for 17000 hours…
And also in October Mum managed to slip and fall again on the wet paving stones in her garden while she was feeding the birds and this made it a bit difficult for her to get around and sweep up any food the birds managed to spill from the feeders.
Then towards the end of November we had a really cold spell – and something went wrong with the boiler and for two weeks we’d no central heating and no hot water, though luckily we’d a gas fire in one room downstairs and a good kettle!
Meanwhile the charity Christmas cards Mum had ordered on line took much longer to arrive than she’d expected, leaving her with not enough time to write them and post them before Christmas…
…and, on the day the boiler was repaired, the freezer packed up and it took two days to thaw enough to get the door open and another four days for the last of the ice to melt. (Though Mum says it didn’t owe us anything as she thinks we bought it in 1996!)
Christmas was uneventful – thank goodness – but in January the new light bulbs started playing up. One flickered for a couple of days, then simply refused to light again. Mum emailed the suppliers to let them know and, before they’d chance to reply, a second bulb started to flicker – then the end of it flew off with a loud pop and a cloud of smelly smoke. When a third one started flickering, Mum and her partner decided to switch the lights off altogether and make do with the lamp out of Mum’s office until they got the replacement bulbs.
This involved quite a few emails and photographs, but was resolved in a polite and friendly manner – but before the new bulbs arrived, there was another problem. As Mum was sitting at her desk, she happened to look out of the patio doors into the back garden–and saw a rat, busily eating the bird food she’d not been able to sweep up.
She hoped it was just passing through, but an hour later it was back – with a mate! Then the two of them split up, with the first one going out into the back street and the second one making its way under the winter-flowering jasmine which hangs down to the ground. Then the first one came back with a large piece of nesting material and Mum realised they were about to set up home in her garden.
That was much too close to the house for her liking, however, and so she had to send for someone to come and get rid of them…
Anyone would have thought that that was enough to deal with on top of everything else Mum has to do every day, but there was more to come.
Last year her partner had changed their internet supplier and when the man came to sort things out he’d not only deleted all Mum’s emails from the old supplier, but had also cancelled all her saved user-names and passwords from the new supplier. This meant that she couldn’t easily access two of the figures she needed to complete her income tax return, but after a bit of struggling – and some help from Ali – she managed to find a way round that problem, filled the forms in and paid up.
But, while she was doing that, another problem was brewing. On the very day that Post 300 went live, the pipe connecting the shower in her house to the water supply decided to split open and send water pouring down the drain and also through the floor, down the wall and across the carpet in her living-room. And – of course – it had to go through an electric socket on its way.
She shut the electric off straight away, but there was nothing she could do about turning the shower off until the plumber could get here – and by that time her living-room was well wet. In fact, it was so bad that we’ve had to move out until it’s completely dry and we can put the electric on again. Then we’ll have everything to clean…
I reckon it’ll take at least a month before that happens, however, so meanwhile we’re living in Mum’s partner’s house – and struggling a bit as we can’t find anywhere really comfortable to sit and type for any length of time. But I promise we’ll do our best to keep my blog going and tell you more tales of our adventures, even if it means Mum has to put her own plans on hold again for a while, so please take care and stay safe – and look out for some more stories from me soon.
Follow my next blog: 302. MY MUM THE STORY-TELLER – PART ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT
06/02/2024
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 