Has it really been 4 years?

Oh yes! It really has. It’s 1:25am it’s erev Pesach (that’s the day before Passover). Yesterday I spent most of the day sorting stuff as Passover starts Saturday night.

My Dyson hoover has been on the blink, so Stuart got on the phone to their customer service, spoke to a guy, who was wonderful, except our flipping fire alarm system was being tested and drove us barmy while trying to sort out the problem! The alarm stopped and we breathed a sign of relief as it’d been SO loud! That was short-lived as the alarm went off a second time! I’ll expound on the ‘reinstated’ fire alarm after the following which gives the history leading up to their installation in the first place.

When we first moved into this block of flats in February 2017, it was only a matter of a few months 14th June 2017, when we saw the news about the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower. We few residents, having set up a Facebook group, were chatting one evening shortly after the fire, saying that we’re also in a block of flats but we’ve not been given instructions regarding vacating the building in the event of a fire.

I took it upon myself to write on behalf of the few of us who were newly residing in the building was to ask, in light of the Grenfell Tower Fire, for us to be provided evacuation procedures and exactly where was the muster point that the residents were meant to make for when leaving the building? The terse response was “It’s a stay-put policy if the alarms go off”. Huh?! The fire alarms for the building only sound in the communal areas (meaning the hallway) and residents can’t hear those when they’re tested every Monday! They stuck by that instruction that we must stay put and that we had no right to hear fire alarms if they were set off elsewhere in the building!!!!

I continued to complain that, when the building’s fire alarms go off, we can’t hear them, even if the TV isn’t on. In spite of what our managing agents originally told us, that there was no need for us to hear them, they’re only for all the communal areas. I countered that with “but if there’s a fire in a part of the building, even if it’s not near to our flat, we should still be made aware of it?!” I even asked if the Fire Brigade had been invited to tour the building to ok the procedures they were telling us to adhere to and was assured that “everything was in order.”

In July 2021 Sinclairs informed us of fire remediation works which necessitated workmen coming into each flat and doing work on the balcony involving pulling up the decking; taking off the render installing a fire break then applying new render and refitting the decking. It turns out this work was required in order to obtain a signed EWS1 form. This is needed by mortgage companies and residents had been unable to sell their flats without this documentation in place.

The workmen duly came in, they installed another fire alarm on the ceiling just inside the living room and told us that it would only be operative while work was being carried out in the building to put in the fire breaks, then it would be turned off! I remember thinking it was stupid turning it off as we couldn’t hear the alarms in the hallway but who listens to me?

They had to move both of our settees away from the bi-folds and I’d had to move the trolley and all the small stuff of mine out of the way before they came in. They were here several days which was a real pain. They took down my Green Man from the wall and had said they’d put it back up but they never did!

The EWS1 form finally got sent out to residents in December of that year! On several occasions I mentioned about evacuation procedures.

In November 2022, Stuart wrote to Sinclairs advising them that the law recommended people with a disability should have a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) and to ask that this be carried out on his behalf. They appointed a ‘safety advisor’ who couldn’t even be bothered to visit. In December 2022 he spoke to us on the phone following it up with an email containing a short questionnaire for Stuart to submit, asking about his mobility or lack of. His recommendation was that an Evac chair be provided by Sinclairs in the ‘refuge’ at the stairs nearest to our flat.

8th January 2024 email from Sinclairs:
Elstree House will operate an evacuation policy of STAY PUT, meaning only if instructed by the London Fire brigade or persons in authority should residents evacuate. The exception is a fire in your own flat described below or if there is any concern about your own safety.
Each residence has smoke detectors which are the resident’s responsibility and if they are not functioning, they should be serviced or replaced immediately. The front door to your flat is also your responsibility to maintain, you must not remove or tamper with the door in any way. The stairway is designed to be safe for escape throughout the course of a fire and is fitted with emergency lighting to aid escape.

Anyhow, my complaint was still ignored, that was until the 12th March. Resident on the ground floor had a fire behind an electrical socket. Fire Brigade came in – big shake up!! Not before time!

March 2025
Although our Elstree House Facebook group is OK for general communication between residents and messages from Tony, we felt that it was high time to have a WhatsApp group as it’s a much more ‘immediate’ way of keeping in touch, particularly after what happened with the fire which many of us knew nothing about!

Maxwell set up a WhatsApp group and made me co-admin. Most of the residents have signed up to it and I think it’s a relief for us all to know that we are all contactable if something bad happens in the building!

Remember the secondary fire alarm system the sounders for which are in all the flats which they turned off after the works to install the fire breaks in the flats? They’ve now installed a second fire alarm panel in Reception which links up to those sounders which are now reinstated.

Further, we NOW have been emailed revised evacuation procedures with instruction to immediately vacate if the alarms go off. AND ABOUT TIME TOO!

Phew! I spent the rest of the day, on and off, sorting the cupboards, moving the chametz milk and meat crockery into the dishwasher (which we don’t use and thankfully we don’t because that’s another story!)

I’ve cleaned the empty cupboards brought down just enough crockery from the Pesach sets for the pair of us. The saucepans and frying pans take up too much space in there but don’t know where else to put them. I made an executive decision that we won’t do anything with the cutlery drawers. We’ll keep both the milk and meat cutlery on the table, we’ll wash up as we go for the 8 days.

This year is problematic because Erev Pesach is Saturday (today 😥 ) which means frummers have to cook and prep Friday because it can’t be done on the Shabbat. Whilst that’s no big deal for us, we’re singing in Shul on Shabbat and we’ll be swapping over in the afternoon after our schluf. 2nd executive decision that we’ll use disposables for Saturday day then use the Pesach stuff. Stuart had wanted me to agree to disposables for the whole 8 days and THAT WASN’T going to happen! The plates I could probably cope with but plastic cutlery – have you ever tried to cut fish or meat with plastic knives and forks? They just break!

Washed up our dinner things which are draining and will go in the dishwasher. Breakfast for Stuart will be plastic plates. I agreed to have a banana. I don’t normally “do” breakfast as I’m trying to stick to the 16+ hours fast overnight in an attempt at autophagy. Problem is I frequently get up in the night with the ‘munchies’ and my go to of late has been the sliced Maasdam cheese which I can’t seem to get enough of!

OK, what’s this about the dishwasher?
I’m so glad you asked. Oh no, you didn’t. Well I’ll tell you, anyway.

We’re sitting with our recliners up, relaxing in front of the TV enjoying whatever it was we had on the screen. It was a few minutes before 8pm. The TV goes off as do the lights! What happened? We hadn’t moved. We certainly hadn’t turned anything on that would’ve cause a fuse to trip! Found the torch in the cupboard and went to the fuse board, necessitating moving the IKEA box with the washing onto the floor. It seems all the fuses are now labelled – don’t know how that happened but anyway. I put a message on WhatsApp, it didn’t affect the rest of the building – we’d already opened our door to ascertain that the hall lights were on! Valerie suggested finding out if Mehdi was in. Thankfully he was and came down, took one look at the fuse board and said it was the dishwasher that had caused the board to trip. We don’t use the dishwasher, haven’t for months now! Anyway he came and turned off the wired in dishwasher switch in the kitchen and everything is back up and running. He said he’d try and find some time to come and see if he could troubleshoot.

However, in the light of what happened in the ground floor flat, we’re NOW wondering whether this isn’t just a similar problem?!

Our flat is one of the three on our floor that are going to be inspected following the issue with the ground floor flat:

Further to recent correspondence, we can confirm that the Level 4 Intrusive Inspection is scheduled to take place from Monday 14^th April. We anticipate that engineers will be on site for two consecutive days, with the initial investigation works taking place on Monday (including the making of access points and surveying the voids) and then the reinstatement works to take place on Tuesday.
If a third day is required, we will of course revert with an update as soon as we are made aware.
Please see attached document which explains the inspection procedure.  
Engineers will be on site between 9am and 5pm completing the inspection.
They will begin on the ground floor and work their way up the building throughout the day.

I love how Mr Segal’s duplex got included in the list of flats to be visited. On our floor it’s flats 11 and 15 and ours that’ll receive a visit. We’re definitely mentioning the ‘dishwasher’ issue with them!

Why does sleep elude me?

That’s a good question and I really don’t have a good answer.

You might also ask if I’ve done the sensible night time ritual what the professionals are now calling ‘sleep hygiene’: no food or drink after 8pm, no tech, etc. Honest, I have tried all that. I’ve tried listening to white noise, binaural beats, apps with all the ‘sounds to help you nod off’ except I do NOT nod off.

What’s particularly laughable is I needed to look up the terminology that I quoted above ‘sleep hygiene’ and they list “avoiding stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine close to bedtime”

Yeh, right! Tell that to the neighbour below us whose smokedrift is coming into our flat! From the moment he’s home we’re smoked out of our own living room. On these warm days, he’s on his patio – the smoke drifts up the outside of the building and onto our balcony, night time he’s indoors and the smoke’s in the flat.

No matter what we do, we can’t win. We bought an air purifier but that doesn’t help, the smoke’s too strong. I now have a fan which I have facing me, to blow the smell away from my face!

Now 2.15 Stuart got up because the smell of smoke woke him. Since the guy below says he goes out to work at 7, he surely can’t be smoking this time of night?

It’s no wonder we’re stressed!

Here we go, again!

You know that saying “I spoke too soon”?

Well here I am!

It’s 01:48 and I honestly DID go to bed at 11:45 and I did lay in my nice warm bed, quietly reading my kindle but I am just too wide awake!

Before you say ‘huh, you need to ditch the tecnology’ I seriously can’t because

(a) I need to read to wind down before I can sleep and

(b) I can’t read with the light on because that disturbs Stuart so my kindle paperwhite is a godsend although a little too bright so the light still disturbs him!

To add insult to injury and salt into the wound (I think they are the only two phrases appropriate right now) as Stuart’s having his knee replacement tomorrow and we have to be at NPH for 7.30, he’s set the alarm for 6 am! Yes, I know! Last time I was up that early I was off to a film set!

I almost feel like my body’s telling me ‘you thought you’d sussed this getting to sleep malarky, well nar nar, you were wrong’.

I’ll tell you this for nothing – when I get home from the hospital, I’m either going back to bed or slobbing on the sofa with Netflix on!

Here’s Moogie!

Well, another year has gone by since my last post!  I can assure you that it’s not because I’ve been sleeping any better!

Since my last blog, Stuart fell on his good knee, damaged it such that he was told he’d need a knee replacement.  He was in a lot of pain with that knee and he was doing a lot of moaning and groaning at night.  So much moaning and groaning that I ended up sleeping on the settee.

I begrudge giving up my bed when I’m tired and want to sleep. I thought the way round it was to let him go to bed, stay up as long as possible then go to bed and, hopefully, by that time be tired enough that I fall asleep without a problem. Hah! That didn’t work!

When you’re suffering from insomnia but desperate for sleep you’ll do anything to get some shuteye!  I found that getting the settee set up with my comfy fleece throw meant if I had to decamp to the living room, it was all ready for me to throw myself onto it.  It sort of worked.  Being a recliner settee, I recline it so I don’t feel like I’m going to roll over and fall off the edge.  However, whilst the throw is a really snuggly one that I bought from Costco, you have to position it just right to ensure you have enough covering you to keep you warm across your body, as you have underneath you.   It took me some time to realise the solution was  actually really simple – use the throw to lie on but bring my duvet in to cover me.  Why it took me so long to realise I should do this, I don’t know.

In the meanwhile, Stuart was doing knee exercises set for him by physio.  To his credit he’s been doing them every day and he says he can see the difference, both legs are a lot stronger for having been doing them.  He’s actually not in pain with his knee now, probably the muscles supporting the knee are stronger now, but the knee is still giving way.

I’ve actually been able to sleep whole nights in my bed for the last couple of weeks – particularly welcome as it means I can turn my electric blanket on!

I can also report that I haven’t resorted to Zopiclone or Phenergan tablets for quite a while.  We were both going to a CBT(i) clinic (CBT for insomnia patients) at Queen Square which had been very interesting and helpful. We couldn’t continue because Stuart was finding the journey by train and bus was just too much and I wouldn’t drive in as, even with his Blue Badge, there’s nowhere to park when you get to Queen Square!

One of the things I think has helped me was my getting up at 7 or 8 when I woke, not going to the toilet and then going back to bed for more shuteye.

I did try one of the techniques that was taught on the CBT(i) class which was to lay there and make a conscious effort NOT to fall asleep.  Whilst this sounds counter-productive, I can imagine that the fact that you tell yourself not to sleep makes you disobey that command.

I appear to be averaging 6.5 hours a night sleep now, which I’m quite happy with. Stuart has his knee replacement on the 21st November so I’ll get some quiet nights while he’s in hospital!

 

Hello!

I haven’t been here for a year!

I wouldn’t dare to explain the reasons why I haven’t posted here, a combination of Stuart’s ill health; Sarah’s ill health; me breaking my right wrist, Stuart’s ill health (again)….you get the picture!

I just thought I’d do an update in the light of a revelation.  We went to the GP to discuss Stuart’s poor sleep and hyper-activity whilst asleep.  He doesn’t actually think he sleeps very much but he moves around, talks in his sleep and is one of the reasons why my sleep is so poor.  Now the GP commented that he was on statins and suggested that he consider taking the tablet in the morning instead of at night.  Now I, too, have been on statins for the last 3 years and I was told to take one a night. As Stuart drove away from the surgery I did a quick Google on my phone and found

“…… some statins – particularly the kind that get absorbed into the brain – can mess with sleep and provoke nightmares and insomnia.  These statins include
Zocor, Lipitor, Mevacor, and Vytorin. ” (courtesy of WebMD)

The GP visit was just 6 days ago but, since then, I’ve swapped taking the Simvastatin, AKA Zocor, with my morning tablets and, apart from a couple of nights where my coughing was keeping me awake, I’m definitely sleeping longer and I have my Fitbit stats to confirm this!

When I was put on the statin (back when we still lived in Harrow so pre August 2016) nothing was mentioned about the possibility of it having an effect on sleep and, had I known, I might’ve asked for a statin with a different formulation.  Of course, we take our GP’s word that they would tell you something of such import, don’t we?  Sad to say, I did take her word and, in retrospect, wish I’d googled it and seen the Web MD article which is dated 19 November 2007 so not exactly leading edge in 2018!

The reason for this post is to say that, if you’re on medication and suffering from insomnia, you need to do some research to see if the meds you’re on might be counteracting each other.  I have a GP appointment next month and I plan to ask whether I should still be taking statins.  At my last appointment I was told that my bloods showed that, where I was once pre-diabetic, I was no longer pre-diabetic. Whilst the two are, as far as I know, unrelated, if I don’t need to be taking statins every day, then I’d rather not.  However, I have to wait for the appointment later this month to discuss that!

So much to do, so little inclination

Yes, once again, it’s been a while.

Most of the boxes have been unpacked but I wouldn’t say that we’re totally settled in our new flat!

My Fitbit Blaze shows my sleep pattern and mostly it’s go to bed at 11, sleep for an hour, wake up – wide awake – lay in the dark for 5 minutes then realise I’m not going to nod back off to sleep and get up and turn my laptop on!

The Sominex wasn’t working. Even the Zopiclone didn’t really work. It’s not so bad now because I can come and sit on my comfortable sofa and turn my laptop on. Or I can turn the TV on and watch something on Netflix or on the Firestick which the girls bought us for our 40th anniversary in May.  So lots to watch but that just KEEPS me awake.  To add insult to injury, since living in Borehamwood, I’ve been applying for part-time jobs but it’s patently obvious that my age is against me.  During the day I try and do a different household task each day, rather than the blitz whenever I absolutely had to.

My younger daughter, Rachel, has moved back in with us so that was really the impetus for clearing the majority of the boxes in the 2nd bedroom (as I say, not all, there’s still the boxes of my sci-fi books awaiting book cases!). So we’ve inherited her Dyson hoover and the Brita water filter and a bunch of cookery items and foods.  Mixed emotions, it’s kind of nice having her back home, Stuart still gets her back up over trivial things and he’s always asking me why she shouts at him – I’m stuck in the middle trying to keep the peace!

Where sleep is concerned, I found that if I took a Zopiclone and a cheap allergy tablet, it actually meant I got a better night’s sleep!  Maybe it’s a placebo effect or not, I don’t know, I just know I do sleep well if I take the two together.  I don’t advise you copy me in taking these as I know the medication isn’t intended to be used like this.

 

Here I am !

I’ve not been around for a while – not that I’ve been sleeping particularly well but I’ve been in a state of dismay (minor depression) having to live with family for 6 months because our new build flat was delayed!  The nights when I haven’t slept, I’ve been sitting on a cold leather sofa, whiling the hours away while  my husband snored away merrily in our room upstairs. My angst hasn’t been conducive to writing insightful and interesting blogs hence my lack of verbiage. Having moved out of our house for what we thought was going to be just a couple of months last August, in the September my brother died unexpectedly.   Most of what I felt at that time is difficult to put into words. We finally moved into our new home on February 24th, when we’d originally been advised completion would be the previous August!    I’ve digressed.

I have been taking Sominex with mixed results.  I’ve found that it was helpful in giving me a good night’s sleep when I first started using it but, as time went by, my system obviously got used to it and was less efficacious.  When I felt I needed a good night’s sleep I had no option but to take a Zopiclone which, at least, meant I would sleep for 7 or more hours.

Now that we’ve moved into our new flat, whilst I’m feeling much happier about being in our own home and our own beds, I’ve still found myself sleeping for an hour then waking and being awake for the next 2 or 3 hours!  My circadian rhythm must be in medieval mode since I’ve read that it was common for people to get up in the early hours and consume a first breakfast, go to bed then get up hours later to consume their 2nd breakfast (presumably  the time when a modern day breakfast would be anticipated).

It was quite interesting, therefore, to read the Times’ article Yes, Your Sleep Schedule Is Making You Sick.  I don’t consider that I have a mental illness however, you could argue that what I have experienced over the past 6 months, and the stress I have gone through, probably does signify a degree of mental instability.  I felt I had lost control of my life through no fault of my own. It’s a part of my life that I’m glad is over and I’m keen not to dwell on the negativity that it caused me and move on to the happy situation that we are now in. It concerns me that I’m still experiencing poor sleep patterns now that we’re feeling settled.  Is it my age?  Is it my time of life? Margaret Thatcher famously only slept 2 or 3 hours a night in spite of her demanding role as Prime Minister.  I know that there have been times in my life when I’ve not felt that I was getting job satisfaction or just wasn’t as active, mentally and physically, which contributed to my poor sleep.  Time alone will tell if my sleep pattern will continue as it has been for the last  few years.

 

 

 

Night Terrors

Hello,

Sorry that it’s been a while since my last post.  That’s not to say I’ve been sleeping well because, in all honesty, I’ve had some really awful nights!  Back in July in my last blog which mentioned about the sleep tracking capability of my Fitbit, I was averaging 6 ½ hours’ sleep during the course of that week.  The following weeks’ records run thus:-

5 hrs 33;  6 hrs 15;  6 hrs 7; 7 hrs 12; 6 hrs 27; 5 hrs 29;  7 hrs 19; and finally last week 6 hrs 38.

Between my last blog and tonight, I’m averaging 6 hours which, on balance isn’t too bad until you look at the individual nights per week when it looks a lot worse.  Take last week’s average sleep of 6 hours and 38 minutes doesn’t sound that terrible.  Taken night by night it’s a totally different story!

Starting 22 Aug it pans out like this:  4 hrs 16; 2 hrs 57; 4 hrs 51; 4 hrs 34; 3 hrs 59; 8 hrs 23; and 7 hrs 32, tonight doesn’t count!

Now I have to be honest here in that I don’t believe the step count on the fitbit is wholly accurate, it’s recording movements of my wrist when I’m whisking or stirring food as steps but can’t record steps when my hands are pushing a shopping trolley.  So, on the whole, I’d say it’s giving me a fair indication of my sleep (and it also recognises the one sleep I had during the daytime, too!)

Now I should just take some time to explain that my home circumstances have changed. Having sold our house in May, we moved out of our house on 15th August.  No that sounds good but actually, it’s not.  Our new build flat isn’t now going to be ready until October (if even then!) and we’re staying with family in the meantime.  This means sharing a double bed as our two electric beds are in storage along with all the other worldly possessions we don’t need on a day-to-day  basis.  That’s bad enough, although the double bed is a pocket sprung memory foam mattress.  

The fly in the ointment is the niece who has opted to come and stay at Daddy’s house with her 2 children and we’ve been decanted out of “our” room for the night.  This happened last week, too!  The “sofa bed” was as hard as concrete and I ended attempting to sleep on the settee.  Tonight’s a repeat with the difference that because I  said I couldn’t sleep on the sofa bed, brother-in-law has borrowed an air bed, quite a posh one which was comfortable.  Well, that was until the other half starts talking in his sleep and tossing and turning – then the bed was just like a trampoline and impossible to sleep on.  Hence why I’m now sitting here in the darkened living room typing this.  My duvet is on the settee where I attempted to settle but, when you take into account it is leather, it’s not the easiest thing to lay on! 

I’m not too hot and bothered about all this at the moment but I really don’t see how I can go on like this and I’m praying that the developer gets his, and his builders’ arses into gear so that we can complete and move into our flat sooner rather than later!  It’s not looking too promising though.  Last time we drove past the scaffolding and green netting were still up all around the building and some of the flats didn’t yet have windows installed!  When I visited 3 weeks ago to take my daugher to view our flat, the flat is almost ready for occupation with the exception of an access panel in the kitchen which hasn’t been put into place and the en-suite bathroom is just a room with nothing inside apart from cabling and dangling hoses, not even walls on which to tile!  I’ve honestly tried to be up-beat about it but we’re one of 79 flats in the block who’ve been waiting patiently to move into our new homes!  Whilst the estate agent assures me that half of them were bought by people who intend to let them and the rest are mainly newly-weds currently living with parents – even those purchasers must want to take possession of their properties at an early date?!   Sorry, I didn’t mean for this to be a rant but you can now understand why I don’t sleep too well at nights.  With a husband who’s in perpetual motion in his sleep and talkative, too, plus the worry of the house move – it’s enough to make your hair curl – except mine’s curly already!

 

 

Fit-bit’s sleep tracking – a long day’s journey into night!

I’ve been using a Fit-bit since February 2016 and realised how useful its’ sleep tracking could be when I started using it, more our of curiosity, in March.

Now, as is patently obvious if you’re reading this blog, I already knew my sleep pattern was less than perfect.  I suspect my sleep deficit goes back more years than I can remember!  

It became apparent that my best sleep was when I’d taken a sleeping tablet or when I was cream crackered!  After I broke my wrist at the end of February, I was using codeine phosphate or solpadol morning and night.  I put getting some good nights’ sleep down to the codeine phosphate but then, given the anguish and agony I’d been experiencing and double strength Ibruprofen or paracetamol administered to get me though each day, possibly also a combination of medications and exhaustion!

Going back to the fit-bit and its’ sleep tracking – I can’t say just how accurate this might be but I’ve been pretty impressed.  Firstly, it doesn’t have a heart rate monitor so it’s going just by the movements of my arm throughout the night. Looking back over the records, my sleep pattern is anything from a couple of hours to the rare 8 hours, typically with 2 periods of wakefulness – something like 14 times restless and approx a half hour of being awake/restless.

My typical sleep pattern is an hour’s sleep, a period of 3 or more hours’ wakefulness and then a return to bed with a final 3 or so hours’ disturbed sleep.  My sleep pattern is made more complicated because my husband who, in some respects sleeps soundly, isn’t aware that he slaps his thigh or chest and talks (sometimes long conversations or even arguments with someone) in his sleep . So there are occasions when I’ve returned to bed to sleep only to find that his ‘animated sleep’ (he also turns around and sleeps the wrong way round on the bed, too!) keeps me awake at a time when I’m desperately tired!  To add insult to injury, the thigh-slapping – which is quite loud – doesn’t wake HIM because HE’s hard of hearing!  Invariably I retaliate by thwacking HIM on the thigh which wakes him momentarily and he’ll ask me why I hit him?!

Friday night, having endured a night previously where I slept poorly due to all of the above, he offered to sleep on the settee so that I could get a good night’s sle
ep!  

The result was that, although I had difficulty getting to sleep (which as I’ve mentioned,  is not uncommon for me) I slept from 3.15am to 9.38 am, 0 times awake, 2 times restless and 4 minutes awake/restless!

This might not sound momentous but just compare the sleep patterns in the screenshot from my Fitbit sleep chart and compare the quality of sleep on Friday to those of the previous 4 days (bottom upwards).

Friday’s reading was exceptional in having such a long period of uninterrupted sleep!  I have no doubt that the quality of sleep was much better compared to nights where it would appear that I slept for longer but experienced disturbed sleep.

There is no quick fix for me in this regard.  Sleeping downstairs on the settee is certainly not the way forward for either of us.  

However there may be a light at the end of the tunnel!  We’ve sold our house and are purchasing a ‘new build’ two bedroom apartment.  This will give me a 2nd bedroom for which I’ve already chosen a trundle bed that will satisfy my need to sleep in peace and quiet and also be for when visitors (make that ‘the granddaughters’!) come to stay!.  

The fly in the ointment is that the development was meant to be ready in August but has been put back to October (we’re quietly hoping that October is the worst case scenario and that we can move in some weeks prior).  However, there appears to be nothing we can do in this regard and the developer could, we have been told, very well put back our moving in to November, or even December!

I’ve never worked in the construction industry but I have worked on projects where timescales are all important and I have to say that, if I worked on a project that was so far behind, there would be a lot of noise being made, questions asked, jobs on the line and/or getting more staff in to speed up completion.  

We’ve been advised that, because it’s a new build, the developer can effectively take as long as it needs and that the “it will be ready to move in to in August” was a guesstimate; and that there’s no regulation on keeping to the “promise for the completion date” and no regulatory board to complain to who might actually ‘kick ass’.  The developer has had a meeting with the building contractor to ask questions, I was told, but we’re about to exchange contracts, i.e., purchase aka own, a property that we won’t be able to live in for however long it takes!   

Moving home, one of the most stressful times in your life – what an understatement!

Another day, another hospital

Plagued with hospitals!  Northwick Park for my wrist as I previously wrote about.  In December last year I asked my GP for a referral to see a consultant about my bunions. Annoyingly, the outpatients’ appointments and surgery is now all handled at Central Middlesex Hospital, Acton, even though this hospital is linked with Northwick Park Hospital which is much nearer (hence easier to get to).

The appointment with the consultant seems eons ago and he agreed he could re-align one big toe and I opted to get the right one done.  Lo and behold – the paperwork for the pre-assessment arrived after I’d broken my wrist. Of course, I don’t want to put off my foot operation so I turned up to the pre-assessment last week hoping they weren’t going to turn round and say that my wrist was a hindrance and they wouldn’t be able to go ahead.  The nurse asked how I’d cope with crutches. Frankly, the consultant had at no point mentioned being on crutches post-operatively, purely saying that I’d be in a surgical boot to go home as I would be operated on as a day case.   Thankfully, I’m not going to have to wield a crutch on my good arm – don’t even think that would work as that’s my right hand and arm!

I did go to bed, honest!  I have to be up about 6.15am because I’m meant to arrive at ACAD unit for 7.30 and Stuart’s going to drive me there.  However, just like most other nights, my wrist just won’t let me settle.

Last night, according to my FitBit (which I have no reason to doubt) I slept from 3.44am to 10.35am (but that was only because I’d ended up taking a sleepin pill – otherwise I’d have probably not slept at all!).

It appears that I’m averaging 6 hours sleep a night but, when  you bear in mind that, for at least 3 weeks running there was one night each week where I only managed 1 hour’s sleep, I’m not doing that well!