Hot pink

Well! Hello, my lovelies!

I haven't had the best of times since I last wrote.

I'm still fighting an exacerbation and just as I thought I was winning, a beastly, snotty, coughy, feverish cold took hold and it's taken over two weeks to get it under control! I've got shares in cough mixtures and tissues - I never thought I could have so much rubbish in my nose! Sorry! This is gross so I'll talk about another fight me and Arf have had lately!

I think I may have mentioned at some time that we needed a Disabled Facilities Grant from the Government to build a bathroom for me. Doesn't sound too difficult, does it? Now, all you veterans of the UK welfare benefits system will be nodding your heads and saying to yourselves, "Oh! Yeah! We know!".

A lovely guy come to design the bathroom extension and a person from the Council visited to agree on a price! I loved the designer but detested the woman from the council! He treated me like I didn't exist! Why couldn't we carve up our tiny home and use our second bedroom as a bathroom, she wanted to know? If we'd agreed to that we'd be left with one bedroom and a living room plus a kitchen and TWO bathrooms! And neither of the bathrooms would even be en-suite according to his specifications! This was not the solution we were hoping for!

When the Council woman left, the designer, said "Cor! She got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, didn't she?!". My first thought was to give up on asking the council for help. But on hearing about my unhappiness with their suggestion the Head man from the Council and his underling decided to come and have another look.

This second visit was even worse! No "Good Morning"! No smile! No shake of hands! I was furious! My Social Worker Occupational Therapist and her boss came round to try and pacify me but I was full of cold and spluttering everywhere and in no mood for discussing the bathroom any more with anyone! Arf and I have now decided to try and raise money to get the extension done the way we wanted it through 'equity release' on our home. We are waiting for a valuation and hope to meet the bank's criteria.

I've still got this blinkin' cough and runny nose, although it's now much less aggressive. One good thing, though! I ordered a set of Egyptian cotton towels from Bid-Up TV in 'hot pink' and they are delicious! Oh! And TWO handbags (nothing to do with a bathroom... just 'because'!). One of these is in 'hot pink' too and you can't help but adore it! So, all is not lost - except my temper with the Council! Now it's sunny and I've just devoured a huge Danish pastry! Look after yourselves!