Monday 21 September 2009

electric blue

And anyone who recgonises the series of videos from the 80s,with the same title as this entry,SHAME ON YOU.lol.
On the following monday i sent my housing association a very long,detailed email,explaining all that had occurred,and that i was now left with no earth trip,which was A illegal,and B,extremely dangerous.and that it was THEIR house that would go up in flames if there was a serious electrical fault.that was at 12.15.at 1.10 my phone rung.housing association.claire,secretary to head of assets.normally complaints take 10 days to get sorted,but she had realised how serious the matter was and was seeing her boss at once.20 minutes later the phone rang again.the contractors.a very sheepish lady said,neil,our head electrician will be with you first thing in the morning,he will do a full test,and we will go from there.
At 8.20 the next morning neil arrived,pleasant,courteous,professional.he was horrified when i told him what the other electrician had done,and set about testing.it took him 5 hours to check every circuit.he found 4 things.the positive buzz bar was so loosely connected it had been arcing,and was the reason it later turned out the trip kept going out,fan in bathroom was set too fine,and noisy.light in bathroom was not up to regs.and the boiler wasnt earth bonded.he also changed circuits around,so every circuit is now protected by trip.oh,and yes,he replaced the trip.he refused to issue a certificate until the work was done,said he would order what was needed and left.the next morning he rung at 8,he had all the things,and was coming to do it.by 11 he was done,everything was checked.a true professional.i sent an email to claire asking for him to be commended and thanked for a job well done i may add.
over the next few days the lights flickered occasionally,then on the following monday,it was a wet and windy day,the overhead powerline was blowing about and as it did my lights flickered.bad.i had neils number and rang him,we both agreed it had to be the overheads causing the problem so i rung EDF,they sent out an engineer who got here after tea.it transpires my neighbour is on the same overhead,it goes to her main fuse first,then from a splitter to mine.and oh yes,her lights had been a bit flickery.shame you didnt tell me that when i asked you i thought.anyway,the engineer checked the fuses and connections and said he would order a linesman crew to come out the next day and check.and the next day 2 lorries turned up,up the pole they went and.............the neutral connector had split.corroded.and water was getting in,also the live was nearly as bad.15 minutes later,2 new connectors,job done.and the saga ends.no more problems.
This morning i had a phone call from my consultant,i go in to hospital the evening of october 5th,stay in overnight,op first thing tuesday 6th,will be in all day and overnight and released the next morning,hopefully angina free.it means i must now try and sort care for mum for 2 nights and days.and thats another story i fear.we shall see.
Lucy i am so sorry i havent been there for you,or jane,or anyone else.im just not reading blogs.and i apologise.take care all.

Friday 11 September 2009

NEVER FORGOTTEN




NO WORDS I WRITE CAN DO JUSTICE TO THE AWFUL ATROCITY THAT OCCURED ON THIS DATE 8 YEARS AGO.TO MY FRIENDS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,AND TO THE FAMILIES IN THE UK WHO ARE STILL DEVASTATED BY THIS MOST EVIL AND COWARDLY OF ATTACKS. YOU ARE IN MY THOUGHTS.AND IN THE MINDS AND HEARTS OF MILLIONS. take care all.

Sunday 6 September 2009

back again

sorry its been so long,somehow ive lost the desire to write,a lot is due to the MS which has been bad.mainly due to some hot weather we had.that was summer lol.autumn seems to be rushing towards us now,its turned a lot cooler.anyway,thursday i went to the heart clinic,now it was actually a follow up they do for patients who have had angioplasty surgery,as such the cardiac nurse hadnt read my notes.she just thought everything was sorted,until i explained i WAS still getting angina bad,was still using the nitro spray,so she then read,and said,he has put if you still get angina he will try an angioplasty using a special drug filled balloon,i shall put you on his waiting list,will soon be sorted,next.lol. so that was a waste of 70 miles travelling for what could have been done over the phone in 2 minutes,although i did have an ECG/blood pressure reading done.at least he will try and clear the artery,and hopefully i wont need bypass surgery.

The next day,friday i was off to Cromer hospital,small cottage hospital to see the orthopaedic triage.i had the MRI on my back done in june,i rung them 3 weeks after the scan,as i hadnt heard from them,and was told the triage would look at the scan and ring me back.then they rung to say she had looked,and i would be called back for another appointment with her and then..............nothing.i rung again,yes she would look at the scan and get back to me. ermmm i was told she HAD looked at it? oh?i will speak to her.week later i rung again.again i was told she had looked at it and i was "in the system" to be seen.then i finally got an appointment for friday. when i did get in to see her,she said,ive not even looked at scan,i havent been told you rung,nothing.lovely lol. anyway,we looked at the scan pics.together,and it can be clearly seen that i have yet another disc bulging and pressing on the nerve,hence the awful pain im getting.also showed some white patches,and she was rather quiet about those.i asked,those lesions? im not a nurologist she said,then looked at me.how many did you have last scan?4 or 5.ive now got around 9.oh well.thats another worry for a later date.in the meantime,i am going to try a course of steroid injections to relieve the inflammation,hopefully they will help,if not,and the pain is still as bad,surgey will be considered,and the verteba will be fused together.which sounds awful but she assures me i will still be able to bend,although a bit stiff,and that its an operation that carries a lot less risk than it used to.we will see.

now ive written before about the wonderful housing associations maintenance team,my bathroom door still a apainful memory.for the last 3 weeks my lights flicker,the power goes down,my fan motor slows,obvious there was a problem.an electrician ( ahem) came out,checked the connections to the main trip in the consumer unit,found they were so loose he had to turn the screw 5 times to tighten it, and that was it,until.................the trip went off in the middle of the night.no clock,good job it was weekend and tracey wasnt coming early.so he came out and changed the trip. 3 days later same thing happened. so they sent a surveyor round.he wanted a special test done on all the circuits before calling out the board,it could be the overhead cables at fault,and lo,the next day the same electrician came out.did he test?? nooooo.he did cure the trip going oiut though, in a most radical,and im sure efficient way.he took it out.removed it.rewired the unit so now...............ive got no protection if there is a serious fault.that was thursday,he said he would report the overhead cables at fault.now,i am going to write on monday a most long and interesting email to the head of housing,explaining the test wants carried out as ordered,that i am not protected,that this is illegal,and ...........WILL THEY BLOODY WELL SORT IT.NOW.i rather think that contract firm will NOT be doing repairs when the current contract ends next year.they are useless.

finally,welcome back to pamal3.those of you who followed her blog will be as delighted as i am she has finally graced us with her presence again.even if she dont write,she dont call,she just swans off without a word,i dunno,dont she realise that i wor..........ahem.sorry pam.lol.you knew youd suffer.im glad my friend is back.Almost 40! sorry i havent been around for you lucy,or you jane,but i have read your blogs and am up to date now.take care all.