After all the dreary weather things have taken a much needed turn for the better down here in the South of England, this past week has been so sunny that it feels as if Spring has arrived early this year
When heading to the allotment to start digging in the beds and prepare them for planting I was so pleased to spot a small patch of early Crocus at the side of the road with their delicate purple flowers poking up through the grass to brighten our day
Once the Crocus and Daffodils start to bloom it really lifts the mood knowing that Winter will soon be but a distant memory
 |
| Image Description - Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel laying on a patch of grass at the side of the road with his head facing towards the camera behind a dozen purple Crocus flowers who's colour really pops against his black coat |
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
This year didn't get off to a great start, first with the whole scaffolding debacle which was then closely followed by a complete nightmare when the Gas Safe engineer we've used previously came to do the yearly service of the heating and boiler at mum and dads house. Without warning the engineer disconnected everything, both the heating and hot water stating that back boilers would soon become illegal to own and that they had to get a new combi boiler fitted
Mum and dad were left with no heating or hot water in the middle of January which meant I had to rob Peter to pay Paul and rush out to buy my parents an oil filled radiator for each of their rooms as a temporary measure and hope they'd be warm enough and that the weather didn't get any colder than it already was
The engineer said he'd get an estimate out to me about the cost of a fitting new boiler in the next day or two, after a couple of days when I'd heard nothing I phoned the office and was made to feel that fitting my parents in to get their boiler replaced would be a massive inconvenience to him, there was no apology nothing for the fact that his engineer had left my elderly parents with no heating or hot water in the middle of Winter
I then fell into the deep well of checking out boiler grants for upgrades and became totally confused about which of these schemes were legit and which were scams. The only thing I did discover is that as mum and dad don't get Pension Credits they didn't qualify for a grant which was so frustrating, they've both worked their whole lives and paid their National Insurance contributions yet don't qualify for any financial assistance get a new boiler
There's a reason I don't own my own house, it's so I don't have to deal with complicated sh!t like this, the stress of everything then started to manifest into physical symptoms and I started to feel so unwell that my pain levels went through the roof, worse than that I then had to approach my mum about using some of her savings to pay for the new boiler, she was not happy about that one little bit and started kicking off about why should she should have to pay for everything, all the time
I reminded her that the boiler was for her house not for mine and that I don't have the money to pay for it, if she didn't want to pay for a new boiler then that was fine but to not then complain if she gets cold, which probably sounds a bit harsh but with mums vascular dementia sometimes the only way to get her to understand something is to be blunt and to the point
I then had to find somebody to fit a new boiler once mum was happy to pay for a new one
It was by pure chance that our vet Dr Tania had mentioned several months previously about her husband Dan being a Gas Safe Engineer so I contacted her and asked for his contact details which can also be found on the Checkatrade website as DDL Gas Installation and Repairs Ltd
All I can say is that Dan was amazing, his approach to fitting mum and dad with a new boiler was completely different from our previous experience
Dan gave me the option of two different dates and a detailed estimate of all the work that needed to be done and on which days, we opted for the earliest date and Dan was at my parents house at 0800 each morning ready to start work and even cleaned up after himself at the end of each day, he was also finished on the day that he said he'd be finished which was fantastic, Dan was especially considerate about having to work around my parents and their dementia as well as dads daily questions about what he was doing and where he lived
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
Boris and I have already made a start at digging the allotment for this year, I've covered the dug area with cardboard to prevent the weeds from coming though until I'm ready to plant
Image Descriptions - 1) Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting on our allotment in front of a dug up area covered in cardboard to stop the weeds from growing. 2) Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel standing behind the area i started digging on our allotmentto make way for new growing beds
We used to have 16 small individual beds but over the years the frames have rotted and then last year I tripped over one of them and injured my arm quite badly by landing on one of the frames and smashing it to pieces, so I opted to remove them all and plan to dig out 2 maybe 3 much larger beds instead, I'm looking forward to the challenge and the new look with all being well on the parent front I should get it finished in time to plant
The past few months have felt a bit like I've been on the rollercoaster from hell, first with Eko's illness and then with the whole boiler debacle
Now the sun is out and Spring is in the air I feel can move forward and look to the future, long may it last or at least until something else goes wrong
Until next time
Dawn, Boris & Eko xxx
This Post is linked too
Boy, what a mess that was with the boiler. I hope the rest of the year is much better and easy sailing.
ReplyDelete