My life

I've had a really difficult 10 days. I thought I'd share some of my difficulties with you so you can either commiserate with me or have a good laugh! I must admit I think it's better to laugh in the face of adversity.

So what's been up? Well first of all I thought I'd eaten something nasty which my tummy did not like at all. I spent a very unpleasant night and day. It went on and on for so long I reckon it was a bug. I felt dreadful, and still do feel a bit yucky.

In the middle of this one of my sons had some stuff he needed moving and, as chance would have it, no one to drive a van for him. Would I do it? Well, of course, no problem. We went to collect the van and I was asked if I wanted to pay the excess insurance policy. If I paid £10 it would reduce the excess charge of £750 to £250 if I did any damage to the van. Well of course I wasn't going to do any damage! I never have before (well just a few little dents in a few cars over the years, but no more than you would expect for the amount of miles I've covered), but then I started to think - it's big, I'm ill, it's hot, there are other idiots around ... so I paid it.

The drive along the seafront to Brighton was lovely. I was high up and it was exciting to be in such a big vehicle. The things were duly moved into the van and it was time to leave ... but I couldn't get the van out of the car park! I found myself completely stuck not having any idea of which way to turn the wheel or whether to go forward or reverse to stop scrapping a wall. A nice young man came to help  - or so he thought. He waved me forward and the van scraped down one wall and hit the wall in front of me! Well I thought, if you are going to do a job, do it well.

The drive back was not so nice, I couldn't decide whether I was feeling sick because of my bug or sick because of the damage. We had three things to drop off at our house - all virtually brand new; a washing machine, fridge and sofa. As the washing machine was coming in, we thought it would be a good idea to get rid of an old one, so it was carried out and put by the front door. I phoned a local shop to ask them if they would like it and all they took was my number and promised to phone back. The fridge had a problem - it's door fell off. Then we couldn't get the sofa through the door so it had to go to a storage unit - that's a huge tale in itself.

In the middle of all of this I remembered my car was in a car park near the van hire office and it was about to run out! Fortunately I got a lift down to the car park just in time.

When we eventually took the van back to the hire company I noticed the man who had to book it back in turn a rather nasty colour of grey when he inspected the van - maybe he was worried about what his boss would say or maybe he had my tummy bug. I was just so pleased I had paid the £10 extra insurance. Having to pay £250 was not very nice, but much better than if it was £750.

The next morning I had to leave early and noticed the old washing machine on the way out, so I gave the shop a call but no one was there. Ten minutes later my husband sent me a text to say it had gone. Strange, I thought. Today the man from the shop phoned to ask when he could collect it. He wasn't surprised it had just been taken by someone else, apparently the cost of scrap metal is very high at the moment. We don't mind really, we've got rid of the machine, but it seems strange to have had an old washing machine stolen from the doorstep.

On top of all of this the cat, poor Doppy, is not really getting any better. We are not sure what we should do with her.

There was a lot more than this going on but this is all I'm prepared to share with you. It's enough I think. I'm pleased to say I'm feeling well enough to eat now and something really special happened today - I bought my new flute. I'll take some photos and tell you all about it soon.