Wakey Wakey rise and shine!!!

After a late night last night we had a rude awakening this morning!! We had been to see the 'world famous' Bob Jackson at Disneys Port Orleans resort with the other not so world famous Jacksons. It had been a night of laughter and dancing and general fool making. You should try saying 'Sarah, Sarah sitting in a Chevrolet. All day long she sits and shifts all night long she shines and sits' when you are on the wrong side of half a bottle of sparkling wine (with extra sparkles for Deb!!!) Malc and Tom went on to entertain the whole place with their horse riding and dying fly antics. The plus point is that it wasn't our hotel heavens knows how Malc and Deb will be able to show their faces again!!!
So after all of that and not getting to bed until gone one we were rudely awakened by the hotel fire alarm at 7 this morning. First of all it was hard to know what was happening but the din was incredible and Sion everyone was making their way down the emergency stairs to the exits. I witnessed a bizarre assortment of night wear all assembled on the car park. The brigade turned up and saved the day. Turns out a darling little boy played with the alarm in the dining room setting everything off. Once we were allowed back in we returned to our rooms only to have the same happen again! We gave up and when back on for the second time went to breakfast with loads of folk who were still in their pjs !!!
The rest if the day we have been shopping tinight we are going to downtown Kissimmee to see the vintage car parade.

Moving Along.

This week I have been very busy during the day, not getting home until late. Things around Mum and Dads are finally making progress that you can see. There is still a huge skip outside which is laden with all sorts including stuff that has never been in mum and dads house. Who can resist a skip going begging??The carpets and furniture have gone. The rooms are now mainly empty this work surface is waiting to go outside, you can see the black soot marks that don't shift!!

All the walls upstairs have been washed down, but they are still black and horrible looking. When the painters start they will have to do two coats of sealant before the start on the painting proper.

It looks like the bathroom is also a casualty so that will add to the delay. Still progress is now noticeable and I am hoping they will be in before Christmas.

I have also had another exciting occurrence, my recycling and ordinary bins have been emptied twice and I have not had to call the council once to make that happen. Its some sort of record, all records have to start somewhere and perhaps this is the start of mine!!

So the rest of the week is set up to be as busy, at the weekend I am going to make something with my cupcake beads, I just need inspiration!!!

The Weekend!!

Its that time of year again, Audtions were held last week for the next Christmas production at the Barn Theatre - The Snow Queen. Beth was keen to take part in this one so we went along to the auditions and she joined in with the reading.

She was in Pinocchio a couple of Christmas' ago and had great fun. It was very hard work with lots of shows in the run. This year there are fewer shows, which should make it easier. Any how we have just heard that she has secured the role of Ice Maiden, which we are very pleased with, it sounds like it should be a role that will have a fantastic costume and beautiful make up. We are so pleased for her!!

This weekend mum and dad have to start looking for furniture for their house. Things have moved on there, during the week their furniture has been removed and taken away by skip, all the rooms apart from the kitchen have been washed down in preparation for the painting. Carpets gone, its just about a shell now apart from the kitchen, which is still sealed off waiting for the removal by specialists as traces of asbestos have been found (from the Artex in the ceiling) It feels like things are really happening now. There have been a succession of trades men throughout the week, carpet estimator, man to replace the stair lift, company to do the painting and decorating, the double glazing man, a non stop run of people measuring up. Once the kitchen is out I will feel like we are really on the home straight!!!!

The Tardis.

I have finally got around to taking a picture of our new garden feature, a Dr Who Tardis as modeled by Beth!! Its proving quite useful at the moment.

Today we went to Georgies birthday party which was at ArtShed in Ware. Beth and the other party goers made beautiful charm bracelets. It helped that Beth had done it before because it was quite hard to get the hang of. In the end she produced a really pretty bracelet with pretty glass crackle beads and glass stars.

I really think she has a knack for it.

I will have to photograph it for later in the week.

Tonight we went around to Mum and Dads with dad to feed the chickens. Laura and Beth took a look in to see how things are going. This is the bathroom, no real physical damage but look at the smoke damage!! It looks like they have never cleaned.

The cleaning people have been in and started to box up the contents, they have also carried out test 'cleaning' patches all over the place, it really shows just how filthy everywhere is. I just wish it would move on quickly so they can get back in there.

Updates..

Well this week has been a busy one, loads to do and sort out. Its been unsettling as we have had to move Mum and Dad to a new hotel and we have taken delivery of a shiny 'Portaloo' for the back garden!!

The first 5 nights were spent at one hotel, but then they run out of space and Mum and Dad weren't all that keen on the room. So we arranged for them to move into the Premier Inn at Stanborough. The staff there have been brilliant, nothing is too much trouble and they offer assistance and reassurance 24 hours a day! I must say that we have been very impressed with all they have done. The room is lovely and very spacious. They have even moved a couple of arm chairs in to make it more comfortable.

Mum and Dad are spending a good part of the day at our home and its quite a novelty to have dinner ready when I get home from work!!

The loss adjuster seems to be awfully slow and we have had trouble getting him to pay out and generally help out with the financial issues. This has put a huge amount of strain on all of us. It has meant that we are only able to book a week at a time which makes them feel as if they are likely to be homeless if no money comes through. This in turn has upset Mum in particular. Its been a tough week. Finally yesterday we have got an agreement from the loss adjuster to pay for the accommodation and out of pocket expenses, about time too. Its something that I will take up with the insurers once this is over, its unreasonable to expect people to manage for in excess of 12 days (which is what it will be on Monday) without ANY financial assistance, when all they had was the clothes they were wearing.

Yesterday we also heard that they had finally made arrangements for the cleaning company to come in next Monday and start the boxing up and throwing away of damaged stuff. I think once that starts we will see things start to move on. They estimate that the cleaning will take around a week. Fingers crossed.

I too have some cleaning that needs sorting out. I have been doing a fair bit of crafting in my spare time and my scrap booking table is covered in junk and I can't find anything!I need to spent some time trying to get that sorted out as well. I am pleased that I am finally onto scrapping my cruise photos, I feel like I am finally catching up.

My craft tote is stuffed full and completely full of junk, so that needs doing as well.Its much easier to work if its clean and clear.

Have a great weekend.

Its been an eventful week.

The first of September started out a very nice day, one of those 'Indian Summer' days. It was my friends 40th birthday and we had spent some time preparing for it, all the usual ageist jokes, steradent and false teeth pots, hair nets, rollers and tena lady, a celebratory courgette I think you get my drift!!

So Far so good. At lunch time we decided to go out for a celebration bite to eat. Parked, noting that it was free for the first hour as long as you displayed a ticket, which we did. We promptly forgot all about the time limit. After lunch we headed for the the cars only to find that I had been awarded a parking ticket, just the £80, reduced to £40 if I paid up within the fortnight. My friend was parked in the next row, with the same time on her ticket and she did not get one, so I was victimised!! Bastards!!

I went back to work, I had just arrived at a meeting when I got a text from my other half to say that I should come home as there was a problem. The problem turned out to be a fire in my parents house. I was so shocked, I am not sure how I actually got home.

When I arrived the road was blocked off by three fire engines and there were loads of people out 'looking'

The fire was out, and I found out that Mum and Dad were out and had not arrived home as yet. I spoke to the fireman in charge and it seems that the fire had started in the kitchen, the hob was on very low and a washing basket had been left on the edge touching the ceramic hob. The fire had smoldered for around three hours before igniting and setting fire to the kitchen. The damage is huge.

The fire damage is confined to the kitchen, which was in a terrible state. The rest of the house is badly damaged by the smoke and water. What I had failed to understand before now is that the smoke is fatal. I knew in my head that it was, but seeing it close up I can see its lethal. Everything in the house is covered with a thick layer of sooty blackness, which covers everything and absolutely stinks.

Apart for the obvious distress of the whole incident, how do you replace a life time of memories? All those bits and pieces that you forget you have until you no longer have them.

So all you can do is concentrate on counting your blessings, any other afternoon they would have been at home in their armchairs enjoying and afternoon nap.They had a fire alarm, which was how the neighbours discovered the fire, but the firemen said that the fumes were lethal so, alarm or not they may never have woken up. So I subscribe to the theory that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so we are all a little bit stronger now.

The other 'strange ' thing is how fire works. Although the kitchen was severely damaged there were some things hardly touched. The bottles above were singed and melted but not destroyed. They were a couple of feet from the main fire.

Moving on we have got Mum and Dad in a hotel in town, so they are close. The insurance company (Direct Line) have been very good. They sent someone out the same night to start the assessment process. They have appointed a loss adjuster and a cleaning company. Both have now been and have explained how they will try and save all of the precious and sentimental things, but will have to dump the rest.

We have been told that to get the house livable again will be around 4 to 6 months, it needs a complete rewire, new central heating system, new kitchen and bathroom, new stair lift along with all of the rest of the contents.

I think things have started to sink in now and its been impossible to find anywhere rented for them to stay. We are hoping that the insurance company allows them to stay in hotel accommodation for the duration. We don't have any spare space here and Mum can't do the stairs to get to the bathroom, so we have ordered a 'portaloo' for the back garden, so she can spend the day around here and carry on with her hobbies. Dad can also stay and still look after his garden.

I am sure we will manage in the end.

Phew Close Shave

This week has had a very exciting start to it, I was facing a busy get all over the place week with regards to meetings and driving everywhere, which started Monday with a 60 mile round trip.
On my way back I had a warning light come up on the car and it went into 'limp home' mode. That meant it cut the speed down to 20mph. That would have been fine except I was on the A1M, a fast motorway where you simply can't do 20 mph without causing a problem. I had no alternative but to pull over and stop on the hard shoulder.

I checked the oil, as when this has happened in the past the oil has been low. (We always regularly check the oil but this car seems to use it a lot even though we have had it fully checked out at the garage) So the dip stick was showing no oil, so I though I had better put some in. I took the filler cap off and started to slowly add the oil when it happened, flames started to leap out of the top of the engine which caused me to spill some of the oil because I jumped. That made the flames worse, Now I was panicking, thinking that I was planning to go away driving this car in a few weeks and there it was going up in flames. I don't remember doing this, but I put the filler cap back , stood well back and called the fire brigade.

I needed to get things out of the car, my bag, and coat as it was cold, I opened the door and slung them up the embankment. It was then I came across a bottle of diet coke, I thought kill or cure, I decided to try and put the flames out with the coke. By this time there were no flames at the top but they were coming from the sump underneath, so I emptied the coke over the engine and the flames went out.

The brigade arrived and checked it out and confirmed my makeshift firefighting had done the trick. They think the engine was so hot that it had caused some sort of flash over and when I jumped back I put oil on the outside of the engine fuelling the fire.They also said putting the cap back on had starved the oil of oxygen and had prevented it doing major damage to the engine. Amazingly the car started and they got me off the motorway. The breakdown people towed me home and the car was checked out yesterday by the garage. They have said that apart for a few singe marks around the area of the fire and sticky splashes of coke all is well. They have cleaned up the engine and surrounding area and given it a clean bill of health.

I have never been so scared, from nothing to flames in a matter of milliseconds. Oddly I have only ever broken down on the A1M once before and it was in the exact same place, last time mum was with me and I remember standing under the sign for knebworth house. Very Odd.