clairef

Christmas eve 24th December (Thursday) I went to work this morning on about 5 hours sleep, this morning I snoozed the alarm about 8 times – even saying 'Alexa wake me in 2 minutes' – so desperate was I for a couple more zzzzz's They gave me a days work for only a 5 hour shift, so I said something, and some visits were removed. I went to see a patient for some insulin and she was still in bed at 9.15, not eaten anything and her blood sugar was in her boots – so I had to leave her and go back later. I tried to explain we do need her to have eaten before we come – we cannot come twice just because she fancies a lay in – we have too many people to see! She was totally oblivious to my comments and I think I would have had to be rude for her to have realised what I was saying. Later I arrived for another lady to find her shaving her chin (!); on my final visit to change a blocked catheter – I was part way through when I got asked to move the car – NO!!! – I couldn't leave what I was doing – it was an aseptic procedure and I'd already had to tell the carer off for flicking the duvet over the sterile catheter. It was nice however to finish at half one – lovely Laura said goodbye to me as she is leaving to go on her maternity leave – I wanted to hug her but I'm not allowed. I remember her saying to me many months ago over lockdown, she was either going to be getting a divorce or having a baby and fortunately she is having a baby. I've made lemon cake, walked to Sainsbury to top up my supply of Rizatriptan and buy one or two things. They had one solitary turkey left on the shelf. Ours has been arranged by Mat (its not what you know but who you know) and we have a taste the difference free range turkey crown for the 5 of us tomorrow. I've just checked and its about 2 hours to cook plus resting. My Sainsbury had none of these earlier in the week – he got it from a cancelled on line delivery in his store and bagsied it. I'm expecting we'll be having turkey curry on boxing day and I'll be eating it for the rest of the week. For the record, Mat and Harshi are my 'bubble', so we are treated as one household and Natalie and Christian was be visiting tomorrow just for the day being our 'Christmas' bubble. This is all very confusing but according to BBC South East, this is the rules. Apparently you can now change your bubble so long as you have 10 days between. Christmas day tomorrow, a very weird day unlike any of the other 365 days we have each year.

23rd December Tuesday I was busy at work today and so much so I hardly gave a thought to the viewing that happened this morning. An email popped up at lunchtime from my agent saying the viewing was positive and they are thinking about it and considering and working out budgets. They are now shut until after Christmas so no more news for several days now. Its a bit of a relief as now there is absolutely nothing I can do. I visited a palliative lady this afternoon, she is 96 and is covid positive living in a care home. I gave her some medications to make her comfortable. She is about to die, but not from covid – just the end of a slow decline and she's happened to pick this up on a care home with an outbreak. I was asking the senior carer about some of the residents I know and one of them had a fall a couple of weeks ago and is still in hospital. She told me this chap had left a tap running in the bathroom ensuite to his room and it had overflowed and brought down part of the ceiling in the residents lounge downstairs – a massive chunk of the plaster on the ceiling was missing! I've seen loads of covid patients and have somehow managed to not pick it up. Vaccinations are starting in HH next week, our team isn't involved. Its being organised by the GP surgeries and it taking place in one central location. I started to read Wolf Hall again. I'd got about a third of the way through and given up and as it was so long ago I thought I'd start again as I can't really remember it now.

Tuesday 22nd December Last night I started another balcony blanket, despite not really believing I'll be moving anytime soon. I only have a fairly small amount of yarn left and my nicer colours are depleted so I walked up town this afternoon to get some more from Sussex Crafts. I like the Stylecraft double knit – whilst its only acrylic it does have a soft feel and the most wonderful colours. I bought 5 more balls – 2 shades of green, a red, a lilac and a purple. 12 Alta Vista Close is still showing sold subject to contract and Dart didn't reply to my email. I had popped into Waitrose on the way back for lemons (for cake), milk and frozen yorkshire puddings (cheating) when I pulled out my phone and there was a missed call from my estate agent. Of course I rang him straightaway – the woman who viewed last Friday – who I thought had just disappeared into the ether – wants a second viewing and this is now booked for tomorrow. This is 3 days after the 1st viewing so I assume she has been looking at other houses but wants to view again, so its positive but not an offer. Or even an offer I can accept. I've been tidying up again this evening, moved all the wrapped presents back upstairs so the living room looks smart rather than messy with stuff strewn all over. Wiped over the bathroom and chucked stuff into cupboard. Work tomorrow. I've had a lazy 2 days and done pretty much nothing.

Monday 21 December Back to sleeping real bad – still awake at 1am, up on the laptop, reading and just lying there awake. This morning I wrapped the presents and they're now sitting near the window. Walked to Sainsbury with a detour around the park for some exercise and fresh air, got some Baileys and mince pies. Emailed the solicitor to say the purchaser from last week has changed their minds. No news or contact from either my estate agent – not unexpected – or the one in Teignmouth. 12 Alta Vista Close is still showing as sold subject to contract. I'm thinking that if she does pull out and I can't get a buyer quickly, this time, I'll could sell first and move down into temp accommodation – rent for 6 months and then buy. I don't really want to buy anything other than 12 Alta Vista Close but this might end up not happening realistically.

Sunday 20 December Been to work today; dark this morning and wet. I ran (drove) around and did 4 insulins, then visited an elderly lady in a care home who had multiple blisters on each leg, to change all the dressings, and then went to a palliative lady (alcoholic liver disease) for a pressure area check and to change a dressing. She also has covid and has come back from hospital with it – and her son has caught it off her. Lets hope I don't catch it of either of them now. After lunch, it was a visit for some more wound care, this time some nasty pressure damage on someone's heels and finally a catheter change for a very chatty nice 88 year old chap (it was an easy one and successful) I've been looking all over the tier 4 guidance, people should only travel for exceptional reasons, and even if we can argue 'bubble' for me and Mat, its a bubble for me, not for them, and saying it is 'exceptional' does not cut it. There may be a technicality, but that doesn't make it the right thing to do, and my name is not Cummings. Gutted

Saturday 19 December

Not only do I not have a buyer, the agents in Teignmouth now know this. I have emailed to say I'm not pulling out, but of course she may want to market her house again. We have stupid Christmas and no one is going to view I'm sure until the New Year. Plus Christmas plans all to pot. I have a stupid cold – I've taken my temp multiple times and it is totally normal. No cough. Just bunged up sinuses and a stuffy nose. I am treating the cold with M&S special reserve port – £8 down from £12 in Marks today. Yum. Should help me to sleep :–)

Thursday 17 December – day 'I care even less' tier 2

What I thought was going to happen, has happened. The buyers have changed their minds – found something else they prefer. The house never actually came off the market this time, there is a viewing lined up for tomorrow and the agent has had some enquiries apparently, though no idea how many. I'm not saying anything to Teignmouth at the moment. The market is much quieter now – it always is this time of year. And we're running out of time for the stamp duty holiday. Again, slept really badly last night, could not go off and even when I did, I was awake multiple times. Migraine again this morning and I took the Rizatripan and one of my few codienes and slept for another hour and went into work a bit late – only 25 minutes, and no one said anything. The agent rang me quite early so I've been sitting with this all day. In some ways its better being at work as I'm distracted and have to think about other things rather than wallowing on my sofa not doing anything. Now I've got to tidy up again again in readiness for someone coming around. I think I'll just get on with it, then have a shower and get into bed and be cosy.

Wednesday 16 December day 'I don't care' of tier 2

What a difference 2 days make, the roller coaster of moving. I feel sick and stressed the whole time, I'm 'waiting' for this new sale to just fall through. I slept like crap on Monday night and woke with a thick head on Tuesday, which of course developed at work into a migraine. I came home at lunchtime and took some tablets and it did ease a bit – I carried on at work – but I took more at bed time and went off to sleep quite quickly. Of course I woke after a couple of hours and then was on and off all night, At 5am I made a cup of tea and ended up taking more meds as the migraine had come back, and have then mainly just felt washed out. It didn't help yesterday as I was running around all morning trying to do 'timed' visits and had to get the patslide into my car – and it only just went in with the back down – I had to arrange to meet carers at a patient's home so we could transfer her from one bed to another which had a higher specification mattress. I had to arrange to borrow this damn patslide from the rehab unit, pick it up and then drop it back. What with doing an SOS call out in the afternoon then having to drop a sample at A&E at the hospital, before doing my last visit on the other side of town – I was late late again.

Monday 14th December – day 14 tier 2

I was sitting on the sofa this morning, thinking about walking around to post my Christmas cards and buy some milk, but also thinking about the house. Part of me wanted to ring the agent, but I knew if there was any news, he would ring me. As I was thinking all this, he phoned me. No new interest from over the weekend, but the people who came to view on Saturday were interested and made an offer of £365K. This was no way enough and far too low, so I just said no. They came back very quickly and increased to £375K. Now I know that with the previous buyers who wanted a reduction, that when push comes to shove, I would probably have capitulated as I want to move. So I rang the agent in Teignmouth, gave them a 'bullshit sandwich' and requested a reduction in price in 12 Alta Vista Close of £5-7K. They came back in 10 minutes and she'd agreed to reduce by £5,000. So I rang my agent and said if they can offer £380K then we have a deal. I then waited the rest of the day until 4.45 -when he rang back again saying they would go to £378K, and I have agreed and have sold the house again. This is the story and I have pretty relieved. The price drop is £17,000 but its only actually costing me £12,000. We use the word 'only' advisedly. Because it is actually a lot of money. I don't care (well I only care a bit) as I want to move and I want 12 Alta Vista Close. I am now going to have a look on rightmove for a look at my house.

Sunday 13th December – day 13 tier 2 I got invited for dinner on 12th at chez Mat and Harshi and accepted. We had an outing to Ikea in the afternoon and the pay hall was rammed with people, and if I've caught covid, then this is where I've caught it. Someone cooked for an hour and a half – about 5 wonderful dishes – and now I have a stack of lovely leftovers which will probably keep me going all week. I decided to invite myself to chez Natalie and Christian for Sunday roast chicken dinner. I arrived and could smell the dinner cooking before they even opened the door to me. The girls have made me Christmas cards. Little Molly was sitting next to me and talking to me, and she said – why have you got such a big pointy nose – kids say the funniest things. So my kids cooked and fed me the whole weekend. The one viewing on the house happened yesterday and all I want for Christmas is a sensible offer from someone who is willing and able to proceed quickly.