A busy day

“It’s only a dribble.” Said one of my carers returning from the kitchen.

“What is?” I was curious.

“The tap.”

Then a conversation I had with Mary earlier came back to me and everything made sense. Our new neighbour had discovered a leak in their water pipe. Obviously they were fixing it and I remembered that every flat, house and business in our alley shared the one stop tap.

I sent my carer out to request they turn the water back on so she could fill my wash bowls. I was all ready for my morning ablutions and decided water was a necessary part of that. She went off down the alley on this windy morning, plastic apron flapping, blue rubber gloves on hands. I watched the exchange on my door camera in fascination. Heads nodded, hands waved, aprons flapped and then she returned triumphant. The water was back on. But brown water spluttered from the tap at first try. Eventually it ran clear. We later discovered that our alleyway has a steel water pipe that is corroding, hence the leak and the brown rusty water. Examining the repair had shifted some rust, lovely. Looks like all of us in the alley are going to need a new main pipe soon.

. The temporary repair on the water pipe.

Quickly she filled wash bowls, kettle and started my wash. We hadn’t finished when the doorbell rang and our neighbour was checking if the stopcock could now be turned off. More water was fetched before the water dwindled to another dribble. This was probably the least water I have been washed in for a while. Still, better than no water.

It seemed only two minutes later when the phone rang. Millbrook were responding to my request that morning about my ripple mattress. I’d realised the night before that it was slowly sinking. My bottom was gradually reaching the metal frame, not ideal. This situation is classified as urgent and Millbrook have a 24 hour emergency service. So just 1 ½ hours after I phoned I had a call to say the replacement was on its way, accompanied by a technician. I added that last bit in case you were picturing a mattress walking down Wellington High Street on its own. Stranger things are happening these days. Food is being delivered by wheeled automated delivery vehicles on university campuses. Amazon is using flying drones for delivery. How long before my mattress arrives unaccompanied? But as I received this phone call I was still undressed and mid wash and the technician said he would be 5 minutes. This caused a great deal of alacrity, by my carer, in the last bit of getting me ready. So much so that I was ready before they arrived. Any quicker and I would have been ready before we started.

To enable the mattress change I was hoisted in my day sling. It’s more comfortable and safer for a long duration than my other sling and like being in an upright hammock. Hanging there I watched, sorry supervised, the work of changing the mattress. The sling is comfortable for a short while, but it took a while to change and re inflate the new mattress, so I was ready to return to bed . Now back on the new mattress I realise that the old one had been deflating for some time. Probably weeks. The difference between the two was very noticeable.

On Mary’s return at lunchtime the water was still off. So she arrived back to a pile of washing up, no water for a cup of tea or to make dinner. Not a good welcome home. Fortunately she found some bottled water in the cupboard for making lunch as by this point a section of the broken pipe had been removed. So the stop tap couldn’t be put back on till after it was fixed. Mary had not finished her lunch when we received visits from our new neighbour and his brother who was helping him. They were showing us the corrosion on the pipe and chatting about the way forward as the rest of the pipe in the alley looks poor. They seem like really nice new owners of the house at the end, very capable and helpful people. I look forward to getting to know them more.

Then the phone rang again. Wellington Swimming pool, an update on the situation about me swimming there (see my blog “Sink or swim?”) Apparently the mobile hoist is not fixable and the current owners will not spend money to replace it. When the new owners take over 1st August it is a high priority to replace it. So meanwhile all I can do is try out the changing room/shower to make sure that works, in readiness for the arrival of the hoist. Oh well, from a one week wait to try out the pool, to a two month wait. At least I get to try out the shower. You would think there is an equality law about swimming pools being disabled accessible. But there isn’t, not yet. In the USA there is such a law and there is talk it may come here. Meanwhile accessible pools are widely spaced and what is meant by accessible varies. After all, there is a big difference if you are a wheelchair user who can stand to transfer compared to someone like myself who can’t. Not every, so called ‘accessible’ changing room has beds to be changed on.

It’s been a much busier day than usual for me. You are probably thinking, busy? What’s he talking about? That’s not busy. But remember, for me a normal day for my health condition is to have nothing happen beyond being washed and dressed, or perhaps a trip out to the Spa coffee shop. Which is very tiring in itself for me (see my blog “Consequences.”) Anything added is exhausting. So it really has been a busy day.

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