Hell week

No black eyes this week-how boring (and painless)! But I had the tiler last Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. And the bathroom isn't quite finished yet. Go figure.

On Friday Mulalley was supposed to send someone to actually finish the kitchen-after 11 months. Really-I'm amazed that Mulalley is still in business. And-I've given up demanding that they fix the things they broke. I've started step 1 of a formal complaint to Haringey. And I've got help from John (another John-I know about eight people called John. So now I have to differentiate by career, not by name). This is surveyor John, who worked for the company that gave Mulalley the contract in the first place. It gets very complicated: Haringey gave the contract to Frankham's surveyors, they gave the contract to Mulalley, and Mulalley sub-contracted a bunch of useless idiots called Greyline. And everyone is passing the buck. So now, it's time for war. I'm very good at war.

I've now been on this really nasty antibiotic- called Ciprofloxacin- for nearly three weeks, and I have five more days to go. In theory, it should kill off the pseudomonas, and I won't need to go back into the hospital for IV antibiotics. Well- we shall see. I saw Matt, my consultant, yesterday (at last-someone NOT called John!!), and he said we will see what all the tests next week show. So my fingers are crossed. I said that I don't want to be one of those people who carries around an oxygen cylinder-and he reassured me that my lungs aren't getting any worse, but I'm on the right course of treatment, so I should be okay. He said I'll probably live longer than he will. I said that if he puts me back into the hospital when Sofia is on duty, he can count on it! He actually smiled at that. He was almost in a good mood. Hmmmmm.....good night last night?

Aren't I rude.

I've got a new project. This is what happens when I ignored my mother's second-best advice (the first was-move out, or else). This was, of course, never volunteer for anything. And I ignored it. Again.

My neighbor is 78 years old, and she and her husband are not at all well. So-apart from my few days of bad flu-I stopped in to see how they are and if they needed anything. She told me that an organization called AgeUK is closing down. She was most upset, because AgeUK provides a weekly dementia group for patients and their carers, as well as other social groups and advice for anyone who needs it. There is no funding after August this year. Haringey decided to pull the plug-and hundreds of elderly people will have no place to go. And I think that is disgusting. So-I decided to help.

I emailed the coordinator for London Citizens. If you remember back about 100 posts (wordy, aren't I), I mentioned that the Unitarian Church is part of London Citizens, and I am leading the social justice team at the church (eeek. Fool!!!). But now-I can use that position to get to see the people at Citizens and put together a petition. If we can circulate on online petition, as well as petitions in all the churches and organizations that are part of Citizens, we just might be able to shame Haringey to provide the funds for AgeUK to stay afloat. So I'm contacting people, calling people, and knackering my keyboard. But this is important. I might surprise everyone-especially myself!- and live to a ripe old age. I might need AgeUK. Who knows?

I'll let you know how it goes-and if it goes-power to the oldies, I say! Nobody in London Citizens has any initiatives for older people; they are concerned with housing, and immigration, and safety, and the cost of living-but not about older people. In this country, older people are considered a nuisance. For now.

I'm back on my soapbox. I'm back in the fight. Really, if I didn't have something to fight about I would be terribly bored. Now I can type until I develop carpal tunnel.

Somebody get me an icepack...