Lilo

Lilo

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Control Freak Worry Wart Mother

...................Has escaped from the cupboard under the stairs!!


She promised me she would be good.
But as Mary Poppins would say - a pie crust promise - easily made and easily broken!!!


The boys are away to Kielder again. 2 1/2 hours on the train, then getting picked up at Newcastle.
I am a tad annoyed this year.
We decided to book Journeycare, so that the boys would be helped off the train at Newcastle, the staff are meant to come and help them get the luggage and off the train. No one arrived. Ok, i don't need to PAY for this, but i decided to book it after the hassle last year at Newcastle coming home. Train running late and rude staff ignoring Paul's request for help.
Will be doing something about that at the weekend when they get home.


I'm also a bit annoyed at the pick up to get them to the centre. I phoned on saturday morning to let them know what train they would be arriving on. I was rather surprised that they hadn't phoned earlier in the week - they did last year.
 At first, the girl said they weren't on the pick up list.
I asked her to check, cos i had booked it (and paid for it!!)
Oh, yes, she said - they weren't put on the list.


She said that the pick up from Newcastle was 1.30 - i explained that the train didn't get there till 1.35 - it was the same train they got last year.
She said that it would be ok, since someone else was getting off the same train and that the pick up would wait for them all.


So Paul phoned to tell me they got to Newcastle ok and about the lack of help off the train. They were waiting at the pick up point.
And no one arrived.
So an hour later, he phoned me.
I said i'd phone the centre, explained the situation and she said she'd try to sort it out.
Try??? My boys are 150 miles or so away from home, i have no way of getting to them and you are gonna TRY??? Eventually she gets back to me and asks if i have Paul's mobile number - gave it to her.


A while later, Paul phones - they are going to get picked up at 4,30 - 3 hours after the original time.
Paul phoned tonight - he told me that they had said they had been at the station on time, but they were not there!!! Peter and Paul). No thought to finding out if their train was on time, or putting out a call.
Now - i know they have a timetable to keep to, but puleesssseee - a bit of sense goes a long way.
SO yoiu can imagine worry wart mamma  by now - stress thru the roof!!


Promise, she is getting pushed kicking and screaming back into the cupboard ASAP!! If not sooner.


And don't get me started on the SAGA of getting Lou's car fixed , which has now put the kybosh on any plans we may have made to do things over the next few days. It was eventually delivered to the house about 5pm - they had suggested her work, but at that time of day, you'd need to have hiking gear to get from where you left the car to get to the hospital!!! And that's on top of the phone calls they'd need to make beforehand!!!


The only good thing is, i managed a long lie this morning. It was nearly 9.30 before i got up. Mind you - the cat was in a double sulk by then - missing the boys and starving!!!!


Mind you - our days have not all been like this!
On the 16th of June, i met up with some of the families from the support group we are in (Unique). Just before Christmas, i met one of the mums. We started kicking an idea about meeting up and having a chat.
So i posted on the Unique FB page and wrote a bit for the newsletter.


2 or 3 people said it sounded good.
Then a couple of emails.
Reminder just before the day.
So in total, 16 of us met up at the Art Galleries here in Glasgow. A couple of families had to drop out at the last minute and one family we missed tho i'm sure not by much.


We sat behind Sir Roger the elephant and beside the Giraffe. Had a great time, chatting, delving into our packed lunches, watching the kids enjoy themselves.


Then a typical jobsworth came over and told us "you're not allowed to eat here". Mmmm - did our sandwiches offend him? Did we have better fare than him ?(most likely). Was he jealous that our company was having more fun he and his mates could ever aspire to? (probably)
Maybe he thought we'd feed the elephants and giraffes!!
Can we tell him something - said animals are DEAD and STUFFED!!! He wouldn't need to clear up after them and he didn't need to after us - we took our rubbish with us! (tho i'm sure the giraffe had a longing look at the choccie biccies i had!!)


We went to the slightly posher cafe downstairs - mainly because it had more room and continued our chat.


The bit i loved was Peter with Morven - Morven is 5 and was gooey eyed at Peter - SOMEONE LOVES MY BOY!!
Or it may have been a look of sympathy that said "poor you - having a mum like her!!!
But it was a good afternoon and one which we have all said we should do again

Friday 15 June 2012

Back in the grown up world again.....................

................... And a little funny football story, just for Jazzygal!! 


But more of that story in a bit!!!


We had our day in court for Peter's Guardianship Hearing.
All the reports had been submitted and considered and we had to go along to see what the Sheriff would say. We had asked for a 10 year order for the Welfare part, which we were confident we would get and 5 years for the Financial element, in the hope that he would maybe, possibly give us 10 years.


So we arranged to meet the Lawyer at court. We were a little early and had a giggle at the Lawyers going around with their gowns on!! Last time i saw that many gowns was @ Lou's graduation!!!!!!
Lawyer arrives and told us where we were going. She said she would meet us outside the court, telling us she was going off to change her shoes - there she was, smart suit on and trainers on her feet for comfort!!!


That's my kinda girl!!


The actual hearing doesn't last that long - about 10 minutes, because the papers should have been read thru by the Sheriff beforehand and he should have come to some sort of decision. But he just wants to hear for the Lawyer and sometimes the people making the application.


So Lesley was up giving our info, explaining why we wanted the additional powers, i explained that the financial side would be helpful if Peter was ever to be in his own place that we could sign tenancy agreements for  him.
So the judge said we had welfare AND financial powers for 10 years.
I said nothing going outta court, because i really wasn't expecting to get both for that length of time. I looked at Lesley and said "he DID give us BOTH for ten years??"
Yes - he did, She thought that since there had been no problems for the past 5, that it would be ok.
Well - no probs except for Social Work and i suspect that at times, our legal system has given up with them!!!!


Now the fun begins.
We have paperwork to fill in - a financial inventory.
We have to state how much money Peter has, what he gets in benefits, how much he spends on clothes per year, presents, if he gives us money for gas/electricity and so on.
We have a couple of months to get it filled in and back.
I now find i have to account for money that we spend - not on little things like bars of chocolate, but if we buy clothes, dvds and so on.........


Will just need to get used to it!!


My other foray into grown up world was another conference.
Peter and i going off and telling the known world about his support...........


It is good fun, but man - if i see that dad again - i'll scream!!! I am getting better at listening to myself tho. Jenn was away on holiday this week, so Caroline was doing the presentation with us. She thinks she was rubbish, but she was good. And i'm getting a bit blasé!!  I told them to sit down the front, cos that was where i'd left the rotten eggs to chuck at us!!




So now on to the footie story!!! Jazzygal blogged about how she had been converted to football many years ago. I told her one story about my youngest and football (who remembers the Scotland v Brazil Match at the World Cup in 1998??? Yes, us gallus scots in the opening match - with Brazil and we were gonna hammer them!!! Well, if cheers and faces painted with the Saltire and thistles were gonna help we would have trounced them - but we didn't!!)


Any way -fast forward to 2010. 
Me, Matthew, Peter and Paul in Barcelona for a long weekend. Barcelona, like Glasgow, is a football mad city. Bars were packed to watch the World Cup from South Africa.
On this particular saturday evening, Spain were playing. We went off to have some dinner (and watch the match!!). After, we went for a walk to find the place we were meeting our tour bus the next morning. You could here the good natured shouts from the pubs and at one place, there was a guy, who i swear was the human version of Sleepy from the 7 Dwarfs!!! He was small(ish) maybe about 5 feet 4 or so, typically spanish look guy, maybe in his late 50's.
But the best bit was, he has a furry halo on his head!!! Now, i'm not sure if he was a bit tipsy and didn't realise he was wearing this creation, or if he had worn it for a dare, but he looked lovely!!
Out of the corner of my eye, i saw a rather tall person, dressed up as Snow White.
Maybe, i mused, that in fact, this was sleepy and the other dwarfs were inside the bar watching the match!!
I said to Matthew and the boys "that was Snow White wasn't it??"
Matthew replied that he suspected it was a GUY dressed up!!!


Well, each to there own - but more unusual than a match at home!!


On our way back to the hotel, we ascertained that it WAS a guy dressed up. Matthew and I laughed as he blew a kiss to Paul!! YOu can imagine a 17 year olds response to that...................


..........................Yeah - legged it back to the hotel quick smart!!!!!


My only gripe was that the guys legs looked much better than mine and he walked better in high heels than i ever could!!!!


We went to the Bar in the Hotel to watch the last moments of the match. I think only one other girl was in the bar with me. There was a collective groan from about 40 guys as one player kicked the ball and it landed between another player's legs. Just at his groin.
An even bigger groan went up when they saw the slow motion playback. This other girl and I just laughed. 


Oh - and Spain won that night. 
We went on to the rooftop terrace on the hotel and even half an hour after the match ended, there were people out on the streets celebrating.


But you're still not going to convert me to footie!!!