Wol's Riverbank tales: Part 3 Restoration

Wol2

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

sorry to hear about your dad, unfortunately my own dad has been having TIA's for a while so i know the fear you're living with. sending you hugs and prayers.

ps if you don't mind me asking what do you do? i've always wondered but seem to have missed that bit along the line.

Thanx LT - I'm a bit at a loss to know what the best thing is to do at the moment as according to mum, he doesn;t know that she's told us and also her email today said we're not to visit as he doesn;t want anyone around atm..She's just sent a further email in which she let slip that apparently, contrary to what they told us last year, dad apparently DID have a small TIA resulting in temporary loss of sight and it is his carotid artery that needs sorting. (also explains the sudden urge to downsize and some of their other decisions early this year like the holiday in New Zealand being their last long haul holiday, the fact they won;t travel by car long distance anymore etc etc. I asked the again early this year if there were any health issues either of them had but weren;t telling us because their decisions seemed a bit "driven by something" and they categorically said they both had no issues at all ) This email/restricting of information stuff is all very confusing and Im now wondering if perhaps there's more she isn;t saying and perhaps Dad hasn;t regained his speech after this last episode? Will ring my brother this evening I think as I'm pretty sure he is being kept in th loop
As for yor question about what I do
I advise early stage and start-up businesses on how to become "Investment Ready"
i.e. get themselves into a position where they can successfuly raise finance beit from a bank, business angel or venture capitalist.
This should mean provding a third party assessment of the business plan/cash flow projections and providing comments on how to improve the presenation of the business as a viable proposition. In practice it means delving into everything about the company, putting together business and funding strategies, identifying sources of finance to approach, advising on cash flows, sales and marketing plans (usually absent), intellectual property, licensing and distribution agreements and any other issues I discover along the way. The service is free to companies (therein lies the porblem) and my time is paid for by the programme stakeholder and financed via the Governments Solutions for Business agenda. (ie paid for by the taxpayer!)

On one programme I can also do more intensive periods of work with a client to hlep them resolve a particaulr issue without which they can;t present a viable business proposition and raise finance. Its free for them and I get piad by the programme for my time which is again fixed to a certain number of days work in total. The outputs are therefore (a) problem solved and (b) the amount of finance they go on to raise. These clients are selected because although they lack the commercial experience to sort it themselves.....they are nevertheless willing to learn and "coachable". Unfortunately sometimes one gets through because they appear plausible......but then turns into a complete nightmare (as is the case with Dippy.:o)

Never mind, i can exit this client tomorrow afternoon feeling tht I have given her all the info to run her business plus obtaining an overdraft facility from her bank to kick start it and from hereon it's up to her what she does with the business toolbox I have given her!
xxx

Horace

Parents are strange - on one visit no sooner as I walked in the door, mum told me that there is a blue folder in the bedroom containing two wills and two lots of funeral instructions:eek: jokingly I turned to mum and said that I had already selected her exit music - Bat out of Hell by Meatloaf and then she turned round and said she wasnt having a funeral:rolleyes: Both of them are as stubborn as sin and won't tell me anything - do they think that I won't be able to cope? So I know where you are coming from with your parents Wol.

As for Deeply Dippy - she sounds like a right loon and quite franky deserves not to succeed. Things are picking up for me - I have been asked to quote and hopefully organise 3 seminars about divorce (funny thing for a wedding planner to do:rotfl:) - I will get paid for this:cool:, I have offered my time for free to organise a huge fun run in aid of Help for Heroes in Swindon next June (trying to blag sponsorship is like trying to get blood out of a stone), I manage the rock band and have negotiated a bloomin' good deal for myself 15% gross for any gig that I get them and 15% gross of any record contract that I get them - I am currently working on getting them on as a support act on Monday night for The Damned who are playing in Gloucester - all thanks to twitter:D

Found myself giving business advice to Birmingham City Council today as I went to see their banquetting suite which is an absolutely stunning venue - they charge out at £1200 plus VAT and the venue can only be used at weekends and on bank holidays - the hire cost is for the council house itself and the adjacent museum so I said that they are far too cheap as I know of another venue that charges £4000 and its not as nice as the council house:D

Chin up Wol - I hope you manage to find something out from your brother about your parents and hope the piggies get better soon.:grouphug:

Lemon_Tree

oh heavens Wol what a terrible choice to have to make, sounds insufficient but you're in our thoughts and prayers and we're sending you virtual hugs.

Lemon_Tree

your job sounds really interesting even if you have to put up with dippy folk.

I don't know what to suggest about parents, mine are a nightmare, not really ,but they try and withhold stuff from us all. They have like Horaces's drawn up their will, picked their funeral details including readings and hymns, picked their vicar of choice. My dad went through the stage of having a tia a couple of times a month and the one thing which sticks in my head is the doctor saying he's surviving them and everything else thrown at him through shear determination and by keeping going and fighting to do the normal things in life that he always did. We honestly didn't think he would be at our wedding a year ago september and thankfully he's still with us. Unfortunately he's now having strokes at a rate of about one a month and my mum can't get it into her head that he doesn't know what's happening so she has to make the call to the doctors she can't ask him what he wants her to do. Sorry shouldn't offload on here you have more than your own worries and i don't mean to take away from them.
Maybe what i'm saying is by fighting to go back out into his garden your dad is trying to get back to normal, doesn't mean we can't worry about our dads and that they don't drive us to distraction but sometimes they do know what they need. Almost 30 years ago my dad broke his back and was told he'd be in a wheelchair within 5 years, he's still not in one because he's fought the pain every day so that he keeps moving and trying to act as normal. He's since had 10 heart attacks and is almost blind but despite us trying to slow him down so he can take care for himself he didn't really slow down until the last few years. It's the fighting for what's normal which has kept him going and kept him with us.
I really hope you can find out if your mum is hiding anything, and i hope the answer is that she isn't. Sending you hugs.

Lemon_Tree

sorry for the essay

Wol2

Quickie update:

I am just back from the vets with Beech (chipper :j:j) and Muffin (Still slightly unsteady on her pins but OK :j:j). Relief......:beer::beer:
Vet has new cunning plan : If it's what he thinks it is, the bug can be isolated from poo so I have to stop antibiotics now for all piggies I'm worried about and make individual poo collections from each one on monday and take in for immediate culture (so no lung washings needed :j:j)

Bloods have been sent off and might have some results tomorrow. Muffin is not the right pig as it does indeed look like her problems are heart related

Back to find message on phone from mum saying I can have a quick word with dad. Obviously very sad to have missed the opportunity but will email her tonight as a bit too late to ring back now..

Dippy still going strong in wind up mode.:cool:..another email has to be written tonight.

My hair looks good.:cool:

And Horace and LT - thanx both for your posts..:beer:

Horace .....:rotfl::rotfl:....we will swap more parental stories methinks :rotfl::rotfl:. Well done on getting a nice little earner :j:j:T:T(even if it is about divorce :rotfl::rotfl:) As for Jack Russells.:think::think:...well if I recall some certain Top Totty had three .;) ..Wol peers out of window to check tree height and reaches for business card book.......:whistle::whistle:


LT thank you very much for sharing about your dad.....you are the first person I have found with experience of living with TIA and your feedback has really helped reduce the fear of the unknown :kisses3:. I'm really pleased to hear that your dad is still with you :T:T

Must go - have emails to write and need to crash

Thanx everyone...tonight feels a whole lot better than this morning......:D.

Tixy

Well I was about to write that I'm glad your dad seems to be improving but then I see your second post about you wondering if its worse than your mum is saying. Its really tough - if she is ommitting information from you all to 'protect' you then you can sort of see why - children are children no matter what age they reach but it means she isn't getting the support that adult children can give. I hope your brother can shed some light and the information is better than you fear.

As for the piggies - how terrible to have to do that and as someone said without time to think it through. I'm sure this specialist vet will take good care of them and do all they can to help get to the bottom of the problem.

Do you think you might still have rats around? or are there always some around because of the stream? hope you can take some steps to get rid of any without too much upset to resident piggies.

edit : sorry crossed post there. Glad you have piggies home :j poo samples sound a much better way for them to be diagnosed. And good news also about Dad :j

Glad you still managed to fit in your hair appointment - hope all these things don't prevent you coming to Edinburgh - looking forward to meeting you. And would be interested to talk about your work with you as well - there is some crossover with what I do. I'm having my hair done the day before Edinburgh which is a happy co-incidence rather than good planning.

Take care and sleep well.

ZTD

Wol2 wrote: »

Dippy still going strong in wind up mode.:cool:..another email has to be written tonight.

Thursday and you're clear and free...

Wol2 wrote: »

My hair looks good.:cool:

As it usually does... :kisses3:

Wol2 wrote: »

Thanx everyone...tonight feels a whole lot better than this morning......:D.

That's good. Have a good night.

Wol2

ZTD wrote: »

Thursday and you're clear and free...
:j:j:j:j_party__party__party__party_:dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:



As it usually does... :kisses3:

:smileyhea

That's good. Have a good night.

Thanx for phone message Z.....Speak tomorrow :kisses3:
xxxxx

Horace

Wol - glad you managed to have your hair done, that the piggies are home (put your rubber gloves on when rummaging through their poo:eek:), good luck with your parents and good on you for remember that top totty had jack russells - give them a bell tomorrow to see if they want to go ratting:D

Lemon thanks for sharing about your dad.:D