Preparedness for when

Softstuff

See, GQ, this is where that inflatable dingy I told you to get would have come in handy.... I know you said you wouldn't flood there, but you weren't accounting for plumbing Although you could always raise your furniture above water level with your stash of fray bentos pies. Seriously though, I'm feeling your pain on this one and sending love. If I was closer, I'd be more practical.

You're reminding me of why we're selling the flat . We were always very much at the mercy of our neighbours. When the water tanks started failing (and they were all the same, so it was a matter of time), our upstairs neighbour at the time was pretty elderly and had no intention of doing anything until it failed. It would have been about a $15,000 repair bill at least with a $5000 insurance excess (it would have gone through the ducted air con and killed our electrics). We decided instead to pay for hers as well as ours to be replaced, simply because the $2000 bill was cheaper and more convenient.

Best wishes for your Nan GQ. Over here skin cancer's a bit more commonplace and easier to access treatment. If you get the results PM me, there's rather a lot of many kinds of it in hubbys family and they've had it treated in many ways.

GreyQueen

Thanks, Softstuff, you're a diamond gal. They think it's Bowen's Disease, but the histology will confirm that and the results may well take a few weeks. Cause attributed to skirt wearing.........well, a life time of solar damage on the lower leg. I shan't suffer like that, my lower legs haven't seen sunlight since the 1970s and are so dazzlingly white that they have to be covered or the relections could bedazzle low-flying aircraft and cause accidents.

Have been vastly amused at work today by two different flirty customers referring to me as a 'young lady'. Get this all the time, asked a colleague if I really sounded young and apparently I do. I chuckled evilly and pointed out that I was about 30 years older and much less attractive then these callers seemed to think and exited for the day (leave 'em laffing being my personal motto).

Righty, suppose I'd better sidle off into what passes for RL in these here parts and chillax with a peppermint tea and a bad book before beddy-byes. Tomorrow is another day, if we're spared.

G'night, folks. GQ xx

Karmacat

That sounds fun, GQ

And as you say, you've done what you can about the potential water cascade, so you don't have to worry all hours of the day and night.

Hope your nan's results come through soon, and that they're a bit more thoughtful on the timing of the follow up appointments ... its never pleasant, waiting, though the oldsters seem to often be a bit more resigned than us lot. Lots of my family have skin cancer even in the UK, from a particular set of great-grandparents. My mum had such an aggressive one that she had to have plastic surgery, at the age of 84, that was upsetting for her. Still, it eventually healed, and she's fine.

A book! I confess, I usually take my kindle nowadays ... thats not as restful, is it

Softstuff

Your legs are like mine GQ, in fact, most of me is pasty white (apart from various scars and blemishes). The only person I've ever seen grin at the state of my skin is a skin cancer specialist we see once a year for a full skin check, he's not an effusive chap, but a lily white bod really makes his day.

I had to look up Bowens disease, never heard it referred to as that, though I immediately recognise squamous cell carcinoma in situ.... it's about as common as piles in the elderly over here. They're SCC's in common terminology, then there are BCC's (basal cell carcinomas) and of course melanomas. Both grandparents have SCCs removed or treated fairly often. If it's a leg or an arm it's generally cut out, if it's the face, awkward to cut or just tiny, it's a chemo cream they use here. The only issue from them really is healing time, once you're over 80 it takes a bit longer. So really, other than the pain and the inconvenience of travel for your nan, if it turned out to be that, and she's treated, she'd be fine. My FIL has had BCCs, SCCs and a couple of melanomas, given how relatively young he is now, chances are he'll be a swiss cheese by 92, but he's not overly worried about them either, as long as he's watched and they're treated. The issues of working outdoors in a hot country before the advent of sunscreen.

Anyhoo, hope she gets her results soon and heals well xx

nuatha

"The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!"
Robert Burns.

I've often quoted that life is what happens while you're busy planning. This morning I was in the GPs waiting for an annual medical when my mobile rang - Herself and her sister were unable to contact their Mum, could I call in and make sure she was ok.
Long story short she wasn't, she'd had a stroke and needed to be in hospital.
Several preps came in useful - carrying a key to her house, fuel in the car and credit on the mobile, even energy drinks and snacks in my car (long day at the hospital, breakfast, lunch and snacks). A major oversight (given hindsight) would be a method for MiL to summon help (bedside phone on the wrong side of the bed, if she could have used it).
I'm sure other useful preps will be apparent over the next few days, meanwhile she's in the best place for whatever chance of recovery she has (hopefully high but too early to tell).

Meanwhile I shall be a
"Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,"

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I hadn't heard of that frugalsod (from my limited knowledge of permaculture = that sounds like the swales used in that).

Just had a quick google and found that other technology to deal with this has been around for certainly 21 years (courtesy of an article in The Guardian) for desalinating seawater and using that.

I've also got an idea I've read somewhere of a permaculturist using permaculture methods to transform barren land into very productive food-growing land.

I do hope their powers-that-be are on the case, ie rather than on the make for themselves personally, and have this all well in hand and have been investigating all this stuff for years now and are ready to swing into action and deal with it....but, knowing human nature, I confess I'm not optimistic about it.

There are plenty of other options. I think that there are also other solutions that are used in india. They have crescent shaped ditches in areas that get monsoon rains. This have the impact of filling with water as it rains and then as the rains pass the ditches are the only source of water for a while and a lot of the water drains into the water table. These are similar to check dams across streams that slow down the flow of water in streams and allow it to drain into the water table.

Norfolk has less rain annually than Israel.

GreyQueen

I'm very sorry to here about your MIL's stroke, nuatha, this was where we were as a family with Nan at the end of May 2014. Sending her good healing vibes and hoping that, as these things go, it is a relatively minor one.

Subsequent to Nan's discharge from hospital, she has one of those wristband monitors which, if pressed, alert a control centre who then call, sequentially, stored numbers to alert the family/ medical services. It's come in handy a couple of times.

Shows the wisdom of having made those preparations. I used to have the key to my parents' home on a separate keyring of seldom-used keys, to lighten my daily keyring, then thought that it would be a small burden to have it in the right place at the right time. I also have the keys to SG's flat, and she to mine, and contact details for her NOK (sister who lives about 20 miles away). If you never need them, it's all to the good, but when you have to alert someone, that information is priceless.

Well, flat isn't awash yet, although it reeks of damp and I detest strong odours, have a very sensitive nose. Have got all the windows open to maximise the de-odourising potential before I go to work, but the problem won't be resolved until the fix. The plumber (well, he's a certified gas engineer type plumber, has worked on these systems for decades) reckons it'll dry out in a few days, it being what he calls the 'screed' which is the concrete platform which is my ceiling and her floor upstairs, presently saturated with spilled water from the pipe/ tank. Gordon Bennett, but I hope it's the pipe and not the tank.............!

craigywv

hi all I don't post much anymore but still read with interest, gq hope your nan is ok and gets better xxx and nuatha same for your mil, my dad had stroke 10 yrs ago ,fully wheelchair bound but after the shock we all just glad he here with us, still never shuts up and tells the most awful jokes, god bless the carers who come 4 times a day they really are angels xxx

moneyistooshorttomention

Frugalsod wrote: »

There are plenty of other options. I think that there are also other solutions that are used in india. They have crescent shaped ditches in areas that get monsoon rains. This have the impact of filling with water as it rains and then as the rains pass the ditches are the only source of water for a while and a lot of the water drains into the water table. These are similar to check dams across streams that slow down the flow of water in streams and allow it to drain into the water table.

Norfolk has less rain annually than Israel.

Fingers crossed again then that their powers-that-be are checking those options.

Still wishing there was a way to "transport" some of that too frequent rain we have here in Wales - but I'd rather forgotten monsoon rains (a feature from some time way back in my youth that I'm being reminded of when watching that series "Indian Summers"). I seem to recall I actually rather liked those heavy rains - but then I didn't have to concern myself about them...

Nargleblast

nuatha hope all goes well with mum in law.