Daydream fund challenge part 4

choille

Hi Alfie - Hope you get something sorted out.

I don't know if referrals are costing the GP & this is all down to funding, but we've both hit this same problem.
I've had a problem of trying to organise blood tests that I have done that monitors a chronic condition i have - got ridiculous before XMas & have been told that I can be made to have them done at the hospital as they requested them - hospital is 70 miles off, but I can do that - just wonder if they are getting charged & are getting all frugal about stuff......?

Fay

Alfie try asking your GP for the name of the chair of their local commissioning group next time, may give them a luck up the proverbial!

Davesnave

The "Here's some pain killers, now booger off" scenario seems pretty common now. It was what DW went through last year, because no one wanted to put her on the list for a scan, and then when they did, the request got lost....

It took a 20 minute appointment to do the fix. It's just not enough money for equipment/staff and increasing demand from us Boomers, who are wearing-out!

It was a lovely day here yesterday, albeit with cold wind, so we forgot the house, forgot the Panto costumes and just went ou to prune the apple trees in the chicken orchard. It was more like major surgery, as they'd not been touched for a few years, but we got 7 of them done. I'll be interested to see how DW is this morning after climbing ladders etc..... something she shouldn't do IMO. She does do exercises every morning, which may well be working.:A

Not enjoying the Panto much.:( I don't think I make a good villain. When I tell people that I'm the baddie this time round, they just laugh!

We didn't have a pump on our Aga at all, choille, it was just a gravity system. The wood burner had a pumped system, and that was next to useless. I realise now that our plumbers aren't heating engineers; they just install stuff with plenty of capacity to up the output if it doesn't perform. Nowadays, bumping up the performance on boilers can be done via a software tweak, I think.

choille

I haven't a clue, but the boiler is new & space age.

I'm completely exasperated as we are just throwing coal into at a silly rate of knots & it isn't doing the job apart from being a cooker & heating the water.

Building materials are expensive CTC & something worth shopping about for. At least we can claim back the VAT being a new build. It's the haulage costs here that are the killer.

Hope Mrs Dave feels okay. It is good to get things achieved though.

It's drizzling here & grey - but of snow overnight, but nowt really. Dental check up later & a run over for haylage.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I didn't realise that going for the cottage pheasant/ Dingle chic look would be so expensive lol ..

There is a b&q closing at the end of Feb, and things are marked down by 25%, and others 50% plus.. So going to keep going back to see if there are any compromises we can make by buying some sale stuff...

I think maybe now I have got no income coming in at the moment, I think everything is expensive lol...

I really hope you can get the heating sorted..

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I didn't realise that going for the cottage pheasant/ Dingle chic look would be so expensive lol ...

Pheasants are virtually free round here, but I suspect autocorrupt is having a filed dray with your piste.

No bargains whatever in Barnstaple B&Q, though the staff are pleasant enough. OTOH I was in W*ck*s on Monday and thinking to myself "This place is dead on its feet!"

The trouble is, each outlet is good for something. For example, W*ck*es is the only place I can find 320 grade finishing paper without going to a specialist, and their brushes are pretty good too. :cool:

I get trade discount at some places. Local builder's merchant from 10 - 30% depending on the item, and much the same at Travis if I drop builder's name first.

Then there's the weird 'make it up as we go along' discount from another local building supply firm, who just seem to pluck figures out of the air. With them, the bath started at over £500, but after a lot of huffing & puffing on both sides, with extras thrown in, he said, "Well, I think we can get that below £400." Final price was £365!

Makes a difference. I think if you say "I'll give it a bit more thought first," they translate that as, "He's going to check the Internet..." and a better offer often follows.

The trick is to check the Internet before! :rotfl:

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Lol yes the auto wotsit is a pain lol

Our nearest w!cks looks like a shambles , tbh it looks as though it's just about to close down. I am sure it must be struggling, as I never see anyone there, let alone buying anything.. There is a b and q right next door, but that is earmarked to close too some time in the near future ...

When I left the ranch, the builder had just turned up to do a shift, so will not be long before the floor/ ceiling and stairs are in, and then it will be the bedroom ceiling next..

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

When I left the ranch, the builder had just turned up to do a shift, so will not be long before the floor/ ceiling and stairs are in, and then it will be the bedroom ceiling next..

:j:j:j You are cracking-on now!

I know the finishing details take far longer, but it's great when the big things like floors, ceilings and walls happen.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave wrote: »

:j:j:j You are cracking-on now!

I know the finishing details take far longer, but it's great when the big things like floors, ceilings and walls happen.

Can't wait for the stairs to be put in, I can get to the toilet then, rather than go behind a bush lol

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Can't wait for the stairs to be put in, I can get to the toilet then, rather than go behind a bush lol

Upstairs toilet? There's posh! :cool:

Still waiting for ours to be connected in the barn, so the bushes are getting extra fertilizer when I'm outside.

Deluge in the night and we're just after some ploughing in the big field up the road, so much of it is currently travelling down our stream.:eek: I wish I could find a way to trap and hang onto some of that soil.....but it's not a priority just now.

I'm going to plant some rosa rugosa in the hedge opposite our nice neighbours today. I haven't put any trees there because they've no other outlook, although that's really their own fault. They put in leylandii about 20 years ago.....all bigger than their house now! Anyway, Horse Woman's roses can cheer that hedge up a bit without trees, and then we can have them cut down to 3' or so every autumn.

Did your rosa rugosa take OK? I've found them harder than I thought they'd be.