The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

VJsmum

Oh Csarina, what an awful thing to happen... my sincere condolences.

NM - I am in agreement with the others. As a start, and if you aren't already, begin to log all the activity - times, type and volume (if you can assess it) and effect.

mardatha

Monna could you share your recipe for leek & tattie soup? I want some of that!

ivyleaf

Oh Czarina I remember reading about your loss at the time and was so sad for you. Virtual ((HUGS)) aren't as good as feeling arms round you but the sentiment is the same. Thinking of you specially today xxx

nursemaggie i am so cross on your behalf. It's infuriating when everyone says it's up to someone else to sort it out :mad:

MMF how lovely of you to take time to write such a thoughful post with all you have going on atm :A

VJsMum I hope you're ok xx

burtha And you! xx

Hard_Up_Hester

Mar if you need the recipe before Monna returns here's mine. 2 potatoes approximately fist sized,3 fat leeks, a small onion if you have one but it's ok without. Chop the potatoes and onion slice the leeks into rounds, melt a knob of butter in a pan and sweat the veg until the leek's soften. Add a pint and bit of water and a veggie stock cube, bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer until potatoes are cooked. Add seasoning to taste. I blend mine as CHS doesn't like soup with bits it.

monnagran

I have posted the recipe for Mar somewhere over the rainbow. Goodness knows where.

ETA. Ah, try the peppers thread, you will find several confused people scratching their heads and wondering where THAT came from.

VJsmum

ivyleaf wrote: »

VJsMum I hope you're ok xx

thank you - I am alright. I am at that "wavering between disbelief, acceptance and raw grief" stage. My OH keeps organising things for me / insisting I do things previously organised but it's ok - no matter how busy, I can't escape my mind...

The 'good' thing is that there seems to be a good deal of support between us siblings. this is almost unheard of, my sister and i are close but that hasn't always been the case between brothers and us.. Not that we haven't got on, but we were not close as such. I am going back 'home' on Tuesday as we are meeting the funeral celebrant. That will be tough.

I was speaking with an old school friend yesterday whose sixty something year old sister in law is now on her 5th bout of treatment for cancer so I am grateful that dad had about 75 years of relatively good, if not to say rather 'rude', health (he didn't go into hospital at all until he was 75) and that we were all unaware of this final illness until 2 weeks ago and that he passed relatively pain free. Still tough for us though.

Thinking of others going through difficult times...

[Deleted User]

Thank you so much all of you for the support yesterday. It was a very bad day. We did go to see him before he went to the undertakers and I thought that I had accepted then that I would never see him again, sadly that did not appear to be the case.

I also did not sleep last night, so that has not helped......however, big girls knickers on, titus out and get on.

Hard_Up_Hester

Pepper thread Monna? I didn't know there was one. Is there a salt thread too.
I'll hide now before Monna comes looking for me.

mardatha

Thanks ladies - and tattie soup is definitely prepping! Sorry to rush in and out today xx

nursemaggie

Thank you everyone for trying to help. I thought I was celebrating some peace last night. I got 45 more minutes and then it started again.

It is not that I have not complained or know all of the procedures. The last 20 years before I retired I worked for Derby City Council Housing department, followed by Gloucester City Council until I retired.

I thought they would think I was being unreasonable calling them after only 3 days but there was no one there. I left my name and telephone number. every time I call there is no one there and I keep leaving my name and number but they don't get back to me.

Yesterday morning someone actually called me.

Ever since we moved into this flat there has been a continuous stream of Black African, none English speaking refugees. After talking to the man yesterday I got the impression that what ever the agency is called that puts refugee in Asylum camps is using these flats as an Asylum camp.

You all know what tiny flats they are. The building was used as sheltered housing until the government changed housing benefit and stopped paying housing benefit for the care element. I think this was in 2010. for a few years the council found the care part from somewhere else and did not replace sheltered tenants with more elderly.

As far as I know there are still a few of them left in the middle part of the block. They act as if they own the place and treat all other tenants as squatters. They seem to be organising a protest against this part of the building. No one but us is using a dustbin. I will explain

Description of the building, L shaped with three entrances. Six flats facing each other off landings or ground floor. The other tenants on our part of the building are, ground floor, us and a refugee family consisting of mum and and and boy about 9 girl 12 or 13. No English. Have taught the mother a few words as she tries to be friendly.

Next landing above us, young, large family of refugees. Mum and dad 4 running wild children approx age 15 months, 2 1/2, 3 1/2 and 4 1/2. They stand in line going down in size just like the Ovalteenies. They are all really cute and their mother looks about 12. They also have a baby only a few weeks old. They leave it crying for half to one hour every time it cries.

Opposite them I can only describe him as a layabout in his 30s unemployed up all night and sleeps during the day. Rarely any problem but does occasionally play loud music. next floor, DS calls them a couple of crackheads but I think they are just alcoholics. They are loud, uncouth, permanently drunk. They don't know what personal space is. They stick there faces in yours and breath their alcoholic breath all over you. I avoid them at all costs. They have been the cause of these flats being hard to let. no one stays for more than a few weeks. That flat has had a series of refugee families.

When the refugees move out the housing association gut them and replace everything and decorate them. They are only ever here a few months. They make a mess of the place straight away. They stick their rubbish anywhere. The council has stuck pictures on the bins to tell them which to use but if they ignore that.

It is like living in a slum as they just chuck their rubbish anywhere inside or out. There is a smashed to pieces kitchen in the yard as well as an enormous leather chair. It is not safe for children to play in the garden as the gas people have not been back for ages. there are trenches all over and plastic fences everywhere that should be round the trenches. The ground is not flat so they just fall over. The trenches are full of rubbish and the Housing association are blaming us.

I don't think the refugees get any visits or help. I think the only word the mum upstairs know is sorry. She may not know what it means. How can I invite her to come to my flat when she does not understand me. What I need is someone who speaks their language to interpret for me.

The kids are bare foot it is just like all small children they put their feet down so hard they ought to come through the ceiling. They just need stopping from running around like that. It appears to be all they do so I don't think they have any toys. The parents just sit and talk all the time ignoring them. They know they are noisy because they have to speak to each other at 300 decibels to hear each other above the noise of the kids.

We have a playground just round the corner. I mean the original meaning of the word literal. You walk to the end of our road about 20 meters. Turn left, walk about 120 meters and the playground is there with a big field to run around too.

There is also a large park about 5 minutes walk away. It's big and has one of the best playgrounds I have ever seen. All the latest things cater for toddlers to around 12. Even a huge sandpit with diggers in it, DGS spend over an hour digging with one when they came last year.

The council have a 5 million pound grant from the lottery fund about 4 years ago for the park. They are still doing the park up. They spent over 1 million on the playground. I would love to take the family there but would any of us come with a stranger whose language we did not understand. For the same reason I don't think I could get her to come downstairs and hear the noise.

Being told It was not their problem by the antisocial unit yesterday, after waiting a month for a reply, was the last straw. Actually the last straw was being denied the tablets that stop my, hours a day cramp because no one has put it on the repeat list and I can't get an appointment with a doctor until next year, was the last straw and I had a Autie type meltdown in the Chemist. The Chemist spent half an hour on the phone went to the surgery and persuaded a doctor to give me a prescription. I think the continuous pain in my side may be cramp. I've had it a month and it reach 300 out of 10 yesterday.