This Week So Far

It’s been a strange week at Chateau Midden.

Our usual weekdays go:-

Monday:  Ferretfingers to Day Centre on minibus; Thunderthighs to the gym then with me for the big shop.

Tuesday:  Ferretfingers and me to Ouseburn then to Sainsbury’s for his tv magazines; Thunderthighs to work experience in the afternoon;  Fester to the Mining Institute.

Wednesday:  I take Ferretfingers to the Day Centre; Thunderthighs goes to work experience in the morning; Fester to the Mining Institute; I fetch Ferretfingers home and pick up the good bread.

Thursday: morning Ferretfingers out with Emil; Thunderthighs to the gym; Fester to the Mining Institute.

Last weekend we were woken by Thunderthighs screaming at his laptop, he later demanded I take him to Monkseaton Computers asap.

“I can’t, I’m taking the car in for its MOT on Monday.   

You’ve got legs at the end of your feet and can work the metro.  You can do it yourself.”

Which he did.

Tuesday was the only morning everyone could attend an important meeting at LDNEand I’d arranged to leave Ferretfingers at Ouseburn and join him in the afternoon.

But the car failed its MOT.

Up at Kwikfit on Monday afternoon.

“I won’t need it on Thursday, so I can bring it back then, or at the weekend.”

“No, it's got to stay here.”

“But the old MOT doesn’t run out until February.”

“It’s invalid now, and we can’t let you take it with those brakes, it’s not safe.  I can start work on it tomorrow and it should be ready by Thursday.”

I phoned a nearby committee member to give me a lift to and from our monthly WI members meeting.

First thing Tuesday I phoned a local taxi firm and got through to the computer.

It was fine for arranging a taxi from here to Ouseburn but couldn’t grasp the concept of a forward journey on to Wallsend and eventually said (with a sigh?) 

“I’ll put you through to an operator who can help you.”

I’d have much preferred to speak to a human operator from the get go.

She was very helpful.

So was the driver, once he realised I wanted to go the LDNorthEast not Aldi.

The meeting proceeded and once it was finished I said I’d get a taxi back to Ouseburn.

“What!” says a fellow trustee “You can go on the bus; 301 or 22.  You’ll be there in twenty minutes and it’ll only cost you £2.50.”

“It’ll cost me nowt ‘cos I’ve got me bus-pass, but I don’t know where the stop is.”

“I’ll walk you to the stop.”

Back at Ouseburn I discovered Ferretfingers in the craft shed totally engrossed in crystal art.  He seemed to have missed me not at all.

At home time I asked if he wanted to get a taxi or walk up the hill to the bus.

“Bus”

So up the hill we trudged and got the bus home.

Thunderthighs came bursting in from his work experience screaming.

“Have you seen what they’re doing to the car?  It’s up in the air and they’ve taken the wheels off!”

On Tuesday morning, when only he was in, Thunderthighs had answered a phonecall from Monkseaton Computers about repairing his laptop.  By teatime he’d been to get the money out of his building society account.  So Fester didn’t need to put his hand in his pocket.

After tea Thunderthighs went out and got the tv magazines from the Esso Tesco shop.

I facebook messaged Earth & Fire at the Rising Sun and asked the baker to deliver the bread this week.

I’d planned that on Wednesday, after dropping Ferretfingers off, I’d go to the recycling event the council were having in a local community centre car park.  It’s a great idea.  Instead of people having to make an appointment and drive to the main centre, they set up in a car park and people can bring their unwanted household goods to them.  

It happens about twice a year.  I had a printer, scanner, massage chair and various bits of broken little electricals all ready to go.  I put out an appeal on Facebook and, God bless her, Ms Marx offered to pick them up and take them along.

Not having to get up to take Ferretfingers out on Wednesday morning felt like a day off.  Things got done, like washing, washing up and wiping down.

I gave Ferretfingers a soapy spray and microweave duster and got him to clean the greasy black hand marks off the bannister rail.

Monkseaton Computers rang to say the hinge on the laptop lid also needed repairing so it would be a few days for the parts to come in.  He assured me that Thunderthighs had been charming both in person and on the phone.

At teatime KwikFit rang to tell me the car was ready, I said I’d pick it up first thing this morning.

Last night (Wednesday evening) I went to the People’s Theatre with Pearl and friends to see an excellent production of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Cracked.  They staged it very well.  With a familiar Agatha Christie whodunit the journey is more important than the destination.

When I got home and looked on Facebook I discovered my mobile had phoned 

Mrs Treasurer, seemingly when it was turned off in the theatre.

To bed and then at 00.20 the text message alert went off.

Kwikfit’s computer telling me the car was ready.