Wednesday 8 November 2023

I feel discombobulated...

Sophie went to the gym this morning but returned home earlier than she wanted as she had trouble exercising and her chest felt tight. She still has a cold and is very stuffed up, so she decided to cut her session short. She set up her laptop in the conservatory, and Keith put the heater on so she wouldn't be too cold.

Keith and I drove over to our GP surgery as I wanted to see if I could get a repeat prescription for my painkillers for my shoulder which, better than it was, still hurts. The waiting room was full when I arrived, and I waited a good five minutes for the receptionist to notice me. She was typing something into a computer and must have known I was waiting. It must take a particular breed of person to do this job - certainly one without any customer service skills whatsoever.

From the doctors, we went to Beckworth to see if the turkeys were in, and picked out one for Christmas Day. That's that sorted! I also looked for presents for my Mum for her birthday tomorrow, but everything was so expensive! Even the gift bags were exorbitant!

We paid for the turkey and drove to Tesco at Kettering where I bought some treats and a box to put them in. I also bought a chocolate cake and Keith will get me a bottle of Champagne in Aldi tomorrow.

Back home, I sat with Sophie and had lunch, and the pharmacist from the surgery called to say she would give me the painkillers again, but then went on to give me dire warnings of how they could affect me and to use them only when the pain was severe. She then wanted me to arrange a blood test as soon as possible. As I hate all things connected with doctors, that did not go down well!

Foolishly, I had arranged for a sales representative from the window firm, Everest, to visit and give us a quote for new windows. He was due to see us at 2pm and I was dreading the appointment, to be honest, but our windows desperately need replacing now!

He arrived late, and I just knew it was going to be a long process. We said right at the start that we just wanted a quote, but it took him two hours to measure the windows and then put all the figures onto his laptop. We opted for turn-and-tilt uPVC windows with triple glazing, which seem to be the most expensive option... He was a bit slow and bumbling, and towards the end of the appointment I was longing for him to go, but he wanted to talk us through every aspect of the windows, most of which we had no interest in! I just wanted to make sure they'd look good, keep draughts and noises out and not be too expensive. When he printed off the quote, Keith and I nearly fell off our chairs... the price was about £23,000! That's about £2000 a window as we wanted eleven, even though our cloakroom window is tiny!

We finally managed to get rid of him and said that we were seeing other companies as well. Phew! We won't be paying that much!

So, I felt a bit discombobulated today. We were both annoyed by the quote and the subtle pressure the salesman had put on us (as usual). We've decided to contact Highfields who installed our kitchen as they also do windows and maybe see if they can help.

Keith and I did the dreaded shopping list, I sorted out porridge and lunches for tomorrow, and we were able to relax. Sophie's chest still felt tight, but she cooked dinner, even though by the end of the preparation, she was feeling uncomfortable.

After dinner, she put some Vicks Vaporub into a bowl with boiling water and inhaled it, but she still had a tight chest. Poor thing!

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