Z huffs and she puffs and – a candle is burning

I was pottering about relaxedly this morning when I remembered that I was supposed to leave the house by 9 o’clock.  I did, shame there wasn’t time to wash my hair, but it took me several more minutes to de-ice my car.  Freezing fog, although it wasn’t so cold in Norwich, but the frost hadn’t lifted by the time I arrived home at lunchtime.  I say lunchtime, but I only had a few minutes and ate a couple of biscuits, there being nothing useful in the fridge and no time to cook.

The Dragon’s Den thing was jolly interesting.  Each group had 5 minutes for a presentation and came back at the end for questions – ideally, we’d have asked them as we went along, but the teacher wanted to be quite sure that there was enough time for all the presentations, and we did carry on for a couple of minutes past the bell, so it was just as well.  Not surprisingly, the ideas were good but some of the financial matters hadn’t been fully thought through.  For example, I asked if public liability insurance had been costed for the indoor bike track and it hadn’t.  And only a couple of them had allowed for time for the business to build up, most of them assumed that the world would beat a path to their perceived gap in the market.  There were two that did stand out, one because of the excellent presentation and the other because it actually was a good idea and we could genuinely see it possibly being a goer.  The second half is next Monday, postponed from last Friday; fortunately, all of us can make it.

Roses’ comment about the baby being a Taurus made me think – all three of my children’s other halves were born in September, as was I, but Dora is the end of the month.  I got quite interested for a minute, thinking they have all the star sign as I am and if that meant anything, but she must be Libra.  Actually, though, if it comes on its due date or around it, the baby will be Gemini, like the Sage.

The most pleasing thing of the day was when I arrived home to find a John Lewis bag in the hall – the new electric blanket had arrived.  We’ve been jolly cold, the storage heater in the hall has blown its fuse and we haven’t got round to turning on any heat upstairs.  There has been ice on the inside of the bedroom windows.  We hope we’ve got the fuse mended now and we’ve got the blanket too, so I’m hopeful of comfort, whether it’s with sleep or without. I was pleased with the service, I ordered it on Thursday afternoon, by the way.

I’m afraid there’s no good news about my friends stuck in Madeira (the Portugese island off the African coast, Dave, not the fortified wine).  He is still critically ill in intensive care, they think they’ve tracked down a kidney infection, but I don’t know if that has caused the problem or has resulted from it.  They haven’t got a specific diagnosis or a reason for his illness.  And the insurance company is ignoring medical advice to airlift him back to this country and the family is having to take legal advice.  We’re extremely worried, and desperately sorry for his wife, too.  They are Andy and Gill, spare them a thought and good wishes please.

11 comments on “Z huffs and she puffs and – a candle is burning

  1. Roses

    I’m so sorry to hear about your friend in Madeira. Kidney infections are nasty, nasty buggers. I can’t believe the medical insurance is refusing an airlift.

    Gemini’s are great fun. Oooo…it’s exciting stuff.

    Reply
  2. Blue Witch

    I’ve just received the renewal documents for our annual travel insurance and noticed that they have changed the clause about emergency repatriation from ‘on the advice of the treating doctors’ to ‘on the decision of the underwriters’. I think it must be a new trend/opt out clause. Given that underwriters are actuaries, not medics, I doubt they’d win a legal challenge.

    I’m afraid that in that situation I’d pay whatever it cost to get my loved one out of there and worry about fighting the insurance company (via the Insurance Ombudsman if necessary) to pay afterwards (you’re a long time dead, after all…). There are lots of commercial companies doing the service these days… as a \google search will show.

    I hope things work out for them.

    Reply
  3. sablonneuse

    How terribly worrying for Gill and Andy. I think Blue Witch is right but it isn’t always easy to come up with the resources to pay such costs at short notice. Can’t the consulate help?

    Reply
  4. Z

    I couldn’t agree with you more, BW. I don’t know how much it would cost, and I don’t know their cashflow situation; nor do I know anything about the hospital he’s at. But since he’s been there for 3 weeks and hasn’t even got a firm diagnosis, I think it’s beyond what they can deal with.

    Gill is keeping in touch with one friend by text, who then relays the information to the rest of us – I don’t know more than I’ve said.

    Thank you all

    Reply
  5. Z

    Latest news is following intervention from their MP, their solicitor and the British Consul, the insurance company has agreed to bring him home. However, Gill has had to sign a disclaimer in case it’s due to a pre-existing condition that Andy’s doctor was aware of.

    All quite shabby in the circumstances. At least they can make arrangements now.

    Reply
  6. Roses

    My step-father used to say that you’re ensured for everything, except what actually happens.

    I’ve yet to prove him wrong.

    Bastard insurers.

    Reply
  7. Blue Witch

    If you’ve got a pre-existing condition, it’s not sensible to fail to declare it… If you haven’t, then you’ve not got anything to worry about.

    Hope they’re back soon,and here’s hoping that they don’t get taken to our most local hospital, where they opened a huge new block a couple of weeks ago, but failed to put up any directin signs. So, people have been sitting down in the corridors and staff have been walking out in frustration. Oh and two people have died unnecessarily because crucial new equipemnt hadn’t been checked and was non-functional.

    Reply
  8. Z

    There wouldn’t have been anything they didn’t declare, they are very sensible, and also very truthful.

    I’ll give an update in the next post, since so many people have been kind enough to take an interest

    Reply

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