Back in the olde country 3 weeks now.
Aside from the monsoon-like weather the first week, the hand-delivered demand from the tax-man (never forwarded to me) and layer of filth left by the departing tenants....it has gone pretty well.
According to the letter the tax-man actually called to the door looking for me!
Never ceases to amaze me, since I haven't earned a crust in 6 years, how I always get the tax demands and hubby always gets the refunds.
Our adventures in France seem like a dream. Really it feels like we never left.
Which is worrying.
The kids have slotted into their new schools happily.
Princess reports that Tara in her class "Mammee, she speaks the same language as me!"
I'm back to work...which after nearly 6 years as a Stay-at-Home-Mom and general master of my little universe...comes as quite a shock. I am really really blessed to have the option of returning, as work is as rare as hen's teeth for anyone right now.
Work has shocked me out of my middle class bubble.
My first walk across the car-park on induction day, I saw a junkie beating the crappola out of his girlfriend/sister/fellow queuer.
Today we had a 3 hour talk on non violent crisis intervention....AKA how to protect yourself when being attacked without injuring the patient. The tutor had plenty of war stories about his experiences including being out of work for 4 months after being beaten by a patient with a crutch. My classmates also had some hair raising tales of their experiences at the hands of confused, drying out, and definitely un-grateful patients.
Oh yes we're home sweet home.
I've enjoyed blogging.
This is my last post so OVER and OUT!
Thanks for reading Ann!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Finally...The Journey!
My First Sight of Irish Soil...and Yes I was pulled over by Mr Neon Jacket.
30th August 2009
I was promised some lone time with the dog, 1300km to be precise...but with the medical emergency and some sleight of hand I ended up with the kids for 15 hours driving and 20 hrs on a ferry in what the Captain euphemistically called " moderate seas".
I guess hubby felt he was a better bet for the 5 hour coast to coast dash accross the UK, caused by the need to get the dog home too. Contrary to french speed camera records I am a slow driver and I get lost easily. With the UK ferry times, there was no lee-way for getting lost, according to hubby. So I got the kids and the fancy car.
All went extremely well...until...you got it...the last minute.
As the hundreds of passengers were bailing down the Titanic-like stairs of the ferry to retrieve their cars...Sonny disappeared, completely.
I couldn't move as I wanted to stay where he had last seen me..I had lots of baggage (because it was a disorganised departure...I.AM.A.GOOD.PACKER)
I had to appeal to the other passengers...who mostly had husbands and such.
They were FANTASTIC. The whole area started a big search for a 5 year old boy with glasses. He was found in the reception area under the supervision of staff.
He reported himself missing apparently.
We disembarked the ferry, to low grey cloud and lashing rain (see photo) and were pulled over twice from the exit queue by customs and the Dept of Agriculture. DOA wanted to know where our dog was and if I had hidden her in the car because her passport was dodgy. All I could say was grrrrrrrrr.
I gave him the key to check the car and didn't move to help. I think he recognised a woman on the edge and let me go without any major search.
Then customs stopped me for a grilling about the car. You might remember I was supposed to be driving my car with dog, instead I am dishevelled wreck driving an "executive" car with 2 potentially traffiked kids. All red flags seemed to go up for me and Mr white tracksuit-white baseball cap in the BMW in front. Mr. Customs was more concerned about hubby's car than any kiddie traffiking, I was prepared to surrender them there and then...no quibble.
Anyhoo got to Dublin that lunch-time to a fab meal laid on by the out-laws.
Returned to the old Homestead...which is looking a bit grimy. Funny how other people grime looks alot worse than your own.
Because of the forced separation of the two cars..we didn't have a complete set of "stuff". So kids and I had to sleep on the beds with no sheets or pillow cases.
Kids insisted on sleeping with me..ds in a sleeping bag on the floor, despite 3 other empty bedrooms.
Got a late-night call from somewhere in the English countryside from hubby to say he was lost. He had passed signposts for Havant and Waterlooville (oh noooo), it was dark and no one about. I had no map or internet access so had to pass him on to his Dad and brother...who talked him back on the right road and onto the right ferry ...on time.
So lunch-time on Tuesday morning, 3 days after I left Bellentre, we are all finally home together.
WHAT A YEAR!
Homeless & Hospitalised
So clearly we are NOT going to make the ferry that hubby booked soooo many months ago. We don't know what day we will be discharged from the hospital...could be up to 8 days they say. So how do we keep our ticket alive? Do we have travel insurance....ummm rummmage rummage...doesn't look like it.
Do we have health insurance...quick call to our top of the range...top dollar insurance company....ummmm NO...stayed too long in France...fcukers!
Princess and I had food and shelter ...although a shortage of clothes (still in my skanky cleaning gear 2 days and, yes, one night later) ( had a little camp bed beside princess in the ER...had to keep my kit on..princess decided she wanted to sleep with me. Her bed was MUCH bigger but didn't reckon I'd get away with sleeping in it with her. So as Roz says...lots of squeezy.
Looks like Princess will be fine, so time to focus on the mundane things like personal hygiene and shelter for the other half of the family.
One of our friends living closest to the hospital offered hubby, sonny and the dog a bed...still nearly 200km from the hospital though...so lots of driving for hubby.
Friend's cat was traumatised by the present of hound.
Hound was totally discombobulated about the sudden change in scene and disappearance of Princess and I.
I was afraid sonny would be traumatised too as the first day...the day we had planned to leave the country, he found himself alone (with friends) and the rest of the family disappeared. But no he was happy as a clam...no abandonment issues what-so-ever.
So despite the ban on mobile phones...I had lots of business to do while sitting around waiting for Princess's Pancreas to pull itself together.
The ferry company, irishferries.com were simply fantastic and allowed us to rebook our tickets at a modest fee (€15) Only problem was the first slot for a dog was 10 days out!!!
So it was decided with much angst and gnashing of teeth that hubby would get the ferry to England ....drive across England and get another ferry 5 hours later to Ireland. Hubby and hound rarely get such bonding oppourtunities!
Meanwhile...back on the health insurance front...by a miracle I managed to locate Princess's European Health Insurance Card . Remember all our worldly treasured are packed tight in the back of the Zafira. Turns out this will pay 80% of our bills. THANK YOU!!! the Irish government and the EU!
Leaving 20% of €1200 per day to deal with.
Pondering this issue I remebered the insurance we bought for the ski season...Carte Neige The back of the card says family lesiure insurance valid til Oct 2009!! What is trampolining but a family leisure activity. I give them a ring and hey presto ....no problem.
I have to fax them the details...I write up a fax and ask the cleaners to check the grammer...causing much debate between them.
So travel sorted, payment sorted, pancreas sorting.
Do we have health insurance...quick call to our top of the range...top dollar insurance company....ummmm NO...stayed too long in France...fcukers!
Princess and I had food and shelter ...although a shortage of clothes (still in my skanky cleaning gear 2 days and, yes, one night later) ( had a little camp bed beside princess in the ER...had to keep my kit on..princess decided she wanted to sleep with me. Her bed was MUCH bigger but didn't reckon I'd get away with sleeping in it with her. So as Roz says...lots of squeezy.
Looks like Princess will be fine, so time to focus on the mundane things like personal hygiene and shelter for the other half of the family.
One of our friends living closest to the hospital offered hubby, sonny and the dog a bed...still nearly 200km from the hospital though...so lots of driving for hubby.
Friend's cat was traumatised by the present of hound.
Hound was totally discombobulated about the sudden change in scene and disappearance of Princess and I.
I was afraid sonny would be traumatised too as the first day...the day we had planned to leave the country, he found himself alone (with friends) and the rest of the family disappeared. But no he was happy as a clam...no abandonment issues what-so-ever.
So despite the ban on mobile phones...I had lots of business to do while sitting around waiting for Princess's Pancreas to pull itself together.
The ferry company, irishferries.com were simply fantastic and allowed us to rebook our tickets at a modest fee (€15) Only problem was the first slot for a dog was 10 days out!!!
So it was decided with much angst and gnashing of teeth that hubby would get the ferry to England ....drive across England and get another ferry 5 hours later to Ireland. Hubby and hound rarely get such bonding oppourtunities!
Meanwhile...back on the health insurance front...by a miracle I managed to locate Princess's European Health Insurance Card . Remember all our worldly treasured are packed tight in the back of the Zafira. Turns out this will pay 80% of our bills. THANK YOU!!! the Irish government and the EU!
Leaving 20% of €1200 per day to deal with.
Pondering this issue I remebered the insurance we bought for the ski season...Carte Neige The back of the card says family lesiure insurance valid til Oct 2009!! What is trampolining but a family leisure activity. I give them a ring and hey presto ....no problem.
I have to fax them the details...I write up a fax and ask the cleaners to check the grammer...causing much debate between them.
So travel sorted, payment sorted, pancreas sorting.
Life's what happens while we are busy making other plans...
Ain't that the truth.
3 year old princess came into our bed for a cuddle on the morning of our departure. After a few minutes she started to complain of stomach ache and quickly became unable to speak due to the pain.
I knew pretty immediately it was serious, thinking appendicitis.
I pulled on my cleaning clothes from the previous day and skanky pair of shorts and a dirty t-shirt and carried her to the car.
In the ER they suspected a gastric bug...but I was dubious.
They asked me about trauma and what she'd eaten the previous day....but of course for the last few days we had farmed the kids out to various friends while we got locked and loaded. I rang the friends asking them about the health of their kids and what princess had eaten. Almost by the way, I mentioned trauma and T said she did have an incident on the trampoline and had been crying but settled and was fine afterwards.
I told this to the doctor and he looked grave.
By this point Princess had been vomiting for 4 hours...was grunting and couldn't speak with pain and was curled up on her side on a trolley in the ER.
She had an abdominal x-ray and blood tests, he came in and said the tests results were not normal and he would be back to explain. Immediately I began catatrophising...Leukaemia. E v e n t u a l l y, he returned to say it was pancreatitis. I almost kissed him, he said it was very serious and very rare in children.
He would transfer her by ambulance to the nearest pediatric centre, 50km away.
The SAMU or proper nee-naw ambulance was not available so we got a private ambulance.
Princess was very sick and loosing conciousness getting less responsive.
It was the white knuckle ride of my life. The road are narrow two way mountain roads...the driver over-took with on-coming traffic, with cliffs down the left side of the road. I was obviously scared and he kept reassuring me. The paramedic in the back with Princess was telling him to hurry up, while trying to hide that from me.
On arrival in Albertville, Princess had an ultrasound of abdomen and a CT Scan immediately. The said she needed to be sent onwards to the major teaching hospital (another 120km) and the results of the scan would indicate whether it was by helicopter or ambulance. The scans indicated no internal bleeding so she was transfered by ambulance again. Doing a little better now and more comfortable.
We arrived in the CHU Grenoble (Centre Hopitalier Universitaire) the french code for very important hospital and stayed for 4 days. The treatment was fasting and fluid replacement with IVs. They taked about feeding through a drip, but Princess blood tests improved rapidly and she was allowed to start eating a low fat diet.
That child LOVES her grub and fasting for her was torture. For the next 2 weeks her question for any doctor was when she could eat pizza. I'm delighted to report she had 2 slices last night....with chips....HURRAY.
3 year old princess came into our bed for a cuddle on the morning of our departure. After a few minutes she started to complain of stomach ache and quickly became unable to speak due to the pain.
I knew pretty immediately it was serious, thinking appendicitis.
I pulled on my cleaning clothes from the previous day and skanky pair of shorts and a dirty t-shirt and carried her to the car.
In the ER they suspected a gastric bug...but I was dubious.
They asked me about trauma and what she'd eaten the previous day....but of course for the last few days we had farmed the kids out to various friends while we got locked and loaded. I rang the friends asking them about the health of their kids and what princess had eaten. Almost by the way, I mentioned trauma and T said she did have an incident on the trampoline and had been crying but settled and was fine afterwards.
I told this to the doctor and he looked grave.
By this point Princess had been vomiting for 4 hours...was grunting and couldn't speak with pain and was curled up on her side on a trolley in the ER.
She had an abdominal x-ray and blood tests, he came in and said the tests results were not normal and he would be back to explain. Immediately I began catatrophising...Leukaemia. E v e n t u a l l y, he returned to say it was pancreatitis. I almost kissed him, he said it was very serious and very rare in children.
He would transfer her by ambulance to the nearest pediatric centre, 50km away.
The SAMU or proper nee-naw ambulance was not available so we got a private ambulance.
Princess was very sick and loosing conciousness getting less responsive.
It was the white knuckle ride of my life. The road are narrow two way mountain roads...the driver over-took with on-coming traffic, with cliffs down the left side of the road. I was obviously scared and he kept reassuring me. The paramedic in the back with Princess was telling him to hurry up, while trying to hide that from me.
On arrival in Albertville, Princess had an ultrasound of abdomen and a CT Scan immediately. The said she needed to be sent onwards to the major teaching hospital (another 120km) and the results of the scan would indicate whether it was by helicopter or ambulance. The scans indicated no internal bleeding so she was transfered by ambulance again. Doing a little better now and more comfortable.
We arrived in the CHU Grenoble (Centre Hopitalier Universitaire) the french code for very important hospital and stayed for 4 days. The treatment was fasting and fluid replacement with IVs. They taked about feeding through a drip, but Princess blood tests improved rapidly and she was allowed to start eating a low fat diet.
That child LOVES her grub and fasting for her was torture. For the next 2 weeks her question for any doctor was when she could eat pizza. I'm delighted to report she had 2 slices last night....with chips....HURRAY.
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