All Systems Go

After waiting twenty four hours for a response from estate agent Keith to our revised offer on the property in Framlingham we were beginning to think that he had forgotten about us. But about five minutes before The Muppets (our Orange Wednesday film choice for this week) was due to start, my phone went. I left Marion in the ticket queue and took the call. It was Keith and. although the vendors had turned down our offer, they made a counter offer that, despite being over our ideal price, was just a couple of thousand pounds over so we were getting closer to agreement. By now Marion had the tickets so we had a quick chat and decided to accept the vendors' price - and pare back a little on the planned improvements. We went straight into the film and, although it was probably a great movie, it was difficult to concentrate having just made our biggest commitment in over twenty years. Maybe we'll watch it again one day on TV and enjoy it more.

I did enjoy the little Toy Story vignette that preceded The Muppets and I thought Jason Segel and the Muppet movie soundtrack were brilliant. It was a little strange going to see this without any children. It was lovely to see how much the kids in the audience loved the film and I can't wait to be able to take our grandchildren to the cinema with us in the future.

There's been a lot in the news about hip replacements this week. It seems that there are some 50,000 people with potentially health damaging metal hips that are leaching toxic metals into their bloodstream.  So, when I got a phone call out of the blue on Monday from a young man at the hip surgeon's appointments department, alarm bells started ringing. It seemed that they had a cancellation and would like me to come in for a check. This was strange as I was given a full discharge in August. But I knew that I had a plastic hip and didn't understand what was behind the call. I was sent for X-Rays. The consultant looked at them for all of thirty seconds and discharged me again. The reason behind the appointment remains a mystery and I just wonder if they are double checking to ensure that patients have indeed been fitted with plastic rather than metal replacement hips. After having the doctor's finger up my backside checking my prostrate two weeks ago, February was a strange month on the medical front.

My Power of Attorney over Flo's finances finally arrived today. It took over three months. I am very pleased with Marion's skill in completing the forms correctly. This saved Flo a fair sum in solicitor's fees. I do urge anybody with an elderly or mentally infirm relative to take steps to get such a power before it is too late as, once the relative is incapable of understanding the forms, getting one will take a lot longer than three months. It is especially important now as we have received an offer on Flo's flat and we can go about selling it for her without any legal complications.