Who knows anything is possible.

Berkshire, England.

Quite amazing how things can change around so quickly, week before last I was quite down, thinking the paperwork had not arrived at the council yet.

Felt so let down and just could not understand that three weeks later the three people who had been here on the 17 September had not made sure their paperwork was done quickly.

Welzorg, Summit and ARCA had all assured us that they would do everything in their power to speed the process up.

Really had to pinch myself as thought I was in a bad dream, on the 17 September they had all assured Richie and me that the whole process would go as fast as possible.

And here it was three weeks later and instead of good news, it was the worse possible.

One week later and it is all different again, this time it is good news, was so excited to hear that on the 29 October I would get the adapted seat attached to my electric chair.

We talked about it the whole day Thursday, kept coming back to the moment of the telephone call.

The funny thing was that at first I thought the appointment was going to be on the 29 of November.

Tried to not be too down about having to wait for so long, so was delighted when I repeated what I thought Michelle had said, only to hear her say no not November on 29 October.

That made it very good, and the news about the paperwork not being sent quickly has totally faded into the background now.

The 29 October is the big day to work towards now, shame it is already so cold, it will not stop me from going out.

Now to organise warm clothes to wear, yippee I have the very enjoyable task of organising warm clothes to go out in.

Today the sun is shining and the sky is blue, no window open now as it is too cold for that.

Guess the blue sky and sunshine is a big clue that it has got very cold indeed, on the window ledge the strawberry plant is doing it's best to cope with he cold wind.

Wonder if the last green strawberries will ripen, who knows anything is possible now.

That is a good feeling to have, and that is the one I shall take with me from today.

Have a good day too.

Have to be patient.

The appointment was all talking and sadly none of the actions such as I had hoped and thought would happen.

Instead, I was told at length all about the procedure that I already knew, except it took an hour interspersed with a couple of calls that Michelle got rid of by saying she was in a meeting with a client.

During the hour I was told how how the project would progress, seems Michelle is on holiday for two weeks she will be back on 14 September and the second appointment is on 17 September.

At this appointment someone from Welzorg will be present, this is because they are the official supplier who work together with Summit.

In order to get the go ahead we have to go through this procedure and involve Welzorg
to get the Amsterdam City Council’s approval.

It was very frustrating to find out yesterday,that all that would happen was talking, when what I wanted was for things to be rushed through.

Had thought that my situation would be taking into account and the whole process would be speeded up.

Sadly it seems that this is not going to happen.

On the 17 September Harm from Welzorg and Michelle from ARCA and Elwyn from Summit will be here,

The first 45 minutes will be them discussing what will be done technically to the chair, I asked if they could not do this up at the Rehab Clinic but it could not as they needed my w/chair.

Elwyn will measure my electric wheelchair, in the next hour Elwyn will also measure me and he plans to bring their chair with the bag attachment.

He wants to take the first step of registering my body imprint in the bag attachment, I get placed on the chair and air gets blown into the bag that fills up around me and moulds itself to my body..

The imprint of my body is registered and I am removed and replaced in the bed.

After this meeting, Elwyn has to put in an estimate of how much the job will cost and why it is needed.

As soon as Amsterdam City Council give the go ahead, Elwyn will make the mould which will be used to make the back rest and the seat.

He thinks doing the first step on the 17 September will give us abit of a head start when the all clear comes through from the City Council.

Then there are 1 maybe 2 more appointments with Elwyn for fine tuning and then I will have the adapted electric wheelchair.

This really sounds like it will realistically be October before I will get the custom made seating, shame as the street party is in September.

Was hoping to be there too, as that is the last chance this year of enjoying an neighbourhood street party.

I guess my next big chance to meet my neighbours will be at the Christmas drink at the Fijnhout theatre across the road.

After the meeting I was so very disappointed, really was especially as I had thought that I had been told everything would be done to speed things up.

So that I would not have to spend a moment longer than I needed in bed and now it seems that I will have to wait until mid October.

So there it is burocracy got me into bed with the pressure sore as a result of cost cutting and not making the wheelchair to fit my measurements and is now keeping me in bed an extra 2 months because procedure must be followed.

My response will be to try to keep as calm as possible and to look forward to getting out to see and enjoy this beautiful city that I live in.

Things could be worse and may even get better soon as I can sit again.