A relaxing night.

 

Roberto Matta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

Amazingly today has been a very pleasant looking day, with blue skies and weak sunshine sadly none of the snow that fell last night remained on the ground this morning.

Yesterday it rained all day and our three dogs did not like going outside, they seem to think that it was all Richie's fault that it was so wet outside, that they were almost refusing to go outside until it was dry again.

Yet when they went out later on and it was snowing they were delighted and jumped and played exuberantly in the falling snow, according to Richie it was a pretty sight seeing them play so happily.

Richie has taken them to the Rembrandt Park so that they can run and play to their hearts content and get rid of some of their excess energy, then they will come home happy for their dinner afterwards they will be relaxed and content dogs.

No sooner had I written this when the door opened and Richie and three dogs were back from the Park, by the sound of the dogs running around they had a good time which is good news for all of us as tonight will be very relaxed now.

Remain Positive And Optimistic.

Roberto  Matta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

On Saturday evening the weather became clammy, oppressive and the clouds became dark, then a rumbling noise became audible.

Not long after that it was followed by lightning and another roll of thunder, the storm went on for most of the evening and night.

It seemed to rain all night and I was most surprised to find quite a pleasant day on Sunday.

            

It was changeable weather but there had been blue skies and sunshine with large clouds.

Since the weekend it has been cool, overcast and rainy with no sign right now of the summer weather returning, although the long-term forecast predicts warm weather.

As its no longer hot weather the air conditioning unit is turned off for now, it is nice to feel a breeze coming in through the window.

Much nicer to feel natural breeze rather than cool air pumped endlessly around the room, also it is lovely to me to hear the noises from the neighbourhood.

Something I can't do when the air conditioning unit is on, when the weather is suddenly hot I need a cool room which only the air conditioning can provide.

This afternoon I had an appointment with a man called Andre, from an air

conditioning company, to see where install the air conditioning.

It won't be a mobile unit as that is not suitable for us, or the apartment, Andre had a very thorough look around the apartment.

Then he suggested that the heat extractor unit should be placed on the small balcony which we don't use in the front room.

In the front room high on the wall he will place one air conditioning unit, which is not very big, it measures 80 cm x 20 cm.

Then he will install another unit in the bedroom and connect them both together, so that both the front room as well as the bedroom will have air conditioning.

This all sounds very good, because it's the Amsterdam Council, he has to send them an estimate of the costs before he can install the air conditioning.

Hopefully they will not take their usual two months to give their agreement as it would be excellent to have it installed as soon as possible.

Andre said that if approval from the Amsterdam Council was not needed he could install it next week.

If the bureaucrats take their usual two months to give their approval then it won't be installed until October the earliest.

I shall have to do my best to remain positive and optimistic and hope that despite it being the holiday season the Council will nod this application through.

    

Concentrate On Enjoying Life Now.

Marleen, Cyril, Tina

        

 Here it is another grey day, the weather in England is dreadful, they are experiencing high winds and torrential rain.

We are getting some high winds and rain, plus it is cool enough to have the heating on in the mornings and evenings.

Last night I got woken up several times each time finding my arms clenched tight over my chest and my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands.

No wonder that I woke up, and each time it took ages to get my arms back down by my side.

My spine is getting more deformed, it is more difficult to get me sitting straight; I did not notice it is as much in the wheelchair.

That’s due to the excellent support I get in the wheelchair, which I don't have in bed so I need regular adjustments.

I've been enjoying the football; it has taken my mind off my situation and given me something else to focus on.

Which is good as the stress of having to fight for everything has been getting to me.

I'm constantly either pushing for something to happen or I'm waiting for it to finally happen.

For example I've been waiting for Kees van Roekel, from Welzorg to come back since the beginning of March.

Plus I'm waiting to hear how the new application for the eye operated software is faring at the health insurers Agis.

It was made after an appointment with Dr. Janneke Stolwijk and my occupational therapist, Maurits, to discuss why the first application did so badly.

The advice they had previously included with the first application for Seetech was not up to date so they promised another.

They wrote a new advice, that I needed to be able to operate the IPaq with Seetech, as I could no longer use either the touch screen or the button.

My health insurers do not see the necessity of my having three dictionaries included, I will have to buy the German one myself.

I was amazed to be informed by the salesman from RTD Het Dorp that the German language dictionary only cost €158.

I thought it was going to be more, strange that my health insurers objected so strongly to this, major expenditure.

What is especially strange about the objections is the fact that they say they will assist people to maintain their quality-of-life.

In my case this means being able to communicate in three languages, as I was brought up speaking German and English, and I taught myself Dutch when I moved here in 1981.

In my case this did not count, all they were interested in was spending as little as possible.

They also objected to voice recognition, I guess this is also too expensive for them, strange as voice recognition only costs just €150.

They were quibbling about €308 which is why they turned down the application ‘from HES, last November.

I still haven't heard from the council when they will install air conditioning that I need so desperately.

The best thing I can do is to try and put it all out of my mind and concentrate on enjoying the here and now.