Visual Impairment Team update

Hi everyone, well, Saturday morning and the end of my first three day working week, I don't mind telling you, its been weird! Monday was a training day, but I finished before lunch, leaving me the rest of the afternoon to do what I wanted, as it happens I actually spend all afternoon cleaning up the cup cake disaster that had exploded in my kitchen thanks to my youngest daughter. Then along came Tuesday, my very first Tuesday off. I had all these plans in my mind, walk the dog for miles, do some gardening, go for a swim, catch the bus into town and wander around the shops, maybe sit in a coffee shop and watch the world go by....what did we wake up to Tuesday morning in Bedfordshire?? Pouring bloody rain! I lay in my bed with the duvet under my chin wondering what on earth I had done, the girls went off to school, Ralph wriggled himself right to the back of his bed with a 'Don't EVEN think about taking me out in this weather' look in his eyes. So, I did the house work, which was all done by 8.45am, my mood was low, my sister had gone into hospital that morning for a operation, so I suppose my glumness might have been confused with anxiousness. I messed around for a couple of hours, we had had a problem with our land phone line, there was a message from the counselling team at RNIB on the answer phone but I couldn't retrieve it, so I spent a while shouting at a electronic voice on the BT help line from my mobile. Then at 10oclock I remembered that I had another visit from Bedfordshire Visual Impairment Team at 10.30!! I Jumped in the shower quick and tried to make myself look better than I was feeling, by then my mood had turned from low to fowl, by the time the door bell rang I was ready to punch someone's face in! In breezes Rob with his clam and relaxed demeanour, he listened to my moaning (sometimes you don't want anyone to do anything about the problem because you know you can deal with it yourself, you just NEED someone to whinge at) so I whinged! I sat slumped in the chair, with my arms folded across my chest with a grumpy red face, I must have looked like a six year old who had been told she had to put her Barbie's away and go to bed! Trouble is, I am half Italian, an Aries by birth sign and incredibly head strong, when I am pissed off, god help anyone who tries to help me, I could argue with my own shadow!
So, Rob sits and listens, offers to ring BT, which gets a sharp NO THANKYOU! Funny how some people you just click with, he
just seemed to know that if he went on he was looking at a black eye at the very least, so he pull out some gadgets from a bag, so the first one was a level water indicator, I've had one before, you pop it on the rim of a cup or whatever you are filling up and when the liquid gets near the top it beeps so you don't over fill, pretty nifty but not enough to make me smile.

Next chopping boards, he hadn't brought any with him as he needed to know what colour I wanted before ordering them....at that moment in time I didn't give a flying F what colour chopping board I needed to help me in the kitchen so I have a contrast between the board and the thing I am cutting and avoid slicing my fingers (ungrateful old bitch that I am) so he orders, green, yellow and red..I think!!
Then he puts this little box on the table, its a electric magnifier, this actual design they don't make anymore and is just a demo, but my gawd, what a incredible device. So, its about the size of your average calculator, with a little handle that pulls out from the side, this one is quite heavy but Rob assures me the newer versions are much lighter,  I found I could easily read labels and even a couple of pages of a book with it. The colour contasts can be changed giving my a choice of different coloured back grounds and font, therefore providing different contasts to use when the lighting in different environments is different. That's a lot of different!! Anyway, its also perfect for putting in my handbag...my mood is starting to lift as a undated version is put on the order form! Next he informs me that he cant change the strip lighting under my kitchen wall cupboards to white lights as he cant find them anywhere, so he has this little portable white light that he shows me, so there I am getting all excited about a light!! Its very lightweight and compact, off I go marching around the house with Rob in tow, saying...ohhhhhlook, that's perfect for seeing in my cloak cupboard, and in my kitchen cupboards oh and my wardbrobes, I am so excited to be able to see what I want and just getting it rather than emptying the whole cupboard to find what I want and then just shoving it all back, my cupboards might even stay tidy! I also showed him how great it would be when using the PC as I struggle to use the keyboard and the lighting in that room is awful. I was in such a whirlwind, I felt like a child who had gone into a sweet shop and found that it was a try before you buy day! I turned around to find Rob standing with one hand on his hip and the other rubbing his forehead, my stomach sinks...WHAT?? ...Why the hell didn't you tell  me all this before, if you don't tell me what you need I cant help you....WHAT??  We have lighting especially for cupboards and also a large keyboard with lights and fancy bits on, would you like me to order some?? That's it, all the sweets in the shop are thrown in the air and I can eat as many as I want AND take some home!......Ohhhh go on then, yes please order some!. Back at my dining table, he goes through his paperwork and informs me that the council will be out to repair the slab at the back of my propery that I trip over everytime I put the bins out and remove the plastic in the tree!! Also I am on the waiting list for security lighting and they will be contacting me soon. 
After Rob had gone, I noticed the rain had stopped, Ralph had moved to the front of his bed, so off we went on a long, very muddy stomp across the fields, popped in to see my Mum and catch up on any news on my sister and then we went home. I then sat and sorted the problem with BT and was able to retrieve my answer phone message, I spoke to a lady at RNIB called Maria, who explained that they offer telephone, instant messaging or email councelling, 1 opted for email, Maria sent me a questionnaire and a sort of agreement thing, which I filled in and sent straight back, now I just need to wait for my first 'appointment'. Before I knew it my day off was nearly over, but what a fantastic feeling it was when on Wednesday at 3.45, I came out of work knowing I had Thursday off. Thursday I did some of the lovely things I had wanted to do on Tuesday. Just goes to show, you never know what the day will bring, we will all get there in the end, just sometimes we have to drag ourselves through the crappy days first!! x