Tuesday 10th August 2010

This is my last post on this blog as my story has now finally come to an end. We moved home on Monday 14th June , exactly 5 months and 1 day after the accident which in the grand scheme of things is amazingly quick. It just didn't feel like it while living in the rental.

We have one very sexy house now and I actually finished unpacking the 102 boxes last Tuesday. There are still circa 20 boxes in the garage of 'stuff' we no longer want and intend to have a large garage clearance in the near future. Words cant not describe how happy we all are to be home animal included.

There are still a very small number of outstanding 'snags' to be sorted with the insurance, but nothing to get very upset or worried about. So life in the Skilton household has thankfully once again become 'normal'. Or as normal as an Autistc 8 year old and very stroppy teenager, who is infact only 11, can be. ;)

Wednesday 2nd June 2010

I don’t write for ages because there is nothing really to report, then I don’t write because so much has happened.

The builders, decorators, electrician and plumber have all been working amazingly hard and we are due to move home next week. You can’t really tell from reading this just how excited I am, yelling YIPPEE whilst jumping up and down. Now there is an image for you. J.

The Blinds Man is coming Friday 4^th to fit the blind for the front room. Carpet Right are coming on Monday to fit our new carpets and Rainbow removals are bring all our belongings from storage on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Sofa's and sky are arriving on Thursday 10th. Yeeaahhhh!!!!!!!

I went over to Cross Hands this morning to sort out the tiles for the front hall. I then went to 84 to let the builders know that Duncan was on his was to Caerphilly to collect the tiles in person as they were the only store with stock. When I got to 84 I found the plumber having a panic over tap connecters for the new bath taps; bless him. So he gave me a shopping list and off I went again back to Cross Hands then to Carmarthen in order to get the right parts for him. £16 later and a McDonalds to sooth two very bored children I took the stuff back to 84 to a hopefully happy plumber to then find an Electrician having a meltdown over security lights and earth wire. I did offer to take him back to Leekes AGAIN, but he said he would see how things went. Cross everything please.

Dunk has bought the tiles back here and transferred them from his car to mine so that I can take them over to 84 tomorrow, I also need to get to a bank and get money to pay the blinds man on Friday. PLEASE do not let me forget.

Once the builders are finished and have tidied up a bit (so over the weekend), I intend to take some new pictures of the house from the same angles as the original damage photos, to make a ‘before & after’ board. So watch out for more post with new snaps.

ttfn.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL x

Saturday 17th April 2010

I went out today and got hit by a garlic bread and a frozen lasagne, guess it must be the fall out from Iceland.......

Not much has happened inside this week, the builders have used the fab weather to work on the outside; so the house is all rendered now apart from the damaged wall which will be done once the new window and door have been fitted. The scaffolding is down now so the house no longer looks like a crash site it looks like a house that is being renovated so I am a lot happier now about living in the rental as I can now see it as a holiday home and enjoy watching my real home getting closer and closer to being finished.

We have been living in the rental for 3 months next week so we are half way through our ordeal which again makes things easier to handle as we are now on the home-ward stretch. Ooohhh don’t I sound positive. It must be the sunshine. Or perhaps the wine....

On a separate note, Mum and Dad were due to fly back from Bangkok this evening and visit us on they way home tomorrow, but they emailed early this morning to say their flight had been cancelled until at least Wednesday because of the Icelandic Volcanic eruption. Total bummer. Nice for them getting an extra long holiday but I miss them loads. I don’t suppose they are too chuffed at the extra cost either as the insurance doesn’t cover natural disasters.

I am going to hide their passports when they get back because they have had several ‘incidents’ on their recent trips away.  In dads email to me he quoted “Bombs in Sri Lanka; Somali Pirates last year; now Volcanoes in Iceland. Can't we just have a simple holiday? 

Ho hum, makes for some interesting memories I suppose. LOL

Important: If you are shopping in Iceland this weekend, don’t forget to ask for some ash back.

ttfn.

Friday 3 April 2010

We have had the okay to order the new sofa’s, tables and curtains that we wanted so that’s exciting and Owen has been accepted into Tregib so a week of good news for once. The builders are working really hard which is lovely to see so just wanted to update with a few more photos.

No sign yet of the new front door or window, but looking forward to it soon.

Sunday 21 March 2010

We had a very stinky letter from the council stating that we hadn’t applied for Building Regulations Approval prior to the builders commencing work, so we had to stop work until the relevant application and fee had been processed. I got all upset as we don’t have £400 and I didn’t feel we should have to pay anyway. Dunk spoke to the insurance company and it was them that should have dealt with it and to be fair did so, super quickly. So the council inspector came out on Thursday to check the site and laid out a few requirements of work that the builders need to do in order to bring the work up to current building regulations , so I am a very happy bunny and work will commence again on Monday.

The new front door and living room window have been ordered so looking forward to seeing them fitted.

Ryan is so,so. Some okay days, some not so good. Owen has started having regular nightmares and I am still physically very unwell, I have 2 different lots of blood tests done and am back at the doctor for further tests on Tuesday so not fun. I have started a 7 week stress course so hopefully that will help a bit.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

The builders moved in and began work on Monday 15th Feb so I am much happier now that I can definitely see a faint light at the end of a very long tunnel. Dunk and I went shopping on Saturday to get estimates for the loss adjuster for the items that are to be replaced such as, carpets, sofas, curtains etc. I have complied that letter ready for posting so things are really beginning to move forward now. I spoke to the loss adjuster on Monday and he believes the work will take 3-4 months so I am still working on moving home by end of July so that I have the 6 weeks summer holidays to settle back in before Owen begins Secondary school in September. Bless him we really dont need the added pressure of moving school coinciding with moving house.

I lost the plot with BT this morning who were supposed to come and fit a phone line and broadband at the rental yesterday but never turned up. We have a letter and an email confirming yesterdays date but BT customer service have 'no record' on their systems???? We have had to place a new order and wait another 5 days, so now coming next Wed 24th. How crap. I am about to raise a complaint with BT and have OfComs number to call them too, simply because I am sick of being taken for a mug and these large companies doing whatever they please and **** the rest of us.

Ryan has continued to struggle greatly and school life has unfortunately nosedived. He kicked a boy in the face last week and split his lip because the boy was "annoying" Ryan. I have spoken to the Paediatrician team who are a registrar and consultant down at the moment, so the earliest appointment I can have is 7th April oh sweet joy. I have obviously tried to get Ryan to talk about his feelings but he just shuts down, he did draw and very good picture at school about the accident and I have bought him a diary/journal as he asked so that he can write down how he feels but it just sits on his bed unopened.

Lilian came to stay breifly on Saturday 6th Feb so that Duncan and I could go out for a well deserved break to Emma H-P's 30th Birthday ball and it was fab, just what the doctor had ordered. I still haven't uploaded photos onto facebook though as we are STILL on dial up.

Owen has signed up and now plays for Llangennech AFC which has been excellent and there is also a senior team on Sunday they had a training match against the other age groups in the club and the goalkeeper from the senior team commented that he was extremely impressed with Owen and says he has potential which gave Owen a much needed boost to his confidence. We are obviously beaming with pride.

Sunday 31.1.10

I haven't had internet access hence the delay in updating my blog and I am only on dial up now, so bloomin slow and I won't update daily as a result.

We secured the rental we wanted in Penygroes and Dunk spent a hectic week and numerous phone calls between Rental agency and Insurance to secure the move asap. That moved occured on Thursday 28.1.10 and we have spent a very busy 4 days unpacking a miriad of boxes so much that Mum & Dad came over today to help take a whole load back to store in the garage at our 'proper' house as the rental is lovely but a lot smaller than we are used to.

Both Duncan's and my health have suffered and we have both had doctors appointments during the last week. Duncan is on medication, I am making do with wine although I was a complete cow to my sister on Wednesday 27.1 which is totally did not deserve and I am sorry.

Ryan has had several bad days and I have had a meeting with his SENCo at school who agrees this upset has had an impact on Ryan, but they have managed him so well and have been able to deal with him very effectively so that his meltdowns have not been too disruptive to him or the rest of the class. As a result Dunk is due to meet with a Lawyer next week to discuss our options. Owen bless him has been the most together in all of this and I credit him greatly for that.

Jo M has done an amazing job looking after Misty for us and she is now 'home' and our thanks also go to Mum & Dad for boarding Hunter for us; they bought him back to us today and I think they are a little sad to see him leave them but we are so grateful to have him back.

Jo D has been a superstar doing all our washing for us and even cooked casserole for our first night in the rental which was a huge help and she has looked after the boys on several occasions so Dunk and I can run errands. BFF.

Both Fujitsu and Halfway have been so supportive of us and have been very flexible in allowing us time to get organised and settled and I had a gorgeous bunch of flowers from Emma and Andrea which is a lovely house warming present and has already brightened up the living room. So hopefully we can now get back to some sort of normality.

We have also received the report from the Building Engineer outlining all the work that is required to make our house a home once more. It is really good and detailed and has now gone out to tender to the insurance approved list of builders so we need to wait and see which firm takes it on and at this stage have no idea when work is likely to start.

I will update again when I have this vital piece of information.

Day 8

Wednesday 20.1.10

A better day today. Both boys are feeling much better and had good days at school. Ryan was even pupil of the day.

Removal firm have made an excellent start on clearing the house. Leekes came and measured the bathroom for a quote and our house viewings went well. Actually to be truthful the 1^st one didn’t it was awful but I won’t go into that other than you had to put your shoes ON to enter. We have however secured our first choice rental in Penygroes and move in next Thursday (28^th Jan).

http://www.thehomerentalcompany.co.uk/propertyDetails.php?pid=177601

After school we visited Misty and she is still happy to see us, but oh how I miss my cat and dog, and 3 of the fish that we moved to Jo M’s have died which is bloomin’ unfair, poor things.

We went to the pool when we got back to the hotel from school which was just what the doctor ordered, but Ryan really failed to cope again with the dinning room at the hotel this evening, there are 120 guest in situ at the mo so the dinning area was packed again and although he didn’t sit under the table today he was quite rude to the waitress due to the wait for food. Tomorrow Dunk will go down earlier and order food then I will stay in the room with Ryan and Dunk will then ring me to let me know waiting time for food so that we can go down in time. Well we’ll try it and see.

8 more sleeps.........

Day 7

Tuesday 19.1.10

I went back to work today. There is little else we can do now in the house we are waiting for the removal firm to come and empty to storage until we have a rental sorted. We have 2 viewings tomorrow so hopefully one of them will be suitable and we can get the ball rolling on that. I really enjoyed going back the kids were great and really made me smile and we had a good banter in the staff room at lunch too, so just what the doctor ordered. Laughter being the best medicine and all that.

One of the guests at the hotel have complained though about the noise from Owen and Ryan when they were playing in their room. Dunk dealt with him. It was 9pm so he had some argument I suppose, but we are in an adjoining room and I honestly did not think they were particularly loud. They just can't relax and let off steam bless em.

!!!CABIN FEVER!!!

Day 6

Monday 18.1.10

We packed more of the house today and sorted out the post redirection, then went and had a look at carpets, sofas and bathrooms. I collected the boys from school and had a very quick visit to Misty then another crappy meal in McDonalds on route to Swansea for Owen's footie practice. Now bear in mind our house is J49; footie practice is J46 of the M4 and the hotel is J45. So for the 1st time ever we have a nice easy route and when footie has finished we just 'jump' back on the motorway for a 'ikle' bit and back to hotel. OOOOHHHHH NO. Dunk is driving, head is in the shed and he gets on the motorway the way and is heading back to J49.

I comment in a non threatening manner "What the **** you doing you numpty". No matter come off at J47 and turn round easy. OOOOHHHHH NO. He comes off at J47 and guess what gets straight back on the motorway STILL heading in the wrong direction. WTF!!!!!

I comment in a non threatening manner "*********************************************". We get to J48 I advise him in a non sarcastic manner of the correct and appropriate route to take so that we eventually get back to the hotel.

Day 5

Sunday 17.1.10

Day off today, sort of. Only went to the house to collect Hunter (our cat) as he is going to live at my parents place until we move back home, so about 6 months. Got to mum and dads in time for morning coffee, the cat had a good explore, sniffed every nook and cranny and finally settled on the double bed in the back bedroom and declared that 'his patch'.

Had a stunning roast beef dinner thank you very much Mum; and Dad supplied the red wine, more thanks. He had also been 'kind' enough to record Duncan and I on the news so I was made to suffer watching that while the boys fell about laughing. Thanks NOT!!!

It was lovely to have a change of scenery and not have to do any thing to the bloomin house today. Although it will be all systems go tomorrow packing.

Duncan has taken Owen to the pool; Ryan playing xbox box; an hour till dinner; now where did I put that vodka.........

Day 4

Saturday 16.1.10

Woke up crying today but quickly choked it back so as not to wake the boys. No point in crying anyway, its only a house I know it will repair. I can't lay here though staring at a dark celing. I don't even know what time it is.

I have showered and found it is ten past eight. Dunk and the boys are sleeping soundly so I grab my book and wander down for breakfast. I am the only guest in the dining room so a bit a peace for a while.

First thing we do when the boys finally decide to rise is to move rooms to the suite. It is so much nicer and a room with single beds for the boys and a separate bedroom for us, so we can at least get some space from each other.

We drop boys off at Jo D's and head to the house picking up post from the sorting office, where it is being held for us, on the way. Today's task is to start packing up boxes; so where best to start but the living room. 6 boxes later we are almost done only the large book case left which Dunk will tackle on Monday.

I empty the fish tank and we take the fish up to Jo M's where there will live from now on and we get to see Misty too. Jo has bought her a new bed and she is loving it. I do hope she doesn't get too comfy LOL. I hope she doesn't stop loving us.

Back to Jo D's to pick up the boys and the washing that she has done for us and off 'home' to Swansea.

Day 3

Friday 15.1.10

I feel somewhat better today. Still very stressed but feeling more able to deal with the situation. Removal firm dropped off boxes and bubble wrap so that we can begin packing valuable and personal items. Main removal team arrive Monday to begin emptying house. They will also arrange disposal of the damaged items and rubble, then everything else into storage. Entire property needs to be cleared.

Structural Engineer arrived spent over 2 hours assessing property and making comprehensive list of work required. Internal wall not as badly damaged as first feared, repairs are “relatively easy” (his words), but agreed 4-6 months was a fair estimate of time. Entire ground floor will be completely redecorated including new ceilings. Happy Days.

Rental not moved forward as hoped, so from tomorrow (Saturday) we are moving to a suite in the hotel (still Ramada, Swansea) and now have half board so breakfast and evening meals now taken care of. More Happy days.

Day 2

Thursday 14.1.10.

Our home has been deemed dangerous and uninhabitable under section 78 of the building act blah blah blah. A local building firm were instructed yesterday to make the property safe and secure which has been done. So we are now allowed to enter the lower floor to allow who ever in and out as needed. The insurance co. have been out today to assess damage and make list of contents to be replaced. Building Project Manager due tomorrow to make his assessment and begin instructing team to begin work although that wont be till next week at the earliest. For some reason they are quite busy at the moment........

The removal firm are also coming tomorrow to look at what is required to empty the house and dispose of damaged furniture and put into storage everything salvagable.

We have been placed in a hotel in Swansea for at least a week until rental accommodation can be found. A very good company are on the case and we hope to have a property sorted by end of next week. Swansea is not ideal as Ryan goes to school in Llandeilo so that is a trip of around 30 miles each way but hey.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/8456453.stm

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/southwalesnews/Dad-tells-miracle-escape-bus-crash/article-1708535-detail/article.html

Day 1

Wednesday 13.1.2010 was not a usual Wednesday morning but it was similar to recent days. Snow had been laying for over 3 weeks and we had another 5-8cm fall on Tuesday night so Blaenau Primary school was shut yet again due to dangerous roads & pavements and broken heating. My work was open however, so Dunk decided to work from home to look after boys and we decided there was little point dragging Owen up and out to trek Ryan across to Llandeilo as the conditions were not safe so we let them sleep in.

I had a leisurely breakfast and left for work early as the roads were very slushy and icy. I got to work on time but very few children had yet made it to school so I put my bag and coat by and sat down to sort out the readers I was going to listen to that day; it was 9:05am and my phone rang. “oooppps, sorry Mrs H-P I forgot to put my phone on silent”.

The actual phone conversation is somewhat hazy at this point by it went something like:

Dunk – “COME HOME! VAN HIT HOUSE”

Me – “OMG, ARE THE KIDS OK?”

Dunk – “YES”.

Phone goes dead. I burst into tears........

Basically: A BMW came to junction on side road just up from our house, brakes did **** all due to icy, un-gritted road, BMW went through junction and hit minibus side on travelling down Waterloo Road towards our house. Minibus span, lost control and came to rest in my front hall. House deemed unsafe and we had to evacuate and spent next 7 hours at a friends while insurance decided what to do. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!