If We Didn't Laugh, We'd Cry

 At Action for Happiness one of the 10 keys for happier living is described as resilience or the ability to cope constructively when circumstances conspire against us. Needless to say Mister E and I have been practising our resilience skills in droves this month.

The initial trial of our skill-set began as cool weather dominated towards the beginning of the month whereupon the boiler decided it was an opportune time to fail. At least retirement gives you all the time you need to contact the man who services it and to liaise as to an early date for repair.

After staying away from local hospitals since December, I was convinced we had finally broken the 2022 jinx. However, it turned out that the boiler wasn't the only thing in need of  urgent attention when my G.P. referred me to the emergency eye clinic with a suspected retinal tear and of course the timing clashed with that boiler repair, leaving Mister E shuttling between hospital and home. 

Of course, sometimes I can now be so relaxed (that's what almost 9 years of retirement has delivered) that on this occasion I had nonchalantly dismissed the symptoms as another posterior vitreous detachment in the opposite eye to that 4 years ago. When the blurring and floaters across my vision persisted for several days, however, I confess I became perturbed enough to consult Doctor Google. He reckoned that we do suffer two PVDs, one in each eye, although they are not always noticeable but that similar symptoms in the same eye as a PVD (which rarely ever persists beyond 6 months) could be indicative of a tear or detachment.

A day later, I finally thought it was time to check in exactly which eye the PVD of 2019 had occurred. Needless to say when I discovered that it was the same eye as currently affected, I did what all sane people do and panicked sufficiently that I contacted my G.P. straight away. He checked me out and immediately referred me to an Opthalmology Consultant; after a thorough examination, tests and retinal photographs it was determined that, somewhat unusually, the original PVD is still ongoing!

With the boiler firing up again and a clean bill of health, life felt very sweet (blurred vision excepted). The feeling lasted all of 48 hours until that unstable right knee of mine decided to buckle once more, giving way and forcing me to put my leg up for a day or two before gradually starting to move about again with the assistance of a stick. 

Honestly if resilience building for happiness requires this kind of test, I fully understand why some people might prefer to wallow in misery. On my part there wasn't time, as being sofa bound meant I was behind in preparations for the first visit from our grandbaby with her parents. Despite a limp, I struggled through and enjoyed a wonderful if tiring week of smiles and babbling. 

When they left, Mister E and I got down to the serious business of preparing for the fitting of new  doors, windows and carpets following some extensive decorating on our part last month. At the last minute our plan to have the windows installed before the carpets was derailed because of a delay with the delivery of the glazing. At least it gave Mister E a little more time to nail down a couple of squeaking floorboards. As he knelt to do so, he did say that he hoped this wouldn't be like the time  when he screwed through an electrical wire in the property we used to let. He needn't have worried, there were no electrical wires just a central heating pipe!

Oh my goodness, water cascading downstairs through the ceiling is really not what you want to see especially when you have just finished decorating and the carpet fitters are coming the next day. Perhaps rehearsing this kind of experience does forge mental strength because whilst I would hardly describe ourselves as rolling in the aisle with laughter, we were certainly calm and collected even when the excess of water succeeded in tripping the electricity too.

Mind there was an overwhelming feeling of relief when we managed to find a plumber who arrived 30 minutes before the carpet fitters and, ahead of the game, had the pipe fixed and floorboards restored in time for them to lay the carpet there later that day.

My mop and vaccum cleaner may never have been used as much as in the past 4 days, but the windows are in, the carpets laid, the decorating restored to its initial glory and we have both breathed huge sighs of relief. Yes, it's been a second or third time around in retirement for all our mishaps and whilst our previous experiences  clearly haven't taught us how to avoid them, we are certainly now capable of taking them in our stride and living off the tale afterwards too.