Maisonette/Life Update

I really wanted to start this blog update with good news about my electricity update, but, sadly, there still isn’t any. I had been in touch with my local MP and he contacted British Gas on my behalf, escalating this, as I have been without access to electricity since January. I heard from the head of the complaints department, who said I needed to contact National Grid, not them. British Gas did contact National Grid on my behalf and I had an assessment appointment booked for today, between 8:30am and 9:30am. A National Grid engineer arrived and did exactly what all of the British Gas engineers do, looked at the meter, shrugged, said, “It’s nothing to do with me,” and left.
          I have been in touch with my electrician. While I was on the phone with him, my mum contacted my MP. Since getting back to my mum’s, I have emailed the British Gas head of the complaints department guy, who seems to think that it is to do with National Grid and has said he will contact them. I’m pretty sure it is a British Gas problem, not a National Grid problem.
          My maisonette is supposed to have pre-payment meters for both the gas and electricity. The gas meter is a pre-payment meter. The electricity meter is a smart meter, with the top half missing, so there is nowhere to put the key to top it up. Also, the electricity meter is in credit mode, not pre-payment mode. No one in the whole of the British Gas customer service department seems to be able to understand anything that I have just said in this paragraph. Each time I contact them, it takes two and a half hours, and being passed to, on occasions, eight different people. One says I need the credit team, then they pass me back to the pre-payment team. They are all following a script, but as my issue isn’t their standard script, no one can help. There isn’t a supervisor or anyone higher up that they can transfer me to, because the customer service department isn’t based in the UK.

On a positive note, I have finished painting the bedroom now. Three of the walls are light grey, and the other wall is sage green. I have, also, filled in the cracks in the ceiling, sanded the ceiling, applied sealant to the ceiling, primed the ceiling and painted the ceiling. 

This is what it looked like before:

It doesn’t show up well in the photos, but the walls and carpet were both diarrhoea coloured. Ugh! I absolute love how the room looks now. I have filled in so many holes, sanded so many rough, random patches of wall. I have put up a curtain rail, over the weekend, and my curtains have came! I ordered a blind, for the bedroom window, too, which has arrived, but I have now bought the screws and Rawlplugs for it yet.

My boyfriend helped me put together my new bed. I am so in love with this bed. It’s a double bed! I have the same child’s bed that I have had since I was two years old, and the same mattress. The mattress broke in 2016 too, and the broken mattress tore the feather bedding mattress topper, so I had to get rid of the mattress topper. I am basically sleeping on wiring now and it is so uncomfortable. I cannot wait to move in and fall asleep on this brand new bed.

I have cleaned the bathroom, including the white goods, which took a whole day to scrub clean. I have sanded some of the rough parts of the walls and I have patched up a couple of holes and cracked. My boyfriend, also, helped me put together these two pieces of bathroom furniture, last week too!

What else…? Since I last did an update here, I have had the one wall, in the kitchen plastered, which kind of fell down, when the old kitchen was pulled out.

Before: 

After:
 

I have sanded, primed and painted the skirting boards in the kitchen, the kitchen cup board doors and the arch way in the kitchen. Some places does need touching up/a second coat of wood paint, though. Before my week off, last week, I, also, cleaned out the two cupboards/cubbyholes in the kitchen, where the fridge and washing machine will go. 

 

 This morning, while I was waiting for National Grid, I set up this little area in the living room, for my date on Wednesday.

 

 

Speaking of my date, on Wednesday, I am literally the luckiest person in the whole world. There aren’t words to describe how absolutely, incredibly wonderful this man is.

I have never met anyone who is just so perfect. He isn’t just there on the good days, but the bad days, sad days and all of the days in between. He wants to see and spend time with me, as much as I want to see and spend time with him. We can have fun and be silly, but he, also, sticks around for the serious conversations too.
         When I get overwhelmed, rather than ignoring me or saying, “I don’t know what to do,” he helps to distract me and tries to get me to focus on something else, so that the overwhelming thing doesn’t take over my brain. I don’t have to tell him that I’m overwhelmed or that I might struggle, he just instinctively knows. He doesn’t make a big deal out of it. He doesn’t even point it out or say anything, he just does things to help me.
          He is so, so, so supportive and patient with me. He doesn’t assume that I can’t do something either. He let’s me know that there is no pressure, and whatever the thing may be, we can do it whenever I am ready.
          He looks forward to our dates. He even joins in with my countdowns until we get to see each other. He actually remembers that he has a girlfriend, when we’re apart. And I’m not a secret. He talks about me to his friends and family! He even dragged his best friend around a jewellery shop to buy me a necklace, to help me remember how special things are, even when we’re apart.

 

I am so absolutely, positively overwhelmed with happy thoughts. His presence in my life reminds me that I can do things and it is okay to try. I think it’s a Winnie the Pooh quote that says, “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.” This is how I feel from having this man in my life. It isn’t because he says these things, it is how he treats me. There is no second guessing myself or worrying that I might say, do or think the wrong thing and he’ll just call it quits. I can truly be myself around him… and myself is enough. He adores me as much as I adore him. He misses me as much as I miss him. He isn’t a robot or isn’t allowed to have feelings because he is a man. My autism causes me to think and feel every emotion, all at once, the majority of the time, and every emotion is constantly fighting for the front attention in my brain. He lets me think and feel what I’m feeling. He never says I’m, “too much.” I feel so safe that I can open up to him, without fear of being judged or that he’ll treat me differently.
          Every date that we have feels even more special that the last, and I can never understand how on earth that can possibly be possible… but it is. I have just spent the most wonderful evening with this man, who has stolen my heart. He has given me so many incredible things to look forward to. We have so many wonderful, future adventures planned. I am currently curled up in bed, cuddling his hoodie, and despite how hysterically upset I was, this morning, I am the happiest person in the world again.

That is all for now, I think. I am off to sleep.

Cal, when you read this, please, text me and let me know you are okay. I miss you.

- Josie -