Loose ends

I finished my ECA! Actually, I have to come clean and say that I finished it and handed it in to Regional Centre on Friday, but it's only now sinking in that the course is done and there's nothing more I can do but wait until my results come through sometime in early August. I worked so hard on getting my project as good as I could, but I was also desperate to finish, desperate for a break, and the desperation did at time burst through in the form of tears. The final deadline for getting the ECAs for this course to the OU's national centre in Milton Keynes isn't until this coming Friday, so I got mine in a week early. This is quite an achievement considering how poorly I'd been for weeks before hand and had been in hospital, and really it's not surprising that given the post-infection exhaustion I had tears over my studies. It's done now! It's over! I'm on holiday from study till October 3rd (when my next course - Children's Literature - begins)! Hurray!

Having been studying without any kind of break (hospital admissions don't count as breaks, especially as the deadlines don't stop when I go into hospital) since October 2006, I am more than ready for a study break, but it's also really rather strange. Suddenly I don't know what to do with myself. It's like there are almost too many options of things that I could do so I end up not doing any of them. Although, having said that, I have done some of those little jobs that have been put to one side for ages. The other day I actually changed the lightbulbs in the kitchen and the living room that had blown several months ago. I haven't been sat in complete darkness, but it's amazing how much difference working lightbulbs make ... or maybe it's not that amazing, and it's just that I've got used to sitting in dinginess. No more! I have light!

Oo yes, the other thing that's been going on here is that the council contractors have at last done the work to the outside of my flat that they've been telling me they were going to do since 2006/2007. I have sparkling new windows and smart new doors at the back and front - all very swish, and it makes the outside of the flat look so much better :o) At some point they're going to come back and paint the stonework too, but I don't know when that's going to be. So this new smartness to the inside of the house has also had an impact on the smartness on the inside of the house, because you can't change the outside of a door without also changing the inside (funny that!), so the front porch is brighter and smarter, and the kitchen - where the backdoor is - is also smarter. I decided to treat the smart, new kitchen window next to the smart, new backdoor to a smart, new blind. The old one was nice, but I was bored with it and actually it cut out quite a lot of light. I had to cut the new one to size and I did that when the workmen were here changing the front door on Monday. Once I'd done that I sat in the living room for a moment thinking, 'I could probably put this up at the window myself, but ... hmmm ... there are men who know what they're doing with this kind of thing in my house at the moment ... I wonder ...' so I decided to be cheeky and ask if they'd do me a favour and put the new blind up for me. They did! Hurrah! :o)

Other loose ends that I've been tidying up have included getting my passport sorted out. It's only a month now till I go on holiday to France, and I was getting a little worried that I hadn't left enough time to get my passport back (I hadn't been well enough to get my photo done for the new passport so hadn't been able to send the forms off), so I phoned the helpline and they thought all would be okay. I sent the forms off, which I'd filled in online, and got my new passport through about ten days later! Brill! In the same line of things, I've been to the doc's to ask for the letter I'll need for the aeroplane to take my EpiPens and nebules in my hand luggage, because otherwise they're considered a terrorist hazard! I still need to get my hospital letters and allergies translated into French, but I have had an offer by a lovely blog reader and fellow OU student to do that :o) All I need to do is get the info to her, so that's something for the next couple of days.

So I'm finding various bits and pieces to do in my new-found freedom from study, but I haven't yet got used to being guilt-free about not studying. Dare I say, sometimes I even begin to feel bored!!! I'm at a bit of a loose end ... though I'm sure I'll get used to it and will enjoy it too.

Right then, I'm off to bed in a mo. I didn't sleep well last night, only getting about three and a half hours :o( It was quite muggy here yesterday evening and my lungs don't like that, which I think is why they were quite grumpy last night. I then woke up with the early morning light coming through the (new) window, which was nice in an 'it's summer and summer is lovely' kind of way, but it was too early and I couldn't get back to sleep :o( So yes, it's now time for bed and hopefully a better night's sleep.

Night all.