Holes & hospital!

The site on Easter Monday

Well, it has been a funny old week.

We had opted for a suspended floor downstairs as we were advised that it was possible to get a far higher degree of insulation under a suspended floor rather than the more common (nowadays) solid floor. This necessitated excavating 400mm of earth from the whole footprint of the house before the trenches could be dug.

The groundworkers started on Tuesday, bright and early, and by the time I got to site at lunchtime, over 100 tons of earth had been removed and neatly piled in a mound. Arrangements had been made to move this spoil the next day and then the site would be left until after Easter before digging the trenches for the foundations and pouring concrete. So far so good.

Relaxing at home on Tuesday evening Jan noticed a pick-up stop outside and a man in overalls coming down the drive. "Someone for you" said Jan thinking it was the groundworker. When I answered the door I was confronted by a none too happy man who announced that he was the Stuart Rataj, farm manager for the owner of the drive to Wee House. During a rather terse conversation of some 15-20 minutes, with the occasional thinly veiled threat he informed me that his boss was going to take out an injunction for something - it wasn't too clear exactly what, but I think it was because one or two clods of earth had fallen onto the access track to his field (that they never use). He then went on to say I should mark the extent of our land with posts, but that none of it mattered as he would ensure that we would never get permission to upgrade the driveway to support a 12 ton fire appliance as required by building regulations. This last bit was quite a surprise as if true would mean the the council would not sign the house off for occupation. His rambling complaint had started by him asking me for our telephone number which he said the owner of the drive wanted (I've since found out that the owner of the drive doesn't have a telephone!).

As I listened to him I started to feel slightly odd, so thought the best thing to do was to give him the phone number and then end the "conversation". However, I struggled to walk the two paces back to the telephone table and had even greater difficulty seeing the number I was trying to write. By this time I was perspiring quite freely (dripping is a better term, but less polite) and as I turned to go back to the front door I felt quite nauseous and faint. I grabbed the door frame to avoid falling, and our previously less than friendly visitor grabbed me for the same reason. I'm rather vague about what happened next, but I understand I was put in the recovery position on the floor by Mr Rataj and Jan dialled for an ambulance.

First the paramedic arrived, gave me oxygen and did an ECG, followed rapidly by the ambulance. I was whisked off to Bedford Hospital by two charming ladies, one of whom insisted on calling me "chicken"!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the view seems to be that my blood pressure had dropped to such a level that I collapsed. The likely cause of this is probably the stress of the things going on at work, standing up for some time, and brought to a head with the "aggro" on the doorstep. Apparently, the beta blockers I'm on for high blood pressure stop the heart racing when the adrenalin gets going, and the effect can be for the blood pressure to drop. Research on the internet has shown that other people on beta blockers have had the same problem and that stress seems to have been the suggested cause.

So, a couple of days at home resting, followed by the Easter break and back into the fray on Tuesday. Time to visit the doctor and get a review of the meds I think.

As a post script to this tale. we have had confirmation from a senior planning officer at Mid Beds that the upgrading of the drive is not a requisite of the planning approval and that the addition of one more dwelling does not represent a significant impact on the immediate area - hence the drive only needs to be widened where it meets the public road, and not strengthed as suggested.

"Chicken" of Clifton