Hi sara oh wow weill look for that album now called wide awake by joe Oh good that karen and emma are paid carers are they from direct payment? or another agency? Yes i save hours too for example don't have carer on Thursdays so got one hour left so she can just take me to doctors round here for my prescrisption then she can go and sort old ken out her other client then great Some times what i do too is not have julia for a whole day as five hours a day save them five hours for a special day out For example wehn went to York where sweet herold lives because of lots of travelling involved getting taxi to station getting on the leeds train then another tain to yourk etc time is comsuming you see so needed a good ten hours for that day out Brilliant stuff isn't it? I have trained my carer now to when in cafes to always tell me which side of mug handle is on or where it is last year before christmas she put coffee on corner of table wow I knocked it with my elbow she never realised untill i told her off. I also told her to let me know when waitress in cafe is coming to put my plate of dinner or what ever down well if we think about this all very seriously not being too fussy but us blind people can't judge where plates are and mugs and i am very figity always messing about with my shoulder bag and feeling on table all time So just imagine if hot plate wa put on my hands wow not bare thinking abut is it? My carer now says to me right carol, put your hands on your knees waitress is coming to put your hot coffee in front of you. I am finding that now its important how we need to let our carers know how important it is for us to know some details of what is going on around us i love it now My carer does the o'clock system by saying somthing like saying carol your fish is at 12 o'clock your peas between 2 and 4pm your chips at quarter to nine now might sound stupid but believe me its not infact it helps me a great deal I am realising now how very important it is now for asking details of what is going on at the meal times life is much easier now carer learning new tekniques too because i never know which way to sit at cafe table so now she always touches my right arm to let me know table is on my right very clever indeed if she taps my left wrist table on left good Right take care Love Carol x.x.x.x. -----Original Message----- From: Sarah Mellor - Email Address: sarah_mellor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent On: 18/07/2011 22:58 Sent To: Carol O'Connor, guide Chat List - Email Address: missbossyboots33@xxxxxxxxx, guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: In Reply To: [guide.chat] sara hi Carol. oH the album is called wide awake and i just had to put the climb on nice and loud. Emma and Karen are both paid carers and i get 10 hours a week so at the moment I have 3 with Emma and 4 with Karen and save the rest up for weekk-ends which once the agency get their act together I should have every couple of weeks. WE go out and they also help me with post and some times cookign whatever needs doing and depending on the weather for sure. i love ahving a good cake baking session but tend to save that for rainy days. Take care. love Sarah xxxxxxxxxxx