Well, the past 48 hours have been very exhausting.....
Got to London on Thursday, literally a stones throw from New Zealand House (what an ugly building), so we got ourselves prepared for the interview Friday. Long discussions on how we felt and both fairly nervous of the process. Then at 12.30am we got a phone call, the water tank had split in the loft and boiling hot water was pouring down from the loft and out of the airing cupboard. My children were obviously in a state of anxiety, especially as they believed it to be something they had done! Fortunately, or unfortuntely (as it seems it may be down to their negligence) we live in a forces home and someone was able to come out and make safe the house before any further damage was done. However, a lot of water had come down and had now flooded the kitchen and we were told at 2.00am the house was uninhabitable! Despair, stuck 100's miles from home and no way to get back. I have never known anything like it, being seperated from my children at a time like this. We tried to get a hire car but nothing (centre of London and nothing was open, I thought we lived in a 24/7 society) a taxi would cost £600, so we had to get the first train back, Which cost £240 for a single fare!
So after leaving London to start our journey at 4am on no sleep, we eventually got back to Plymouth at 11am, to find a lot of mess and three very upset children (I have to say at this point the oldest being 19). Fortunately, alot of it was superficial, no major damage and by the end of the day and many workmen we are back to some sort of normality! However, we obviously didnt make the interview and are already seriously out of pocket, less than 24 hours in London and the cost was £550, we hope to get some form of compensation from the armed services and we were able to get another appointment, however I this time will not be able to attend!
I did wonder if this was some sort of omen but perhaps it was just seriously bad luck, and as I have been told many times it could have been worse, potentially fatal, so thank god my oldest daughter likes to stay up late, I cant even bare to think whatmight have happened if they had all been asleep.
I am not sure where we go from him with the process, it seems we are back to square 1!
