Thursday, February 25, 2016

Blogathon Day 25 - And they say kids cost money!

We are back to the UK in March for a family wedding and when we return we are bringing my mother. Even though she has a new pair of knees which are serving her well, our stairs would probably be a bit too much for her and as the only downstairs bathroom is a bath and not a shower we are having to convert that as she can't get her leg over any more if you know what I mean. So as Chris is doing our kitchen he will then change the bath for a shower and all will be well, except for our bank account.

Unfortunately, the sofas we have at the moment are probably going to be too low and soft for her, not so much to sit comfrtably, but to stand up easily again. So we have been chair shopping. And it hasn't proved easy. We managed to get down to a probable chair from Ikea and then went to check a couple of shops in Limoux just to rule them out before we went ahead. The first one didn't have much until we found an electric recliner whcih they had in a sale. down from a 1000 euros down to 750 euros. The colour wasn't really one the Magnificent M wanted but it was a good deal and we might be able to live with it. Now we had to think which of the two we might have. The Ikea chair, with footstool and delivered to us would have been around 450 euros. 300 euros extra for what we thought might be a little more comfortable and with electrics. And there is also an eye on our future as well, our knees aren't getting any younger! So off we go to the last shop just to rule it out, which we pretty quickly did as they really specialise in made to measure chairs for the poeple buying them. The young assistant was trying hard to sell us something but realised we weren't going to be doing anything. So he re asked what it was we were trying to achieve, a chair for my mum which will only be an occasional use chair. "Come with me" he said and he led us out of the side door. Across the way was another warehouse and he beckoned us inside. There were a few rcks of one off chairs and sofas. These he explained were where they had sets of furniture where maybe the sofas had been sold but the customer didn't want the chair. And the prices were good he told us. And they'd damned well need to be compared to ones in the main showroom. And they were. We tried a few but ended up going for a brown leather manual reclining chair for 350 euros. Result! Except for our bank account.

She's only coming for a fortnight but she's costing us a fortune. At least we've got a suitable bed. At least I think we have....

2 comments:

Masher said...

My ageing aunt had exactly the same problem: she was unable to get up out of the armchair once she'd sat in it.
This was easily remedied by raising the chair about eight inches.
It now sits on four heavy duty plastic feet, specifically designed for the purpose.
I think she got them from one of those Help The Aged/mobility shops, for about twenty quid.
She has no problem getting in and out of the chair now.

Anonymous said...

Oh lordy, I wonder how long before that happens to me? I already have Scoliosis, I don't deserve any more do I?