Moving with PMR

We bought a flat for my daughter to live in about 15 months ago - an empty, renovated flat in Scotland so it took barely 3 weeks from finding it online to getting the key (just as well or she would have been on the street). However, I called RBS to find out what I had to do to transfer the money to the solicitor's account, wrote, printed, signed and faxed the instructions to the number they gave us, it made the fax-sound and we got the confirmation it had reached the number. On the day before we discovered it hadn't reached the solicitor's account. First thing next morning I rang RBS - you can no longer speak to your branch, it's all done via a call centre staffed with fools, it had taken hours the first time, and in response to "this is urgent, I need to be put through to the branch" got the usual "oh we can't do that, we'll send them a message and they will get in touch with you within 3 hours".

I spoke through gritted teeth and they did seem to get the message that that was no use, I was an hour ahead of them, the shop with the fax would be closed until 3pm and if I didn't get to speak to them NOW my daughter would be on the street to sleep.  The impossible was achieved, I was put through. 

I mean - who on earth has a fax at home these days? And an emailed pdf of the scanned original wasn't acceptable - can anyone explain why not? The fax they receive is no different. It took 3 goes to get the damn thing to the right place but she got her keys. I felt like a piece of wrung out loo roll - and realised just how much the combo of PMR and pred takes out of you however well you might feel 99.9% of the time.

I love my bank here - you can phone them, you can go in in person - and they make the appropriate calls while you are there to sort out any mess - like when someone paid the invoice for a translation into an account that was closed 2 years ago. The bank had it in a safe place and all I had to do was ask - they HAD failed to send me a letter telling me there was money waiting for me but it only took about 10 minutes to get it sorted. 

Never, ever bank with RBS.  Must be the worst bank in England!  Have several friends who have had difficulties.  David actually started proceedings agains them.  Surprisng how quickly they got back to us!

We realised our money was in between!  In between where I ask and our bank manager went on hols...very convenient. The days ticked by slowly with no resolve. It seemed our money had disappeared...quite frightening. No more bacs or chaps for me.

off to watch the rugby. Do you support England or Italy. Have a good afternoon.

x

We have banked with RBS since we were at uni in Dundee, had never had any trouble at all and our local branch staff all knew us. We lived in the country in Scotland, the branch was 2 doors down! All the changes that have come in have made us wish we had changed while we were still in the UK - it is a very different matter getting a UK account when you no longer live there. Because we had had our accounts for a long time it wasn't a problem keeping them on. It works reasonably well online and they don't have a lot of our money!

As a true Scot I support Scotland and whoever is playing England (though I can't bring myself to support Australia). Otherwise Wales 

I like the way you think, Julian35026.

It works for me too. Thank you!

very true. a sense of humor is the best weapon for survival. 

Certainly.  And I have a lot of rubbish situations at the moment, so I'll just pop into the loo and have a good laugh at myself in the mirror.  Mind you  can only see out of one eye at the moment (flu has caused closed, swollen eyes, ear ache, PMR back with a vengence, headache, etc etc.).

Still, if I recognise myself it will be a plus. Don't think that young doctor would say I look like a young 70 year old at the moment!!

I refused variofocals - and I'm glad I did. I have distance and computer specs and tended to have to move them up and down my nose when the pred was higher. But at least I didn't have one area that was clear and another that wasn't. It does seem to have settled down a bit now.

Only trouble is I had to get new specs as an emergency when I mislaid them last summer. The strange optician insisted I had to have a stronger prescription and the frames are much bigger than my old ones - so now I can't get away with moving the distance ones down my nose to read something, I have to take them off altogether and hold the text about 3 inches from the end of my nose to see it. I'd love to be told I had cataracts - I could have good distance vision and only need reading glasses for the first time in my life!

Grumpy and a bit short on patience fits the bill Tricia.  I think it is quite natural when you are trying to cope with a condition that has taken control of your body and won't go until it's ready.  It is not a well known condition, and people around you don't understand what a struggle it can be sometimes to keep going particularly when you know you have to pace yourself and all you really want to do is rest now and then.

I was very short-tempered with PMR - even more so than normal. I think I have mellowed a bit on the pred but others say it makes them moody - who knows!