All out of spoons

Spoon Theory has become quite well known as a way of explaining how people with certain illnesses or disabilities have to manage their pain, energy and wellness levels. Thankfully, although I live with the concept of it, my condition is nowhere near as bad as that of many others. For the most part, I juggle my spoons reasonably well... until somebody or something throws a spanner in the works.

As I said on Thursday, I was going down with some kind of coldy, fluey type bug. Thursday night, I was so bunged up, it took me ages to get to sleep. Then, at four in the morning, whoever was in the room above me, started banging doors, shouting, thumping around and generally being noisy until just after half past five. I did consider going up and asking them to be quiet or reporting it to reception but I didn't want to put myself in a potentially violent situation and they no longer have phones to reception in the bedrooms, so I tried to ignore it. I did eventually get a little more sleep but it was a spoon-stealing night!

When I rolled through reception for breakfast, the lady on the desk asked me whether I'd slept well. I explained about the noise, to discover that she already knew plenty about it. Apparently, the night guard had been up to intervene but then realised that the occupants of the room were, in the words of Citizen Khan, "doing tang-tang," and they are not allowed to knock and interrupt such things. She was very apologetic though and offered to refund that night's fee. I had already been thinking that I needed to leave a day early, as I was still feeling pretty rubbish, so I suggested that rather than refunding that night, could I just cancel the following night. Bless her heart! She did both! So I got the tang-tang night refunded and went home a day early. Big shout out to Premier Inn! It's the first time I've ever had a negative experience there and their response will certainly ensure my continued business.

Breakfast helped me to replace a couple of spoons, which certainly helped with the journey home. It rained almost all the way, so the car was anything but white by the time I pulled into my drive. I tried out a new route though and on this occasion, it took less spoons than the M1 usually does. I went M25, M11, A14, A1(M), M18... via a Little Chef for lunch (which was better than I remember them being).

I'm so glad I came home when I did, as I'm still quite unwell even now, hence the lack of posts. Today, I managed to help Neil get the spare bedroom finished (curtains hung, bed made) but needed an afternoon nap to recover. I'm very glad that I don't go back to work until Tuesday. Hopefully the extra day will help me to get through the week.

So, my experience of spoons this week:

• being ill = half daily spoons allowance
• disturbed sleep = -3 spoons
• someone being kind = 1 spoon
• full English breakfast = 3 spoons
• driving in the rain = -2 spoons
• driving on the M1 = -5 spoons
• driving alternative route = -3 spoons
• seeing Neil = 3 spoons
• sleeping in own bed = 5 spoons
• Neil's slow cooked pork (Saturday) = 5 spoons