Friday

Sometimes I feel like SCREAMING. The people from Crawfords are the most annoying, condescending, unhelpful and rude people I am currently dealing with. After waiting for phone calls ('we'll get back to you within the hour') that never came, I speak to a really irritating woman who, when I tell her that we are living in dire conditions and I am worried about my daughter's health, says 'that's not my problem'. Louis phones from work and I tell him (between tears of frustration) what is (or not) happening. He has had enough and phones our insurance broker Joan to say we wish to complain about Crawfords. She's appalled and promises to look into matters. Louis soon gets a call from Zurich, who are the actual insurers for the building and they promise to give the go-ahead for the work - apparently the person who took the initial call mistakenly put it down as a small leak! They have just been informed by the Chemdry man that it is a major problem that needs sorting asap. I then receive three phone calls within an hour with the promise of action. We are given the go-ahead to find alternative accommodation when we need it. If only Crawfords were so efficient.