femmenstein | Reading

I have an appointment with the private doctor to get the driving fitness certificate now. In theory we expect it to go smoothly from this point (apart from the unfair fact that I have to pay an extra hundred-something euros for this dubiously-useful medical certificate, but that isn't a logistical problem), and I can start driving lessons the week after next.

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cimorene

Last week Wax and I both noticed a low, constant noise coming from the toaster. Sort of high insect humming? This toaster was Wax's mom's and we've been using it since our last toaster broke shortly after her mom died (2020?), but I think her mom had it for quite a long time (2016ish?). It's definitely pretty old for a toaster, so I guess it retires honorably.

We've bought several toasters that broke very suddenly after comparatively short lives before. I went through a period when Smeg appliances started appearing more on social media of wanting one of theirs, though never enough to have paid as much as they cost; but then I read a bunch of reviews of them and concluded they're totally not worth it. And we definitely are not intensive enough toast users to justify the cost of a professional one. I resent the unnecessary ugliness of basic appliances though! There's no reason they couldn't all be reasonably cute, instead of half of them looking like they're trying to blend in on the men's hygiene aisle!

The other night I dreamed we were baking a coffee-flavored layer cake with chocolate icing. I told Wax, and yesterday she made a boiled chocolate cake with half the chocolate replaced with espresso, with 70% dark ganache instead of icing. It came out denser than usual, each of the layers only a few cm high after baking, but it did cook all the way through. Eating a piece is a bit like eating chocolate cake, and a bit like eating a handmade chocolate truffle.

We still haven't managed to take a walk yet on any day that didn't already require an emergency trip to the store in the last... month? Our goal remains walking together every day weather permits, and we continue to not make progress. Forming habits is very hard for people with ADHD, but it's quite frustrating.

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20 Doctor Who icons from 12x07 Can You Hear Me?

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cimorene

One thing about updating the decorative arts and design history blog is that my kneejerk loathing of the term "inspo" has me struggling multiple times a week with the strong impulse to block everyone who reblogs my posts with that tag.

It's good for me somehow, probably.

I'm currently exhausted because the spring that pushes the latch bolt out of the kitchen-hall door broke last night after midnight and we spent several hours fixing it this afternoon. Wax took the equivalent spring out of the lockbox of the dining-livingroom door because unfortunately the lockbox is a pre-1940 model and the springs are not manufactured anymore, nor are the parts interchangeable with the later springs from the 40s- model that are still in production, nor can the whole lockbox be easily switched (because the spindle and hole for it are not the same circumference and the boxes themselves can be different sizes). However, the two lockboxes aren't identical. In fact, it looks like the one that broke is the oldest one in the house. She had to squish the spring a bit to get it in, and it wasn't exactly the same shape and size, so we are nervous that it may break soon. (She did all the hard bits with tools, not trusting me not to injure myself, and I cleaned the insides of the lockboxes with q-tips dipped in vinegar and then oiled them with q-tips dipped in mineral oil.) Wax hopes we can get the blacksmith to make a new spring for the spot when that happens, rather than having to replace the entire mechanism, but we don't know how plausible that is.

We can't do without this door and its latch, but the lockboxes on the other doors are all other sizes so they can't be swapped. We need it latched to keep the cats apart! They're making progress, and they've touched noses now, but Tristana still retreats any time Sipuli gets a little excited, and they are only meeting with Sipuli on the leash.

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cimorene

The other day I saw a post about American politics on Tumblr that was just a screenshot of someone's tweet that said something like, "Fascism won't make America great. Universal healthcare, universal preschool, housing the homeless, and free higher education would make America great." By this standard, I'm living in utopia! (Or, well, living in Greatness-ia.) Finland has all that.

AND YET...

My efforts to get a driver's licence continue. Basically,

Signed up for driving school for lessons in how to drive stick. My US license expired more than ten years ago and I've never driven in Finland.

Online information indicates I should have to apply in person, but the customer service rep told me that I can disregard that and just apply for a first licence the normal way.

The normal way: a brief online form that will instantly issue a printable and downloadable permit that allows you to take the theory test and to drive with an instructor in a car.

But you can't do that if you have any of a list of health conditions which require a doctor's certificate. And the list includes ADHD.

There's a new law which seems to say you can't get these certificates from the health center anymore, but I called to check. The booking nurse at the health center thought they didn't do them anymore, but she also agreed that it seemed unfair. But she checked with two people and no, the public health service really aren't issuing certificates for driving for ANYBODY anymore.

I called the one private doctor center in town. According to their website, the minimum cost of one of these certificates is over 100€, just like waxjism predicted. Their receptionist didn't even know who to book me with (does ADHD require a specialist)? She'll call me back.

If it does, it will be like at least 150€ instead, because that's the base price for specialists.

And even worse, the list of conditions that now require EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has ever been diagnosed with them to get a certificate from a private doctor - which means in most cases also a NEW doctor, not their own GP who has treated them before - is not just ADHD. Everybody with any of these conditions (this is not the entire list either) is now taxed, at minimum, an extra hundred bucks for the privilege of getting a driver's licence in Finland, as of two months ago:

diabetes

any cardio issues including hypertension or a heart murmur

sleep apnea or insomnia or any other sleep disorders

any past severe depressions or recurrent panic disorders, or personality disorders

dyslexia

autism spectrum

any neurological conditions or injuries including migraines or any past brain or spinal injury

Insane. It's not just the financial burden for all these people, either; a brand-new doctor, a stranger, is at a disadvantage for determining if most of the conditions meant here are a danger or not.

So I'm waiting for a call back and Sipuli really doesn't understand why I won't take her outside in the sunshine.