The wonderful sparkly Elite Christmas thread of love, dreams and glitches ©

barbaraemmerson

Ooooo do I actually get to say Good morning before Westie?
Lol this time difference has its advantages! Home tomorrow though.........reality is about to bite - along with the credit card bills - but it has been soooo worth it being with DD - so sad dropping her off back at her flat tonight..........

Westvleteren

Morning all

Forgetful

morning!!
:wave:

sured

Morning :j

elainemn

:)Morning all. Off to pictures today to see Wreck it Ralph. Free screening. OH & me managed 4 tickets each so taking DDs friends. Thanks to newspaper thread last Sunday for this. There is a free screening of Les Misrables on there today for
Free Cinema Tickets to see a Preview screening of Les Miserables

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/prmt...il-Sunday.html

The code was released yesterday on different sites, and the ticket website has been in melt down ever since.

Code is on newspaper thread
Screenings are on the 8th of Jan at 6.30

Thanks to The Old Bag (OP on newspaper thread).

Laura_Cello

Morning! :j

baking day and using up from the freezer here... alongside taking down the tree. It has gone so quickly!!

sending all good wishes Mhoc for DD's future MIL.

wirehair

Good morning

streetlights

Good Morning everybody, I hope you are well and have a very relaxing Sunday. Happy shopping.

Milliesmum

fairclaire wrote: »

Epic post alert. No need to read or reply:D just getting a matter off my chest.

Been quiet for the last couple of days because I had a dilemma. My dear dad who died just nearly 4 years ago owned a holiday home in France. He spent almost half of the year there after he retired and divorced my mother and he loved it dearly. When he died I inherited it. I went there about a month after he died but it was a bit soon for me to decide what to do with it so I pretty much mothballed the place. He was friendly with a local man who agreed to 'care take' the place for me. I paid him twice year ever since in return for him sorting out a few minor maintenance issues, having the gardens done and passing on mail etc.

I have pretty much buried my head in the sand about the place after that. I had hoped back then we may grow to love it as our holiday home in years to come? maybe. But as my Oh wont leave the house, never mind board a plane that's unlikely:(. Anyway, I had a letter from dads caretaker friends daughter to tell me he had passed away:( so I now have no choice but to face up to it and sort it out.

I have a colleague who has a friend who deals in property on the continent and I have been in touch with him. My choices are basically....keep it and pay someone to maintain it. Rent it out as a holiday let ( Im not keen on that), or sell it. So I've spent all night looking for flights and am going there on Thursday next week. I will attend the funeral of my dads friend, have a good look at the place and decide what I want to do.

I feel very heavy hearted about it. I think once I deal with it my last ties with my dad will be gone:(....that makes me feel very sad. But if I think about it practically we have been living off a diminishing amount if savings fir 6 months and whatever I decide, this could be a source of income

Sorry for a long post. My OH just looks at me with a blank face when I try to discuss with him.....he has lost track of what's what financially:o

Hi FC, I haven't had chance to post much recently, but was moved by your post as I grabbed a few minutes to skim read.
I'm sorry to hear of your dilemma, and would echo the thoughts of many of the others regarding the memories you have of your Dad - these will remain with you forever. Silly thing, but I remember crying as I reluctantly cleared out the last of the cakes from my freezer that my Mum had baked (and which my Dad had given us when he had to move shortly after her death) - I'd hung on to them for well over a year, just because I knew she'd made them.
We use a managing agent in Spain to look after our little apartment, and although it means an annual fee, for us it's well worth the money for the peace of mind. They vet any potential guests, and they do a "spruce up" clean beforehand, and a proper clean after the guests have left. They also do a weekly check of the property, and have links with tradespeople who can tackle any maintenance issues.
We don't do much in the way of letting, but family and friends use it, and we just ask them for a contribution to cover the cost of lighting, water, etc.
I hope your visit helps you to resolve your dilemma - if nothing else it will give you a change of scenery and perhaps a little "me" time to figure things out.
Thinking of you.
MM

Call_of_Trouty

Morning all

Free cookery books for your kindle or android devices


http://www.hotukdeals.com/freebies/loads-free-recipe-kindle-from-amazon-1435896

Not sure if there's a kindle app for your ipaid devices