22 Foxhole East

mark55man

well done @f0xh0les - doing everything possible in such a short time is amazing, making sure your SG's last wishes were honoured would have made her very happy - although I am sure she would have found one thing to moan about!.

I hope you manage to come to terms with it all when you are back home.  You should give yourself permission to indulge yourself a little with your share and maybe have a family holiday - with kids at the age yours are, you haven't many years left before it just doesn't happen any more.

all the best and welcome back 

Bluegreen143

Sorry to hear about your step gran @f0xh0les. I’m glad she had a pain-free death and that the funeral was good.

f0xh0les

Busy old me this morning.  Just booked the ferry (cheap times, used £15 of loyalty points and the reward cc) I will get it back from the estate anyway.  Contacted 2 estate agents to meet to view the property during the time I am there (4 days) when I will fill the holes in the private road with chippings, remove the last of her personal items from the house, scrub the patio, meet with the banks, talk to the solicitor re timescales, and submit more expenses.

I have kept the Elderly Relatives By Marriage (ERBM) informed of what I am up to.

The mail redirection begins today - expense form submitted.

In happier news, I did not put on any weight while  I was away.  Surprising, as I existed on tiger baguettes and hobnobs and coffee 95% of the time.  So I came home and hit the slumfast shakes, and am down 3lbs already. So the next goal is 12.7 hopefully by the May Bank Hol weekend. Which is also when I will return home.

greent

Even if the contents belong to you now redistributing them in any way is still a legitimate estate expense that you can claim - it's still part of dealing with the estate and sending personal-related things to other (ultimately monetary) beneficiaries is definitely justifiable... x

f0xh0les

It felt like I spent half the day on the phone to one bank,  waiting on authorisation links,  emailing death certs, copies of my passport, and all that jazz.  Got cut off twice.  Hopefully it will pay off.   The rest of the day was spent in Grantche$ter.  or cooking and feeding kids.  I am still dieting, and getting ready to go back to Ireland.  Busy making lists so that I don't forget to do anything while I am over there.

f0xh0les

I am sailing across the Irish Sea. The crossing is completely calm, the Isle of Man looks beautiful.

Got up at 4.30, left the house at 5am, drove West across country on the A5 Roman Road called Watling Street all the way to nearly Wales, then North on the A41 up past Chester and to Birkenhead. Got there at 8.30, boarded the boat at 9.15, sailed just after 10.  I am your roving reporter.  The boat is pleasantly empty, lots of places to sit, and curl up, and I had a nap between 1pm and 3pm.  I have not ventured into the onboard (free) cinemas, as I have seen the films already (lots of Marvel options and I really don't want to see the Peter the Bunny film.  Vegan options onboard are non-existant, but fear not! I came armed with 3 small s0reen gingerbread cakes and a very small piece of french bread sandwich. The coffee is lovely though. I have a litre of soya milk in my bag ( in a carton, not loose)

I feel very proud of myself - honestly, I am not a confident driver, I am competent, but I would rather leave an hour earlier and do 50-60 on A roads and get there alive.  So I did.  I also prefer to sit on a boat and let it take me the length of Wales rather than drive it all the way to Holyhead after three and a half hours of driving.

The Isle of Man is gone now (well, it is still there, I just can't see it).

It is becoming clear to me, that all my ties to Northern Ireland will be severed once the house sells.  That makes me quite sad.  It is a very beautiful place, if you have not been, you really should. 

Chrystal

Glad the crossing is calm, and I agree with you about taking the 'easy' route... why put more stress on yourself when you don't have to.

You'll always have your memories of N.I.  and hopefully will be able to chuckle over the shinanigans of StepGran when you're sitting quietly remembering.  (((hugs))) XX

kerri_gt

Sending you sailing hugs F0xh0les. This must be a very poignant journey for you (and glad to hear you aren't dripping soya milk on the ferry floor. Btw, the Peter bunny film is fab if that's the one...if not I'm not down with the kids nor up on my new releases).

Well done on the driving, I have started avoiding M ways since some plonker decided removing hard shoulders which have existed with good reason for many years was somehow a SMART move...an oxymoron by a moron indeed.

QueenJess

kerri_gt said:

Well done on the driving, I have started avoiding M ways since some plonker decided removing hard shoulders which have existed with good reason for many years was somehow a SMART move...an oxymoron by a moron indeed.

Isn't that because they had a report commissioned which said they were safer and then more recently another one was commissioned to say that they are more dangerous

badmemory

I'd be interested to meet the one who wrote the original report.  & not in a good way.