Travelling On

Karmacat

Aww, thank you earthie

It's taken me an hour to fill in the new ISA form :eek:
Which is about having money, lets be fair they wanted my bank details, and details of the stocks and shares isa and the cash isa that I'm transferring to them. Perfectly reasonable, really :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: it's just a lot of faff I was terrified the form would time out halfway through, but they obviously know how long this stuff takes people, even if it's on hand. All done - and thank heavens I have new printer cartridges ready to install, because one form needs printing, and my horticultural society also wants printed application forms for the day trips.

French management company has just emailed me that the apartment block is closing down for two months, I think for maintenance - I think I still get rent, which is legally due, so ... okay!

It's been raining and/or drizzling all morning - I'm pleased, actually, the garden really needs it.

SB is doing good, weirdly. I'll also withdraw £15 from Pinecone soon - Amazon vouchers are really adding up, I think thats £75, will use for something electronic or even Christmas presents :cool:

teapot2

Good to know all your figures and have some plans as well. I've had at the back of my mind that I might get some equity out of my house at some point as I also don't have kids to leave it to.

Karmacat

Yep, in these circumstances, it makes sense, rather than moving - the house is starting to be set up the way I want it, the area is okay with good access to various facilities, why go through the trouble of moving if I can simply take some money out - with no kids needing help (and all of the next generation in owner-occupied) its a good deal.


I'm definitely starting to get things sorted. Need to wake up now, though, and the rain has stopped, so I'm off out to the garden to have a look.

Karmacat

So, that all went well:
- phoned brother yesterday, he was exhausted, so only about 5 mins, texted him today to make sure he's okay. Got to do the same tomorrow.
- did an hour in the garden - found *another* set of brambles, right where I've been working at the bottom :mad: most of the roots are gone.
- did a nozzle clean on my printer, managed to print out the ISA stocks and shares form they wanted me to fill in, plus one of the horticultural society trips, yay. Only had one thing left to print (the 2nd horticultural trip) so I wrote that one out by hand - my new printer cartridges stay nice and wrapped, for another day
- posted the horticultural stuff, using very old stamps :rotfl:
- I'll try to fill in the isa form tonight - I couldn't bear to do it today.
- binmen tomorrow - just a reminder to myself

I'm definitely making progress, but I'm not on top of the garden yet - I felt a bit hopeless this afternoon, hardly knew where to start - just got to keep going. Vrroooom.

teapot2

I recognise that feeling about the garden, it just seems never ending but good you are getting the house to be as you want it :cool:

Suffolk_lass

Karmacat wrote: »

Thanks beanie! I'll never work again, of course, and I'm not entitled to any benefits until my state pension, in 18 months, plus more than a third is inheritance - its not really me being toooo awesome :o:o

And I'm a middle child compared to one of my siblings, its really good, compared to the other its hopeless

I know now I could live on a state pension - so thats a big relief that I won't have to sell the house, though if I make it to very elderly, I might well take equity - that'll be okay, as I don't have kids who *need* the money.

Tomorrow, I'll apply for the isa, and budget for future expenditure:
- holidays, a couple of grand a year. Though a cruise would cost that (and probably more) so at first this amount would be higher.
- the boundaries to my property are absolutely shot - every single fence is rickety or actually already collapsed, the front gate has fallen off the gateposts, all the gateposts themselves have been vandalised, the garden gate at the side won't open, the (new) shed door won't shut in summer and won't open in winter, the patio needs to be relaid, I need to decide what to do with the decking at the far end, which is collapsing. Serious money needs to be thrown at all of that. Which is liveable, because I have it.

What I'm really thinking about, though, is this guy, Andrea Camilleri, who just died aged 93: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jul/17/andrea-camilleri-late-but-great-career-in-writing-inspector-montalbano He started writing when he was almost 70 :beer: so I have time :beer:

I love Andrea Camillieri's books - I read them when we are on holiday in Italy (albeit not Sicily). I especially love the TV programmes on a Saturday night!

Re garden it is a dilemma isn't it? I have to turn over a bit of the front garden for DH to park in so the patch that was once grass is going, and the Bay will be pruned hard and moved with lots of cuttings taken. I actually fancy a bay hedge. I haven't quite decided where my new Bergamot are going so they are in the butler sink with lots of water as we are away for a short trip shortly. We've been looking at the hex matting to locate under grass or gravel but maintaining the drainiage for the supplementary parking.

Karmacat

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I love Andrea Camillieri's books - I read them when we are on holiday in Italy (albeit not Sicily). I especially love the TV programmes on a Saturday night!

I'll have to give them a try, I've never actually read them :o:o

Re garden it is a dilemma isn't it? I have to turn over a bit of the front garden for DH to park in so the patch that was once grass is going, and the Bay will be pruned hard and moved with lots of cuttings taken. I actually fancy a bay hedge.

A bay hedge sounds great - mine is enjoying its new life in the big plantpot, so I may try to root some prunings next year. I also have a baby holly tree moved from its position (in the middle of the grass!) and I'll plant that up too, along wtih a few others.

I haven't quite decided where my new Bergamot are going so they are in the butler sink with lots of water as we are away for a short trip shortly. We've been looking at the hex matting to locate under grass or gravel but maintaining the drainiage for the supplementary parking.

Bergamot are so beautiful! I bought one on holiday in Norfolk, but it died and they look very unsuited to my soil. Hex matting sounds a good idea for your needs - the front of my house is almost all paved over already, which is why I only ever mention "the front border".

Hope your trip goes well, SL, thats the new camper?

themadvix

Hope your brother is feeling better today!

Karmacat

Stuff to do ... dishwasher's just finished, SB is doing its thing in the background, I put an order in to Amazon to use some of those vouchers - ashwagandha, microgreen seeds, and a set of flyswatters ... electic, moi? :rotfl:

I'm not going to do the isa form this morning - it needs to be posted by Saturday lunchtime, so I can do it later, hurray. So I'm off out for a bit - I'm going to do a second recce of my local airport, for a "set piece" in my apocafic novel not of the airport itself, but the route to get away from the mayhem I'm going to inflict on my protagonist


ETA - thanks madvix, we're texting back and forth

Watty1

Hope brother OK.


Wish I'd found the hex matting while we were rennovating here. The entire front garden is given over to parking and covered with hardcore topped with slate. Looked ok at the outset but now is beginning to look more 'municipal' that I would like. I found a secondhand source of fake grass and was very tempted to put that down but didn't .... and then today I saw the most wonderful olive tree which got me thinking ... I could get a digger in, dig a big hole and plant a few olive trees out there ....(very MSE there Watty :rotfl:)