Making the Best of it.

*Robin*

So. It's been a while, folks. Drifting in a swirling fog, no - floating. Subsumed by essential routine, with just now and then sufficient energy to attempt an "extra" task - be it physical or a mental challenge.

But. The thing is; I need you lot. Made a couple of utter bloopers -jaw-dropping MSE mistakes [maybe more than two; can't remember just now] while I've been AWOL. In the Land of Fog. At least one - the Lawyer - makes a bit of a story; will tell you another time - it's an important thing which I need a push to sort out.

Was sinking into debt again before the family home sold. Since then am no longer in the red - but still at times lamentably poor at managing funds; to whit, m' pension-pot.
Improvement projects at the new house are on-going; happily DS4 is in charge.

M' health has been so rocky of late that I can rarely manage to do more than walk with the dog** before horizontality becomes obligatory; flopping exhausted on m' bed - which as a lifestyle [albeit unwilling] does have the one advantage of being very economical!
Having a diary before, did make it easier to keep motivated - eye on ball. Still feels like a huge privilege, being debt free; easy to be generous. But; do also need to remember it's not a bottomless pot - and thanks to the Tory pension swipe against 50s women, am amongst the many thousands who must wait another five years before that kicks in.

Confession time. Spendy days are very spendy. Am probably running at about 27 NSDs a month now, due to not having enough energy / the fog being thin enough to actually achieve anything. But those other three or four days a month, are shopping days. Mostly online; everything except fresh food.
All could be considered "useful" stuff; an eclectic basket of possible 'treasures.' Too easy to get carried away - ha! - a particularly shameful purchase will be part of m' confession [in following posts] - looking back, it was quite funny, and the items concerned can be re-purposed so wasn't a total loss. This lesson cost not quite three figures. A timely reminder - how much I've missed being here.. Sometimes do need telling..

Hmm.

Well. Hooray. It's a start. Doesn't make much sense yet I expect.. But it's time to let the remaining few brain-cells go off duty for tonight.

Dare I press "Submit New Thread"? :think:


**At least 5000 steps a day - or nasty symptoms happen. That's not much for most of you reading this, but my fellow PwME Long-Termers will understand it is a significant challenge.
Couldn't do it without M, the dog. More - probably much more - of him later; progression [we now think] from trainee guard dog reject, through abandonment and rescue, blossoming* into a [mostly] trust-worthy Assistance Dog without whom I would no longer be able to live [more-or-less] independently. There are still areas which need work - for us both - but to be fair M hasn't let me down yet, behaviour-wise. He has learned enough to earn his patches [inc L plates ].
*Seems an odd word to use for a dog, but brain fog is descending again now; nothing better comes to mind.

MatyMoo

Welcome back!

Have lurked on your previous diary & was concerned by your absence

Sun_Addict

Welcome back Robin :j Another one concerned by your absence.

maggiem

Welcome back Robin, hope your health improves and the brain fog lifts too. Good to ‘hear’ from you.

Fudgefund

Hi Robin! I'm glad to see you still have a canine friend to look after you and vice versa. I have subscribed, I hope being back on here helps make you feel a bit better. :grouphug:

doingitanyway

I was a lurker on your last diary and wondered what happened to you. Nice to see you back

*Robin*

Good morning MSE World, :hello:

Thanks for the welcome back, to those who have liked my first post or better yet, commented. Much appreciated.

Previous version of the rest of this post deleted - sent to a more appropriate place.
At least it all got written down; been trying to do that for three weeks!

*Robin*

Gosh. Another two weeks. Gone.. Predictably I crashed; the stress of never knowing when the mentally ill neighbour is going to kick off, the lack of refreshing sleep caused by his "episodes" [why are 90% of these at night?] has cost me, again. I need to write it up for the Police. Again. It's not very MSE but a group of us neighbours are probably going to lawyer-up; the HA are breaking their own rules, the Police are failing to protect me as a vulnerable disabled person, also the other neighbours and innocent passers-by [women and children] who get assaulted. The sick man's carer is failing in her duty towards him.. Everyone is fed up with the situation.
Still, it's freezing hard tonight and so far he has not ventured outside. It is weird to look forward to wet or freezing weather; times when we can hope for peace. I zonked out straight after a short afternoon dog-walk so woke up an hour ago [3am] to discover it was only 4'C in here, as I'd fallen asleep without the heating on. Dear Musketeer was stretched out next to me, under my fluffy fake-fur day-rug; bless him for keeping me warm.

Divo Four left me a plate of food before he went on retreat for the weekend; bless him too, it was very tasty. This place is a tip, I should wash up and put away the Xmas presents which arrived over the past couple of weeks - all shopping done on-line this year. Only DGS has been missed out, but as an "Emperor Child" he gets so many presents from all the family that I'll be adding to his Driving Lessons Fund instead; a kids' ISA.

Managed to avoid getting sucked into Black Friday. Little pat on the back for that; almost all the gifts I bought came from charity sites. Found some good 'uns this year although most are tokens - family policy; homeless people, orphans in Nepal and abused animals charities will benefit instead. We have enough, we are really so lucky.

Still have not sorted out the problem with my ex-solicitor. She was great, but her minions left an awful lot to be desired. One of them sent me a demand for three times the amount of tax I owed on the new house transaction, after forwarding a contact for the sale which contained so many mistakes it was hilarious.

Oh dear, spoke too soon. Sick neighbour is out jumping on cars, trying to set off their alarms. Sigh. At least he is wearing a jacket and long trousers [usually he is in underwear and barefoot], so I don't feel obliged to go out and send him back home. 0540. Another note for the Police diary.

Where was I? Ha, it's taken me almost two hours to write thus far. No headache at the moment, thank goodness, but still very slow.
Oh yes, the contract for buying New House: There were about a dozen serious errors in it, the most glaringly obvious in one sentence detailing purchase price. This price was written twice, once in figures and once in words. Not only were the two amounts different, but neither was correct!
When I called Ex-Solicitor to complain, she said they are obliged to forward the document provided by the vendor's solicitor. To which I replied that I was paying for her firm's expertise; it would have been fine if they'd sent a note with it saying:
"As you can see there are so many mistakes in this contract we can't possibly let you sign it, so we've sent it back to Vendor's solicitor for correction."
As opposed to what the minion actually wrote:
"Here's the contract. Please sign and return."
Nevertheless I paid that part of the bill in full.

I also used the same firm to have new EPAs drawn up. These were dealt with by a different minion. As far as I was concerned, his job was to ensure all the details were correct before sending off the paperwork to be registered, a service for which they charged around £400 per EPA. He obviously didn't look at the documents at all, because it turned out that one of my witnesses had omitted to include the country at the end of her address. A month later I was told that because of this, the EPA had to be re-written, for which there would be another charge of £400. I refused to pay it, considering the fault to be the minion's ineptitude.

Months later, I was back in Spain when there was a panicked 8am call from Divo Four. Two bailiffs were in the kitchen of New House, demanding £2,250! Apparently Ex-solicitor had taken me to court [in Manchester, hundreds of miles away] for the entire bill, which they'd been awarded with costs because I knew nothing about it, and so had not offered a defense. I paid over the 'phone to get rid of the bailiffs.

It's now over a year later. Ex-solicitor's accountants have not been in touch to return the majority of the money which I'd already paid, and they'd demanded again at court. If anyone knows who I should complain to about this, and hopefully get compensation, please let me know.

Suffolksue

Hi,Delurking to say The Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) sorted out my late Aunts useless one ( I was unfortunately joint executor with him)
This was 20 yrs ago but think they still exist
Good Luck

doingitanyway

I don't have any useful legal information but just saying hello and you are doing so well. Your kindness radiates.

*Robin*

Suffolksue wrote: »

Hi,Delurking to say The Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) sorted out my late Aunts useless one ( I was unfortunately joint executor with him)
This was 20 yrs ago but think they still exist
Good Luck

Thank you very much, Suffolksue, at last a place to start looking into this.