Family Matters

[Stanley]

Susan rang and said that even though it was very hot, the event was lovely and Janet would have approved. No accident that I had a deep sleep last night and woke in better fettle than recently..... There is light at the end of the tunnel!

[Sue]

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[Moh]

Takes time Stanley but you will get there xx

[Stanley]

Thanks Kids..... XXX

[Stanley]

Another step towards normality. Susan flies out of Perth on Wednesday and will be back on Thursday to some proper winter weather! 30C to below freezing..... I'll be so glad to see her back home and I know she's looking forward to it as well. (Her husband Mick might be pleased as well! He's had 3 months home alone.....) It's progress.

[Stanley]

A report from Margaret this morning that Susan flew out of Perth at 05:40 this morning. Not sure whether that is local time or adjusted for the UK. Whatever, she is on her way home.....

[Stanley]

Susan was back in her hutch as of 23:00 last night. Yippee!!

[PanBiker]

Good news Stanley a bet an overdue hug is in the offing.

[Stanley]

She could end up with cracked ribs.......

[PanBiker]

Go for it anyway, I'm sure she'll cope.

[Stanley]

She did. I had a visit today. Lovely........

[Stanley]

I've been thinking (always dangerous when Stanley starts thinking.....) I think I'm doing OK but something I have noticed of late is that I am not feeling totally secure, I have a sense of foreboding about things in general. I'm pretty sure this is simply a reflection of the shattering events we have passed through during the last four months. Don't worry about me, I think I have a handle on it but just wanted you to know where I am at. I shall do a bit of cooking and then get in the shed! XXX

[Wendyf]

Get that little stove lit Stanley, the warm glow of a fire helps to keep that sense of foreboding under control.

[Marilyn]

I often get that feeling, Stanley. And it is generally right!

[Wendyf]

I try to soak up all the good feelings to use in battle against the forebodings when they creep up on me.

[Cathy]

Thoughts (good or bad) become things...
. Choose the good ones.

[Tizer]

Time for the Blitz spirit, Stanley! Mrs Tiz and me have been affected by all the fuss about Brexit and Trump but you had even more immediate things happening to you in 2016. As far as Trump and Brexit are concerned, we've decided that we have to look on it as entertainment otherwise we'd go crackers.

We've been filling in new Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) forms. We had the old type EPA for each other but that doesn't cover health & lifestyle, only financial affairs. When we set up the new ones we'll abandon the old. They were simply providing for each of us to be attorney for the other. The new ones will do that but also have one of my relatives who lives locally as a second attorney. It's not just for if we might become mentally disabled at some stage but also because we can see how a situation could arise where we simply couldn't cope well with modern living, even though we were otherwise mentally OK. The world around us is changing fast. I don't use a smartphone, sometimes I can't understand people because they talk so fast and in `estuary English', I'm not up to speed with all the things needed to live in this rapidly changing world. So it's best that we prepare in advance and my relative can then stand in for us where necessary.

[Marilyn]

Your feelings of dread may be related to going forth in life without tinned potatoes, Stanley

[Stanley]

Being a touch over the weight I want to be is part of it Maz. I am attacking that!!
Tiz, I share much of what you report, there are so many aspects of life that depress me and yes, young people gabble! My LPAs are done and registered. Janet knew before she died that she had power over me and it made her laugh. Worth the money and the trouble just for that.



My main defence is doing good work in the shed! Wonderful therapy!

[Whyperion]

Sense of foreboding fear.
Given that a goodly few of us have survived WW2, National Service, the 60s threat and cold war, one would think that nothing could be thrown generally at us that would be a problem ( direct personal family events excepted maybe ). But those 'far away' threats tended to come from people who supposedly were not on 'our side' and could be met collectively, maybe the problem lately is the threats are from people, and institutions, that are supposed to be on our side.

[PanBiker]

A fantastic day out today with family. My brothers eldest lad, my nephew Darren was up "glamping" with the family. We arranged to meet up with Darren his wife Sarah and three kids, Ben, Amy and Sam at Malham. We had our three grandchildren, Ruby, Isla ad Finlay and our kids Carla and Jack came along as well. It's Jacks birthday tomorrow.
Darren and his family live down in Brighton so we decided to do a nice circular up round Malham. We we took them up to Janet's Foss and then onward to Gordale Scar then over the fell to the top of Malham Cove and then back down to the village most of the kids got proper mucky and a couple fairly wet as well. Carla brought the dog but took it home before meeting us at the pub, she brought Anthony her husband with her as we had we had booked for the 13 of us at the Buck for our tea. Anthony couldn't make the walk as he had to wait for a new kitchen appliance to be delivered and then fit it. It was a nice walk, 5.5 miles all in the dry and quite warm when the sun came out. Nice to meet up with some of the southern contingent of the family and show them a bit of our scenery. Darren was pageboy at our wedding, a good day all round, grandchildren are with us tonight, they should sleep well.

[Stanley]

Proper family day out Ian!

[Stanley]

Update on the brood.... The kids in Oz seem to have made their adjustments. Susan and I are still in limbo as the interminable process of probate moves at a snail's pace. Reminds me of Jarndice v. Jarndice in Dickens' Bleak House. We must be getting closer but no indication of a time scale. The sooner the better, it is wearing but we are managing. Life will then get back to somewhere near normal. (One thing is certain, the lawyers are on a good thing!)
Ten minutes later.... News just in that plans to raise the Inheritance Tax in May have been dropped due to the election. I have a feeling that this was a big factor in the delay in probate. I hope I am right!

[Whyperion]

I dont think we had an excessive probate (letters of admin in our case) for Mother-In-Laws, just downloaded the forms, swore an oath at local solicitors, took to local relevant court who gave an interview date to the executor/administrator about six weeks after dropping off the forms.

So far as I know there were no <detrimental> changes to the scope or rate of IHT planned (possibly amendments to what LAs could claim from estate for care costs, and the proposed uplifting of Zero rate band on a single personally owned domestic residance if passing to a blood-line descendant) (I think that comes in from April this year - and despite the headline amount announced in newspapers a couple of years back, the full £125000k per person if married/partnership couple, wont be reached until 2022, while the £375k IHT per individual remains fixed (which is an effective reduction IF inflation of asset prices continues).

[Stanley]

Sorry, you are wrong. Most estates were facing a big increase in the tax payable starting in May. Some would escape of course, this always happens under complicated rules but most would see a claim for hundreds of pounds escalate to thousands. In complicated cases where domicile was raised as an issue by HMRC it could be much worse.