Hi,
Thanks for everybody's concern ... I was having similar thoughts myself. Eg ... "Am I OK?". No , not really ... my knees hurt, but that is par for the course. I few days ago, I marooned myself on the way back to bed, carrying two cups of coffee ... knees didn't want to go any further. Normally, I'd just grab the nearest bit of furniture, and hang until I recover... but I didn't have a spare hand to hang on with.
Previously, my Head Carer, a formidable African lady arrived to catch me half-way up a ladder. She wasn't willing to listen, while I tried to explain that I had dragged my self up, by hand, only using my feet as sorts of ratchets. Previously the Head Honcho-ess, and Barbara had had loud words, The rest of the care team made themselves scarce.. The two girls are still friends ...
She Who Must be Obeyed often treats/brings us fish and chips.
Completely OT ... some of you may remember that we moved from the Swansea Valley to Milton Keynes. Big price differential. Oh OK, we had to find an extra £70,000.Problem! We were both aged about 80, so none of the High Street banks, nor Building Societies would entertain us. So I aproached an Equity Release firm to see if they could offer their service, but as a FIRST mortgage. Not a problem, all done and dusted within a matter of days. As far as I can make out, we do not have to make ANY repayments. Their investors prefer to wait for the interest to roll up .... 4%
compound. Barbara decreed that we would make monthly payments sufficient to cover the interest. It seems painless!
The lenders wrote to us, offering a £25 reward for any suggestions that might improve their service.
I pointed out that the conventional property lenders demand that the mortgage should be expected to be repaid before retirement, or expected death. The Equity Release release lenders demand that the debt, PLUS compound interest, will be repaid on the borrowers death (which might come as a nasty surprise to one's heirs). The cheque for £25 arrived by return of post.
I have recently noticed adverts, from that particular lender, now offering FIRST mortgages ... I think without the need to make monthly repayments. We are happy, apart from only receiving £25, for a suggestion that will probably earn them millions.
Do your own research.. It is probably not a good idea to borrow huge amounts of money, to purchase a depreciating asset.
Whoops, I forgot what I'm replying to. Most of my time recently has been spent on the drawing
board screen, working on my builder's (Irish ... with a degree) suggestion to cut a hole in the bathroom wall, and a similar hole in the garage wall, and build a short link between the two, and move all the sanitation porcelain into one half of the garage, and keep the other half as a "man cave" accessed from the rear garden. Hmmm ... our current 5ft by 6ft "facilities" room contains a porcelain throne, a wash basin, and an electric shower, but no shower cubicle (so easy for my "Ladies of the Wash" to observe me in action, assisting when necessary, and then dry my back.,.. etc
). Thinks ... bath, shower, basin, bidet, and "scatter can" (gentleman's urinal) and WC. Any other suggestions? The washing machine and tumble drier, could be moved from the conservatory to the current shower space, but that is a longish walk to the garden door ... Hey! That would be the carer's problem.
The other half of the garage can be fitted out as a hobby machine shop ... I already have a grinder, pedestal drill, and circular "chop" saw. The brick built, with piers, garage is only 9ft wide
externally, so not really wide enough to work on a car ... or even open doors on both sides at the same time.
Bays in car parks are required to be 8ft wide. Cars should be required to drive into parking bays, and reverse out. Also, everybody should park with their off-side wheels ON the white line, which would give the maximum door opening space to everybody.
602
PS, Warning received that I had new replies.
My thanks to everybody for their kind thoughts.
My father once commented that he didn't know how to be "ill". I know what he meant. Apart from the childhood stuff, until recently I have been stupidly healthy ... two months in Croydon General with a broken femur, followed by a weeks concussion, aged 16. And in 1964, I missed a 12 month tour at USAF base HICKAM FIELD on Honolulu (If you saw the film PEARL HARBOUR, the two American fighter pilots "sortied" from Hickam Field.) After three weeks in RAF Hospital Wroughton, confined to bed, the Quacks informed me the my
Tuberculosis was cured. Somebody else got my posting. All's well, etc. I assume the RAF "vetted" me very carefully, before deciding that RAAF Butterworth, on the Malayan mainland, was a good place for me to be, not realising that Barbara would accept my proposal, and want to come with me. I've said it before, I gave her two years living on Penang Island, swimming in the Indian Ocean every afternoon. She managed to save more than the RAF would have paid me, had we still been in the UK. Us Brits were paid enough to keep up with the Australian Jones'. I think the RAF liked me.
Our Malaysian mongrel flew to UK, in a QANTAS 707. . (£700, then). We came home in an Eagle Airways Britannia turbo-prop "troop-ship" ... narrow aisle, due to the extra row of seats. 26 hours, refuelling stops at Mumbai, and Istanbul. My father met us at Heathrow.
602 (General Service Medal with Arabian Peninsular clasp, Campaign Medal with Malaysian Peninsular clasp, both little more than luggage labels. The Pingat Jasa Medal, was given to all foreign troops, who were in Malaysia during the
Conflict Years. I'm not sure what conflict that was. Anybody know? There was "conflict" when UK Parliament decreed that we should not receive two medals for one campaign. Silly ... they were taking on the British military ... and lost. I know ....
Doh! My ladies have arrived and demand I strip off ... no arguments. I know my place.
602
