Hello! The lights are on! Anybody about?

[Grandad]

Two whole days without a post? What's going on, or maybe, not going on guys?

I DO hope that LLL's absence is not a bad sign with regards to her son in laws father. Fingers crossed
I believe LLL had mentioned an upcoming few days across the border into the US so that might be the answer.
But it is SO unusual for nobody to have anything to say?
Me included; the extent of my activities this week have been a blood test at the hospital on Monday, cut back the hostas and a few other plants yesterday ready for garden waste collection, saw my doc yesterday to discuss a few things and that was very worthwhile. He had the blood results from the day before and said my kidney function was on the low side. I had already had a request from the surgery to see the practice nurse for a diabetic review. I am not diabetic but the doc said the treatment is the same for low kidney function so my pre arranged appointment has proved to be timely.
My wife is going into town this morning then this pm I need to clear the basin in the bathroom but I need her around as it is a bit more complicated than normal. One of the penalties of not having any exposed pipework
We are going to revamp our small hallway and I need to get some emulsion tomorrow. We are removing all existing pictures and have just purchased a large stretched canvas picture and will choose a wall colour to suit the picture (which is abstract). Is that doing things backwards? Choose a picture then paint the walls to suit the picture

I do hope you are all fit and well.

[Horus]

I suppose with so few of us it will go quiet at times, I have been busy sorting out a backlog of paperwork over the last week, really mundane stuff that meant going through lots of old receipts and statements, but it needed doing. Otherwise nothing exciting happening here, the weather is a bit hit and miss so we have not been out much, hopefully that will change over the next few days. We now have Virgin fibre right up to our properties and they are currently pushing their sales in the area. I am with BT and really have no problems, but although it is fibre the last 100 metres or so is still via the old copper wire network that cannot get any better with age. The advantage of swapping to Virgin is that I would no longer require a land line rented from BT especially as so many people nowadays just rely on mobiles to stay in contact. There is little doubt that at the moment I would save money by switching to them and even keeping my home phone with Virgin (they will retain my old number for me if I do) it is still half of what I pay now to BT. OK I appreciate that these offers never stay the same and within twelve months they will be hiked up, but to what level exactly is the problem. I suppose I will try and speak to BT and see what they are prepared to offer (if anything) to retain my custom, I did try chatting with them via their website but it soon became obvious that I was talking to some foreign call centre, so I gave up on that idea and that in itself annoyed me, why do these big companies make face to face contact so difficult?

[Grandad]

I know where you are coming from with your paperwork Horus. And I think you mentioned earlier, without being morbid, that a bit of sorting out can make things more straightforward when the time comes. And we have to face it, it happens to all of us.
I do everything online and as a result have very little paperwork. What I have is in one of those portable steel filing cabinets with twenty or so folders. I also have a few documents in my safe.
I have prepared a list headed 'Things to do when I am gone' with a copy in the safe for each of our three children. This is a list of all contact numbers, addresses, web addresses and passwords for every company or organisation that would need to be informed. Hopefully that would mean the job could be done in a day or two rather than weeks.
Having dealt with these things for my own and my wifes parents, I do know how time consuming it can be without some prepared information.

[Mad Dilys]

@Grandad and Horus seems we all have our minds on the same things. My daughter and I are arranging to go back to Kent and sort out the stuff in store. I left in such a hurry and expected to have moved on by now - c'est la vie.

I had a different Sparks come to do a safety check on the electrics today. Partly this was because of the original one being so elusive and partly because it seemed common sense. I read the previous report very carefully last weekend including the small print - where I found the part saying that it is advisable to get 2 opinions and if there is a difference reveal all to the participants for them to decide how it should be settled. Well more or less anyway.

Care and Repair have been very helpful. I had a visit from a member of their team to get the basic facts and what I might need support with, then she will refer it to her technical team who will check what repairs are needed on the house. This is a charity, which receives no commissions and is entirely publicly funded. They will also supervise work if required. I've decided that being fiercely independent is a mugs game at my age. I keep telling my daughter to accept any help, which she badly needs and be grateful for it. Time I followed my own advice as I am definitely not as robust as I was even 2 years ago.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I've been here but have been out and about busy just running hither and thither and while I looked in didn't see any comments so moved on.

The father in law was discharged home Monday with orders to see a urologist. He had hernia surgery and apparently the hernia was quite large so surgery was an incision. He went home same day but was in pain from the get go and even though they tried to get him back to see doctors none were available and even when sent to the Labs here for more blood work it was too late (they close at 4pm) and he had to wait another overnight etc. When admitted to hospital he was very dehydrated....Now the game is waiting for a urologist's office to phone so an appointment can be made.

Here we don't get to phone Specialists offices direct when we need an appointment we have to wait until they phone us and sometimes it can be months. I tend to get anxious thinking they may have never gotten my name etc which is why now I'm going to the States for my Medical.

Anyway the long and the short is that he is 'ok' and waiting to see a Specialist.

I'm off soon for a couple days and most it is to see Doctors - my annual Dermatologist skin check (last year had 2 biopsies but all was good) and I have a lump at the base of my right thumb I need my primary care physician to look at. Will also see if I can see anything for Christmas for the grandkids but I'm not really sure much of the Christmas stuff will be in the stores yet.

[FABlux]

We've been hectic with the final packing and general shutting down in France. Took down & washed & dried all the curtains today, we are having the outsides of all the windows and a couple of insides painted whilst we are away, & they will mostly be done from the inside for ease of access. Just 1 day left now.