Dave Hunt

Well, it's back to square one with finding some sheltered accommodation for Dad. I went to have a chat with the manager of the place he was looking to move into and discovered that the service charge has gone up 33% but on further questioning she admitted that her budget for the site had only gone up by less than 5%, which tinkled a few alarm bells. Accordingly I looked up the management company on line and found that they have a reputation for fair and decent practice something akin to the people who ran the soviet gulags. They have also rebranded themselves several times in recent years and featured in Rip Off Britain. At that stage I informed Dad of what I had found out and he promptly asked me to withdraw his offer. Since there doesn't seem to be anywhere else close enough, that effectively means end of current ideas about moving. I'm now looking into getting him a personal alarm and arranging for regular cleaners, gardener etc. for him so that SWMBO and I don't have to do it all. He's still giving up driving but since he was paying over £1,100 p.a. insurance (before the accident) and would have been looking at several K estate agent's and solicitor's fees, that's a good few taxi fares and at 96 he doesn't go out clubbing much anyway.

Apart from doing the market shopping and dealing with other ANNAT (administrative niff naff and trivia) that's been my day - yuk! It has been partially rescued by SWMBO making the dinner and producing a rather excellent Moroccan lamb tagine and couscous and as I write this I'm just finishing a drop of Scottish water of life, so goodnight all, commiserations to all who are suffering or unhappy and here's to a new day - cheers!

Dave

Many thanks to Joseph and Phil for the advice concerning getting my Dad into sheltered accommodation. There isn't any Hanover Trust property close enough to us but there is a flat available for sale in a nice little development in the centre of town that is recommended by some friends of ours whose mother/MiL lived there. I took Dad to see it today and he liked it so he put in an offer that has been accepted. Obviously I'll get the agreement with the operators vetted by my solicitor before letting him go ahead and have an appointment to start that particular ball rolling on Friday. I have power of attorney for Dad and he wants me to take care of all the procedures for buying, selling, moving, selling the surplus furniture from his present house etc. as well as selling his car once it is repaired and getting a mobility scooter so it looks as though the next few months will be interesting for me, in the sense of the Chinese saying 'may you live in interesting times'.

However, I did find the time to finish my baseboards today and hope that once the dust has settled to be able to start making some track. There's also a week on Fraggle Rock with SWMBO in August for our golden anniversary to look forward to so hey, ho on we go.

I think that a small libation of Scottish distilled water is in order.

Have a peaceful night all. Thoughts and prayers for those with troubles.

Dave        

Plan for today: finish Mugocoffee; wait for garage to call and arrange to pick up Dad's car; visit estate agent to see what is available ( if anything) at the local sheltered housing complex; finish constructing baseboards; start cleaning up workshop, which is covered at all levels in sawdust and shavings.

Amendment to plan: garage has just called to say that, contrary to what insurance idiots people told me yesterday, that I will have to take car in to them for assessment but the earliest that can happen is 10th of June! Then there may be a further substantial delay before they can book it in to be fixed! I saw red and was about to start trying to get something sorted out more quickly but SWMBO has pointed out that since Dad has decided to give up driving it really doesn't matter and I can save myself some aggro and heartbeats by just accepting things as they stand. She has a point, of course, but I'm still annoyed that the insurance pillocks people basically either lied or are so incompetent that they don't know what goes on in their own system - maybe both.

Amended plan now is: finish baseboards; visit estate agent; arrange appointment with solicitor re selling Dad's house etc.; start workshop cleanup.

l love it when a plan comes together. Maybe one of these days it will happen.

Have a good day all and thoughts for those who are less fortunate.

Dave

One of those days.

Most of this morning was taken up dealing with Dad's car accident of yesterday, due mainly to getting handed round from pillar to post by insurance idiots people and waiting for 'the agent you need to speak to who is on another line at the moment' to ring. Then after passing all the details to one agent being passed on to another one from a different department and having to repeat the whole process. "Surely," says I, "Your colleague who just asked all these questions will be able to give you the answers?" to which the reply is, "I'm sorry sir but since you are dealing with the claim on your father's behalf I have to go through it again." It seemed simpler just to go along with it rather than waste more time trying to introduce logic.

Then we were told that one of our friends is under investigation for the Big C and has had to cancel a lunch date she was organising for us and some others as she will be undergoing some rather invasive investigations that day.

And following his accident Dad has decided not only that it will be wise for him to stop driving but also to move from his house into some sheltered accommodation which, whilst being something SWMBO and I have thought for some time would be a good idea, is going to involve us in a lot of work starting tomorrow or Wednesday.

There was a bright spot, though, when I managed to take myself off to the workshop this evening and get some baseboard building done, which leaves only about a couple of hours work (and a fair amount of clearing up) before I can get some Templot patterns sorted out and start laying parallel metal strips. 

And on that bright note, have a good night one and all.

Dave        

43 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

You may be dismayed to know that the Mortlach has taken a nasty turn for the worse and seems to be nothing like what it used to be anymore, try the Glen Garioch(pronounced Geery) as a suitable replacement.

Being one of simple tastes, I find a nice drop of Lagavulin or, venturing across the water, Bushmills (both 12s) touches this spot. Now, then, which shall I select.........

For anyone who finds Friday's carnage at Stamford as revolting as I do, there's now a crowdfunding site where you can contribute to helping the club (and individual modellers I imagine) - see the topic. It's not just the money but the expression of solidarity that I find encouraging.

Today was going quite well and a fair bit of bas***ard building had been achieved when I got a call to say that my Dad had been in a car accident so off I went. Luckily neither he nor anyone else was hurt but it was his fault and something of a daft bit of driving. I've tonight suggested that maybe he should hang up his driving boots (he is 96) and he's agreed. Bit of a relief actually but it will mean a lot more ferrying about for me.

Have a peaceful and restful night everyone; sympathy for those who can't.

Dave 

I sometimes think that the 21st century is passing me by. I haven't got an Alexa or Dot or whatever and honestly can't see the point of having one. My most advanced technology consists of a PC and a laptop, as well as a mobile 'phone that does just what it says on the tin, i.e., it only makes telephone calls and doesn't even have a camera let alone internet etc. (and to be honest it isn't switched on most of the time). We do have a sat nav, a Garmin portable one that I can update by plugging it into the PC, but we only tend to use it when we get within a few miles of our destination if we don't know exactly where it is, preferring to map read / do it by memory for most of the way. I suppose I must be a bit of a dinosaur but it seems to me that for all the advantages of advanced technology there are just as many drawbacks and I'm fairly comfortable in my little Dickensian world. As for DCC...........

Not much to report for today; the only activities of any note will be possibly indulging in some baseboard  building and planning what we are going to do for our golden wedding in August. We have considered all sorts of exotic destinations but have now pretty much decided on..... wait for it....... Fraggle Rock as NHN calls it. Adventurous or what?

Have a good day everyone. Many, many sympathies for those who had things wrecked by the mindless scum at Stamford on Friday night.

Dave 

And on the subject of pronunciation, let's not forget Ireland where Dunloaghair becomes Dunleery or places in the U.K. Such as Leominster being Limster, Scarisbrick being Scaysbrick or the place near Crewe spelled Wybunbury that locals call Winbry (among other things). 

Off to to catch the train to Lunnon for the gathering in Chancery Lane. Hope a few of the remaining brain cells survive.

Good morning All; have a good day.

Dave

After a week without visiting ERs due to what are generally known as 'circumstances beyond my control' (of which the least said the better) it's taken me most of this evening to try to catch up. Yesterday things returned to what passes for normal here and I actually started work building baseboards  for my layout. After two days I've got three of six done and with luck will be ready to start making tra*k this time next week. I may even start a topic on RMW if I can find time. No progress tomorrow, though, as I'll be catching the 1013 from Stoke to spend the day in London attending a Tornado aircrew pi**up reunion at the Knights Templar where industrial quantities of fermented barley and hop juice will be consumed before wending my way back via the 2100 ex-Euston to be collected at the station by SWMBO. That will use up all my saved brownie points for some considerable time and the chances of me posting on ERs much before Sunday are about the same as the Monster Raving Loony party winning the next general election. Mind you.......

Night night all and commiserations to those suffering as well as a belated happy birthday to Rick.

Dave    

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Got a quote for the garden works from someone we know well which caused heart tremors and a near falling over moment. It seems rather high to me, if it had been cheaper I would have gone with him because I know his reliability and the quality of his work but I will definitely be getting a couple more quotes now.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Bob,

Because of back problems I've been unable to do heavy garden work for a while now and have had to rely on professionals with the concomitant damage to stocks of modelling vouchers. It is my experience that gardeners come in three categories: the ones who quote reasonable rates then either don't turn up or only turn up once; the ones who quote cheap rates and turn up but actually don't know what they're doing and leave things in an unsatisfactory state; and the ones that turn up, know what they are about and leave things in a good state as well as clearing up properly but charge more. The latter are by far the best bet and IMHO it is generally worth the extra cost - you get what you pay for as the saying goes and that seems particularly appropriate for gardeners.

37 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Knowing that I'm likely to find a way to hit my head on the doorway even though it's high enough for me I did think of "F### "one side and "IT"  the other 

If your head clearance is less than six feet the sign should read 'Only short people beyond this point - you have been warned'.

Dave 

Well, the mystery tour has turned out to be South West Scotland with an overnight stop on the way up at a friends' place in Culgaith on the Settle & Carlisle so with the G&SW connection it's good Midland country. Yesterday we went across to Portpatrick, which is somewhere I haven't been in 25 years or so but hasn't changed and is still a very nice little harbour with some good seafood. Today was the Galloway forest where we saw red kites by the dozen closer than I've ever seen them before plus some red deer. We also stopped at a cafe run by a Dutch bloke who made some excellent Dutch pancakes so the diet has taken a bashing. Tomorrow is as yet unknown for content.

My sympathies go to Andy B and I can empathise with his feelings as I went through the same when my Mum had her series of strokes and died nearly two years ago. People kept giving me the same advice that you are getting now Andy and at this distance in time I realise that they were right. You did what you could.

Have a good evening and a peaceful night unless you are in some other time zone when you'll have to make other arrangements.

Dave