It seems that the floor area of this house, including its annexe, is about 575 square metres, 6,200 square feet. About three-quarters of that is the house itself. With an acre of garden and the fields, that’s much of the reason I don’t want to stay here – were I to do so, it would only put off the decision to move by a few years and I’d rather start afresh sooner rather than when it’s forced upon me.
In the same post as the probate valuation was a letter to say that a couple of weeks’ pension had been paid before it was known that Russell had died, so will I pay it back, please? That’s no problem of course, it happens to be in an account that I haven’t had frozen yet, so I hadn’t realised. He only used it for his pension and cashed it in every couple of weeks, so there’s not much in it. I also have a sizeable form to fill in, to claim widow’s bereavement benefits and what a dispiriting term that is. And Russell has had another Premium Bond win. Just £25 again, but the size of the winnings hardly matters, compared to the pleasure he’d have had in receiving it. Maybe he’s putting in a good word somewhere? They’ll have to be cashed in of course, but one is allowed to keep them for a year and I think I will, if they’re going to do that well. Nice to think that he’s looking after me, however fanciful the thought is.
I’ve finally passed on some papers that were quite beyond me to cope with (I love some mangled grammar once in a while) and, although it’s perilously close to the deadline, we can just manage it. I’m immensely grateful and have apologised heartily for not dealing with it sooner. That it seems trivial to me doesn’t mean it actually is trivial – though it’s a matter of paperwork only, it does have to be done by the end of this month.
Darlings, I’m rambling. It’s actually been a good day overall, though the various things in the post took my a bit unawares – not the pension overpayment but the rest. And gosh, isn’t it expensive when one pays for everything? The dentist, the garage and the skip hire were the things that took the credit card bill sky high. Still, I’ve always been self-reliant by nature and, if it’s taken me sixty years to put that into practice, I shall do it with resolution. As you’d expect.*
*Another grammar fail. Heh.
I think you are coping remarkably well, my dear!! xxx
So much to do, it’s terribly dispiriting. I have to sound as if it’s all moving on, at any rate!
So pleased to hear that you are passing stuff on. Think how often you have helped out people in similar circumstances in the past, and accept it as a strength that you can identify those tasks you can’t currently tackle.
I know how much paperwork there is to do at these times, and how terribly crass and unfeeling some correspondences from some companies can be. I can remember wanting to write how I was feeling after reading their communications on a copy of such letters and returning them to the sender (but I wasn’t allowed)… But, some of their sentiments were really nice and felt personal rather than one of many that must have been sent that day.
As long as you have 6+ copies of the death certificate, all will be OK. If you haven’t, you might like to think of getting some more copies as it speeds everything up as you aren’t constantly wiaitng for one company to return in order to send proof to another.
I think you only get WBB for 52 weeks these days?
Thinking of you and sending strength to get through it all.