Moan, Moan, Moan - 2012

[Paul T]

A suggestion to all.......

If you don't have a will (as in "Last Will and Testament"), please consider making one!!  It would make things so much easier for those left behind if you were to suffer some sort of demise. <sigh>  As I am unfortunately learning.

It doesn't matter how young or old you are, seriously think about it.

And now, back to your usual services.  

[Gerry Webster]

There's only one Leeds and it's not near London!

It's quite close to Birmingham (Alabama).

[Anthony Darby]

The brackets are a dead give away Gerry. You'll be talking about Leeds (Alabama)?

[Gerry Webster]

I always thought one was more than enough - I was raised there (Yorks). Evidently not.

[Anthony Darby]

Quite right Gerry. I have even driven through a tiny hamlet in Yorkshire called New York. There's also a place in Auckland named "Scarbro". Goodness only knows how that is pronounced. I would hope that it is not an attempt to name it after the East Yorkshire town! New Zealand is full of places named after towns back home. Ellerslie Race Course is between Newmarket and Epsom! There's a Stirling in the South Island which as streets named after Stirling in Scotland, a bit like Dunedin (New Edinburgh). My Dad was once asked by a student if he could leave early to catch his bus. "Where do you live?" "California." "You can wait like the rest of the class". In the staff room the next day my Dad retold the story about the cheeky tyke. Then he found out there is a village just outside Falkirk called California! Oops!

[Maggi Young]

A suggestion to all.......

If you don't have a will (as in "Last Will and Testament"), please consider making one!!  It would make things so much easier for those left behind if you were to suffer some sort of demise. <sigh>  As I am unfortunately learning.

It doesn't matter how young or old you are, seriously think about it.

And now, back to your usual services.  

 A sad lesson to have to learn, Paul. I've often wondered why some people find it morbid or "unlucky" to make a will.... after all, our death is the one thing that we can all be sure of... and I would prefer to organise my affairs rather than leave chaos and money to the  government!

[angie]

Yep, Maggi death is one thing that we all can be sure of. We organise our lives daily so why wouldn't we have our ending. I have everything in place. Even down to my beloved plants. But saying all this I only did it when I turned 50. Why did I wait till then, not sure.

Angie 

[annew]

Many apologies to everyone who has received a spam email via my address - I seem to have been hacked. I've changed my password, but don't know if that's enough. Any ideas will be welcome.

[Gerry Webster]

Many apologies to everyone who has received a spam email via my address - I seem to have been hacked. I've changed my password, but don't know if that's enough. Any ideas will be welcome.

Anne - I was just about to email you about this. Damned pests - I don't know what you can do.
A question on the "Computer Problems" thread perhaps?

[Peter Maguire]

I had a similar problem a few months ago; the only reason that I knew it was happening was that I would get a batch of about 4/5 emails which had bounced back to me. It happened two or three times about a week apart (and apparently I had 'sent' the emails in the middle of the night, UK time), but there hasn't been a similar episode for some time now (touch wood).
I contacted my internet services provider for advice, but there is apparently little that one can do about these things if someone has discovered your email address, other than changing email address, and  I didn't want to do that. 

[TC]

Yep, Maggi death is one thing that we all can be sure of. We organise our lives daily so why wouldn't we have our ending. I have everything in place. Even down to my beloved plants. But saying all this I only did it when I turned 50. Why did I wait till then, not sure.

Angie 

At the risk of being morbid another very important step is to set up a power of attorney.  If your spouse is incapacitated and unable to speak/write then you have no legal means to access private bank accounts and make payments on their behalf.  For people in Scotland the following site gives all the information necessary.  It is much easier to take these actions before it may be forced upon you.

www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk

[Paul T]

Yep, there is also 'Enduring Power of Attorney" here in Aus, which continues after the person's death.  They told me about this when Yvonne was going in for a brain operation a few weeks ago, but by then a viral inflamation of her brain had rendered her incapable of signing something like that legally. 

[Lesley Cox]

Anthony when you eventually visit Dunedin and have a look around you will find streets named after just about everywhere in Scotland, including Dunblane Street, Oban St, Moray Place, Heriot Row, Leith St, Corstophine Rd, Scotland St and dozens more.

Back to Paul's comment, yes, it's surely common sense to make a will for the future comfort of those left to cope. My own parents did, so that Elizabeth and I knew exactly what would be our circumstances when they died. Apart from the financial things, my Mother in particular who had good porcelain, paintings and the like, listed everything so there was no scrapping later. Not that there would have been because we've always got on well and been good friends. Mother was careful to leave to each of us, anything of value that we ourselves had given her, so that I inherited a couple of pieces of jade and some beleek which I'd given to her, while Elizabeth had back a nice collection of Waterford chrystal and so on.

I feel that those who have good plant collections should do the same thing and make provision for the future. I remember a friend who introduced me to alpine gardening. When she died her place was sold and the visible plants were lifted and sold by the buyer, but with no knowledge of what he was selling (he'd potted chunks of that beastly and rampant field buttercup. Is it R. repens?)  and bulbs in the ground were simply dug over and taken to the rubbish dump. A tragedy as she had many small ericaceae which haven't been seen in NZ since.

I keep in mind all the time, the question of who would be a good person or perhaps young couple who would be willing and able to take on my lot when the time comes. No arrangements made yet but the thought is always there and I hope a solution presents itself some time. Sadly, for me, neither of my children is even slightly interested in gardening.

[Anthony Darby]

Vivienne and I made wills when the children were born, but I understand that it's not something people do as a matter of course. I wonder how many of my friends and relatives have them? When we first moved to Scotland in 1963, a lady moved into next door but one. She had bought the house with her brother, but he died a few weeks before they moved in. She became part of our family and even taught me music theory and played piano accompaniment when I sat violin exams. A few months before she died, of a heart attack, my Mum had cause to take her to hospital to check out a cut that hadn't healed. My Mum had to help fill in the forms and Miss Anderson insisted on putting her down as next of kin. When she died Christmas 1984 I was give her piano, but we later found out her will hadn't been changed since 1958 and everything went to her cousin's second wife who hardly kept in touch with her. I'm not suggesting that inheritances shouldn't be kept in the family, but the neighbour in between us and Miss A had had many conversations with her and changing her will was on the to do list for spring 1985. Fortunately my parents kept their wills up to date.

[angie]

Yep, Maggi death is one thing that we all can be sure of. We organise our lives daily so why wouldn't we have our ending. I have everything in place. Even down to my beloved plants. But saying all this I only did it when I turned 50. Why did I wait till then, not sure.

Angie 

At the risk of being morbid another very important step is to set up a power of attorney.  If your spouse is incapacitated and unable to speak/write then you have no legal means to access private bank accounts and make payments on their behalf.  For people in Scotland the following site gives all the information necessary.  It is much easier to take these actions before it may be forced upon you.

www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk

I had power of attorney for both of my parents and having this made things much simpler. Just not having to go through all the paperwork time after time made having this in place worthwhile.
When my mum died she had everything written down in her will. I remember the day we were at our solicitor and he read that I was left a grass tree, he looked at me rather strange. I always joked with my mum saying I don't want your diamonds mum I just want the Australian grass tree, bless her, she had written it in her will and left it to me. Now here is something between just you and me. I just love my grass tree and speak to it all the time. 

Angie