Britboy

I was 11 and I did shed a tear when the 4th goal went in. But that was nothing compared to when Bobby Charlton scored with that long shot against Mexico in the group stages. Really cried with happiness when that one went in.

Chilly Sunday morning in the east of England - in headbanging mode . . . .

That's brilliant Phil, love your thinking and great execution. Looking forward to getting back over as soon as is possible. Make sure you stock up on the decent vino rouge . . . .

Thinking about it I probably had the same. My dad was a real tight arse . . . 😒

I may have just had my first ever "99" in the very late 50's . . .

I love a 99 too, can't beat them. Always wondered why "they" called it a 99 . . .

Couldn't agree more - and that applies to Sky News too, as I normally watch that. The press representatives at the daily pressers are crap. They simply don't ask the right questions in the right way and when they have the chance to come back none of them say "you didn't directly answer the question" and ask it again in a way they have to answer it straight. I get so frustrated. I'd love to have the chance to have 20 minutes asking questions to Boris and Hancock.

Thanks, though I do think my alter ego is an arsehole sometimes . . . 😬

Weight - always been lucky in this respect. Have been on the 12 stone mark for donkeys years and at a tad under 6 feet tall that's about right. Lockdown hasn't caused any change thankfully. Alcohol - I'm drinking less overall than in normal times. No beer in the house but thank God for Laithwaites delivering my red wine on a regular basis . . . 😁 Exercise - this is bad as not doing much. A walk to the shops once a week is about it. A badly strained calf muscle in my left leg isn't helping, hurts like hell after walking about 100 yards. Getting a bit concerned about it as it's been like this for 2 months and when laying flat my left foot tingles and is sometimes a bit numb. It's all connected to my calf, can feel it. Mental - no problems there, keep myself busy on my laptop and have the Android box I bought in Thailand so have the choice of hundreds of channels to watch. Do find myself talking to myself out loud sometimes - makes me laugh.

I'm 65 (it even feels odd typing that big a number) and mentally I feel just as sharp as I did 30 years ago. Physically, been lucky, not been to a doc for 47 years. Last time was when I was 18 and broke my leg playing football. Years of football and then golf have kept me in decent shape, still slim. But . . . . aches and pains when I get up in the morning, particularly back and left knee. As someone posted above, after 10 minutes and a shower I'm usually raring to go. The good thing when I wake up is that I usually have a boner. Long may that continue. And I can still perform after a shedload of booze. That's a good job because I tried Viagra and Cialis one time each, both of which gave me horrendous heartburn. So when the hampton doesn't do as he's told, I'll be f****d . . . 😟

There'll be ways round getting into Thailand. I have a good mate in Dubai, will go stay with him for 14 nights if necessary, then fly on to Bangkok. In any case, while it's all doom and gloom right now, my opinion is that in a few weeks many countries will relax their "rules", especially where tourism is an important factor.

Wow, yeah, airfix planes. And warships. Loved them . . . And Subbuteo. But only with the small balls. Those big ones were cumbersome and couldn't smash it in the top corner. I had leagues and cup competitions, loads of teams. Funny how my team always won the league . . . 😀

And why not? Go for it mate. I used to have a fantastic train set when I was a kid. Would love to set one up now, but not practical and what would I do with it if/when I return to Thailand? Can remember saving up for weeks to buy a station.

Hi Aqualung, As you're aware, I'm in exactly the same position as yourself, losing my mum a few weeks ago. It's tough being stuck at home - I'm currently living in my mum's house, getting everything sorted. I've only had 1 visitor too, my brother, who is helping getting this sorted. Technically that's been against the "rules" too I guess, as he's from a different household. I've hardly been out, walking to the shops once a week. Everything else has been delivered and I've spent more on Amazon in the last 8 weeks than I have over the last 8 years. We had mum cremated, we'll have a memorial and scattering of ashes when lockdown is eased more. I have her ashes at the house, along with my dad's, who died 25 years ago but my mum kept them here. So I have mum and dad side by side in a cubby hole that's above the hallway. So I'm with you mate and fully understand how you're feeling. I keep myself busy during these lockdown times by planning what I'm going to do next, knocking up business plans/spreadsheets and to wile away a few hours I'm doing some jigsaw puzzles. My mum had a bunch of them stashed away and I've enjoyed doing them. I've even ordered a couple more from Amazon that will arrive this week. Hang in there bud, things will ease and improve.

Got me bawling too . . . . fantastic

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I always take mine back - I get my £1 back that way . . .

All done, have sent a few thousand baht. Happy to help.

Thanks for posting that Bazle, it's a moving clip and must be very frustrating not to get Thai coverage of such a worthy cause. You can just see the gratitude in the Thai people receiving the bags. If I'd still been in Patts I'd have donated and also come to help pack and distribute. Is there still a way to donate? Be happy to send some money from here if there's a Paypal or bank account to send to.

Well done guys, it's great to raise money to be able to feed those who are struggling, especially during this awful period with the virus. Congrats to all involved.

Thanks Mr Smooth, lovely words and very much appreciate your comments. For sure, be great to meet up at Phil's place and have a few drinks for your dad, my mum and if Aqualung can come for his mum too. Plus any other BM's as they've undoubtedly lost someone at some point. A remembrance piss up sounds great, let's do it. I'll let all you BM's know when I'll be in town so hopefully that fits with y'all and we can co-ordinate the piss up of all piss ups.

My mum's lawyer held the Will and the house deeds, so I managed to arrange a visit, despite the virus, and picked them up. She said for her to just handle the probate was £640 plus VAT. Two thoughts crossed my mind - what's involved and how speedy will the lawyer act? I said let me check it out and I'll let you know. I went online and figured I'd have to do the vast majority of the work anyway because part of the probate is the estate valuation, which I'd have to do for the lawyer. Plus it would definitely slow things down if the lawyer got involved. They're great at taking time and in their mind justify their fee. So decided to do it all myself and glad I did. It was a doddle, with the exception of the probate website being down, which would have been the same for the lawyer anyway. As to family getting involved, I know exactly where you're coming from. I've seen friends and my sister-in-laws family fall out long term because of how family reacted when the 2nd parent dies. My sister-in-laws family haven't spoken to each to this day and it happened over 20 years ago. Thankfully there's only myself and my brother, we're the only Executors and heirs. My brother's not interested in the Admin stuff, so I'm sorting out all the finances, bills, investments, paperwork, etc. and he's helping me clear the place and sell most of the contents that can be sold. I'm big brother and he's always looked up to me and therefore trusts me implicitly. I'm keeping him informed of all aspects financially and in most cases anyway documents need both Executor signatures. So not been a problem at all. It sounds too late for yourself now, but I'd recommend handling probate oneself.

Just want to say a big thank you for the messages guys, they're much appreciated. Some of you have been through the same thing recently too. @Aqualungin particular and even more recently than me. There's never a good time for a parent to die, but in the middle of this pandemic, especially with UK being hit so hard, is the worst possible time as it's so difficult to get things done/arranged. Having said that, businesses have adapted and whereas before you'd have to be present to register things and provide documentation, certificates, etc. the vast majority is now done via emails, scans and phone calls. The most effort I've had to make is walk to the local post office to post a few bits, in particular the original Will to the Probate Registry. Probate started off as a hugely frustrating experience. First step is to do the estate valuation, to determine if Inheritance Tax is applicable. Did that online, it's linked to your Government Gateway and that was very smooth and automatic. Because there's a property involves, it mandatory probate, so it sends you to the Probate Application site. It was down. I tried it every day for 3 days, then called them. After being on hold for 90 minutes this very stern HMCTS bloke let me tell the story then said "yes, we know it's down, try again in a few days". I was gobsmacked and said there's thousands of people dying right now, to have the probate application website down is wholly unacceptable. At what is such an upsetting time for people to have this obstacle in the way is ridiculous. The response was "yes, it's down because of the volume. Try again in a few days". Wanker. I tried again every day for a week, then decided to print out the form to fill it in by hand. The form is complicated and covers both aspects of whether Inheritance Tax is payable or not, so really not easy to complete. After a couple of days I'd done 90% of it, but decided to try the website again. Hey presto, it was back up!! Much easier on the website, I'd completed it in less than 30 minutes, including downloading the death certificate. They did require the physical original Will, so posted that off registered post last Wednesday. The message at the end was that it would take 8-12 weeks to grant probate, unless they needed more info, in which case it would be longer. I was expecting this, so not surprised. However, this morning at 6.27 I get an email from the Probate Registry saying they'd received the document. At 6.28 I get another email from the Probate Registry to say Probate has been granted and the certificates will arrive at the house in 5 working days. Well, knock me down with a feather. I was expecting a lengthy wait, questions, more lengthy waits. So all turned out well and I can now get on to really get things organised. It's gonna take ages and some £'s to get the house into a good enough shape to put on the market, but with the pandemic I don't see the housing market bouncing back soon. Again, a bad time. But the grant of probate has buoyed me. Great to be able to avoid all the hassle I was expecting. So I'm head down sorting out my mum's stuff. As @mistereggmentions, it's finding the small things that meant a lot to my mum that's the upsetting part. I'm going through all her books right now, found some 1920's and 30's Tiny Tots books that she'd obviously read incessantly, coloured in, etc. It's deciding what to keep and what to throw is the hardest thing. Some of the old pictures too, when she was a kid, a teenager, courting with my dad, when my brother and I were kids, family holidays, etc. Great memories and that's how I'm going to remember my mum and dad, rather than their last few weeks, when they were both in bad shape. I must share one pic with you guys - can't believe how dapper both mum and dad look . . . Well, back to the sorting and cataloguing . . .

Looks like shelf life is around 6 weeks . . . 🤥 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7876368

That was my thought too, but it's 25 years old . . .