Miscellaneous journal entries and replies to messages from November/December 2011
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!................................... Nope, that doesn't work either
Move -9 days
Possibly only nine days left to finish clearing Dad's house. Whatever I do it looks worse than ever and the buyers want to visit on Sunday. The house is still full of surprises - after today's excavations I have to ask why one man would need so many boxes of carbon paper? He kept EVERYTHING - I've just found a folder containing the little goodbye messages I left on the table on the days I would leave for France before he got up. He also recorded, stored and catalogued every weekly rehearsal and performance of the many groups he sang with. If only I had a use for cassette tapes I'd never need to buy another. I have already dumped thousands of cassettes and if you are quick you may find a few hundred on sale in the charity shops in King's Lynn. It feels so wrong to be throwing out his singing, but I have nowhere else to keep it. Also today I discovered a ton of sheet music, which will probably end up in a skip unless someone can give it a home - I'm sure some of these must be historical documents. As well as clearing Dad's things I'm trying to get my own belongings safely stored in a container a few miles away, which has meant dismantling and re-erecting the Dexion shelving that Dad put together in a pretty permanent way. I'm going to have to find a hacksaw to get the last three units into the container. Dad’s car hasn't sold on GumTree, so I've put it on the Auto Trader web site today. I need to sell it before the next credit card bill comes in. If I continue ignoring thinking about what I'm going to do with the piano I don't think the problem will disappear. I'd love to be able to take it with me, but that's not going to happen. One good thing - Tim at Savages came up trumps and I got a good deal on drum cases for those instruments I never got round to putting in cases (mainly because I was playing them) before they go into the container. No sign yet of the promised electricity, so I can't yet put a dehumidifier in the container. I've had enough for one day.
This is a dispatch. I'm mentioning AC. Hero of the day as far as I am concerned. Thank you, A!
Can't believe this is still so difficult. I've reached drawers and cupboards I've never looked in. It feels like everything I open contains objects and memories more painfully poignant than the last. Although I don't know why Dad needed two boxes of staplers and three staple extractors, it may be related to the forty-four pairs of scissors I "recycled" two days ago. A drawer full of personal cassette recorders and players may be more understandable for recording every rehearsal from every group he sang with over the decades, but today's treasure has to be his tailor's cutter sketch books and pencilled-in notes from when he was an apprentice.
In answer to a friend's question, "Why do you have to do it all?" one sibling has been here a couple of times and we managed to do quite a lot when they came. Other than occasional visits when their work schedule allows I have to do it all. because, umm, who else is going to? Possibly only a few days to completion of sale. I'm tempted to try another "Aaaaagh!" but that didn't work before. No other sibling is closer than thousands of miles away.
I suspect some of the stuff I got rid of before A came to help this week was valuable. It's knowing who would value it though. I've neither the time nor patience to list everything on e-Bay.
I was just trying to extract some cupboards from behind stacks of stuff that has to be moved somewhere else. I could really do with these cupboards in my lock-up so I can get my music books out of the way before the bulldozers come. I can't believe I've just found some concerted attempts on Mum's family tree. That was always the difficult one with too many dead ends …
Today, my hero is Neil Cousin. Thank you so much Neil! And to anyone who reads this, Please think about buying his cd, "Bonfire". It's rather good.
Thanks to AC for helping out again yesterday! Along with my brother and sister-in-law we had a productive day. Two skips filled. Am about to venture back into the garage. If I'm not back in twenty-four hours ...
Move -7 days
Disappointingly slow progress today, but a stack of instruments and books moved and another filing cabinet emptied. Still have not heard a moving date. Am I being irrational if I worry about the buyers turning up in their van before I've been told about it? Experience suggests not. The solicitor acting for the executor was even yesterday suggesting that exchange and completion could still be a possibility for today!!! Given that there is only an hour left I'd say it was unlikely now … hopefully.
Move -2 days
Still so much to do. The solicitor chose today to send me a special delivery letter containing a contract to sign promising that I will vacate the property on completion - i.e. the day after tomorrow! He is demanding that I return this contract by special delivery so that he gets it tomorrow. Why I should have to put myself out to mop up his mistake is a frustrating mystery! Finding a friendly school with a photocopier and then a village with an open post office at lunchtime resulted in the loss of half a day's planned clearing and packing. In my panic to get out to the recycling centre I left my phone at home. On my return there was a message from the estate agent who understood the house was empty and wondering where the keys were!!! I phoned back and pointed out one or two truths including the fact that the house might have been closer to being empty had the estate agent done his job properly and not stolen half a day of my precious time getting him out of trouble with his client. She informed me that I shall be legally obliged to leave the house whatever happens, but that I could not expect to see any money tomorrow. That was not the agreement ... ever! She seemed rather put out when I made it clear that if I didn’t get any of the money on the day of the sale as agreed with the executor I was not going anywhere. Of course she always had an option to come up with any suggestions that would prove more useful than the chocolate teapot syndrome they’ve exhibited throughout this whole miserable process. They've been no help to me at all and have added so much to this stress.
I've signed that contract today and sent it back in good faith. I can't wait for this all to be over. I plan on returning to my normally serene self soon!
Thanks to T and S for their suggestions about solving my lack of wi-fi and having no address to offer anyone. I shall be looking further into both possibilities, but I'll have to get the move over with first. Just haven't had the time to spend on it properly these past two or three weeks - ie the time when it became increasingly apparent I'd need to do something different. Unfortunately the post office in the nearest village won't hold deliveries for me, so I don't know what to tell people. So much for the post restante service!
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