Random

Oh Gosh, where to even start.

I've cared for my mother for years. It got to the point it was pretty much a 24/7 job. Me and the Mrs could only go for short trips out when mam was having a good day plus to be honest I've been struggling with stress and depression. I had two sisters, one a nurse and living next door (she has since died) and the other living just 10 minutes drive away. I asked them for help. I asked for one to come for a few hours one week and the other the next so that's a few hours from each once a fortnight to allow me and Mrs to have a break and go out without worrying. Both sisters blew up and after insults and shouting at me either in person or down the phone they cut all contact with me and they took their children / grandchildren with them, but not after my niece sent a distressing message to Mrs WW. Why msg her? I don't know. Nastiness? A touch or racism creeping in? So, we cared for her alone as we had done and lost all our immediate close by family. That was two years ago.

On 16th September mam got up and dressed herself which she hadn't been able to do recently and I thought she was having a good day. later she became very confused and I thought she may be suffering from delirium which she had had twice before. I thought that after a trip to hospital and some fluids she may be ok but sadly her heart was failing and she had fluid on her lungs and it was possibly the lack of oxygen to her brain which was causing the delirium. We stayed with her for 15 hours until she died at about 05:30 on 18th with me stroking her hear and telling her I loved her.

As she was my mam and caring for her was such a big part of my life I've been devastated, I still haven't got over the muscle memory and when I get up my first reaction is to go and help her get dressed etc. Mam said she didn't want the family who had deserted us at her funeral but I felt I couldn't stop them and as executor I had to contact them anyway. The insulting niece and the sister 10 minutes away now want to visit the funeral director and attend the funeral plus my sister is now asking for copies of photographs. Photographs of a family she hasn't spoken to for two years, suddenly she wants to see the body, attend the funeral and have photos? Plus she's questioned the church venue. This is the church we go to and the one I used to take mam to.

The stress of all this has been immense. Honestly, there have been times I've had thoughts of how I could escape all this.

Families eh?

I'm just longing for this to all end so me and Mrs can build a life without my family causing ever more upset.

Sorry to share I just felt the need

Thanks Mike.

Talking does help and I suppose even just writing this all down on paper would help clarify things in my mind. In my darkest times some years back I made a list and how I could change things and I did change many things for the better. I had to do another list as there are obviously things to do when a loved one passes and I thought I was at the end of that list or there abouts. The addition of the request for pictures is I suppose a small thing, it's the family related upset that's caused todays little melt down. Time will I suppose help. At the mo I just want all this family strife behind me. What I sometimes do is think that at some time in the future all this will be behind me so the target now is to get through the funeral and then the legal side of things should be sorted in 4 to 6 months, so my target is to get to January/March and each day lived through is another day closer to it all being sorted in Jan/March.

I'm so sorry for your loss WW and the way your sisters have treated you. There must be some possibility of them inheriting something from the estate as I can't imagine it's a coincidence that they are suddenly sniffing around. Where there's a will there's a relative eh? All I can suggest is that you just let a solicitor sort that out and don't waste your energy getting into fights.

Just remember that you did your mam proud and now you can rest easy knowing that she's at peace and had you with her to the end.

All the best mate and I agree with Mike, maybe get Mark to give this it's own thread in the members section.

Droppings found in the van.  Lindsey wasn't happy. Got the little bastard, though. 

Despite being 19yo, Missy has a score over the last week of.

Squirrels. 2.

Rats. 14.

Mice. 12.

Proper lethal and chuffed as when she brings the evidence to me for swapping.

Ours has been bringing in frogs from the garden pond which she then let's hop around the kitchen!

Agreed. I got 6 from Amazon for not a lot of money.

I think the band was Streetband or Street something but no idea on the lead singer. Obviously someone well known but not to me!

I am off to see Gabrielle on Monday night. Last time I saw her was in the Armadillo and the sound engineer should have been shot. The band were loud and she sounded as though she was singing in the room next door. It's in the Glasgow Concert Hall this time so the acoustics should be good.

Years ago our cats had obviously brought a bird into the house and it had escaped or she'd got bored. We never knew. Until it hopped across the hall one morning as we were both getting ready to leave for work. Judging by the size of the pile of bird poo behind the cupboard in the hall, it had been there a while.

When the weather is poor we sometimes sit in the back of my Evoque and have a picnic. We have some camping chairs to use in the back of the car but I find it a bit uncomfortable as the back seats don't go down completely flat... until today when I learned that I can take the base of the back seats out and then the backs do fold down flat giving a flat back area.

Poor stuff from LR though as there's something sharp down the side of the seat base and it cut my finger leaving blood all over. Thankfully it cleaned off the leather ok.

I've just moved from EE to GiffGaff. I was paying £36 a month and Lindsey £26 per month. I've got both phones all in for £21 per month on a non contract basis.

O2 who they piggyback off have improved their signal in our area and we now get 5G. We could barely pick them up when we first moved here.

I'm over at our Jarrow branch and we have a trans woman technician who uses the gents toilets (consisting of two stalls and no urinals). I don't know whether to leave the seat up or down? Do I need to contact HR for advice?

Well done Rodge!! Feeling your pain on the knee thing; I get that even without running! 

I won a Samsung 55” LED TV in an office draw and collected it today.
Don’t need it but we’ve decided to turn an unused room into a tv room as a result.