The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

When I was based in Antwerp, I was friendly via the free fall fraternity, with a chap who did a lot of work with Francois Verlinden. Verlinden at the time made and finished most of Tamiya's catalogue models. 

 

I was lucky enough to see models before they came onto the market. FV had enough clout with Tamiya to reject moulds that were not up to standard 

[PhilJ W]

I paint using Tamiya acrylics, far better than any others.

[SM42]

Well the trip to the model shop tomorrow morning has been approved whilst Mrs SM42 gets her teeth done followed by a pummelling at the massage and beauty salon. (Not the same place as the dentist)

 

As the model shop contains more than paint, it could be rather expensive. 

 

I must resist temptation. I must resist temptation.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

56 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Well the trip to the model shop tomorrow morning has been approved whilst Mrs SM42 gets her teeth done followed by a pummelling at the massage and beauty salon. (Not the same place as the dentist)

 

As the model shop contains more than paint, it could be rather expensive. 

 

I must resist temptation. I must resist temptation.

 

Andy

Resistance is futile.

[newbryford]

5 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Resistance is futile.

 

Resistance is Volts divided by Amps....................................

[Dave Hunt]

And the jolt he will get from Mrs. SM42 should he succumb too easily to temptation can probably be measured in lots of volts times many amps.

 

Dave 

[SM42]

16 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Resistance is futile.

 

That's what my credit card is afraid of. 

 

Still, by happy coincidence ( or is it planning?,) I won't have to pay till mid September 

 

Andy

[SM42]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

And the jolt he will get from Mrs. SM42 should he succumb too easily to temptation can probably be measured in lots of volts times many amps.

 

Dave 

 

What this dear? 

 

Had it ages dear 

 

Yes, I did bring it on holiday so I could do some work on it dear

 

No dear, I wouldn't lie about that would l ?

 

What ever do you mean by that dear?

 

Ow!

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

Today has been better than Saturday as I've been able to deal with some more of Mum & Dad's stuff without getting too morbid about it. At the current rate of progress I should be finished by this time next week pending getting rid of as much of the remaining furniture as I can to charities then getting a house clearance firm in to take care of the rest. I've taken his PC apart and smashed the hard drive so the rest of it can go to the recycling tip. Tomorrow I'll be going to see the solicitor to see when I can put the house on the market, i.e. do I have to wait for probate to be approved or as sole executor can I go ahead before that.  

 

I've also undertaken what I hope is a smart attempt at future brownie point gathering by booking Jill and I into a four start hotel for our wedding anniversary a week on Tuesday. Or will that be too transparent?

 

Dave

[newbryford]

11 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

 

I've also undertaken what I hope is a smart attempt at future brownie point gathering by booking Jill and I into a four start hotel for our wedding anniversary a week on Tuesday. Or will that be too transparent?

 

Dave

 

Ah - the near-mythical brownie points... [*]

 

Like good reputations - difficult to obtain, easy to lose.

 

[*] My local currency is Guide points. With both Mrs NB and Junior NB being quite involved in local area Guide activities. Many have supposedly been obtained in the past few days with two events that required my services.

Edited July 31, 2022 by newbryford

[DaveF]

9 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Today has been better than Saturday as I've been able to deal with some more of Mum & Dad's stuff without getting too morbid about it. At the current rate of progress I should be finished by this time next week pending getting rid of as much of the remaining furniture as I can to charities then getting a house clearance firm in to take care of the rest. I've taken his PC apart and smashed the hard drive so the rest of it can go to the recycling tip. Tomorrow I'll be going to see the solicitor to see when I can put the house on the market, i.e. do I have to wait for probate to be approved or as sole executor can I go ahead before that.  

 

I've also undertaken what I hope is a smart attempt at future brownie point gathering by booking Jill and I into a four start hotel for our wedding anniversary a week on Tuesday. Or will that be too transparent?

 

Dave

 

Dave,

My solicitor told me I could market Mum's flat before probate, but cannot complete on a sale until after probate.  Her flat is now sold subject to contract, it took three days from when it went on sale. Probate will hopefully be done by the end of August.  I wish you well with selling your Dad's house.

 

I found clearing the flat was very sad.  I brought some furniture, lots of pictures, books etc home.  I gave some furniture to two asylum seekers at church who have just been given permission to remain and now have a house, some other stuff went to church to give to those who need houesware, crockery and so on.  Most of the rest went to a house clearance firm locally, including Mum's clothes which they gave to the Salvation Army.  The rest was taken by the YMCA.  I did make three trips to the tip as well.

 

I now have a very full house!

 

David

[Compound2632]

25 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Tomorrow I'll be going to see the solicitor to see when I can put the house on the market, i.e. do I have to wait for probate to be approved or as sole executor can I go ahead before that.  

 

You need probate to be able to exchange contracts and complete but it's absolutely standard practice to have an accepted offer well before then. We sold my late father's house very rapidly in April / May last year but completed at the end of November as we didn't get the probate until October. Works both ways: when my brother bought the year before that, he was kept waiting several months for his vendors to get probate.

 

Beaten to it by @DaveF!

Edited July 31, 2022 by Compound2632

[SM42]

I've discovered something new about brownie points.

 

We all know they arrive singly and leave in multiple but did you know

 

They only have a limited shelf life?

 

I reckon about 7 days  although they can be partly revived by reminiscing about some point gaining event after several months.

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

Thanks for the advice re probate and house marketing Dave and Stephen. It adds a touch of urgency to my efforts as I would like to get the place sold (if only STC) before winter.

 

An Example of the competence of government agencies. Two days after Dad died I advised the TV licensing mob of the fact and that his house was as of then unoccupied. A week ago I received, at my address, acknowledgement together with a cheque for the remaining time of the license. Yesterday I found a letter on Dad's doormat from the TV licensing lot stating that his address was without a valid TV license and unless this was resolved by August 1st or they were advised of a change of circumstance it would be reported to the local recovery office. I ask you. As far as I am concerned there is no chance that I'm going to bother replying and if they want to take further action they can do - prior to wiping the egg off their incompetent faces. 

 

Dave

[newbryford]

14 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I've discovered something new about brownie points.

 

We all know they arrive singly and leave in multiple but did you know

 

They only have a limited shelf life?

 

I reckon about 7 days  although they can be partly revived by reminiscing about some point gaining event after several months.

 

Andy

 

"Lost" Brownie points can also be retrieved through a repeat of the same activity that earned them in the first place. Although there is a degree of diminishing returns - they're never worth as much second time round.

[Dave Hunt]

14 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I've discovered something new about brownie points.

 

We all know they arrive singly and leave in multiple but did you know

 

They only have a limited shelf life?

 

I reckon about 7 days  although they can be partly revived by reminiscing about some point gaining event after several months.

 

Andy

 

You are obviously an optimist. In my experience, unless the point gathering event is truly momentous, they have about the same survival chance as a whelk in a supernova*. 

 

* to quote THHGTTG.

 

Dave

[SM42]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Thanks for the advice re probate and house marketing Dave and Stephen. It adds a touch of urgency to my efforts as I would like to get the place sold (if only STC) before winter.

 

An Example of the competence of government agencies. Two days after Dad died I advised the TV licensing mob of the fact and that his house was as of then unoccupied. A week ago I received, at my address, acknowledgement together with a cheque for the remaining time of the license. Yesterday I found a letter on Dad's doormat from the TV licensing lot stating that his address was without a valid TV license and unless this was resolved by August 1st or they were advised of a change of circumstance it would be reported to the local recovery office. I ask you. As far as I am concerned there is no chance that I'm going to bother replying and if they want to take further action they can do - prior to wiping the egg off their incompetent faces. 

 

Dave

 

I think that this is just a standard threat to any new occupant or anyone who might be pulling a fast one 

 

It happens 

 

As for probate  it will take as long as it takes, so don't feel under pressure if it takes longer than you hope. The last thing you need is extra stress waiting for that bit of paper.

 

I sincerely hope things have moved on   apace since we went through this with mum's estate and covid delays are not as bad as they were then.

 

Hoping it all goes well for you.

 

Andy

[SM42]

1 minute ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

You are obviously an optimist. In my experience, unless the point gathering event is truly momentous, they have about the same survival chance as a whelk in a supernova*. 

 

* to quote THHGTTG.

 

Dave

 

I refer you to the last day of school pizza incident I mentioned a while back.

 

Sourcing last minute pizza for the kids at Mrs SM42's school when the original supplier let us down secured one brownie point.

 

The whole affair was a hot topic for about a week and then it was as if it never happened. 

 

Recent reminiscing, craftily worked in to a conversation ( a rare event I know as models and other things take precedent) revived that point briefly. 

 

All gone now though. 

 

You really do need to strike and cash in whilst the iron is hot 

 

Andy

[simontaylor484]

@Dave Huntas @SM42 says the letters for the TV licence ate computer generated by a database of addresses without TV licences.

 When we moved in to our first house it had been empty for a while the doormat was buried under a load of the same letters. They came fairly regularly whilst we were going the place up before actually living in it

[Happy Hippo]

56 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I've discovered something new about brownie points.

 

We all know they arrive singly and leave in multiple but did you know

 

They only have a limited shelf life?

 

I reckon about 7 days  although they can be partly revived by reminiscing about some point gaining event after several months.

 

Andy

Brownie points evaporate at the same rate as water at boiling point.

 

[Happy Hippo]

Best comment at the rugby sevens was to the Australian ladies:

 

'You can show your blokes what a gold medal looks like!'

[br2975]

What do I have to show for today ?

.

1.6kg of foraged blackberries, to add to the same amount already in the freezer.

.

It's a bumper crop hereabouts.

.

It'll help with my Slimming World breakfasts, have lost 12lb in 10 days so far.

[zarniwhoop]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I paint using Tamiya acrylics, far better than any others.

Interesting - I haven't painted anything recently, but when I tried Tamiya acrylics I found their smell repugnant.

[jjb1970]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

When I was based in Antwerp, I was friendly via the free fall fraternity, with a chap who did a lot of work with Francois Verlinden. Verlinden at the time made and finished most of Tamiya's catalogue models. 

 

I was lucky enough to see models before they came onto the market. FV had enough clout with Tamiya to reject moulds that were not up to standard 

 

I used to drool over the dioramas FV did for the centre section of the Tamiya catalogue for many years, truly inspiring. 

[jjb1970]

In Singapore there's a joke that husband's are foreign ministers, allowed to feel important outside the home.

 

It's one of those things that seems to be poorly represented in much of the world where countries like Japan and China are seen as male dominated and patriarchal. That may have been the case in politics and business, in the home it was a bit different. One of the things I just can't help finding funny is the number of Japanese friends I have who will desperately look for reasons to go home late to minimize the time they have to spend with their wives.