Retirement (or Last of the Summer Wine)

I walk as well. Most days I walk from my back door to the car, at least 40 yards. Then after I park up the car on my return I have to do it all over again.

Hi all Deedsafe For many of us, we spend umpteen years of our lives paying off our mortgage, for the happy day to arrive when we have completed the outstanding debt. That was over thirty years ago for me. Upon completion, the building society in those days offered a free Deedsafe service, where they retain the deeds, which nowadays is usually a fiche record. Out of sight & out of mind it is forgotten. To do that nowadays most banks & building societies make a charge. Anyway, as it is nearly ten years since I received a formal confirmation letter for the Deedsafe, I popped into the building society so as to arrange written confirmation of the zero debt & the safekeeping of the deeds. I am posting this here as I hear some horror stories, some involving criminal fraud as well as accidental loss. Our Land Registry folk are very strict on property ownership changes, the first port of call being to assess any outstanding debts. Loads of folk have Deedsafe, & if like me 49p is still owing, the Land Registry may stop an exchange until the debt is qualified. In a recent case of house purchase, a nine chain exchange was totally thwarted because of non-clarification of the outstanding debt - the case involved £0.50p. So, just a timely prompt that if you own your own home, do you know where your deeds are?

Good question Philip, I have no idea where ours is at. Probably CBS, I must ask next time I go. Thanks.

Good point, the banks are sneaky about charges. I paid my mortgage off in about 1999 and then moved the deeds to my solicitor. Unbeknown to me they had a fire and many deeds were severely damaged including mine, my aunt's and my parents' but didn't tell us until I was selling my house . Fortunately we had copies and the solicitor electronically registered all three for free with the Land Registry (well we insisted and they reluctantly agreed). Now the records are 'safe' and the paper copies are no longer as important. So if you haven't had yours registered, please think about doing so.

Hi all Just chat. One of our members has today shared with me a "holiday disappointment" to put it politely, more like a horror story. In life, the best laid plans of mice & men can sometimes go wrong, whether by mishap or incompetence, whether it is holidays or a car-space to a new house where only a motorbike fits. Until 2012, I had most years enjoyed many holidays away from home, with Pam & sometimes small-groups. Rail holidays, canal boats, coach holidays, the lot, yet I cannot recall any real horror stories for all of my adult life. A few years ago, I made a conscious decision to make our home as care-home friendly as possible. I love coming home, no matter wherever I have been, where weather permitting we can relax in our own garden, which is why we have spent a few bob on it of late. I don't live in a manor house or stately home. It's a Coventry town house at the end of a non-conspicuous cul-de-sac, with an odd shaped garden to boot. We don't have Chatsworth-like grounds either, which is just as well, as I don't believe there is a bus service around those grounds, where as nearby where I live, there is a metal pole in the ground that when I stand there, a bus comes. It's as simple as that. I went to Atherstone yesterday where I had a lovely day, after meeting friends for breaky in Bedworth. Just now we have forum friends visiting our city who live in Australia, who I am looking forward to meeting very soon. I did have a brief contractual holiday home venture in Salcombe, Devon, many years ago, but that wasn't all it was cracked up to be, so only lasted a few years. My eyesight issue restricts my freedom to drive, as it has for the last two decades, but my bus-pass coming along has more than made up for that, even enabling me to continue with a volunteering commitment, which is actually superior to driving. Pam & her sister are going away together in a few weeks time, so I will be on house, tropical fish & cat sitting duty at home during that period. With no through traffic, sitting out at the front is very convenient, even for the matron, as here in the picture. Best wishes Philip.

Hi all, a very sad issue. Funeral business closes. It's often tempting to do what we can by planning ahead for what will eventually come to us all. Some pay for their funeral costs in advance, or pay so much a month to an over 50 plan, like the nice man tells June about on the tele advert, even offers to lend her his phone. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day leave alone next year. I am aware that an undertaking businesses can go horribly wrong, as in the news link, just as any other business can. When I was a boy, who could have told me then that over half of the pubs in Coventry would have gone in my adult life-time. So, please be aware, a guarantee might not be worth the paper it is written on, for all sorts of reasons. Even a business that appears to be secure, might be involved with a merger, a takeover or maybe a leading business partner becomes ill, the business limps along being headed by someone, even a family member who basically hasn't a clue. It's not easy for anyone forecasting costs ahead of time. The average cost of a West Midlands funeral twenty years ago was just under £1000, whereas today it is between £3000-£4000. That needs good forward cover skills to guarantee that the undertaker remains solvent.

Thanks Philip, a very good topic for all of us retirees to take on board. I made a wise move when my better half passed away. I spent a small sum on a double plot instead of just the one, making sure I would join him when my time came. My children - adults now of course - have been well ensured of any expenses incurred when I 'go'. As you say no one can forecast future costs and I am sure a great many elderly folk are not prepared or cannot predict when their time is due. It's a very difficult topic to actually sit down and talk about to your family - 'Oh Mum do we have to talk about that now'. Well I did and it helps a lot in any preparations you have to make after discussing it with them.

Yes Philip, we always think it's something that only "old" people need to think about without realising a) that's not true, and b) many of us are what our younger selves would have called old people. We lost our daughter just over two years ago and she insisted on sorting everything out when she first became ill which made things slightly easier. As a result of this the whole family had a discussion about what we wanted and we are fortunate enough to be able to put the money to one side to cover things (dependent upon inflation of course). We also realised that we needed to rewrite our wills and our funeral wishes are a part of them and it is a chance to discuss organ donation wishes as well. Depressing post over.

It's funny this has cropped up now - only two days ago we visited the undertakers and sorted this all out. Thirty years ago I took out insurance, but at today's prices it's now a joke. It was quite traumatic for my wife but it's now done and settled with a 5 year guarantee, will, service, cars etc, all paid and settled (all I need now is a date). Make things easier when the time comes. I'm certain I don't have five years - certainty, should bet on it, also the reason I'm trying to write things down.

Morning all, it's only me I visited the home of an elderly couple, both who were sneezing & wheezing this week, where their home was stone cold. They are not destitute by any standards, but since having smart energy meters fitted, are determined not to see the red light come on, on their display meter. All the red light coming on means is that they are burning a bit more energy than say the week before or what ever time period is set for comparison. An army of energy police are not going to suddenly march them off to Siberia for burning an extra kWh, but that is what was in the back of their minds. We have so much media & parliamentary hype about saving energy, what it should emphasise is saving on wasted energy, not scrimping on keeping healthy. So, in the grip of this winter, flu & winter bug ailments abounding, please don't get cold. Drink plenty, fresh water if nothing else, and keep warm. You will have plenty of time to save energy, once "Spring comes over the windowsill", as the song says. Best wishes.

Too true don't get cold. The reason why the majority of strokes and heart attacks happen in the winter months is because the blood thickens. So wear a hat outside and keep the heat on inside. The cold also aids bugs like cold and flu because they can survive out of the body longer. There's also some thought that a cold nose makes the bug more likely to attach.

Hi all, it's only me again The subject of WALKING crops up from time to time in health-media as well as from me. I love walking, but inclement weather, along with how we are, plus in my case where my gallivanting has been restricted whilst my Pam has been recovering, has taken its toll on me. Now, I am not so qualified to stick an Elastoplast on anyone, leave alone giving health advice, but I do know what affects me. A qualified medic has explained this to me, which I value. Walking is so interconnected with our whole bodies (a bit like swimming but you don't need a 'cossy'), it behaves like a pendulum to so much of our anatomy & chemistry almost as a regulator. I tell you what, I know how lousy I feel after a couple of days indoors, to how I feel when I have been out & about. Walking is so much a part of our inbuilt system, that our chemistry doesn't want to miss out on any free giveaways, so since we are burning energy to walk, other parts of our anatomy latch on to it. Try walking whilst your arms are tied. A bit like a hen walking without the counter-neck movement. It is all interconnected, which includes our digestive system. After a few days of walking, I am ravenous, you should have seen the plate of fish & chips that I had on Tuesday evening, whereas after a few stuck-indoors days, my appetite is yuk. Most of us in my age group, those born in the forties, fifties & even sixties, know all about our growing up days of walking to school, or even if using a bus, still required a lot of walking. Also our outdoor games, playing ball in the street & so on. I just wonder what a ticking time bomb that we have nowadays where that has been replaced by the school car-run. Now for some folk, this is not easy especially if they are confined to a wheelchair, but when I visited an elderly care-home recently, there I found residents being excercised with pedal machines. My Pam has been using one whilst she has been housebound. I do hope this is a help to at least some of us as we age.

Hi all, only me again I feel 108% today, after a couple of months of feeling yuk! I ate a soft cheese dish at a pre Christmas dinner, a brie concoction that I knew wasn't right for me, yet I carried on eating it. I was speaking to a friend who had coped with a similar experience earlier last year, where she told me that it had taken several months for her system to get back to being right after eating something that disagreed with her. I wasn't ill as such. Just that I had little appetite, what I ate or drank didn't taste as it should, as said yuk. I did have a bit of medical advice, which was to drink loads. I also followed advice from the net, which I found really good. So, without anti-biotic pills & so on, this last week has been brill. It was a good sign when my food & drink started to taste as I remember them, part of the net guidance notes. Pam made me a plain flavoured milkshake last week which was like heaven. I had one today in Café Italia, just a plain milkshake, not a thick-shake. It was fab. In fact it gets the three "brills" score. We are not an advertising site, but with so many coffee houses struggling with decreasing footfall, experimenting with coconut milk & so on, Café Italia maintain their high quality. I enjoyed a flat-white recently in there that was sucking-ly nice. For whatever is negative about Coventry, that café in Trinity street is brill. It has another perk too. It's right opposite my bus stops. Whahey! PS. One bonus maybe that drinking so much (plain water mostly) I haven't had so much as a snivel so far. What a pip!

And of course it does the best scrambled egg!

Once again, thanks to all those continuing to contribute to my Winter Fuel Payment, notification of which arrived in the post this morning