Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

FFS get well soon

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

Hope that gets sorted really quickly for you! Definitely not what you want to be dealing with. Take it steady and gws.

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

I've encountered the "wrong type of snow" that caused rail chaos on Shrove Tuesday back in 1991. Unfortunately I'd been to a funeral in London of a fellow biker who'd lost her battle with cancer and after seeing Poppy on to the train at Paddington I headed for Victoria mid-afternoon and my train back to Brighton (was still a student then). We got as far as Burgess Hill or so with the train bucking and crashing about as the third rail pickup shoe kept getting snow build up and losing contact. After sitting in BH for a while the driver came over the PA and said he'd try and get through. It was very uncomfortable and we just made it - the last of the day to do so. Services were all cancelled after that as snow continued to fall really hard. Odd day. Got soaking wet feet by the time I'd walked home (no taxis anywhere), had a drink and some pancakes made by my flatmate, and then we built an enormous snowman in the middle of the road, which after a few more drinks became a snow woman... The wet sticky type of snow that day was also getting sucked into air ducts on the electric overhead locos that was causing them to shut down and fail so I was lucky to have made it through at all! Perfect snow for sculpting and snowball fights but terrible for trains.

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

Kids birthday parties. Ones that aren't your kids.
God they are ****ing awful.

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

Are you sitting on a used car tyre in the street while the kids play on the pavement? If not, don't complain. I had kids go to one of those.
I soon got an urgent phone call and we had to leave.

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

That does sound bad, but no it's worse. There is an entertainer call Mr Happy. And he keeps getting the kid's chant. Mr Happy makes me happy. Which is a, wrong on too many levels. But b, he's really ****ing ****. I've never seen my 8 year old look so bored.

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

I'm awaiting the results of my MRI after discovering my high PSA and my thoughts turned to making a Will. My children are American, I have a son and a daughter but my daughter and I have been estranged for over 10 years after she sent me a vitriolic email demanding I stay out of her life.

I have discovered that it is practically impossible to exclude her from my Will. It can be written in but since I have US assets she could contest it in their courts and, most likely, win (and the US court would also recognise the UK assets). So much for honouring your last request on Earth! What a messed up system.

If I try and leave my house to my son now then it, too, would be taken into account as would paying off his student loans and it would be deducted from his final inheritance when the court rebalanced the distribution. You can't win.

The solicitor has said I have to leave her a "non derisory" amount but has, so far, declined to specify an amount. What I had intended to leave her was a laminated copy of the hostile email she sent me (and I have given that to the solicitor already).

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

You’re coming across as a really horrible person.
What efforts have you made to reconcile with your daughter?
You are supposed to be the parent, you know, the adult in the relationship.

Even if there is more to this story, surely leaving her a non derisory amount would not be the end of the world. Would your son really grudge her it? Or would he rather not have a court case after your death fighting over the spoils.

Why don’t you grow up and take this wake up call to mend your relationships.

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

I never claimed to be a good person. My daughter is 26. I would like to reconcile but honestly as the years go by it means less and less. You obviously have not seen the email she sent, it was the most hostile, hate filled piece of writing that I have ever received. Six months after she sent it she asked why we were no longer talking, I explained about her email which she couldn't recall. I sent her a copy of her own email, asked for an apology and never heard anything since.

The reason she sent it was that she went to my father and asked for money for a car. The only time she spoke to my parents was when she wanted money and she never thanked them when she received any. This was not how I (tried) to raise her. I called her on it, asked her to stop begging for money and the email was the result.

If I am a horrible person then it's genetic and runs in the family, unfortunately. On the other hand I never had parents, teachers, counsellors calling my parents about my behaviour as a child, like they did with her.

I realise it's easy to make a judgement based on one brief posting and I don't take offence on your comments but there's a lot of history here, a lot of dirty laundry which I'm not prepared to air to indicate what kind of person I am or am not.

The fact remains that I do not understand why a person's last request in life should not be honoured if they are in sound mind.

Re: Gripe of the day - What is yours?
 

@seeker I’m still sad that you want to wash your hands of her.
I would give anything to be in contact with my children.

My suggestion before I read about your solicitor would have been a token bequest to ensure that the courts knew that you had not forgotten her but that you had actively considered her and chosen to give her this amount.
Whatever you do I would make sure your son is in agreement with it.