Minitoots

Some of the buildings in Dulwich village are nice - eg the Picture gallery and Belair house....

We?ve been avoiding public transport due to shielding but wondered what it's like travelling on local trains out of rush hour into London Bridge from ED & From Denmark Hill to Clapham - are they busy or can you still avoid getting too close to people? How about the stopping train from Denmark hill & Peckham Rye down to Sevenoaks? How about at weekends? Thanks for any updates.

we?ve sold lots of items from a car, a bike to pieces of fabric and I ?d still recommend it - after all, it is free to post your items. There are definitely some timewasters out there though & I wasn?t very impressed with the woman who came to buy a beautiful length of silk fabric from me for ?10 (worth at least ?30)& asked for a discount when she arrived at my doorstep.... I also agree with all Kid Kriger?s comments above re: selling.

Thanks so much to you both for taking time to reply - that?s all really helpful info. I?ve now heard that my estranged Uncle?s carer has organised a bespoke coffin & burial despite not being next of kin! Apparently my Uncle had just about enough funds to pay for this, but the money won?t be accessible until someone is named next of kin and takes on the administration... Complicated....

We just heard that my 90 year old Mum's younger brother has died without leaving a will. He had been in sheltered housing for decades with mental health issues, and had not been in touch with any of his 3 surviving sisters for over 50 years, despite one of my aunts' trying to keep in contact with him. My Mum lost contact with him about 55 years ago. Neither my Mum or her two 80 + 85 year old sisters have any funds to pay for funeral costs. My cousins (the children of the 3 sisters) are keen to relinquish any next of kin status for our parents if it's possible - does anyone know what the situation is here? We only found out from my Uncle's carer who called one of my Aunts and informed her that HE was next of kin. This has since been retracted when it turned out that there was not a will. It's a bit more complicated in that there was another brother who died a couple of years ago and HIS daughter (ie another cousin of mine) was in touch with my late uncle and his carer regularly until he died and is happy to take over the organising of everything but is also asking for financial help from the 3 sisters.... Anyone with any helpful advice - please let me know!

I have to send a small parcel to Canada which needs to be tracked (it's a painting) - has anyone got any recommendations of reliable and reasonably priced couriers? I usually ship paintings via Interparcel as they are cheaper than going direct to the main couriers, but their cheapest option is one called Landmark which doesn't get good reviews.I've offered the collector free shipping but as it's only a tiny painting I don't want to end up paying toooooo much..

Thanksfor the updates - I did email Kings volunteers office but haven?t had a reply but if you think they can use them that?s good.

I've made several large laundry bags for scrubs and have tried contacting all the main scrubs-making groups to see which hospitals still want them but have not had any success in getting replies - they only seem to have info on actual scrubs, not the bags.. Does anyone know if any of our local hospitals need them? (I tried emailing the volunteers email address but haven't had any replies from them yet) Alternatively, I'm happy to post them to any medical facility that can use them...

I've just got a slot for a click and collect at Sydenham Sainsburys - has anyone done one? Do you pick up from inside the store? What are the waiting times like (we have a 8-9pm slot) We've been avoiding going to any large supermarkets til now but as there are no foreseeable home deliveries thought this would be worth a try but don't want to have to go in a lift or anything (seem to remember there was one at Sydenham??) thanks for any info!

Oh that?s great, Siduhe - what a quick response, too! I?ll let her know. Thanks

My friend got this hand painted wooden trunk from an antiques shop but the owner didn't know anything about the history of it (assuming it IS old) We love the title 'High Heel Hurricane' /Eyeful and the kitschy drawing of the girl on the top of it. It opens at the side and is about 1.5 m long. We wondered if it was used for a stage show or something.Havve tried searching online but can't find anything like it. Just thought someone on the forum might have an idea?

I'm asking around to see if anyone can recommend a solicitor specialising in community care law. I'm also getting in touch with a couple of charities dealing in help for the elderly but thought it would be useful to have a direct recommendation of someone in that specific field too. To cut a long story short, my parents are both in a residential care home in Gloucestershire and have been self-funding after selling their house but their funds have nearly run out. I've just had a call from their newly assigned case worker to say that after reading their care plan notes from the home, she thinks it is unlikely that the local council will consider funding either of them. We thought this might be the case with my Mum but my Dad has dementia and is 96, and we can't imagine how he would cope in sheltered housing especially as Glos has hardly anything even with a warden on site, let alone any night staff. My brother and I are trying to get as much information on the situation before attending the assessments in about a week. thanks for any suggestions. I posted a similar question re: care home fees a while ago and got very helpful and informative replies from Pugwash and TE44 in case it's relevant to anyone else.Here's the link to that thread:- /forum/read.php?20,1999809

We?re hoping to go to Malta for a long weekend soon - has anyone got suggestions dor things to do & see other than the obvious things we?ll find in guidebooks, etc?

Hi Pugwash, Many thanks for your detailed message which I have just seen. You certainly are very well versed in this! Yes, individual savings from the sale of their house will be less than approx. ?23,000 each in the next couple of months, hence trying to find out as much as possible prior to contacting social services and explaining the situation to our parents. I could reply in more detail to cut a long story short, my parents live in the country and their house was on a very steep hill down 35 large steps. They were both hospitalised at the same time in summer 2015 - Dad with severe shingles which left him with delerium and exacerbated his dementia - my Mum had really been his carer before that but at 85 was suffering from extreme anxiety / stress and could not cope. At the same time, she fell down the stairs and broke her hip really badly. Social services proposed that on release from hospital, both should be carried down the steps to their house and should live in the one downstairs room they had access to with a commode because neither could use the stair lift any more. We have POA and agreed with my parents that this was not an option. Provision for sheltered housing in their area is very sparse - there is no-where on the social housing list with an warden on site, and certainly nothing with any overnight staff nearby, or any extra sheltered housing.Neither would have chosen to go into care had it not been for their medical crises. All a bit of a nightmare!

thanks - that all sounds great!I'll check out the Money saving expert info. Do you also know if there is any way of tracking down old accounts from years and years ago that we we may have forgotten about?

We're finally getting round to checking PPI - has anyone used a firm they were happy with, or has anyone done it themselves?? Any tips gratefully received, thanks.

We have 2 elderly parents in residential care and had to sell their house to pay for the fees. Their savings will run out in the next few months. We'd naively assumed that the local council in their area would meet the costs once funds ran out, but have now discovered that the most they will offer is about 50% of the total fee and we don't have funds to meet the top up either. Apparently the council may even decide they do not need to be in residential care. Has anyone else been in this very worrying situation? I've contacted 'Age UK' for advice, and also 'Independent age', and also spoke to the Care Advice line (a charity which advises on financing care etc) - they were extremely well informed, but I'm wondering if there is anyone else we can talk to to find out more before approaching the local social services in their part of the country as we would like to be as well prepared as possible before they both have their care needs assessment, and before we discuss anything with them. What a start to the new year!!

thanks for the update, TE44 - and thanks to everyone else who has replied so far, as well.

any chance we can get back to answering the question of what supplements he can get from a local health shop or chemist???

My partner has just been told he has high cholesterol - he previously managed to lower it a lot by going on a low cholesterol diet + exercising more - any other suggestions? I heard that certain supplements could help but can't remember what they were - any ideas?? He would prefer not to have to resort to statins...

thanks for the info!

My son needs to learn the basics of Vectorworks - he's a recent graduate and can't afford the full priced version - does anyone know of cheap or free trial versions? It wouldn't have to be the newest one....