Mid-summer in the UK

Sunday tea club celebrating Manu's 70th birthday

We went out on the Saturday evening of the last blog, into Birmingham, to meet Manu and Crystal, H&I, Reuben etc to celebrate Manu’s 70th birthday. That’ll be five weeks on the trot! Not the venue he had planned, we walked in (Alberts Schloss), elbowed our way through the crowd to them and said we couldn’t stay. It was so loud, so busy, so hot, unbearable! Fortunately they were of the same opinion, so we headed to the outdoor area of the London and North Western at New Street. Much more our scene!

Me and birthday boy Manu

We did indeed meet Jonathan and Lucy with Charles at Watford Gap service station. They had been up to York where Charles had led the gun salute for King Charles Birthday. He was the one doing the shouting, we are all very proud. They had then packed him up in Sheffield at the end of his three years of University and were on the way home. It was a quick stop, but we got the forms signed. Monday therefore we could go into Redditch and send them off and pay the money due. Shame for the lady in the bank, trying to ask all the sensible questions about whether we were happy to be paying this money? No. Were we being coerced! Yes... she was very good!

Charles sent us this photo of himself at the kings 21 gun birthday salute in York. He's in the centre holding a sword vertical. Hard to think he's a grown man in the army now, it doesn't seem five minutes since we were digging sandcastles on the beach!

Monday we had a live Monday Club, beer and curry before Tim went to Cuba with the family. We are glad they’ve gone away as we are at theirs for a fortnight looking often Ruby mad dog and Stimpy shouty cat. It’s lovely to be away. I can’t say we are doing nothing as Brian is working on video cassettes out of the loft at Birmingham Road, transferring old family videos to DVD and the to the computer and on to YouTube. A slow process! Brian's done five so far, if you'd like to look at them click on these links:

Brian's mum and dad's 40th wedding anniversary in March 1988: https://youtu.be/M1_Tbourotw

Brian's son Stuart's last holiday in June 1997: https://youtu.be/9LyvBtrow3c

Silent movie of Brian and his family around 1960 (He was five): https://youtu.be/0iMzVv8rY3M

Brian's daughter Fiona's 18th birthday in August 1997: https://youtu.be/-DHfH0OUt6E

Brian's mum's visit to her brother and family in South Africa in 1990 or 1991: https://youtu.be/y2a4pUDcddU

Helping Manu remove the old roof on the garage of their new house in Sutton Coldfield. It was dirty work!

Wednesday we went to give Manu a hand on their new house, not demolishing the conservatory, that’s coming down on its own, but reroofing the garage to make it weathertight! Obviously these things get worse before they get better, so we took off the old felt before making the front and sides a lot sturdier for him to put new felt back on!

A welcome beer in Tanworth in Arden after roof demolition. Why Tanworth in Arden when his house is in Sutton Coldfield? He was having work done on his campervan at a garage there and it was (sort of) on our way home, so we gave him a lift

Thursday we went out walking again with Denise and Paul, from the house, along the canal to Bromsgrove railway station in Finstall, two trains with a change at Barnt Green got us back to the house for a quick freshen up before a meal at the Red Lion. Another lovely day. See our Relive video with more photos: click here

With Denise and Paul on our walk from Alvechurch to Bromsgrove, down the Tardebigge lock flight on the Worcester and Birmingham canal

Friday a friend of ours came round for a little advice, after reading the last blog he’d messaged to say his dad had died unexpectedly a fortnight ago and could he have a chat. Not that we are experts, but having just been through some of what he’s got to do we were more than happy to see him and five whatever assistance we could.

On one of the 58 lock gates (30 locks) that make up the Tardebigge lock flight. Its the longest flight of locks in the UK raising the water level through 67m (220 feet) over a distance of 3.6km (two and a quarter miles)

Unusually friendly sheep came over for strokes

Sunday we arrived at Tim and Jill’s and spent a very pleasant evening with them before their early departure to Manchester to catch their flight, with their grownup children, Ellie and James, and James’s girlfriend. Ruby hasn’t taken long to get us trained, so the daily routine is Brian goes down to make coffee, Ruby hares up the stairs, with a present, to see me, hares back downstairs for breakfast which is gone in a second. Outside for ablutions then up with Brian, into bed, letting us chill for an hour or so. She then gets a bit twitchy, so once round the field while Brian does breakfast, stopping to harvest raspberries for the breakfast fruit on our way back in. This calms her down for a short while while we decide which walk to go on. The new, easy walk is lovely (click here), out the back of the new housing estate and through the woods. Today though we went to the marina at Willington and had a lovely walk along the canal before stopping for a sandwich at the narrow boat cafe (click here). Stimpy is not as young as she was, the jump onto the work surface for her food bowls is more of a haul of herself up which is very impressive, though I think she knew Brian was trying to video her and did the best jump we’ve seen all week. She is still very talkative, though I’m not sure I always understand exactly what it is she wants. Today I got the message and got the ham out of the fridge.....

Taking Ruby for a walk round Tim and Jill's field with Ruby looking back at their house wondering where Jackie is

Our time is flying past, I hope it’s going a bit slower for Tim and Jill et al.

And then there was quite a nice sunset last night. 'Red sky at night, shepherds delight' they say, and indeed it was, today was quite pleasant, just a bit windy

Taking Ruby on the easy local wood walk. We're just walking through Tim and Jill's front garden to get to the  road (some way off behind us) at the moment. We feel quite posh being here, its nice having wealthy friends! Just a pity we have to bring the neighbourhood down by parking our old car on the front!

Ruby waiting for a treat on our wood walk

Stimpy cat enjoying some fuss on the sofa with us

My daily routine of sit-ups is not easy when a dog wants to know what I'm doing and decides I'm at the right height to lick

Press-ups are no easier!

On our walk round the marina at Willington today

And then along the Trent and Mersey canal past the town of Willington

We stopped for lunch at the narrowboat cafe at Willington. Where was Ruby?...

Under the table hoping we'll drop something

Ruby does seem to like jumping into water (as most dogs do). This lake was a bit deep, good job we had her on the lead to stop her going in too deep

Jackie does like to do her trick with the flowers of bind weed (Convulvulus). She picks them, holds the stem and squeezes so the flower pops out while saying 'Nanny, nanny, jump out of bed'. Ruby seemed to appreciate it

17 year old Stimpy cat making her giant leap for cat kind to get onto the kitchen unit to eat her dinner. Some days she does it better than others, today was a good day. It has to be up there to prevent Ruby dog from scoffing the lot

June in England

Tuesday walk with Sunday Club (confusing I know!) LtoR: Jackie, John, Brian and Brian

We did decorate the third bedroom, though it seemed to take an awful lot of paint, it was just so hot, it was drying too quickly, but it’s done.

Changing trains at Sutton Coldfield. There's a plaque at the top of the stairs dedicated to the memory of the 17 people who died on 23rd January 1955 when a train, travelling too fast derailed and crashed on the curve you can see behind John

Before really starting though we went for another Tuesday walk with John and Brian (see our short Relive video with more photos: click here). Meet at 08.00 to walk to Barnt Green for breakfast, hot sausage sandwiches from the butchers, and onto the platform to catch the train to Lichfield. The first train doesn’t stop here, so we’ll get on the next one, and change. The next one that came through Alvechurch! Nowhere for breakfast here apparently! Changed trains at Sutton Coldfield for Lichfield, where we eventually started walking just before 11.00 to our destination of Tamworth 10 miles or so along the canal and river, before sampling two pubs, the second of which, the Tamworth Tap is the 2023 CAMRA pub of the year. Back to Barnt Green where it was decided it was quicker to walk back, than wait for a train! Another full day out!

We walked 10 miles from Lichfield to Tamworth (before beer!). Here's Brian in Tamworth standing by the statue of Sir Robert Peel, famous UK Prime Minister and, in 1829, created the Metropolitan police force (leading to the nickname for them of Bobbies) 

We then knuckled down to the painting, though I did pop out to see Alex and Rob, as Al and I haven’t had a girlie chat for ages! We did let Rob stay for a bit as I wanted to know, what he knew, about his knee operation the following day. It’s a whole new one, before they do the other one, and then a hip. Will the house ever get finished? He was very good and pottered off to leave me and Al for a bit! Brian and I popped in again on Thursday to see how the op had gone. A week in and obviously it’s stiff and sore, though at least his leg is straight for the first time in years.

Walking the canal section towards Tamworth

The weekend was a group weekend in Chipping Norton, Helen and Ian, Manu and Crystal, Phil and Sue, Iain (without Bev) and Mike and Ella. We used to do this once or twice a year, but for one reason or another it hasn’t really happened since we went travelling. We had a lovely weekend, lots of drinking, talking and laughing, with a bit of eating and a couple of walks thrown in. 16km on Saturday and 9 on Sunday. With a group this big eating had to be planned, so Brian had booked the Blue Boar for Friday, which was very good, he’d then tried to book Whistlers, as suggested by Iain for food and live music, for Saturday. They already had a big party in, so if we could split, and come in half an hour apart, that could work. This wasn’t ideal, but hey. On messaging the group it turned out the big party was us already, Iain had booked it when we were on Hadrians Wall! The band were great, a couple from Birmingham who did all sorts, a few folky things but then more everyday stuff that we knew and could sing and dance along to. I think they were glad we were there, we certainly interacted!

Sunday Tea Club weekend away in Chipping Norton. LtoR: Crystal, Mike, Ella, Jackie, Brian, Iain, Helen, Ian, Sue, Phil and Manu

The last carpets were fitted on Wednesday, hurrah, while we started on the inheritance tax form, that had finally arrived. We had sat down to make a start a fortnight earlier, assuming you did it online only to find it would be much easier if we ordered the pack and guidance notes to be posted. We didn’t know this was a thing, so on the phone, yup, it’ll be a week, they hadn’t turned up so I rang again just before we went away and reordered, as they have no way of knowing if they’ve been dispatched! Only one set has arrived, and they appear to be the second set, so jolly glad, I reordered, and the extra schedules that we needed that weren’t included in the pack haven’t arrived, so one out of three! It’s all pretty rubbish. Thankfully John has printed those out for us, as it’s enough to drive you mad! Wednesday and Thursday were therefore spent on paperwork. Both of us sitting there trying to make sense of it all. We think it’s all there, with just a few additions left to do , so we can meet Jonathan and Lucy, with Charles on Sunday as they drive from Sheffield to Edlesborough, so he can sign the form.

Saturday mornings walk line up. We're ready! See a short Relive video of our walk with more photos: click here 

It’s a very slow process, with lots of steps seemingly designed to trip you up and slow you down. So in case it helps anyone else I’ll make a quick list, not of notifying banks, pension, library etc, but of the inheritance tax and probate procedure.

Apply for an inheritance tax number, three weeks before you want to do anything else

Apply for the IHT 400 inheritance tax pack, should be with you in a week, ha!

Go through to see which schedules you require and apply for any that are missing.

Fill in the IHT 400. This requires the balances from all the financial institutions which will have taken months to trickle through.

Send off the IHT 400 NOT recorded delivery, apparently this will slow it down!

IF you have calculated the tax payable, just pay it. Nowhere on the form does it say to just do this, but that is the case.

Wait 20 working days from the day it goes in the post, before applying for probate. If you apply too soon the form that you send in with the tax form won’t have made it to the probate office, which will delay the process.

Fill in the probate form online (yup, no consistency) but then send the original copy of the will and death certificate, so recorded delivery as this is probably the only version of it!

Wait 16 to 20 weeks for probate to come through before you can actually distribute the estate!

It’s a slow process! Hopefully we’ll send it off on Monday and the countdown will begin!

Walking through 'Chippy' at the start of our walk

Alms houses in picturesque Chipping Norton in the heart of The Cotswolds

Walking towards the village of Salford

It was a hot day and, here we are not yet halfway. LtoR: Brian, Crystal, Manu, Ian, Phil, Iain, Ella, Jackie, Helen and Sue. Mike didn't come on this walk, his hayfever was too bad

Making our way through the fields

Manu trying out a childs swing. He's the right size for it! 

A welcome break in a cooler woods

Through very tall crops on the last bit of our walk

Mike wanted to be on the security camera at the Premier Inn

Saturday night in Whistlers

Helen and Phil are outside dancing!

And now we're all dancing!

Go Iain, give it all you've got!

Sunday morning waiting for a bus to Long Compton for a walk back to Chipping Norton

On the bus. We didn't want to go all the way to Long Compton, so Brian tried to sweettalk the bus driver to drop us off at the start of the footpath we wanted on a main road where there  is no bus stop. Initially he said no, but with virtually only us on the bus he eventually relented and stopped where he shouldn't to let us off

A very short walk along a main road and Brian found the obscure steps up through woods to the footpath. Crystal was amazed we found it and everyone was very grateful. Thank heavens for phone GPS location! See our short Relive video with more photos: click here

First stop The Whispering Knights. Erected about 3800BC it's an old burial chamber

Reading the information board and enjoying the view and a break

Second stop, Rollright Stones, known as the Kings Men. 74 stones erected in a circle around 2500BC. Helen being Helen had to go round and count them. She got to 72. Well, you must have miscounted or not seen a couple of them. It says there's 74, but it also says that anyone who thrice counts the same number will have their hearts desire fulfilled. Perhaps you should have counted them twice more Helen

Stop three, the Kings Stone, erected around 1500BC and built on the top of a hill with 360 degree views all around. It's a peculiar shape as it is said, ancient cattle drovers chipped off small pieces to act as lucky charms to keep the Devil at bay. Later 19th century souvenir hunters caused damage that led to it to being legally protected in 1882, being one of the first monuments to be put under the guardianship of the state 

Enjoying the views at the top. I waited until everyone was sitting comfotably then told them this legend: Once upon a time a local warlord led his army up to this high ridge when up popped a witch. She challenged him: "Seven long strides thou shalt take And if Long Compton thou can see King of England thou shalt be" But as he strode forward a mound rose up to hide his view. She laughed: "As Long Compton thou canst not see King of England thou shalt not be. Rise up, stick and stand still, stone. King of England thou shalt be none! Thou and thy men Hoarstones shall be, And myself and eldern tree." And so the King became the King Stone, his men the Kings Men in a stone circle, and his treacherous knights petrified as the Whispering Knights. And the witch turned herself into an elder tree, to keep an eye on them

We retraced our steps and then headed for the village of Little Rollright and the tiny St Philips Church

A couple of things to see in St Philips Church, apart from escaping from the heat. This is a statue of a knight using his helmet as a pillow. There's another showing a knight praying between his two wives (but surely he wasn't a bigamist?)

Relaxing in the church next to the other sculpture

Little pigs in a wood came by to say hello

After balancing round this stream Phil lead the way by just walking through it!

Almost back in Chippy, we stopped for a sandwich which we ate back at the Premier Inn before saying our goodbyes and heading home. Another great weekend - must do it again soon!