And time for

Proper thing too lol Lots of Margarets in my family too, I escaped because my father fancied a change, but it was frowned upon.

Just for the record, in case anyone should think I am also a flake--neither of my children were accidents (not even calculated risks!!), I was married to each of their fathers, and their surnames are not mine. But my name has remained my name throughout. (Rather funny to have the priest introduce the new couple as.......DH and Me, both named exactly as they were before the whole rigamarole!)

Dawne

I love Robert Carlyle in "The Full Monty", and he was one of the most chilling villains I have even seen when he played a skinhead in a "Cracker" episode.

If these haven't been suggested, Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee mysteries set in the four corners area. Wonderful mysteries with Navajo and Hopi themes.

MargW

A couple of years ago, after my mother's death, we went into the bank to discuss investing my inheritance,(a sum around $200,000). We met with the investment officer,(a woman) and got everything arranged in both names. Putting the money in both names means if one of us passes away there is less hassle with probate.

The first letter that came thanking us for our business, and doing the blah, blah, anything we can do to help blah, blah, was addressed to the DH alone, and spoke of his inheritance. Don't think I didn't call, and tear a strip off the investment person. Now, I think it was just a clerical error, but sheesh!

MargW

I wonder if anything similar happened to Jim (especially after Jill died) or to Bruce or Fred ?

It just occurred to me, are we looking at plain old bank errors, or are they slanted to sexist errors ?

Jill and I had a female lawyer; I also had zero problems. Jill's will was settled in four days. Jim.

No, we were talking about how the bank treats women, widows most especially. Lawyers always work for money ! After David died that side, probate, was easy, no problems and I had a male lawyer.

No problems with our finances, everything is in joint accounts and correspondence is always addressed to "Mr & Mrs Fletcher"; the statements are marked with the cryptic note "EOS" meaning "Either Or Survivor".

Good to have an update thanks. Do you happen to know if Brat is okay?

We's neighbours and would always send them - you sent your guys for our ice storm and after Hurricane Juan and Boston did us proud for the Halifax Explosion in 1917

LOL, served him right from the sound of it!

Arnhild

Interesting situations in these posts. My DW has her credit cards and I have mine. Charges and Credits *never* mingle. LOL The mortgage is in joint names. My DW's business accounts are in her name only. My business accounts are in my name only. There are documents on file that stipulate that if one of us looses our marbles or passes on the other party automatically has power of attorney. Pension is split for tax purposes but DW has signing authority for my % as long as we are together. I have no idea what comes in or goes out.

Fred

We had a similar arrangement and the only one that caused me problems was that Scotiabank was not sure they wanted to continue the line of credit in my name alone. I really didn't care about that (we had only taken it out when we were doing some renovations) but I felt on principle I was keeping it lol So I did and happened to be glad of it when I moved here and did a whole kitchen reno.

Probably the message is, in Canada anyway, check out now what is what with the bank so there are no hassles at a time when you least need them.

You are so right!

I like all his books. We used to see him pretty regularly when I lived in Abq - he frequented the large, funky bookstore (pre-Borders). This dreary weather is having me long for moving back to NM. But, I don't think DH is into looking for work out there (he's been with the Navy a long time).

Ellice

It is just a shame that Tony Hillerman died. When I first tried his books, many years ago, I couldn't get into them at all. I guess the settings and culture was totally alien to little Miss Brit.

However, after we had traveled around the Three Corners area and NM, I became totally hooked on them all. I could well picture the terrain and the people in them.

So sad when favorite authors die off!

BTW, I just finished an enthralling, but horrific, novel based on historic fact. If you haven't read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khalid Hosmaini (sp?) I do recommend it. It is set in Afghanistan over a three decade period, ending around 2003 or so. It is the story of women and their lives, such as they were, during the various eras of political and religious turbulence.

I don't think I shall EVER forget this book.

Gillian

I started to read his books after we had been to the 4 corners for the first time. When he talks about Ship Rock and Tuba City, my mind brings up such vivid pictures. I want to go back and do more further south.

MargW

It's Khaled Hosseini, and he has also written The Kite Runner. I've been working at the library where I am now for almost a year, and still haven't been able to take it home and read it, because all four copies we have of each book have been out and waitlisted the entire time. The Kite Runner as book on tape (cd), has also been perpetually checked out, and the movie is now missing. This has been popular!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, however, of which we only have one copy, is on the shelf, and nobody is interested. I read my mothers copy, and that's a book that will really stay with me. It takes place in Germany during World War II.

Arnhild

Btw, is "waitlisted" an actual word, and can I use it the way that I have?

Both of those Hosseini books appeared in the BBC's "Book at bedtime" on BBC Radio 4 earlier this year. Quite different to anything else I'd heard on that programme

Aha, I must go look in the files, must have missed them. I find the current Book at Bedtime kind of strange lol