I haven’t updated much for a while because I just didn’t feel like doing it while I was in the US. I’m also going to lock this to friends-only as there will be some stuff about my brother’s divorce that probably should remain private.
The trip over was uneventful in a relatively uncrowded plane; there was a seat next to me and I had an aisle seat, just as I wanted. I wish that the trip back had been as good. Upon arrival my sister and her friend picked me up at the airport and I got back to Marblehead in quick-time. My brother looks about the same, as does my sister; we just don’t change very much, I guess. I finally got to see our old house on Elm Street; the contractor turned a three-flat building into a four-flat building, and added two porches to make four in total. They repaired the outside and painted it grey. I was impressed. Here’s what it looked like several years ago. It hadn’t had any work done on it for more than 50 years, I think.
and what it looked like last week (after many hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on conversion from a firetrap into 4 condo units):
Tuesday I arranged dinner on Thursday with my friends
- Peanut butter (two large jars of Skippy Super Chunk). This is for HWMBO, as English peanut butter tastes like they cut it with sand;
- Irish Spring Icy Blue soap (16 bars, I think). I now have enough Irish Spring to last me until next spring. That does not mean that visitors should not offer to bring more;
- 12 V-neck undershirts;
- A large bottle of Tabasco Sauce (can only get small ones here);
- Razor blades (they’re much cheaper over there);
- Et alia…
I forgot toothpaste. Oh, well…
Since my brother doesn’t drink coffee, I had to get some coffee and filters for the coffeemaker that my soon-to-be ex-sister-in-law left in the house. I did so, and looked for the mugs. My sister-in-law left her dog and left her parakeet, but took all her coffee mugs. Go figure. My sister’s wonderful coffee-cake provided breakfast for a few days, along with coffee lightened with half-and-half (another guilty pleasure I can only indulge in in the U.S.)
Tuesday morning I went downstairs to the granny flat at my brother’s to greet my Uncle Dick. He is my mother’s younger brother but is now about 77 years old. I wanted to make sure he was happy, content, and thriving living at my brother’s house. He assured me that he was, and had bought a new computer! He was using a DOS-based computer until last year, when he discovered a new music-notation program, name starts with an “E”, I think, and found that he’d have to upgrade. He’s doing some fantastic stuff with it (he took a BA in music from Boston University) and showed some of it off to me. I’m thrilled that he’s thriving and keeping himself occupied. My other objective was to pick his brains about the Child side of the family. I managed to get copies of my grandfather’s birth certificate and my great-grandparents marriage certificate, as well as some names I had not yet nailed down. If you’re at all interested in geneology, make sure you talk to the elderly members of your family while they’re still around to answer questions.
Tuesday night my brother and I attended Philanthropic Lodge, AF and AM, in Marblehead. I was only raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in February, while my brother was initiated, passed, and raised two or three years ago at a one-day class in Andover. I’d checked that the Lodge was in Masonic “communion” with the United Grand Lodge of England, and then arranged to attend, bringing a letter to identify myself. I found it really interesting; something like the difference between American English and British English: mutually intelligible but subtly different. Three candidates were passed to the Fellowcraft Degree, then we had dinner (steak, natch; see Wednesday night). Back to the Lodge for the business meeting and explanation for the new Fellowcraft brethren. I was recognised in Lodge and given a Masonic token from Philanthropic. I was really impressed and will probably affiliate with the Lodge (=become a member of Philanthropic as well as my own lodge, Goliath Lodge, #5595 UGLE).
Here’s the present they gave me: it’s their Lodge Token (token of their appreciation and welcome, I guess!)
Wednesday afternoon we went to see the lawyer who handled my father’s estate. It turns out that my sister-in-law had dealt with the estate by forging my brother’s name to cheques and generally using the money for items like massages and paying off credit cards. However, in addition to forgery and embezzlement she has now added perjury: she found some money in stocks and an old bank account that she had to probate on a “simple probate” form, in which she swore that those were the only assets and that the total value of the estate had been less than US$15,000. This of course was not true (it was probably closer to US$50,000) and thus she perjured herself when she filed that form. I don’t think we’ll ever see any of it again, but it was good to have all this confirmed.
That night we went to Outback Steakhouse: my sister, brother, my sister’s friend Linda who was so gracious to ferry me back and forth to Logan and to Wonderland MBTA station, Dick, and myself. I feel that beef in the US is so much better than it is here (I know, it’s treason. Sue me.). I had a prime rib, Prime Minister’s Cut, along with a blooming onion (for the table, not all for me). No dessert. I took a doggie bag back for my brother’s dog, Mickey, who is quite cute.
Thursday night went out to dinner as previously arranged with Robert and John (
Friday night I made Mother Hansen’s Spaghetti and Meatballs for the same group that ate at the Outback. Aside from burning the end of my right middle finger on the frying pan, it worked out very well and a good time was had by all.
Saturday night I had dinner with my friend Margaret from Boston, who co-owns the Luti email list with me. We solved all the problems of the world over…steaks at Outback.
Sunday, it was laze around, pack, and thank Linda for ferrying me to Logan. The flight back to London was not as good as the flight to Boston: there were no aisle seats available and I ended up with a lunkhead on the aisle who fell asleep and wasn’t about to move for a trip to the loo by me. These people also always have iron bladders that can hold 5 gallons of liquid. When he finally got up for the loo, I followed him (not for that, Blanche!) so that I only needed to disturb him once when returning. The food was…forgettable. I managed to get back to London by Heathrow Express and taxicab, even though there was about a 20-minute wait at Paddington amid people who had nothing better to do than smoke in the taxi queue.
Home again, jiggety-jog. I’m still jetlagged on Wesnesday night but am now conducting a software testing course. Hope I can stay awake for it.
Wow! What a beautiful house! How much is a condo? I would love to own one (if money were no object).
The music notation program wouldn’t happen to be Finale, would it? “E” and “F” are awfully close….
What brand of toothpaste? I can pick some up when I go back.
That is a huge house! Did you live there when it was a single family home? I’d love to have one of those condos – they look spectacular.
I believe they sold for something like US$500,000. Marblehead is not a cheap place to live. I met someone there who had to move to Salem after her divorce because she and her ex-husband had to sell their house and neither of them could afford to buy or rent something else in Marblehead.
Yeah, it was Finale. I was close. The toothpaste isn’t a problem; in contradistinctionto soap, British toothpaste is OK. Thanks anyway!
It was never a single family home. In the 1800’s up to about 1930 or so there were four families living there (with no indoor plumbing until the early 1900’s). When I lived there, until my father’s death in2003, there were three families living there and the fourth apartment was used as a workshop. The developer who bought it from my brother and sister-in-law discovered that he could put four apartments in it and did so. He also was told by the town that he didn’t have to put in a sprinkler system, but later they told him that, actually, since there were 4 apartments, he did. It cost him US$45,000 to retrofit a sprinkler system in it. He’s suing Marblehead for that money as they gave him the wrong advice.
When they ripped the original shingles off they discovered that there were two porches on each side rather than just one, which allowed them to add new porches. The building is the first one in the “Historic District” of Marblehead, where alterations are heavily controlled. The next-door house (not seen in the photo) is outside the district and, while structurally almost the same as 125 Elm Street, has no “historic” restrictions on it at all.
aww, such a HUGE and nice house! I like it! Hundreds of thousands of dollars? Holy cow.
OMG.. US$500,000 … that’s just a little under my price range… *laughs* (I’m only joking… no, it’s very pricey!)
Not particularly pricey for Marblehead. The contractor who bought the house put quite a bit of money into it (had to; the place was falling down) and ended up getting well over $2 million for all four condo units together. A good investment. I wish my brother had had the capital to invest in the building and then get all the profits. Most houses (one-family detached) in Marblehead go for upwards of $750,000 and some are pricier than a central London flat. While the town is concerned about house prices, those who have been there since the year dot are OK because they don’t need to buy a house in which to live. It’s newcomers who are deterred, and the upshot is that more yuppies are moving in and old townies have to move out as they get divorced or have to pay inheritance taxes.