@ButnotforLola donr feel like you have to get everything done quickly. You don’t. My dad died in September and I’ve been the only one having to deal with everything. I also care for my poorly mother and run a little café. I just didn’t have the time to do everything quickly. You have six months to get probate applications in. They’ve suspended his council tax until it’s granted and they’ve even paid his winter fuel payment, which has meant his house can be warmed a little and left to tick over. We’ve been gradually sorting and emptying his house (a huge job. This is a small holding and you wouldn’t believe the stuff he has. Seventeen different drills, seven lawn mowers, three pairs of skis from the 70s, for example….!! I think we’re going to have to lie the things we don’t want our in a field and have our own car boot sale.
It might sound weird, but I brought the flowers from his coffin home, they were just too lovely to leave at the Crem. Initially I had them in the arched window of his barn conversation home, then I put them surviving flowers into vases as most died off. His funeral was early October and the last flower (orchid) has died today. 19 weeks! Just as that died the first of the crocus that he planted poked its head out today. I don’t know if it makes me smile or want to cry! Five months without him and it still doesn’t feel real. He used to go sailing for a lot of the winter about a decade ago, so it just feels like he’s gone on another jaunt and will be back soon.