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Showing posts from April, 2012

A real live Heir Hunter! Part One

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‘I’m a probate investigator’. That was the opening line of a guy who called my landline – unusual in itself because, well, who calls a landline anymore?  ‘and I’m hoping to speak to a “David Thain”’  ’You are doing’ I replied drily.  He went into his spiel. ‘According to our research one of your relatives died intestate some time ago and the estate is now being held by the Treasury. Our research leads us to believe that your mother is a potential heir to this estate.’ I immediately thought “scam”, but let him continue. Without giving too much away he told me the year that my mother was born and that my great-grandfather – whom he named – had owned a farm on Romney Marsh. He had my undivided interest, because both facts were true. He then went on to tell me he had had to construct a complex family tree to eventually find me - the oldest son of my mother, the potential beneficiary. But he did not, and would not, tell me the name of the relative who had died intestate – o

Hot Yoga: lose a kilogram an hour – and feel the benefits!

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Easy done! It’s called ‘Hot Yoga’ or ‘Bikram Yoga’ – yoga performed in 40 degree heat (that’s 104 degrees Fahrenheit) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga THE LUND STUDIO I’ve just completed four sessions over the last week in Lund, Sweden. Of course most of that one kilogram went straight back on each time, rehydrating myself. BUT I have lost well over a kilogram over the four sessions. I quite like performing yoga and some of what we were taken through by Nikki and Maria I have done before – but never in this heat! The benefits are the same as with conventional yoga – but much enhanced, in my view. And stepping outside the studio, after a shower, into the crisp Swedish air is really invigorating. MEN'S SHOWERS Hot yoga seems to have taken off in Sweden (I went to Nikki Boklund’s studio in Lund: www.karmicmonkis.se and http://karmicmonkisonehotspot.blogspot.se/2012/03/first-sunday-as-hottest-spot-in-town.html ) and there are plans to open several in

Three reasons why Britain is overweight

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My new kitchen Firstly, the size of plates. I have recently done out my kitchen – and very proud of it I am too. To complement my new look I went and bought a new set of crockery from Morrisons. Guess what? The new larger size dinner plates do not fit into my dish washer – if they’re upright, then the ‘sprayer’ cannot turn. Supersize me? No thanks! Second, I was recently shown around my recently refurbished local library. I was there to determine whether an organisation I am involved with could or should rent some of the office space available. Part of the tour involved moving from the ground floor to the first floor – a climb of some three flights of six stairs, eighteen in total. The lady taking us around asked our group of nine people, ‘Is everybody all right with stairs?’ I ask you: has the nation’s state of unfitness reached such a preposterous level? The 'oh sooo hard' stairs! Finally, like many of you I suspect, I now read the ingredients list