My daughter quoted this phrase to me a few months ago and I didn't know what it meant. I suppose that I have led a rather a cloistered life, not in religious institution, but in India.
For the first seven years of my retirement I lived and worked in some of the poorest states of India, where even the district town was like a village in terms of facilities. I could have had my teeth pulled by the local man who squatted at the roadside in the crowded, narrow streets of the chowk, but it was safer to travel 100 miles to a big city to see a Chinese dentist and be offered bottled water for the drilling process. That journey alone could take anything from three hours to fourteen hours, depending on road jams and custom's police raids on the buses, which carried passenger's bundles of goods on the roof across the state boundary, from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh. When I was told that my treatment would need 6 visits I baulked at the journeys involved, and the time away from my leprosy patients, and had the teeth extracted instead.
When my resident's visa expired and I had go to India on a tourist visa, my six summer months in England were mainly devoted to office work to support the charities for whom I worked in India, cycling to the shops, library and on my gardening hobby. My sons and daughters lived far away so that we only met up at Easter which was very near our birthdays. I did, however, take part in the local pub quiz to try and keep my brain ticking over, until the day when I didn't know a royal quotation that had become famous in the UK but not in my part of India!
In the 90's mobile phones entered my life and I bought three for myself and my Indian physiotherapy colleagues, in case I needed their expert advice. as we were hundreds of miles apart and the landline telephone would be in an open fronted shop in the noisy village centre. In 2000 I bought my first laptop and printer to take out to India.The printer was the size of a box of tissues and worked by an infra-red connection to the laptop.
I admit to being a Radio 4 fan and am gradually educating myself by downloading selected catch-up programmes on my latest gimmick, a tablet. I have now learned about 'senior moments'. My daughter gave me 'When I Am An Old Woman' and this month I met some ladies in purple and red celebrating their founder's birthday.Getting wiser every day! I've also planted purple petunias with red geraniums in my urns.
A pro-pos the senior moments I have just remade my will and have taken out legal documents to allow my children to make decisions for me, when I can no longer order my life by notes and reminders everywhere! My will had had eight codicils added to it - adding this and that charity to leave a legacy to, whenever I went out to India. As property prices rise my assets increase as my cash flow dries up in the battle of living costs. I don't want to be caught by inheritance tax and prefer to leave money to the charities I like.and the rest to my children.
Brighter Future has a Codicil form which can be used to leave something, a percentage or a stipulated amount, to Brighter Future. It just has to be witnessed, signed and kept with an existing will. If you would like to help Brighter Future in this way you can copy the Codicil form below and print it. Alternatively email me for the form.'Legacy Giving to Brighter Future' to pmanya.norris@gmail.com
CODICIL
I (full name)_____________________________________________________
of (address)_____________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
DECLARE this to be a Codicil to my Will dated and made the ______ day of the
________month of 20___
1. I give the sum of £________ to Brighter Future International Trust of 29 Hurst Road, Kennington, Ashford, Kent TN24 9PS (registered charity number 1110823)
for its charitable purposes. I further direct that the receipt of the Chair or Treasurer of Brighter Future International Trust for the time being shall be a full and sufficient discharge of the said legacy.
2. In all other respects I confirm the said Will.
IN WITNESS whereof I hereunto set my hand this______day of the _____month of 20____
SIGNED by the said (print name)_______________________________________
Testator/Testatrix's signature_________________________________________
First Witness signature______________________________________________
Name___________________________________________________________
Occupation_______________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Second Witness signature___________________________________________
Name___________________________________________________________
Occupation_______________________________________________________
Address__________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
