Banjo!

I know it’s naughty but I have invested in a banjo for the lockdown, our neighbour has one and Gulliver really loved it when we went round there, now is the perfect time for him to have a crack at it, already taking to it like a duck to water, it’s such a beautiful sound!

I slept very badly last night, I woke up at 1:30 with stomachache and couldn’t get back to sleep and then I started worrying so 2 am I got up and spent three hours at my computer, our will is really out of date and Was made before Gulliver was even born, I spent a long time thinking about what to do now in these extraordinary times, having made lots of notes and enquiries in the night, also compiled a long list for them with all the banking details, details about where important papers are kept, all the relevant phone numbers that they will need and various other things which I will update then I had a little bit more sleep and then when I got up this morning I spoke to The boys and ask them what they would like to do in the event of our death, they both said they would like to stay in the house, my sister and two friends who have chosen to help out if necessary, then I rang the company who did our Will 20 years ago and they were still there so I made an appointment. Max said it was up to me to organise what I thought was best, so I came up with a plan and then at 2 pm we spent an hour and a quarter on facetime with them.

Max has two daughters who are now 32 and 25, if we were both to die in the next few weeks in order for the boys to stay in our home we have set up a trust so that no assets would be liquidated until Gulliver reaches the age of 25, my sister would be legal guardian of Gulliver and along with our friend Kate would be in charge of everything, she would have the purse strings and would pay all the bills and give them an allowance to buy food and pay bills et cetera... we have also appointed a third friend to act in case either of the other two can’t and in the worst case scenario we have appointed the legal firm who has done the will. Once Gulliver reaches 25 at that point all assets would be rounded up and divided equally between our four children.

The kids are definitely feeling more secure with the plan and when I spoke to Lola on FaceTime this evening she burst into tears saying she never thought she would be getting anything from us or certainly not ranked equally, she didn’t really put it like that but that’s what she meant, bless her heart, so it’s really nice to let her know that they are all loved and valued equally. We also decided it would be great if Lola and her boyfriend came and lived here with them in the event of our untimely passing.

I think we all feel much happier having this in place, tomorrow I will approve what the lawyers have set out and then we can go about having them sent over and begin the remote signing which will involve doing it in the street at safe distance and our neighbours over the road bringing their own pens et cetera.

This decision has just been made out of practicality, I’m not in any way depressed just in case you were wondering. Updating the will has been long overdue.

A few years ago flying back from Montpellier after working with my friend Neil Conti in his band I met a charismatic woman called Narran McLean, She played the lead role in the Lion King in the West End for a year, she is a singer, actress, dancer, model, teacher et cetera et cetera, we hit it off straight away and spent the whole journey home laughing and listening to music and singing and cracking jokes and we stayed in touch online ever since, yesterday I was on Instagram and noticed that she was offering free singing and acting classes to students so I tagged some of my friends and she has taken on my cousins daughter Gen and my friend Rachael‘s daughter Kaitlyn Who will both receive one hour a day for a week next week are free one on one tuition! My cousin Sophie called me to say how amazing is it been for Gen, that she has really learnt a lot and been able to take direction and it had given her a massive boost, Gen has developmental amnesia as a result of problems at birth when she suffered with encephalitis, she’s a wonderful girl who is now 15 with a beautiful singing voice and a passion for musical theatre and pop music, I’m just so happy about this. Kaitlyn just had a consultation today, she is 10 and will start her lessons on Monday. Erin had a session booked at 2pm then her college scheduled two dance classes which she had this afternoon in the living room so we will contact Narran tomorrow to speak to her and arrange her classes for next week as well!!! So cool.

The other amazing thing that’s happened is that there is a website on Facebook called Rock The Lock Down, there are actually quite a few but this is the biggest one, they are putting on a festival all weekend with people performing from the living rooms and I am going to be doing the final slot on Sunday night! I have half an hour so I’ve asked Erin and Gulliver to be my support act and do a song to start with, then I will do a few of my dance music hits and we will close the show together with a beautiful song which is on the wraps at the moment! I have posted details of this concert on my Katherine Ellis Facebook page and my official Katherine Ellis Instagram page.

So many incredible opportunities springing up! Loads more happened today but I just can’t write it all down LOL.