Do you see the cobbles on the streets? Everywhere you look, stone & rock. Can you imagine what it feels like to reach down with your bones & feel the living stones? The city is built on itself, all the cities that came before. Can you imagine how it feels to lie down on an ancient flagstone & feel the power of the rock buoying you up against the tug of the world? And that's where witchcraft begins. The stones have life, & I'm part of it. - adapted from Terry Pratchett
High time I did another post about some part of this great city, which is my 'hedge'.
The last one I did was about Duddeston Viaduct and this one is about a site on the nearby active railway viaduct. You enter Bordesley Station, the least used station in the Midlands, through this entrance under a railway arch, which you wouldn't know was there. You have to go up to the station because it's up on the level of the viaduct, rather than ground level.
Bordesley station was opened in 1855 by the Great Western Railway on their main line from London (Paddington) to Birkenhead (Woodside). It was originally a two platform station, but was rebuilt as a four platform station with two island platforms when the line was upgraded to four tracks during 1915. The station once had extensive cattle sidings adjacent to and on Bordesley Viaduct. This viaduct was intended to link the line from Bordesley to the Derby Line but was left incomplete when it was realised that trains would be unable to serve Birmingham Curzon Street railway station, where rail services then terminated.
The station still carries the painted lettering "BR(W) Bordesley Cattle Station", and "Bordesley Cattle Station GWR" from the time when, as part of the Great Western Railway and later British Rail's (Western) region, it was used to bring cattle from the countryside to the Bull Ring markets.
The station was downgraded in the 1960s to minimal facilities and services, and one island platform was taken out of use. Source
I love this station dearly, but mainly because of its Sapphire and Steel vibe. It does actually feel like the sort of place an errant ghost train would drop you off to be tormented by a long dead stationmaster with a grudge, cheered on by the ghosts of all the cattle who had been transported there.
In line with this vibe, incredibly for a city it is usually only served by one train a week, away from it and into the city centre. While this is colloquially referred to as a ghost train the marvellous technical name under the Railway Regulation Act 1844 for these sort of trains is parliamentary train.
What if you missed it and got locked in the station with a bunch of resentful cows?
I think the reason it's kept open is that it also gets used when Birmingham's only football club play at the nearby St Andrew's stadium. I'm sure the dead stationmaster supports them.
In fact you can probably see him on this old picture:
Finally, on the subject of ghost trains, have a butchers at this steam train, in the livery of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway which ceased to exist in the 1940s, going through nearby Bournville Station LAST YEAR. Imagine seeing that if you weren't expecting it!
An important symbol of witchcraft is the cauldron and so in addition to the wommonly arts of hexing, changing and leading the revolution we are skilled at the arts of domestic economy. Reading around on Twitter I'm getting the impression that some people don't know how to economise so this is just a few pointers from my extensive experience of being a student twice and paying off a mortgage in ten years.
Follow Martin Lewis. This post is not a systematic collection and he has a better overview.
Financial
If you have any spare money and have a choice between saving and paying off debt, always pay off debt first and focus on the debt with the highest interest. It seems wrong but you always pay more interest than you earn.
Never let contracts (phone, insurance, energy supplies) automatically renew, they will stiff you.
For the love of the Goddess look at your bank statements and see if you're paying any subs you have forgotten or can cancel. Add up what you're spending on things so that it shocks you.
Get off the rat race of updating electronics. You really really don't need the latest iPhone. The reality is that technology is not moving as fast as manufacturers make out it is and you can usually get by with the year before last's technology if you're buying new.
The law gives you a fourteen day cooling off period to return something if you don't like it. Use it.
You can save huge amounts of money by buying stuff nearly new. The important thing is to go to a reputable dealer and get a warranty (for example Cex test the stuff they sell and give a year's warranty). Again, if you get it home and find the battery's knackered you can change your mind within fourteen days.
Look through your drawers for any old technology, games and DVDs and sell them to Cex or you can get a higher amount of credit to use in the store. If they're rubbish and Cex won't take them there are places that will.
Some people find this really difficult but it's best to plan ahead. For example buying a season ticket for the train or bus pass might be cheaper than individual fares if you know you're travelling.
Shopping
I'm afraid you have a clear choice between supporting local small retailers and saving money. Your corner shop is the most expensive way to buy anything.
Shop with a list and be wary of retail tricks. For example the items near the till are there to tempt you or your kids and should be treated with caution.
To economise, get supplies in. I don't mean massive hoarding but a shelf of the things you will use anyway will tide you over if they're unavailable like in any other third world country. It will also help when your brother turns up with no money after being evicted.
Shop around if you can and if you are in a town so the savings won't be eaten up by the cost of travel. Use delivery services or if you can't shop around, do a big shop at Aldi, Lidl or Asda.
Many shops do a special offer of a reduction on your first shop and you can always make it your only shop.
Frozen vegetables are cheaper than fresh and have no loss of nutrients. In fact frozen is cheaper to buy a lot of things like sausages BUT they can take a fair time to cook so the savings can be lost in energy expenditure. Iceland is good to stock up on frozen food and have a good range of takeaway stuff for treats.
If you're desperate the following foodstuffs are your friends: red lentils, rice, tinned tomatoes, oats, frozen vegetables, frozen mince, baked beans, microwave jacket potatoes. Oats are an incredibly versatile and rich foodstuff. Look at Charles Bronson: he literally got those muscles on porridge and no fancy supplements. Don't forget to have a treat now and then so it doesn't get dreary.
Buy savers ranges and economy packs.
Consider yellow reduced stickers but be cautious because if there is only a small reduction on a luxury item it will still be expensive. Shop in the evening to get the best of these.
Cooking
Microwave rather than using the hob as much as possible. If you must use the oven cook lots of stuff to fill it and heat it once instead of several times.
Be strict about Use By dates but if something is past the Best Before date and looks and smells okay it probably won't kill you.
Microwave dahl recipe. Into a microwave bowl put some frozen chopped onions, frozen spinach, red lentils, spices of your choice, pinch of salt and less water than you think you need. I like some dessicated coconut as well. Microwave loosely covered for about fifteen minutes at full power, keeping an eye to make sure it doesn't dry out. Halfway through stir and add more water if it's a bit dry. Let it stand a bit and serve with rice. If you want to avoid the hob you could microwave one of those packets of rice while it's standing. The description of this recipe does not sound appetizing which is why it's all the more surprising when without fail it turns out gorgeous.
The psychological bit
This is really important to stop economising wearing you down: have treats. However you could have say a frozen curry instead of a takeaway. Basically every treat is also available in an economy version. If it comes to survival there is no shame in doing this.
Notice how our capitalist society has connected the things you enjoy to money. Some people are actually shocked when they realize their enjoyment is dependent on shopping or the cinema, etc. The internet is your friend here. YouTube and the Internet Archive are never ending wells of wonderful stuff. If capitalism has deceived you, you can find new things to enjoy that don't cost money.
The two most important bits
Every time you save some money or preserve your life and dignity in any way, in your mind's eye see the power of the Conservative Party waning and see them losing their seats. See them eating shit. See them in prison. And know that this is happening now.
Finally, vote. Vote as if your life depends on it, because it does. And this is really important: vote tactically to get the Tories out whenever we get an election in this shithole. I can truthfully say I don't care what you think about Starmer the most important thing is to get the Tories out and a vote for a minority party may actually be a vote for the Tories in our electoral system. A guide to why this is and a tactical voting guide ishere.
Of course there is a tune to make this a magical enchantment.
This post is a number of pointers for how a tarot reading can tend to come across when the subject may be on the autistic spectrum, because it can tend to trip up the reader. Being an ancient divination tool, of course there isn't an autism card but the experience of it can come across loud and clear.
Ethical note: you really can't diagnose autism or anything else with a tarot reading and anyone wanting that should not have a reading and should be pointed to their doctor. Rather, this would be about how things can look in a reading if the person may be on the autistic spectrum. It also would not be ethical to suggest that the tarot indicates the person has autism if they have not been diagnosed. Otherwise I think you could ethically talk about the experiences an autistic person has with someone who is not diagnosed as long as this is about the experience, not the label. For example, 'It looks like you often find it difficult understanding what this person is saying to you,' because then it's about a common human experience and there isn't an assumption it comes from a specific neurodevelopmental condition.
The information about autism here is all taken from the National Autism Society website: autism.org.uk, and they have an excellent introduction to autism here.
Communication difficulties
Biggie, this one. People on the autistic spectrum can find it very difficult to read situations and other people's emotions or intentions. The major way this affects a tarot reading would be that if you are seeing things in the reading as they do, the feeling of perplexity can be the thing that comes across rather than the actual situation. With their airy nature, Swords can indicate communication and thus communication, and similarly the watery Cups represent emotions and problems understanding them. Otherwise specific examples would be High Priestess (something hidden), 10 of Pentacles (being excluded from the conversation), and 9 of Wands (just finding every conversation overwhelming).
This one is relatively easy to deal with in reading because seeing things differently is the whole point of divination, simply pull clarification cards or pull cards to see the subject of the reading from a different perspective. Without diagnosing autism you could phrase this as, 'It looks like you're finding this difficult to understand. Shall we see what [Name] thinks?' If the person is finding it difficult to understand what you are getting at as a reader, obviously you can ask them what helps with communication but generally try to say it as literally as possible, avoiding metaphors, use concrete terms and don't be afraid to name emotions. You know what, we've all asked tarot why the hell someone else is behaving the way they are, so this is actually something we can all appreciate.
For example I have had people with autism tell me that they like my communication because I've got all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. People without autism tell me I'm a rude cunt. Hey, my gifts are unique.
You may have to adapt the reading slightly to give more time, and of course there's nothing wrong with returning to a point to create clarity.
Anxiety
Autistic people can have very high levels of anxiety (often triggered, as anxiety often is, by something apparently not anxiety-provoking). This can come across in the reading as an apparent over reaction to minor things and can confuse the reader. Anxiety comes across in any of the fairly distressing cards, although tarot doesn't depict anxiety very well in my opinion. That said, it would be hard to deny that the man in 4 of Pentacles is anxious about money, or that the man in 7 of Wands is anxious about what will happen to him.
Avoidance
Many autistic people avoid normal everyday situations, either because of anxiety or sensory overload. In a reading this will come across as the person turned away from or unable to look at a situation, so obviously we have 5 of Cups, 2 of Swords, 8 of Swords and 9 of Swords. If you get The Fool for avoidance, that could be a special caution not to avoid any warnings about things they're getting. The direction the characters are looking in could also indicate avoidance.
Routines
Many autistic people find sudden changes to their normal routine very distressing. Again, as a reader it is essential to be aware that if you are seeing things from the autistic person's perspective in the reading, things may come across as much more distressing than they would be for a neurotypical person. Similarly, many autistic people have a return to routine or repetitive behaviours as their standard coping strategies so don't think you've gone off your head if these appear in the reading. Tarot tends to communicate options with cards featuring a number of something, and rather annoyingly, that's also how it communicates repetition, for example I think 4 of Cups and 8 of Pentacles represent this.
Highly focussed interests or hobbies
These can come across in a way which may confuse the reader, and may appear to be obsession. You may get one of these appear as a 'stalker' card for example, which just keeps on appearing. That said, I think the 9 of Cups is of great relevance here - just look how satisfied he is!
Meltdowns
A meltdown is an intense response when the person finds a situation overwhelming and in the moment loses control of their behaviour. If you get a meltdown appearing in a tarot reading it will look like all the varied ways a meltdown can look; shouting, screaming, crying; kicking or lashing out; or as total withdrawal with no interaction. Naturally the varied experience of meltdowns would make them look very different in a tarot reading. The more outgoing type might be Page of Swords, Knight of Swords or 5 of Wands. The overwhelm itself might be represented by 10 of Swords and withdrawal by 4 of Swords.
The point of all this, of course, is so that the reader is prepared for the things they might see in an autistic person's reading. Surely nobody tells the querent everything they see in a reading?
My own limited experience of autistic people and tarot has been totally positive, in fact they've always taken to the idea like a duck to water and been seeing all sorts of deadly accurate stuff in no time. I don't want to generalise, so in case your querent - not just autistic querents but anyone - finds it difficult to engage with the cards there are three techniques which almost always open things up again.
The first is to ask the person to describe the card, just describe it without interpreting in any way. This always always brings out a unique meaning for them and has always left me gobstruck as a reader.
The second is the dramatic technique attributed to Pamela Colman Smith herself, which is to get the person to assume the posture of the character(s) in the card. This creates a physical rather than emotional sensation of what is happening in the card, which then can move on to an emotional sensation.
Finally, the Tarot School of New York's Voice in the Card technique turns the conventional ways of reading on their head. You let your eye drift over a card and pick up on some detail which is then the meaning for you. For example, you had noticed that the 9 of Pentacles could mean things being slow, going at things slowly and carefully or being protected by a shell, hadn't you?
The action isn't slowing down over there is it? I have pulled cards several times for what is going on in Trump's head and they have tended to be all over the place. This reading, though, is based on the speculation in the media that the person who gave the DOJ just reason to search his rat-infested golf motel was someone very close, probably a family member.
Normally when the cards produce a completely contradictory reading it means exactly what you would think and what you would expect in Trump's situation: that his thoughts and emotions are like the cards. I finally pulled these cards which felt like a more stable resolution of his thoughts.
So, contrary to what's happened previously these are all Minor Arcana so he's feeling less out of control and feeling the situation is more within his grasp. I am impressed that two out of three cards are Swords, which represent the element air and thus thoughts. Given that he is notoriously like a toddler with the attention span of a goldfish who can't cope without having his impulses gratified every second this is actually quite strange. I was expecting the cards to be all emotion. Perhaps his new lawyer since all the others are disbarred or in prison, is a calming influence.
1. 4 of Swords. Rest from Strife. This may seem an odd card to get for man facing so much litigation until you know that the 'rest' here is one that is enforced. It can mean a genuine rest, although would be more likely to be a rest in hospital than a holiday, but is a situation where you can't do anything. This continues the feeling of powerlessness in my previous readings about his situation. If it's any consolation, for the ultimate mobster and grifter, the idea that he can't influence this must be driving him wild.
2. 8 of Swords. Shortened Force. I like to think of this as the drama queen card, and there is a great tradition that any problems referred to by this card are usually self inflicted. Of course it always indicates a crisis, and usually indicates conflicting desires (no shit) and the shortened force thing means that you may be expending energy all over the place and focusing on the wrong things. Since Trump is used to other people being loyal to him and taking the rap for him I think he is predominantly furious that he suspects a traitor. I also don't think he knows who it is and won't successfully find out. Personally I think it's pretty sad that he can suspect pretty much anyone in the family because that is the way his family functions. It also means he can't confide in anyone. Shame.
3. 10 of Cups. Perfected Success. This may seem a strange image for a crime family who are quite likely to be grassing each other up to the authorities, but I did say that the cards have been all over the place. I'm going to put it out there and say that I suspect Trump can't believe a family member has likely flipped and still thinks his dynasty is going to be ok. He really is without insight.
As for how this is going to end, I'm not a great one for predictive readings anyway, and in such an unstable, complex situation you would be bound to be disappointed. But given that Trump is 76 and not what you would call thin, there is another way of working out how this will end. Using this calculator and information in the public domain (I counted the golf as a workout and used the weight he gave Dr Oz when he first became president so I've probably been slightly generous) he came out with a life expectancy of 91 and a 75% chance of living to 85. I was quite surprised that this was so good given that he is overweight, so I've used my witch's and nurse's killer instinct to gain an impression.
Against Trump living to absolutely ancient: he's overweight and looks like he's gaining rather than losing, he lives on junk food, he has a stressful life.
For Trump living to be absolutely ancient: his parents lived to be 88 and 93 respectively (that's a biggie, you can't escape those genes), he does take some exercise, he has avoided booze and fags because of his elder brother. His siblings are all alive and well except for Fred Trump Jr, whose death was caused by alcohol, and Robert Trump, and the publicly available reason for his death was brain bleeds after a fall.
So I would conclude that Trump will live to see the conclusion of at least some of the lawsuits he faces, and it depends on prosecutors making a case and finding an unbiased jury. I have read that the reasons his current team are giving out to try to hold prosecutors off don't have a basis in law so it looks like his favourite strategy of spinning things out has run out of ground. Also he's running out of lawyers and let's face it nobody who is any good would take him on.
I think this is actually going to end up in court because his secret service detail is like a tag round his ankle and he won't be able to escape and end his days in Moscow.
How good would that be, if the implications of having been president forced him to face justice.
Now you may quite reasonably point out that I'm not even in the country where all this is going on, and I would be better off reading about our current Fascist government and its ongoing plan to turn this into one of the richest countries of the world where the population live in abject poverty. I will happily admit to a certain element of distraction from our own ills by focusing on events of another country. However the main reason I'm not feeling the need to read for the UK political scene is that I know it has to get much worse before it gets better. There is going to have to be even more hardship to make people realize that the Tories must not get in, and make them realize the only way to do this is vote Labour, whether or not they like Starmer. So in witchy terms sadly it has to stay on the burner.
The only consolation is that in addition to the poor people who will starve or freeze to death this winter and whose deaths will scream for vengeance, every old person who dies will reduce the pool of likely Tory voters.
Grim, I know. But in good news if we ever get this country functioning again, the common law offence of misconduct in public office carries a sentence of life imprisonment.
Well, that escalated quickly. And in the approximately five minutes since I last posted a reading on what was going on in tRump's 'mind' the prophetic words of ProximaBlue, 'This only a foreshadowing,' have been echoing around in the universe.
I've been sounding like a strange sweary version of Robin all week. Holy shit, espionage. Holy shit, the lawyer told the FBI the papers had all been returned. Holy shit, Bratt had to be there in person because nobody else in the DOJ had high enough clearance to see the documents. Holy shit, nuclear codes. Holy shit, espionage. Holy shit Merrick Garland isn't messing around. Holy shit he's fucked. Holy shit they're finger printing every page. Holy shit ten years jail for EVERY PAGE. Holy shit he's going to find out why we don't have sockets in the bathroom because of 240V current in the UK.* Holy shit even the US doesn't have a big enough prison. Holy shit he's melting down because someone has informed. Holy shit I'm glad I'm not on the secret service detail to 'protect' (i.e. stop him leaving the country) him. Holy shit New York are doing an execution on the tRump organization and its assets of $2 43c.
Anyway, of course I wanted to get into tRump's head as his empire crumbles.
The first thing that became apparent was that the cards weren't coming out at all easily as I shuffled them. I was just shuffling and letting any that would, leap out but they just weren't. Given that we're talking about a man with the maturity of a toddler, distress tolerance of your average narcissist and impulse control of a goat, I was surprised at this. Sometimes it just means that someone is very well defended, which would not be the case with tRump because normally I don't think he holds anything back. I think it means something has changed, and he's not sure what to think. If you want to read someone's thoughts and nothing comes out, it means there's nothing coherent. Strangely, no rage, though. I think he realizes he's in unaccustomed territory and is at a loss.
Both cards which did come out were Major Arcana, so he rightly thinks things are out of his control.
1. King of Cups. The King is obviously the one who maintains structure and is the authority figure so I feel this may represent Trump's thoughts about himself. This king can mean subconscious images arising. Cups represent the water element, so unsurprisingly for him represent emotions and relationships, so I think this means he is mainly thinking about his relationships and family.
Given that the card shows the authority figure on a stable (genius) island surrounded by the changeable waves, I think he feels deeply betrayed and I think this is his main sensation. It's like waves of betrayal from his nearest and dearest trying to wash him away.. He is feeling all this happening around him and still thinks he is the solid authority figure holding his emblems of authority.
2. Queen of Pentacles. Just two court cards is unusual so they're likely to represent two people. Not looking at each other, but surely at this point nobody expects the tRump family to be functioning except in a purely transactional way, do they?
I think the Queen represents the person tRump thinks 'betrayed' him to the FBI. This queen is literally all about fertility and she literally represents the act of impregnation. Even though he's a filthy fuck and I wouldn't put incest past him, I don't think this represents Ivanka, I think the child birth aspects represent Melania and I think he suspects her of grassing him up.
To be fair if you were married to him you would do, but I think the FBI's informant could have been pretty well anyone he's spoken to in the past six months or even the secret service if they overhead or saw something. I wouldn't put it past him to show off the top secret papers to a random visitor.
The most notable thing really is that these cards don't have an obvious connection to a man facing multiple legal cases, one of which can carry the federal death sentence, FFS. He still lacks insight, still doesn't think any of it should be happening and is preoccupied with who has betrayed him. Jesus, after a twenty year career in mental health nursing even I'm finding this unreal.
So the bets are off as to what will happen. I suspect that he'll work his way through more lawyers before this is over, and what kind of masochist would take him on at this point.
It's Barron I feel sorry for, being young enough not to have actually had any involvement in the business. But who knows, perhaps he's handled the nuclear codes. Jesus. TRump's niece Mary is one of my favourite people and estranged from him. I'm about to start rereading her book about the family, Too Much and Never Enough.
But one thing is for certain, the Justice Department are going to go for it. Over there you've still got a more functioning system than us and I doubt we would get to the point where Johnson would face prosecution for misconduct in public office and THAT unaccompanied meeting he had with Russians, just like Trump.
*You may consider this comment tasteless. Well, good. If you didn't think that about this blog there would be something wrong with you.
Of course you all knew I wouldn't be able to leave this one alone and would have to draw some cards on The Former Guy's thoughts and feelings about the FBI executing the search warrant on his rat infested golf motel.
1. The Chariot. Major Arcana card so he feels like it's out of control, he desperately wants to regain control and be protected. The enclosure referred to in the card can be a protective shell, and that's what he would like. His niece, Mary L Trump, commented that this is the first time in his life he's had to negotiate the world without a protective cushion.
2. Five of Cups. Fives are always unstable, and Cups are about relationships or emotions. He's feeling betrayed and a few tantrums have been thrown. If you look closely the wine pouring out of the cups looks like ketchup. I bet he's got Ivanka to comfort him but this won't help because....
3. 6 of Wands. This looks like, and usually is, victory, but this reading is Trump's own thoughts, and he thinks he's going to win this. This would conform with his standard conscienceless behaviour and almost certainly won't match reality, if the commentary on how the FBI would go about obtaining a warrant is true - recent evidence, etc.
It's interesting how this reading conforms completely to the published summaries of his likely mental state and particularly to his lack of insight. I think the FBI have got recent evidence of a crime beyond merely stealing presidential documents and I think he'll be going down.
I see that when I previously published a reading about the Trump family I thought that it may not happen in Trump's lifetime but that the edifice could well collapse, and I was thinking it would be a financial collapse. According to the comments on the internet about what is likely to have prompted the FBI to do this, he may well have shot himself in the foot.
Of course technically this ought to be Legal Beagle rather than Agony Hound but I don't want to start a whole new tag for this one, which is largely here for its entertainment value because the matter is completely clear cut. It was originally on the r/legaladvice subreddit but has been removed so I've got it from the Wayback Machine. Here's the question:
Our brother age 34M died of cancer 9 months ago. He was very successful and left behind money and assets. He also had a Will. My brother was also in a gay relationship for 8 years with a 28M partner. Our family is religious and yes we may not have approved the relationship we still loved our brother. He unfortunately died of cancer and left a will. Left most of the money to his gay partner. They weren't even married. We decided money to be kept within the family and but gave his partner some money. We also paid for brothers funeral and medical Bill's. We thought that was the end of it. But now his ex partner is suing us for the rest of the funds. I don't know how he got hold of the will. My family is still grieving and now this man wants to take us to court. Trying to see how to solve this without involving the court. Thank you for your advice
The Hound says: Fuck you and I hope the boyfriend makes you live in penury for the rest of your lives.
But let's also see the other responses to this ridiculousness.
So, things you can worry about:
To be sued for the value of everything that was detailed to him in the will. You will almost certainly lose.
Punitive damages. Don't be surprised if they go for triple.
You'll be on the hook for attorney's fees.
If the value was >$1200, then the sister could, in theory, be charged with felony theft/conversion and/or contempt of the probate court. That would also come with fees and possible jail time.
The real question is who the court will force to repay the money. The person with the most exposure is the sister, as the executor. She's looking at a complete and total wipeout, and she cannot discharge that debt in bankruptcy. She can expect wages to be garnished, tax refunds and lottery winnings to be garnished, her credit to be trashed, and if she is charged with anything, severely limited future employment prospects
Can I just say how much I love the US English idiom of garnishing wages, in this case garnished with retribution and retaliation?
My sister was in charge of the will, according to his partner he did not want to be in charge because ' he didn't want to deal with us' 'he hates us' so my sister who was best friends with my brother acted as the middle ground for us and his partner. We were shocked when we read the will. We didn't expect it to be that unfair. I am trying to make it right
You can make it right by paying him what he is owed voluntarily. If you don't, the courts will get it from you. Either way, this ends the same for you, assuming you don't face criminal charges for, you know, stealing from him.
Have you considered that maybe this guy hates you because you're the kind of people who defraud him from his rightful property, then cry foul when he asks for it back.
because ' he didn't want to deal with us' 'he hates us'
That's generally the response to halfwits who rob you, yes.
You make this right by giving him everything he's owed according to the will and asking him very, very nicely not to sue you or file a police report.
And this is my personal favourite answer to them:
> Our family is religious and yes we may not have approved the relationship we still loved our brother.... We decided money to be kept within the family.
You just admitted to theft on the internet. Thoughts and prayers
