Early Risers.

[Andrew P]

Another day accomplished, without a lot to show for it, but the Sun is out at the moment but we have rain due at about 3pm. I have / DID HAVE, some woodwork to treat outside, but I don't think there will be enough Sun and warmth to dry it before the rain arrives so that's another job to put off for another day, or two, or three, or four, = you get the picture, I HATE DIY.

 

And so today will be a build up to the weekend and as its a Bank Holiday I have a day off on Monday as well, so that's a bonus.

 

Have a good day one and all, stay safe and well, AND if doing any DIY then don't over do it, or the other half will think you enjoy it.

[TheQ]

Of house prices, this quote is from our Local paper today (EDP24)

"Data from estate agent comparison site GetAgent has revealed that in North Norfolk, Breckland, South Norfolk and Broadland, house prices have increased more than the average annual net earnings in the same area."

That, In North Norfolk Where I live, is £24,753 or 127% of the local average wage.. (Average local wage £19,468)

Edited April 30, 2021 by TheQ

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s a little brighter than yesterday and there are some blue patches amongst the clouds. The car has been moved and both the bins have been emptied and returned to there normal position, so the area around the skip is clear for it’s removal. This was all done done before I sat down to eat my breakfast, that has now been consumed and I’m about to head off to the butchers for the weekly meat rations and hopefully a pastie for dinner. After that I’ll head off to the Trafford Centre for the rest of the comestibles. After dinner ill finish making the fruit tea loaf that I left soaking overnight. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian

[jonny777]

Dry and sunny here in North Somerset, although the clouds are beginning to go vertical. 

 

I have had ear wax problems and also find Otex to be a great way of loosening the hardened variety. 

 

I remember having my ears syringed when I was in my 20s, and some rather un-nerving lumps of dark brown stuff emerged. It was only when I walked out into the street from the GP surgery that the noises hit me. The traffic sounds were so loud and far more complex noises than I had gotten used to. It was quite an un-nerving experience at first, to realise what I had not been able to hear a short while earlier. 

 

I now have tinnitus, which is like the worst continuous musical chord ever produced; but I have got used to it and only notice when I think about it. I blame loud music in the past, especially live concerts, and listening to albums on headphones with the volume on 12.

 

Oh well, life is not meant to be easy - or at least that is what I was told many decades ago.  

[iL Dottore]

Actually Neil, by "singlet" and "rippling torsos" I'm thinking along these lines:

Although a bit underwhelming on the "muscular arms" aspect (good rugged, square, jaw BTW)

 

iD

 

p.s. the still is from "In Which We Serve"

Edited April 30, 2021 by iL Dottore
Typo

[tigerburnie]

Morning, suns out but still flippin' cold wind, a fair amount of the "G" word has already taken place in the greenhouse, we are off to Montrose to deliver a birthday gift and some tomato plants then the day is ours, might go into the local Glen looking for Adders as I still need a decent picture of a male for a Scottish magazine. Take care all and keep safe.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Chris mentioning mayoral elections reminded me that although I live just outside of London and can't vote for the London mayor we still get inundated with news and interviews of the candidates. One in particular stands out for sheer stupidity, he wants to stop all covid restrictions and to quote "Go back to normal". What a pi1lock. Arthur Itis was again in full song but the Ibuforen soon quietened him down. I'm beginning to notice another effect of the Ibuforen, I needn't worry about constipation. Postie has just delivered my postal vote so alls well in that department, it will be in the post later today.

[Pacific231G]

Good morning all

Cloudy and grey in W. London this morning but we're supposed to be getting sunny intervals. VAT return this morning I think.

It looks like the landlord who has apparently turned about 200 houses round here into bedsits- including the other half of my semi- is sniffing around another house nearby that's up for sale. 

This is a bit of a racket as they gut a perfectly ordinary suburban semi then shove on an extension which doesn't require planning permission,  and turn it into six "studio" flats with a couple of kitchens between them that also doesn't need planning. They then take in half a dozen people on housing benefit- throw in the electricity and any other costs- all LED lighting- then charge them the maximum that housing benefit will pay which is far more than they could get from a tenant paying their own way.  It works for the tenants and the landlord gets about £1000 a month from each room so it's very lucrative but it's our taxes that are paying for this and the council, who could act to limit the number of "HMOs" in an area are  doing nothing.

I have nothing against the ternants, they need somewhere to live,  but the very ordinary suburban estate that my neighbours and I have lived in for thirty years or more  is started to be blighted as have others nearby. My previous neighbour ,who was renting the house next door, wanted to buy it but was outbid by this person.

The building work was decidely dodgy - though it must have passed some kind of inspection- so I did some checking and found that the owner of the building firm that did the conversion has been disqualified as a director for multiple breaches of H&S. but just put in a nominee director and it was still him the sub-contractors were dealing with. His workers are eastern european and hardly speak English so I doubt if their employment conditions would pass muster. In 2019 I never saw any of them wearing a hard hat

The houses they've converted all seem to be owned by separate companies so it's very hard to find out who is really behind this. 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

A similar situation around here, one person was buying up all the properties that came on the market for letting out. Mostly to eastern Europeans and in one two bedroom house she had three couples, two with young babies. Then suddenly the tenants moved out of several of the properties and they went back on the market. I know the elderly gent who lived next door to house where the three couples were and he told me that HMRC were involved. The woman who had owned the properties apparently skipped off to Lebanon from whence she came. One of the houses she owned was opposite me and has found a private buyer.

[jonny777]

Welcome to 21st century England. 

[AndrewC]

12 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

Good morning all

Cloudy and grey in W. London this morning but we're supposed to be getting sunny intervals. VAT return this morning I think.

It looks like the landlord who has apparently turned about 200 houses round here into bedsits- including the other half of my semi- is sniffing around another house nearby that's up for sale. 

This is a bit of a racket as they gut a perfectly ordinary suburban semi then shove on an extension which doesn't require planning permission,  and turn it into six "studio" flats with a couple of kitchens between them that also doesn't need planning. They then take in half a dozen people on housing benefit- throw in the electricity and any other costs- all LED lighting- then charge them the maximum that housing benefit will pay which is far more than they could get from a tenant paying their own way.  It works for the tenants and the landlord gets about £1000 a month from each room so it's very lucrative but it's our taxes that are paying for this and the council, who could act to limit the number of "HMOs" in an area are  doing nothing.

I have nothing against the ternants, they need somewhere to live,  but the very ordinary suburban estate that my neighbours and I have lived in for thirty years or more  is started to be blighted as have others nearby. My previous neighbour ,who was renting the house next door, wanted to buy it but was outbid by this person.

The building work was decidely dodgy - though it must have passed some kind of inspection- so I did some checking and found that the owner of the building firm that did the conversion has been disqualified as a director for multiple breaches of H&S. but just put in a nominee director and it was still him the sub-contractors were dealing with. His workers are eastern european and hardly speak English so I doubt if their employment conditions would pass muster. In 2019 I never saw any of them wearing a hard hat

The houses they've converted all seem to be owned by separate companies so it's very hard to find out who is really behind this. 

 

 

 

 

 

Snap. Exactly what happened to our next door neighbour's place. In this case dodgy Oriental owners with workers being illegally billeted in the garage. Well until Border Force pressed the issue with the council after said useless p***ks couldn't be arsed to initially enforce the rules. They can get away with dodgy works by hiring a private building control company and skipping the party wall notification to suppress opposition. Once this happens the council has lost all ability to enforce building regulations. The only way is via CICAR as the private company won't even talk to anyone but their client. Any party wall damage to surrounding properties has to be through civil court. 

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

 

Cloudy, soft sunshine. Garden temp. 6C.

 

The house I grew up in, was an open coal (later coke) fired (lit from a gas pipe) centrally heated house with radiators in kitchen, bathroom and two double bedrooms.  The box room relied on a convection heater down in the hallway in much later years when the open fire was replaced by various electric fires. I remember a paraffin heater in the kitchen and, later, the gas oven being on, when the fire was out.

So, if you wonder why I enjoy firing up (and driving) steam locos, I blame it all on those early years spent cleaning out, building and lighting our home fires. My Nan taught me how to make a coal fire before I was seven and I always kept my Gran's hearth clean when she had a fire going when we visited. She had a small fireside companion set just suitable for a growing child's hands! I guess I stood no chance when it comes to steam engines. 

 

I am tempted to have a look at the straggly shrubs this afternoon and tidy them up. I might wander down before lunch and have a preview! Maybe take a mugadecafcoffi with me and enjoy a bit of sunshine.

 

Fitt  and  Elfie a bit sluggish this week so they have orders to buck up!

 

Take care and play safe. Hope recent playtime and diy injuries, aches and pains recover soon.

_________

Best wishes

Polly

 

 

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

 

Now that is a BIG Big End!

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where it is sunny and bright albeit with a few clouds in the sky.

 

Mrs Lurker developed a nasty ear infection many years ago, as it happens it was at the same time as she had her leg in plaster having dislocated her knee.

 

The local hospital (KCH) decided the infection should be lanced but at the last minute decided she should be sent to specialists (which I think were at Guys). Good job because it turned out that had they lanced the infection it would have pushed infection directly into her bloodstream with a good chance of seeing her off. She was diagnosed with something I forget the name of but is one step down from mastoids.

 

Work is busy but my boss has announced that it his intention to try to knock off early for the bank holiday weekend. I am hoping that flows down to me too although there is every possibility that the people who want to hassle him decide that as he is (unusually) unavailable they will hassle me instead!

 

Yesterday saw the successful Thursday purchase of LDC and Autosport. No doubt this evening i will have to have an extensive debrief on the Formula 1 FP1 and FP2 with Younger Lurker, as well as speculate on the Indycar Texas double-header. Who knew?

 

 

[PupCam]

49 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

One in particular stands out for sheer stupidity, he wants to stop all covid restrictions and to quote "Go back to normal". What a pi1lock.

Another candidate for my self-contained, unmonitored, unserviced Darwin Awards Room 101!   

 

I'd better check the drawings again,  I think I may have grossly underestimated the overall size required

[PhilJ W]

 

39 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Another candidate for my self-contained, unmonitored, unserviced Darwin Awards Room 101!   

 

I'd better check the drawings again,  I think I may have grossly underestimated the overall size required

I noticed that the same party is putting a candidate up for Essex County Council. They certainly won't be getting my vote.

Edited April 30, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Andrew P]

I DID paint the woodwork as the Sun was out and it was warm.

 

Rain not forecast until 3pm.

 

So WHY IS IT SNOWING NOW?

 

Well I guess that's not classed as rain.

 

Its stopped again now, GOOD.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

 

 

That piccy reminds Bear of an old (1940's?) B&W film - the ship's engine was busted and the only guy small enough (stupid enough?) to squeeze down into the tiny space below the big end was a little chinese guy.  The crank was secured from moving using planks and rope.  'Course the inevitable happened (added drama) and the crank revolved.....

 

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Of house prices, this quote is from our Local paper today (EDP24)

"Data from estate agent comparison site GetAgent has revealed that in North Norfolk, Breckland, South Norfolk and Broadland, house prices have increased more than the average annual net earnings in the same area."

That, In North Norfolk Where I live, is £24,753 or 127% of the local average wage.. (Average local wage £19,468)

 

Bear predicts the Housing Market is heading for breakdown - the prices will rise to a point where no-one can afford anything (at least not where they want to live) and no-one will drop prices because they'd end up in negative equity.

(Source: Bear's Crystal Ball)

 

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

I now have tinnitus, which is like the worst continuous musical chord ever produced; but I have got used to it and only notice when I think about it. I blame loud music in the past, especially live concerts, and listening to albums on headphones with the volume on 12.

 

Bear went for an Apprenticeship at BA Engineering, Heathrow; at the medical the Doc specifically warned me to stay away from concerts etc.  I guess he knew a bit about hearing loss, what with jet engines etc.

 

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Chris mentioning mayoral elections reminded me that although I live just outside of London and can't vote for the London mayor we still get inundated with news and interviews of the candidates.

 

Bear is also just outside Greater London (so can't vote) yet earns one of their Post Codes - and the insurance prices that go with it...

 

In other news:

A bit of prep for a kitchen delivery - which after calling them is now "provisionally" scheduled for Sat or Sun; I'll receive an email this evening it seems.  Strong smell of B.S. detected.

A morning of The G Word - weeing sorry, weeding in the garden.  Feels good when it's done, or will do later today.

Bear predicts that a raid on the Chippie may take place in the next few minutes...

[PhilJ W]

4 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear predicts the Housing Market is heading for breakdown - the prices will rise to a point where no-one can afford anything (at least not where they want to live) and no-one will drop prices because they'd end up in negative equity.

(Source: Bear's Crystal Ball)

 

That happened about 1988, just after I moved into this house. Fortunately I paid the same for this place as I got for my previous house so I just transferred the existing mortgage over. The only thing was it was an endowment mortgage so to be on the safe side I swapped it over to a repayment mortgage and as it turned out that was a good move. No negative equity but it came close at times.

[PhilJ W]

I might add that the people who purchased my old property did end up with negative equity and lost out when they couldn't keep up their mortgage payments.

[BSW01]

When I got back from the Trafford Centre, the skip lorry was here, picking up the skip. So I waited a few yards away until he'd finished and after he'd passed me, I drove the car back onto the drive. 

 

The price of houses around here is absolutely staggering, but they've always been high. When we bought our house 41 years ago, we could just about afford our mortgage when we bought. Due to personal links that Sheila had via work (she worked for an estate agent) we were able to get quite a good rate for the solicitor. However, as the interest rates kept rising, I had to work as much overtime as I could get and we still had to tighten our belts. At one point I even got rid of the car and got a push bike just to save money. Luckily I only worked 3 miles away and occasionally a neighbour gave me a lift during the winters. 

 

Despite being on a very good salary when I retired, given the current price of our house, I wouldn't have been able to get a mortgage. I really feel for the young who are trying to buy at the moment. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Our mortgage was a 'with profits endowment type', luckily we bought it at the right time, when we cashed it in after 20 years, (which was 5 years early) we could have paid off our mortgage 3 times! 

Edited April 30, 2021 by BSW01

[jonny777]

6 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

That happened about 1988, just after I moved into this house. Fortunately I paid the same for this place as I got for my previous house so I just transferred the existing mortgage over. The only thing was it was an endowment mortgage so to be on the safe side I swapped it over to a repayment mortgage and as it turned out that was a good move. No negative equity but it came close at times.

 

It happened here about 1989/90. Prices rose by stupid numbers after we moved here in 1987; so much so that my neighbour paid 50% more than I did, for a more or less identical house 2 years later. 

 

And then came a recession, and prices plummeted. 

 

Unfortunately, I was maxing my mortgage in order to afford this property so could not afford a repayment mortgage. In fact I had to take out a low-cost endowment which was rather a con, as it relied on endowment policies to exceed their guaranteed payout - as was happening to many people at the time. However, it was the only way I was going to afford the house I wanted. 

 

All was going well until the dotcom bubble burst about 10 years later, and insurance companies took fright and slashed their payout percentages. In the end I had to make up the difference myself when the 25 years was up. 

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

The forecast cloudy sky is duly preseent but the forecast for much later precipitation is running much earlier that Exe seaweed was able to imply.  Good for the weeds though (and the no weeds too, hopefully).

 

according to local crooks estate agents we are living in a highly desirable house in a highly desirable area with lots of buyers looking to move in.  Well three large(r than ours) houses within c.100 yards of us have sold in recent weeks so maybe the crooks estate agents are telling the truth for once (that must surely happen some time?).  But the local 'paper is predicting doom as school place applications are dropping rapidly allegedly due to high house prices putting off families - so they obviously haven't included those moving in opposite us who have a 4 year old and a 7 year old.  But prices here are rising and according to some statistics I found on the 'net the local level of household debt is well above the national average, which doesn't surprise me in the least.

 

As for negative equity it is mostly a totally meaningless term because it really only has any meaning when you have to sell your home for less than you paid for it.  if you don't need to move the price your home would fetch is near irrelevant, but it can be very hard on those who have no choice about moving.

 

As for elections we are only having to go for a new County Councillor.  Of the three leaflets we have received two were clearly written by brain dead idiots who haven't even bothered to read existing CC policy documents freely available online.  Hence their (similar) proposals that when elected they will make sure the CC introduces a  policy about whatever betrays their ignorance that it already has one.  But judging by letters in the local 'paper plenty of likely voters are equally ignorant so the brain dead might well get some votes - it was ever thus I reckon.

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

It was sunny but is cloudy now. I did manage to watch the last bit of the F1 practice from Portugal. I would have watched more but Aditi asked if I would see why her version of Zoom didn’t behave like the “how to “ video online. I did succeed but only by looking in every menu.  
Tony