The Philanderer
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Police are looking for a motive
The housing market seems to have ground to a halt here in Chiswick during August, and it got my cousin and I thinking of the estate agent speak for such an event. There is in fact an estate agents calendar.
- January - market is slow sir, no money about after Christmas
- February - too cold, not many people looking
- March - a lot of people away what with Easter and the skiing season
- April - good time to put the house on the market, it should pick up with the weather
- May - not a good time to be buying, would have to move in August during the holidays
- June- a window of opportunity
- July - people saving for their holidays
- August - people on their holidays
- September - back from their holidays and start of a new school year, not a good time to look
- October - evenings getting darker so people less keen to view
- November - saving up for Christmas
- December - Christmas
They also have aspect speak,
- South facing garden, full sun
- West facing garden, nearly South facing , sun in the evening
- East facing garden, sun in the morning
- North facing garden, beautiful views
We have seen a few properties with a view to buy but I am reluctant to put a bid in until our place is under offer. The prices continue to amaze though. Emma,our youngest daughter, has just offered on a one bed flat on the Wirral for less than £70,000. A two bed in Chis is hard to find for five times that.
Anyway, we press on and hope for a change in fortune shortly.....at least the inflation rate reduction looks like it might delay a further interest rise for a while......lets just hope the financial markets don't go into meltdown on the back of the USA mortgage crisis.
Labels: estate agents, us mortgage crisis, Wirral
¶ 3:32 PM 0 Comments
Friday, June 1, 2007
"I think you've had enough old son......."
I am off to Wembley tonight for the England v Brazil game, and this, together with some incidents over the weekend, got me thinking about why football followers seem to be so much more aggressive than those of other sports.
At the family barbecue I referred to, there were a mixture of young people. Some from Liverpool had gone to school with Kieran at St Mary's, a Christian Brothers school, some who had gone to Merchant Taylors, next door . Others where at Uni (or Poly ;-)) in Liverpool and had come from other parts of the country, and some were work colleagues of Kieran from the Wirral and around. They all mixed extremely well, and people commented on how well mannered they were.
One poor girl had had a hell of a few weeks with boyfriend problems, and she got absolutely trashed. Rather than leave her to fall about the furnishings and smash the ornaments, two of her flat mates took her home, put her to bed and returned later to the party.
Sometime after that one of the St Mary's lads got some abuse from another of the boys there, and the St Mary's lads closed ranks and suggested to one of the rogues friends that it was time he helped him home, which he did. This passed off unnoticed by most people at the party.
It reminded me of my own experiences as an 'old fart' who regularly attends rugby internationals at Twickenham, in Dublin and in Paris. There are usually six of us, and we do like a drink. It is fair to say though, that in the 25 years we have been acting the fool, we have at worst made bus travel between Twickenham and Richmond noisy, and the ride out of Dublin on the Dart a joyous singing occasion. Any activity likely to provoke violence, either physical or verbal, is quickly stamped on by the group, and the offender parked in a corner and told to behave.
Why then is it not the case at football matches that there is not this same self policing? The tribal nature of the supporters seems to add an 'edge' to the whole atmosphere. It can't be associated purely with the Public school, grammar school, secondary school differential outlined yesterday, as many of the perpetrators are from good stock?
Personally I blame the lager, as we all know London Pride has no alcohol in it!!!
At the family barbecue I referred to, there were a mixture of young people. Some from Liverpool had gone to school with Kieran at St Mary's, a Christian Brothers school, some who had gone to Merchant Taylors, next door . Others where at Uni (or Poly ;-)) in Liverpool and had come from other parts of the country, and some were work colleagues of Kieran from the Wirral and around. They all mixed extremely well, and people commented on how well mannered they were.
One poor girl had had a hell of a few weeks with boyfriend problems, and she got absolutely trashed. Rather than leave her to fall about the furnishings and smash the ornaments, two of her flat mates took her home, put her to bed and returned later to the party.
Sometime after that one of the St Mary's lads got some abuse from another of the boys there, and the St Mary's lads closed ranks and suggested to one of the rogues friends that it was time he helped him home, which he did. This passed off unnoticed by most people at the party.
It reminded me of my own experiences as an 'old fart' who regularly attends rugby internationals at Twickenham, in Dublin and in Paris. There are usually six of us, and we do like a drink. It is fair to say though, that in the 25 years we have been acting the fool, we have at worst made bus travel between Twickenham and Richmond noisy, and the ride out of Dublin on the Dart a joyous singing occasion. Any activity likely to provoke violence, either physical or verbal, is quickly stamped on by the group, and the offender parked in a corner and told to behave.
Why then is it not the case at football matches that there is not this same self policing? The tribal nature of the supporters seems to add an 'edge' to the whole atmosphere. It can't be associated purely with the Public school, grammar school, secondary school differential outlined yesterday, as many of the perpetrators are from good stock?
Personally I blame the lager, as we all know London Pride has no alcohol in it!!!
Labels: brazil, Dublin, england, London Pride, merchant taylors, Paris, Richmond, St Mary's College, The dart, twickenham, wembley, Wirral
¶ 2:32 PM 0 Comments
