2013

“Knowledge of the self, is the mother of all knowledge..”

So said Khalil Gibran (look him up). As we listen and read the various panegyrics that have (quite rightly) been put forward about Tony McCoy and his record-breaking achievement of riding 4000 winners as a national hunt jockey, I do wonder what it is that makes people behave as they do and achieve success, or failure in their chosen field.  His sporting triumphs are indeed a tour de force and will almost...

“I choose a lazy peron to do a hard job…”

"Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."   So said the richest man in the world (according to the Bloomberg Billionaires List 2013), Bill Gates.  Much discussion has taken place on the twittersphere and other forums about what he actually meant (duh - it was obvious) and whether his statement was accurate and was truly representative of how to get something done.  Firstly, far be it...

Do you believe everything that you read in the paper…and on the internet…?

That is of course assuming that people can read...but this isn't the forum to question the education system of modern Britain.  Last night as I finished measuring up a property at half past seven (is that a tiny violin that I see you playing?), I did wonder whether the old fashioned practice of wearing out my shoe leather should be replaced by the e-movement of estate agency. That is, is the old style of...

A bit of a pickle…

The recent announcement by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, that the government proposes to introduce a "tenants' charter", has elicited a very vocal response and has raised many questions; and on this particular occasion, it isn't, "who ate all the pies?"  The official-and publicly promulgated-reasoning behind the charter is to improve standards in the rental...

There are some decent people about..

Continuing today's theme of ologies, it is human nature to indulge in paraxeology; and it is often with a negative undertone.  This morning however, I have had some of my faith in human nature restored.  A gentleman rang the office to say that he had found a house key- with the office details on the keying- on platform 1 Newport Station.  Upon checking our securitised key system we identified the...

Name that ology…

In the pursuit of alethiology (look it up), I have to say that if I hear one more thing about the bubble about to be caused by this week's early launch of Phase 2 of the Government's Help-To-Buy scheme, I may choose to discover that the life of a Trappist monk has its advantages (sorry Tatiana). Whilst it is admirable that banks are staying open -to much fanfare and self-congratulation - to deal with the...

A different world…

It may only be 150 miles up the road, but I can now categorically confirm that London is a world apart from the rest of the British Isles (and Wales in particular).  Having picked up a copy of the London Evening Standard and settled down in my rather grubby train seat, (actually I had to stand all the way back), I started to peruse the Wednesday night property section - without using my glasses.  My...

It seemed like a good idea…

After the slight calm after the storm of the past few weeks that has raged in the waters of the property market (or at least if certain elements of the media are to be believed) there has been further evidence this week that trying to control the elements is a foolhardy past time.  After the announcement by Ed ("I love my brother-honest") Miliband that on coming into the hot seat at Number 10 he would...

Don’t tar us all with the same brush…

Other clichés are available...but the ones that relate to dodgy estate agents, second hand car dealers and other ne'r-do-wells are starting to resurface as it is reported that estate agency is a boom industry.  Unfortunately for the lady who penned the article published in the Daily Mail on September 2013, such rogues have never actually disappeared, they have just taken a less prominent role in recent...

Carry on as normal…

After the mass hysteria of last week with people running lemming-like to become estate agents/put their homes on the market to make a fortune to allow them to become buy-to-let zillionaires, this week has seen the resumption of normal service.  Just after the Royal Chartered Institute of Surveyors (RICS), forewarned - quite rightly - of the dangers of super house price inflation - the Office for National...

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