Ferdinand

I have been for years. Tuesday: "the teacher said we are doing a Greek theme, so I need a (Colossus of Rhodes / Trireme / Zither / Parthenon / model of Knossos / Minotaur / Wooden Horse / Reflecting Pool for Narcissus) by Thursday". Anyhoo, I have reviewed the stuff, and a huge amount has now gone to the great flower arranging cupboard in mum's friends' houses. Having said that, did this last week.

At this time I would not be going for bridging without an exit and risk management strategy, so I agree with your take. If I could get a 5 or 10 year fixed mortgage at 1-2% on the existing house without exit penalties, I might be tempted. F

I won't speculate on @pocster's position, but it is different for every landlord. My business is a mixture of single family lets and a couple of student houses. My tenants tend to stay long term (if they settle in 2-3 years up to 10+ years). The only couple I have lost quickly recently was back in 2018 when they realised after a few months that I was right when I told them at the start that they could afford a house and were silly to plan to rent long term, and bought somewhere and moved out. It was amusing but expensive that at the start - even though they had 2 family members in the street and there had been an advert on the house window whilst it was being renovated - they still went through the agent rather than direct, and that cost us about £500 each. Need some work on the feet-on-the-ground front ?. I have a couple of Ts who may be under threat of layoff, but should be covered by the 80% as employees though they will lose overtime. Another has lost a pension topup income from renting out a holiday caravan - site fees have been paid, and the whole summer's bookings have evaporated and the site has been locked down. For another online translation income seems to have stopped. But on the other side students are funded per year, and the finance has not been withdrawn, and my students for 2020-2021 year were all signed up with full guarantors by Nov 2019. I have offered reductions if people really struggle. I also have a couple who are on Housing Benefit, such as it is. I will be scoped out of the scheme by the income cap in all probability. OTOH an HMO rented to professionals by the room such as contractors risks them losing their income by being terminated, and the HMO is liable for Council Tax (unlike my student houses). The Council Tax liability on such a house could be between about £1000 and £8000 pa, as some Councils treat each individual room as a separate Band A dwelling for Council Tax purposes. But I am aware of a senior professional renting in the Lake District who is now desperately looking for somewhere else, as they have a short term let in a Holiday House whilst waiting for a big developer to complete their new house. But the developer has frozen the whole project, and the LL they are with now has cold feet about a long-term rental. And there is someone vulnerable in the house so they are advised to be socially disconnected for 3 months. And the whole market has largely stopped. But there are LLs where Ts have run away now offering free housing for the emergency to NHS Staff who are becoming persona non grata with housemates, or wanting to be away from families for safety reasons. I have a good friend who has split from girlfriend, and is now stuck in the same house as there is nowhere to go. None of it is easy, and the large majority of LLs who only have a single rental might struggle to take the hit, or just sell up afterwards. That will push the market faster in a corporate direction, which is what the politicians think they want - but has all sorts of consequences they do not consider. Ferdinand

I had 3 lots of snow today. Nottinghamshire.

Still need a piccie of a cat on a catslide roof.

Does ivy burn well like holly, or will I need to let it dry for months?

I think I have this identified. Not cat litter, though there was a cat but it has been pushing up bamboo for about 3 years now. Talking to one of mum's flower arranging friends, it is something for drying out flowers they had when they did a Diploma years ago. It absorbs the moisture from a flower being dried. So I can either use it for something else or throw it away now. Thanks all for the suggestions. Ferdinand

Someone is channelling Yoda, yes he is ...

Bad start to the day .. I woke up and it was already an hour later. ? Anyhoo .. I have found this in my utility room, and I do not know what it is. The unidentified item is the granular one in the margarine pot, which was in a pile with ‘tumble dryer sheets’, which save ironing (what’s ironing?), and washing machine internals cleaner. Obviously mum had it for something, but what? Any ideas are welcome. I Have not got a clue. They are granules with a smooth surface, so not rough like say crumbs for feeding poultry. I wonder about something like slow release fertiliser, but I am not sure. Ferdinand

Superb.

Our council recycling centre is closed, of course. But all of our bin collections, including the garden waste, are still running. Impressed.

By the way, how does one dispose of a huge pile of ivy clippings? The quantity would probably fill a 3m trailer. Ferdinand

Well - today I spent a couple of hours fighting the Ivy Monster that is trying to invade through the old wall from next door. That wall is lovely, and full of bees every spring. (I once had a pile of insulation there removed from a house attic so that we could get 250mm new put in by the Energy Company, and when the handyman came to collect it to use as Underfloor Insulation in another house he discovered that some bees had moved from the wall to the insulation.). Fortunately a flower lady came past in her van and asked for some of the cuttings - not enough though. Unfortunately her business is going into abeyance from next week. I have enough clippings left for about 2 months of Council Garden bins. What I need now is a systemic weedkiller to put on the new growth in a month's time. And the front border of contrasting shapes and colours planted by mum 6 years ago is developing nicely. Ferdinand

My cleaner has now stopped coming, as she works for a Limited company run locally. Will get the 80%. Also she has mum’s supply of unused pyjamas, which will probably last about a decade ?. I'm pleased that someone known to me could use them, rather than having to cast them on the charity shop wind. F

Good job I checked. ? HHA May be worth a contact though.

Can you talk me through that £7500 for nothing? I have not yet absorbed the detail of the package - how does that work. Ferdinand

Hello Jane Try the Historic Houses Associaton, which is an association of privately owned listed building owners. They may know who are relevant experts, but also be aware of ‘the ones that got away’. https://www.historichouses.org They may be willing to pass your details on. Just checking ... if I recall correctly, you are building on a (slightly expensive!) former vicarage garden in London near the river bought at auction, and run a couple of successful small businesses (?), and have an inconvenient third party drain across the middle. If someone has successfully fought off a similar thing, they may well be willing to advise / encourage someone in the same position ... there will be a solidarity. In your place I would also place a speculative call to the Chancellor of the Diocese to ask for any useful contacts they can give you, given the history. The. Chancellor is the Senior Legal Advisor to the Bishop, and would not advise but may be willing to give a couple of pointers in a short phone call or email, if you bought it from them. Speculative, but on the occasions I have dealt with them, often willing to spend a few minutes helping me. The Church of England have more listed buildings than anybody else, and they should know who to talk to etc. The other official who deals with buildings in the CodE is the Archdeacon, which in London (last time I knew) were organised on an area basis similarly to the ‘Area Bishops’; they could be an alternative to contact. OTOH you could have found them hard to deal with. I could say the same for the National Trust, but I do not know their internal systems. Best of luck. Ferdinand

+1. Not cheap iirc, but I found this under a 2 for 1 deal at Wickes. Perhaps somebody can comment whether a ‘roll your own’ idea of ‘normal coating plus sprinkle sand on it’ works at all. Ferdinand

if you have an internal division, you could use that as the feature wall, which would not compromise your fabric. Or put a lead to orangery or extension of some sort on the back of your feature wall to make it internal. Ferdinand

I would think you could either roll your own, or buy something off the shelf designed for a boat or caravan. But I would expect that solar PV would be less buggeration-ful over time. Ferdinand

Does anyone on this "oak" thread need a 0.9m or 1.8m high oak barleytwist chandelier? Promise it won't turn into walk-on glazing at midnight, like Cinerellla's pumpkin ! Ferdinand

Delighted to see the generous shower size. These are worth their weight in kittens. And the stuffed cockerel.

I''m very innocent - pure as the driven snow in fact. Why did you think of that? I feel corrupted.

Love the site, but what's a pube tree? I can't see an obvious typo. *very innocent face*

Superb. Glad to hear it. Photos ? However, I will be in social isolation, so I can’t come and see it ?.