MrBen

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why does every and I mean EVERY middle class white > kid in their 20s on the bus use 'like' every third > or fourth word it's like they are all like Vicky > pollard like" SHUT UP, LIKE, SPEAK PROPA! Spoken like a true middle class dad.

Mitt Romney recently defined "middle income America" as households with gross income of $200,000 to $250,000. That's Republicans for you.

@Mrs Scoop - I take my hat off to you for opening when you did. And hope you'll be back soon. I'm no expert but the hippy free coconut gelato you did was the dogs nads.

Why anyone would open an ice cream shop going into winter in an already cold and wet country is hard for me to understand. Add East Dulwich's sub prime location (retail wise) to that mix and it's even harder. B&J have a ton of shops in SE England...but Cutty Sark and Tower of London aside, 95% of them are in Odeon cinemas. No chance.

Keep taking the mushrooms man.

If you're ever caught in heavy rain without an umbrella just walk into any pub and confidently say you left your umbrella there a while back. When they ask what it looks like just say "black" and take your pick from whatever they drag out. Not theft, more creative recycling... Umbrellas are left behind as often as phone chargers in hotels - every front desk has a box of Blackberry, iphone and Nokia chargers to hand looking for a new home if you get stuck.

Decking has gone the way of magnolia walls, Buddha's heads and oriental bamboo I fear. None of which ever looked at home in South East London anyway did it?

Yep but depends how many flats you need covered. There is a chap locally who will knock them out for ?50 or so per flat but when it comes to gas I dont mind paying a bit extra. Point remains that even allowing for these costs I'll still have ?3500 or so (before tax to HMRC) more than I would after 3-4 years than if I let through an agent.

There is one exception to this. You don't need to protect a tenants deposit if there isn't one. i.e. you let without a deposit. Not recommended...but useful admin saver if you are letting to family or someone you genuinely trust.

If you use the standard AST letting contract then, by law, you must use an approved Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme to protect the tenants deposit. There are three, full details here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Privaterenting/Tenancies/DG_189120 These schemes were set up a few years back to provide a simple legal framework to resolve any deposit disputes and again is really VERY EASY to set up without help from agents. Sheesh...all this simple stuff is on google. Just don't use an agent for letting in East Dulwich or listen to their self interest driven bollocks about how hard it all is.

Nev, My advice is always to avoid agents and let through this forum privately and save ????'s (this assumes you can spot a decent tenant from a stinker). Demand locally is so high I've always let my place out within 2 weeks of advertising and the quality of tenants on the forum has been infinitely better than what some agents stick forward. You can download a standard AST contract from the web, it's easy. Some agents still try to charge for this but it's free to anyone with a brain. Your challenge to that will be you don't want any hassles whilst you are abroad and are prepared to pay for "peace of mind". My counter would be that I've saved ?5100 over the past 4 years and by setting things up with these savings you'll be fine. i.e. I used that money to pay for a great local handyman who fixes anything small. Also spend some of that huge saving on boiler and pipe insurance (?170 odd per year) which is the worst thing that can go wrong (usually on Christmas eve) and has saved me twice now. A Corgi guy for an annual gas check is ?150. The other thing to do is to just take anything out of the flat that is remotely breakable and keep furnishings simple. Fix anything thats needed fixing before you go. Do all of that and its hard for much else to go wrong. You'll also have ?3.5k left in your pocket after 3 years.

Very good. And speaking of which, David Carnell = new Dr Who.

Stop working for monolithic faceless corporations aimed at making institutional shareholders rich and actually start a business of your own. Hard work yes, but it buys you priceless freedom and time if it works out. Choose when and how long to take holidays/lie in and you'll never get that Monday morning feeling again. And don't wank with headphones on when the missus is out or you may surprise your Polish electrician.

Well at least you're not a fat David Tennant. Ray Davis = legend. And you'd need 30 years + a Ben Dover /Harris wig for it to work... Speaking of which, have you played squash with any Beckham/Brad Pitt lookalikes recently?

Patti Smith - Banga. It's my record of the year to date.

Why not get some ingredients tomorrow and make some homemade Perogies to go alongside some standard British fare? They're very traditional (Ukrainian but close) and great served with some pickle /sour cream alongside some decent salads and you can make your own fillings (cheese and onion etc). They'll also appreciate that you made the effort yourself...don't worry about the dough being slightly stretchy - it's supposed to be.

Yeah Rosie. I got it more when he was in the BBC's Cassanova in 2002. But then I got old and jowly. My favourite forumite celebrity look-a-likey to date was Straferjack's description of Ray Davis at the Olympics...."Help-ma-boab in a Keith Harris wig"

Anyone else been mistakenly identified for a pensioners-only heart throb?

I once got asked if I was David Tennant by a sprightly looking pensioner in Lloyd's TSB by the library. " Er no I'm not" was about all I could muster.

I'm just trying not to think too hard about the guy trying to shift yoghurts down the nearest pub.

I've seen similar several times and also in the co-op with meat. One time a lady walked in, picked up 3 joints of topside and just walked out. And nobody batted an eyelid. The new Co-op sucks anyway - those plastic wooden floorboards that are meant to look "organic" and "your local Dulwich store" pretenses of neighborhood intimacy from a national chain make me want to vomit. It's bigger, yet strangely much harder to find anything.

red devil Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > MrBen Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > > What angle is the Beenmiester peddling this > time? > > Don't move, improve. Ah yes ..."Don't move, improve" - surely surfing off the current homes are for living, not an investment sentiment. The Beeny is always on the button.

It's that husky Frostrup-esque voice, womanly curves and a glint in the eye...what's not to like? What angle is the Beenmiester peddling this time?

It pretty much is. See you at Wembley next October.... *Eyes up goal posts*

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > UK gets just one track and field Gold medal in the > Olympics Arf.