Breaking Through, Travelling On

Karmacat

Thank you for the yay Cheery :j:j:j

I've just been excavating the original paperwork for the French apartment - and, erm, by the by, the simplest piece of decluttering I've ever done - I keep all my diaries, for the sake of work, but over the years those hard-back covers add up. I've just ripped them all off :rotfl: thats two inches of A4 paper just gone to the recycling, it was doing me no good whatsoever here :rotfl:

Some lovely inspirational sayings have been written down in my diaries over the years, such as:

- although its going to hurt for now, every ship must sail away. Don't sit waiting for your ship to come in - row out and meet it.

- you don't have to see the top of the staircase to take the first step.

- "of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, it might have been".

And just to even things up, this is George Best: "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". I don't even care if thats apocryphal - I love it :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Must blog about these

Cheery_Daff

Excellent decluttering there And good sayings too!

Greying_Pilgrim

Karma - I've just remembered. I know that you said that you have either booked to go, or in fact have already been to the Vikings exhibit in LunnonTown. But did you know that the Culture Show is doing a special prog on Saturday night (BBC2, 8.30pm - 9.30pm) about the art and interaction with other cultures.

Just thought it may be of interest. Even if you've been.

Greying

Karmacat

Thanks Greying! We have booked tickets, but only for me and my sister - we couldn't get any at the right time for my mum to get there and get home. And yes, even if we'd been, it'd be of interest, thank'ee

Karmacat

I've just been forcing myself to look at the French papers and bookmarking property sites and legal sites like they're going out of fashion. Honestly, I was *so* above myself - !!!!!! was I thinking of! I didn't want the faff of tenants, the way I saw my business partner having to rush off at 8pm on Sunday to talk to a plumber - but I could've bought in England and just used a management company. In fact, I remember my brother driving me round student parts one afternoon, in Liverpool. The houses were about £20k at the time - the same stuff that goes for £60k now.

Its really hard to accept I've been such an idiot - mind you, I've put that heading to this post to remind myself not to sink into moaning - there are lots of people out there whose management company went bankrupt, they got penalised by the French government, and ended up walking away from the property after years of no rent, but still pursued to pay. Even though it didn't even cover the mortgage, let alone the other bills, I've always had the rent on time, and always the proper amount.

Sigh. The stupidest, most sleepwalkingest expenditure I'll ever make. Can't believe its 7.30 either now, I'd better shut this down and go eat something.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this forum, and these forum members.

ZTD

Karmacat wrote: »

Some lovely inspirational sayings have been written down in my diaries over the years, such as:

- although its going to hurt for now, every ship must sail away. Don't sit waiting for your ship to come in - row out and meet it.

Or "Build a big fire on the beach, pretend to be a lighthouse, and have men waiting on the rocks."

Karmacat wrote: »

- you don't have to see the top of the staircase to take the first step.

"But if you don't see the top step before stepping out, your immediate future consists of:

• Step
• Slip
• Thump.
• Thump!
• Thump!!
• THUMP!!!
• Owww!!!!"

Karmacat wrote: »

- "of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, it might have been".

"I love Miley Cyrus!" can't be far behind...

Karmacat wrote: »

And just to even things up, this is George Best: "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". I don't even care if thats apocryphal - I love it :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Yes - that is a good one. But I think we approach life from different angles...

Karmacat wrote: »

I've just been forcing myself to look at the French papers and bookmarking property sites and legal sites like they're going out of fashion. Honestly, I was *so* above myself - !!!!!! was I thinking of!

If this was the same scheme that I remember being touted a few years ago, it was designed to get people to stop thinking logically, and start thinking emotionally. It used hooks like "free", "easy" and "tax free" to reel people in. Whenever something feels safe and easy - "What's the catch?"

If you're crapping yourself when you do it - then you may be onto something however...

Unfortunately in this life you *earn* money for only two things: Risk and time. If getting risk-free money just required money, the footballers and the billionaires would have bought it all up before you even saw a sniff of it.

The ideal opportunities of course, are when you make the decisions and other people take the risk: Bankers and politicians spring to mind here...

Karmacat wrote: »

I didn't want the faff of tenants, the way I saw my business partner having to rush off at 8pm on Sunday to talk to a plumber - but I could've bought in England and just used a management company.

That doesn't always work. I know someone whose tenant was arrested, and the Police asked him for a key to the property, "or we can use our key..."

Karmacat wrote: »

In fact, I remember my brother driving me round student parts one afternoon, in Liverpool. The houses were about £20k at the time - the same stuff that goes for £60k now.

As you know, an important part of a trade is when to leave it. When would you sell?

Karmacat wrote: »

Its really hard to accept I've been such an idiot - mind you, I've put that heading to this post to remind myself not to sink into moaning - there are lots of people out there whose management company went bankrupt, they got penalised by the French government, and ended up walking away from the property after years of no rent, but still pursued to pay. Even though it didn't even cover the mortgage, let alone the other bills, I've always had the rent on time, and always the proper amount.

It has been a learning experience, and despite not covering the mortgage, you will be left with something at the end of it. It's in a handy location should you ever need to get into Switzerland under the cover of darkness... :rotfl:

Karmacat wrote: »

Sigh. The stupidest, most sleepwalkingest expenditure I'll ever make.

That's part of learning:

Karmacat

What a brilliant post, Z, and what a star you are :kisses3: thank you, honey.

I'd not heard the phrase "demotivator" or seen the "despair" site :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: they've found a great niche there

The frustrating thing about this "investment", the leaseback scheme that I've been prattling about for ages, is that it *didn't* promise great returns - just solid and steady. I knew I wanted to take my risk money and use it elsewhere, this was supposed to be a slow and steady investment ... well, I got the "slow" bit right, anyway :eek: And you got it right that its excellently placed for a midnight flip to Switzerland :cool:

When I've come through it, and I'm a multimillionaire sitting in my pleasant little tax haven with a mai tai, or whatever the fashionable drink-du-jour is, I shall fly you out there on a private plane, you know :kisses3: just for this post, let alone all the others over the years.

Cheery_Daff

Aw KC, give yourself a break (((())))) Hindsight is a marvellous thing! Not always easy to know exactly what you're getting yourself into xx

Karmacat

Ha! I just made my longest ever trade - managed to stay in for 45 minutes I listened to my Inner Nattering, and responded on the lines of "don't be ridiculous" stayed with it till it turned a profit - not a full recompense for the losing trade earlier this week, but after 45 minutes of that level of hawk-eyed attention, I reckoned I deserved a break (and some food! I'm starving now!), so after that I'll be looking at the French paperwork

Ellidee

Someone I was at school with went out with George Best a couple if times and said he was 'A huge disappointment' :shocked::shocked: