Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

Is it only London where really rough areas are right next door to quite pleasant ones? It's almost like there is an invisible barrier which prevents the two groups colliding.

It's everywhere - where I live, there's a road leading to town; I am on one side, the other side is "the rough bit". There is nothing on that estate that I'd want - and there's nothing on my side of the road that they want. Therefore, when residents of either side of the road leave the house they'd all most likely be heading into town along the road.

"Really rough" and "quite pleasant" are words without a measure. My friend on the "really rough" estate said it wasn't that rough when she moved there, although now she's saying it is

Where I am is fine ... but it only takes 3 families with kids to move in in the same month for it to take a nose-dive.

chris_m

Where I am we have a long, straight road leading out of the village, then a side estate on a road leading off it, one road of which has houses backing onto my back garden.

The dozen houses along the straight road are all well kept and the area looks nice. I had occasion to go onto the road behind once and the description rough as hell sprang to mind, hardly any gardens maintained, many with all sorts of junk in them, tatty cars all over the place, you know the "style". The rest of the side estate doesn't look much better, either.

I don't know what all the people there are like, I've only had dealings with two, a plumber that I used for some work and the people whose garden backs directly onto mine but only by phone because they'd put a note through my door apologising for some of their prunings having fallen into my garden but only gave me a phone number, not a house number. Both those seemed very pleasant but the rest of the road/estate would put me off - had there been a house for sale round there when I was looking I wouldn't have even bothered looking inside.

Of course, the real rough area is up at the end of my road, about half a mile away, maybe a bit more, with a big fence around it. However, the people there don't generally come out, except in big white vans with black windows and lots of locks

Pyxis

Pastures, did you realise that Money for Nothing has started again?


I just caught the end of the first one. Two battered '60s chairs turned into designer pieces with floral fabric and sheepskin 'shawls'.

Very nice, but it is amazing what she sold them for. And not to London, either! To a retro dealer in Lincolnshire, apparently!

Pyxis

Chris, that was jolly nice of the people at the back to apologise for their cuttings falling into your garden.

I suppose sometimes the outward appearance belies the character of the people inside.

Around the corner from me is a big old rambling house. I think it was originally a vicarage way back. Ever since I've lived here, 30years, it has looked like it is occupied by the Clampits. An assortment of battered old vehicles and camper vans live in the large front garden, along with assorted piles of wood, rope and unidentifiable rusty and plastic objects.

In all those years, I've never fathomed out who lives there. Never seen anyone in the front garden. Never heard any noise when passing by, (although I wouldn't be able to from my house, unless they were having the mother of all rave parties à la Woodstock).

What worries me is not them being there, but that if they sold up, there's a good chance the lovely old house would be pulled down and a block of flats built, as the site is a good size. That would upset me a lot more.

zagubov

silvercar wrote: »

Is it only London where really rough areas are right next door to quite pleasant ones? It's almost like there is an invisible barrier which prevents the two groups colliding.

No, I've seen bits of Glasgow where you get rough areas slap bang next to posh upmarket ones.

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

Chris, that was jolly nice of the people at the back to apologise for their cuttings falling into your garden.

Certainly was - and they weren't just apologising but also offering to come and clear it up.

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

Pastures, did you realise that Money for Nothing has started again?


I just caught the end of the first one. Two battered '60s chairs turned into designer pieces with floral fabric and sheepskin 'shawls'.

Very nice, but it is amazing what she sold them for. And not to London, either! To a retro dealer in Lincolnshire, apparently!

No... I'll keep an eye out for it. I hate the "smug/twee" approach to the making of the programme. She's there, but "don't do this, we've had special permission". Then you do wonder if some things were specially arranged in all honesty, rather than her taking pot luck.

Then she takes her tat and one fella charges ridiculous prices for his labour to produce something .... and she "bodges" something in her shed (at the huge farm where she lives, so all outbuildings etc are free/paid for but not by her) ... and I suspect she doesn't actually "do" the making herself. (Did you know Berry & Hollywood don't make their own finished products in the programme where they show you how to make things?).

Then she advertises the stuff to her "followers" who are all part of the "London dream set" ... and flogs them - no doubt to people who only bought it (and at those prices) so they can say they bought from her.

It's all so fake and not "what's on the tin".

What's on the tin is the impression that you or I could do these marvellous things and make heaps of cash from old stuff.... but they fake it and use their special contacts to flog it on to make it look like a fat profit's been made.

Re the "retro dealer in Lincs" - I bet he's got some London connection if you dig into it. Or linked into some hidden "Lincs/London set" of twee weekenders

PasturesNew

chris_m wrote: »

...offering to come and clear it up.

Or "casing" as we call it

michaels

If you want to get a good price for your property then make it of interest to me. Both the last two places we have looked at have gone for 'well over the asking price'

SingleSue

Before we moved up to this house we had warning from everyone about how bad it was, how rough it was etc.....it has to be the most boring street not just in this village but probably in Suffolk.

The highlight of our year is when the bloke from next door goes to the annual BBQ of the local social club and gets drunk where he may, just may, try to open the wrong door while singing a little bit and even that isn't a sure thing, he hasn't done it for the last 5 BBQs! Apart from that, it is all very quiet.