The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

GDB2222

silvercar wrote: »

OH does that regularly. Interspersed with go-to-meetings that is a video conference call thingy. In fact the jet lag induced early wake up from last week's trip to Sydney meant getting up early yesterday for a Europe flight was less painful.

One tip would be to arrange lounge access (If no airline status or bank account freebie then buy it through priority pass or similar). It isn't just the food and drink in the lounge, but a quite place to sit away from the noise and milling people that makes a difference.

It's tiring, so your OH must be pretty strong if he does this regularly. I was on the go for thirteen hours, but at least did manage to fit in over 15000 steps during the day. There's loads of hanging around, so you can either sit and relax, or you can pace. I pace!

I left at 6AM and got to the meeting over four hours later with just ten minutes to spare. The chap who came from forty miles away arrived five minutes after me. The chap who just had to come downstairs was bang on time, of course.

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's a big win! Lucky break.

People never seem to notice that curtains are a ridiculous price - especially big ones ... and a window without any curtains is a huge nuisance that needs urgent dealing with.

With nothing at the windows it's an overhead of time, travel, choosing, obtaining, attending to fit, fitting - all at short notice, when you least need it.... for something "quite unimportant and inconsequential" in the bigger picture, but that become "the number one priority" due to the impact of having none.

Well done!

Almost "any price" for them's worth it!

When you view somewhere with large windows you "kind of expect" window dressings will be staying.... then you get a shock of "of course, they're taking those".... you can feel quite at sea at this point and disappointed/let down.

Agree with all of that... except that in our case there was no initial disappointment - when we viewed the flat it was already empty and curtainless. The people who've just sold us the curtains say that they tried to leave them when they cleared the place, but the Trust that run the place were getting decorators in to refresh the place before reselling it, and so took the curtains down and gave them to the people. I'm not sure whether it was the Trust's idea to give us their contact details, or if they asked them to, but we're very happy they did!

Just to clarify... the deal with the flats is that you buy 90% of it from the Trust, who continue to own the other 10%, and then when you leave/die you can't sell it on - you have to sell your share back to the Trust, who redecorate and recarpet etc before selling it to someone on their waiting list. People mostly stay until they either die or else move into the care home on the same site.

GDB2222

LydiaJ wrote: »

Just to clarify... the deal with the flats is that you buy 90% of it from the Trust, who continue to own the other 10%, and then when you leave/die you can't sell it on - you have to sell your share back to the Trust, who redecorate and recarpet etc before selling it to someone on their waiting list. People mostly stay until they either die or else move into the care home on the same site.

Is there a system for resolving disputes about the price? Apart from that, it seems a very good system.

PasturesNew

(Not for me) - I visited a type of home that had individual rooms with "mini kitchens" in them - and downstairs there was a lounge and garden and a big dining room. The deal there was that you got your meals provided and the rent you paid was for your room including all bills and two hot meals a day. You can use your own mini kitchen to make your own breakfast and late night snacks.

https://www.abbeyfield.com

People were able to come/go and lead their lives, but could sit down to regular home cooked food provided by staff who were on-site all day just providing that food etc.

It was about £1000/month I think at the time (6 years ago) - and, for some, would have been a good lifestyle as you never had to worry about food shopping, cooking, clearing away, cleaning. They also provided a laundry service if you wanted. It was intended for "independent" people.

Intended for, say, 60s-90s or so, "bizarrely" there was also a small house just separate from the main building, where a family rented - a married couple and a mid-20s daughter... all on the same type of arrangement.

There are a few dotted around the country. Their properties are all different, but quite a few have that "studio flatlet" arrangement, with a communal lounge and meals provided.

Pyxis

Doozergirl wrote: »

You are in the haves camp. It's your choice to restrict income in favour of future savings.

The thing is, even if someone is a Have, it doesn't mean that they still should give in to unnecessary whims. A waste of money is a waste however well off someone is.
There was an anecdote about the Queen from years ago, how she sent Charles and Anne, (when they were children), back out to look for a dog lead they had lost while playing with the dogs, saying "dog leads cost money", and quite right too.

SingleSue wrote: »

It's bloody annoying. It seems that all they can see is the chair or the crutch and not me or what I can offer, almost like they are thinking "Hmm, take this one on and she will be off sick most of the time"

Sue, if I still had my business, and if it had been near to you, I'd have given you a job!
Not much of a consolation, I know.

You've proved your worth on here time and again!






Lydia, I was thinking about your father yesterday, and wondering if he had moved in yet!

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

It's tiring, so your OH must be pretty strong if he does this regularly. I was on the go for thirteen hours, but at least did manage to fit in over 15000 steps during the day. There's loads of hanging around, so you can either sit and relax, or you can pace. I pace!

I left at 6AM and got to the meeting over four hours later with just ten minutes to spare. The chap who came from forty miles away arrived five minutes after me. The chap who just had to come downstairs was bang on time, of course.

I think it gets easier when you do it regularly. You know your way round certain airports without having to concentrate. You develop a routine. eg OH leaves early, fast tracks through the airport and sits down to breakfast in the lounge, leaves the lounge relatively late to board the plane and then dozes on the flight. Luckily for him, he can fall sleep easily. Airports are good for your step count!

Wishing Jewish NP and associates a Happy New Year!

(Not excluding anyone else, but New Year greetings would be a bit odd in September if you had no Jewish connection.)

Pyxis

silvercar wrote: »

I think it gets easier when you do it regularly. You know your way round certain airports without having to concentrate. You develop a routine. eg OH leaves early, fast tracks through the airport and sits down to breakfast in the lounge, leaves the lounge relatively late to board the plane and then dozes on the flight. Luckily for him, he can fall sleep easily. Airports are good for your step count!

Wishing Jewish NP and associates a Happy New Year!

(Not excluding anyone else, but New Year greetings would be a bit odd in September if you had no Jewish connection.)

Oh yes! I saw that yesterday........... Rosh Hashanah isn't it?

Having had my language button pressed, , I see it literally means 'beginning year' and that the biblical name was Yom Teruah meaning 'day of shouting/blasting' in the sense of blowing trumpets and making a lot of noise!
Sounds good to me!

Just so long as no walls come a-tumbling down!

GDB2222

Yes, Happy New Year!

ivyleaf

Happy New Year, Jewish NP

michaels

Doozergirl wrote: »

You are in the haves camp. It's your choice to restrict income in favour of future savings.

Even if I maximised my cash earnings private school fees and a new bmw x5 every year would be way off the radar and £36 for a coat would still be more than twice what I would normally pay. I honestly think there is a really big gap between incomes these days. Take for example teachers, a good teacher probably earns in the 40ks? When I was growing up teachers were probably richer than average but now even at the kids state school this would no doubt be a bottom quartile salary and yet is well above the median household income.