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

Pyxis

Re. the spaghetti agli'olio, I just cook the spaghetti as normal, then heat a double dollop of good olive oil, and sautè some chopped garlic and then stir the spaghetti into it. I might add some Parmesan or I might not!

I know some recipes say to use chilli but I've not tried that!

Today I'm going to chuck in some purslane that needs eating up and a few broad beans ditto!
I'm not a purist!

PasturesNew

ivyleaf wrote: »

I only have an avatar at all because dear PasturesNew went into her garden and photographed some ivy leaves, and sent me the link to the pic! (Thanks again PN )

The ivy used to come through the old fence, growing up a small garden brick pillar belonging to next door... It's mostly gone now, although there are a few straggly bits here and there.

SingleSue

Joe's happy, a couple of his college friends have come to see him on holiday... I might have a caravan full of male teenagers tonight.

I'm sat out on the decking to escape all the testosterone.

ivyleaf

Oh dear, Sue! are they staying overnight?
Lovely that they've come to see him

Pyxis thanks, I shall try doing it that way I expect i shall have to put a bit of chilli in it as well for OH though.

Pastures In that case I was very lucky to have got them while they were still there, iyswim:)

SingleSue

No idea, I have offered to put them up for the night if they need/want it. We'll see later but I suspect as Suffolk boys, they will go back home tonight.

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've been averaging 6/hour. So another 70 hours of work or so to go! I need to get a spray mechanism and a bigger brush and more enthusiasm.

Just get a bigger brush - I did my workshop recently and I used a brush sold specifically for painting fences and sheds with preservative - it's about 6" wide and an inch and a half thick so holds plenty of the liquid meaning that you can really slop it on quickly.

silvercar

Allsop property auction on July 20, seems to have a lot of properties in or near Hertfordshire.

michaels

silvercar wrote: »

Allsop property auction on July 20, seems to have a lot of properties in or near Hertfordshire.

Sad to me that the value in a fairly modern office block in Stevenage comes form the fact that there is planning permission to convert to 21 flats.

Pyxis

michaels wrote: »

Sad to me that the value in a fairly modern office block in Stevenage comes form the fact that there is planning permission to convert to 21 flats.

Although I'd rather see that, than perfectly good interwar or older houses demolished in order to put up blocks of poky flats.

From another point of view, if there were a big enough demand for offices, presumably the value would reflect that, so if the demand isn't there, maybe an alternative use is better than the block standing empty.

A lot of small shops have gone, and are still going the same way, converted into residential accommodation.

Near me there was, until recently, a terrace of around eight Late Victorian houses, in a main road which had once been a thriving shopping street. Those houses had been converted to shops many, many years ago, and with the shop fronts and fascias they were unrecognisable as former houses, until you raised your gaze to the first floor and roofline.
These shops had become run-down and shabby and several of them had been empty for a while.
Then last year, instead of refurbishing them back into houses, they were all demolished and a large block of flats put up, completely changing the character of the street.

I know demand for housing is high, but sometimes one feels that the heritage of the area is being destroyed.

michaels

I agree better used than empty but in reality if it were not for the housing shortage and crazy house prices then the return on the office should be sufficient.

For me the test is - if there was an empty plot that only had permission for offices to be built, would they be? If the answer is yes then the offices are economically justified and will improve employment prospects.

Just because the chronic shortage of houses for the population means that house prices are so high converting offices to houses makes economic sense for each individual office block doesn't mean it makes sense for the country as a whole where fewer commercial buildings means less GDP.