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

Pyxis

GDB2222 wrote: »

I managed to trip over a BT manhole cover, and I now have 7 grazes or bruises as a result. I even managed to graze the back of my head somehow. I walk that route almost every day, so why was today the day I tripped?

Biorhythms?

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

I managed to trip over a BT manhole cover, and I now have 7 grazes or bruises as a result. I even managed to graze the back of my head somehow. I walk that route almost every day, so why was today the day I tripped?

It's what old people do.
It's the start of the end ....

GDB2222

I feel quite fortunate, as I know some people feel this achy every morning.

Pyxis

GDB2222 wrote: »

I feel quite fortunate, as I know some people feel this achy every morning.

At least you didn't break anything. :A

ivyleaf

Hope you heal quickly, GDB. When we're grown up we don't bounce like kids seem to do!

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

PV is a good earner, 1600 sounds a high for panels installed 2 years ago though - ask to see evidence, half that or less is more likely. The invertor should have art least a 5 year warranty, possibly extendable for a few hundred, a new one is likely to be about 600-1000, however if it does stop working you don't have to get it fixed but you then lose the 800pa income. There are no reports of problems with the panels or the panels causing problems with the roof (beyond being in the way if you want to extend into the loft). You can use the leccy the panels generate for free but how much electricity do you use on sunny afternoons? (Unless your next car is electric).

I'm definitely happy with mine and will have raked in plenty from them to pay for any maintenance they may need by the time they need it. I have a 4kWp system on a south facing roof and they generate between 3500-4000 KWh/year. I got them in 2011, so I get 52.75p/kWh for generating, plus half the export rate of 5.24p/kWh for exporting since I don't have a separate export meter. That's an annual income of £2k or so. Then the free leccy's on top of that. Newer ones get a lot less, though.

You definitely need to ask for proof of what they're earning, and to know the date the panels were fitted as well as the capacity of the system, to check whether the numbers they're giving you are realistic. Still, there's no downside. What's the worst that could happen - your inverter could need replacing and if you couldn't afford to pay for it your panels would stop generating and you'd lose the free leccy and the income - but you'd still be no worse off than if the panels hadn't been there.

chris_m wrote: »

Have to admit, I got pretty close. My checklist of desirables was;

Within reasonable travelling time/distance of Ambleside, check.
3 bedrooms, check.
Mains gas, check.
Gas central heating, check.
Gardens, check.
Driveway, check.
Garage, nope.

But then I got thinking "What would I actually put in a garage? Stuff!!!". The house that most interested me, garage notwithstanding, had a reasonable-size loft and cupboard under the stairs, a small timber garden shed, a large timber workshop/store and a decent sized brick-built outbuilding, so I decided that the "stuff" could easily go in those, meaning that the lack of a garage wasn't an issue.

I also had a "bonus, as in would like but not essential, tick" of a nice view - I got that

I got most of mine:
Catchment for desired school, yes
Four bedrooms, yes
Family bathroom, master en-suite and downstairs loo, yes
Grown-up living/dining and also separate downstairs kids' space that you don't have to go through on the way to anywhere you would want to let visitors go, yes
Drive (to put car on) and garage (for stuff), yes - with bonus plenty of on street parking for visitors
South facing garden, yes - with bonus conservatory
South facing living room, yes
South facing master bedroom, no

SingleSue wrote: »

I have 3 pairs of shoes, my day to day almost flat ones, my fit flops and a pair of court shoes for smart (not worn yet - my newest pair as my old ones died)

Youngest dropped off at uni, had a call when we were halfway home and he is struggling with his anxiety, both general and social so will probably spend the night worrying about him.

Hope he feels more confident soon.

LydiaJ

Pyxis wrote: »

Out of interest, what are other NP's spending 'weaknesses'?
(I promise I won't tell Martin!).

michaels wrote: »

Our discretionary spend is entirely kids activities from ballet to latin via karate, clarinet and football amongst many others - it keeps them from being on the street doofing and screaming....

Me too. Also things to make my life easier - the cleaner, the gardener, the take-away. I do get my hair cut every 8 weeks and coloured every 12, and I keep my house warmer than many people (although it's well insulated).

I don't spend much on clothes, handbags (use one until I've worn it out), jewellery (wear it but cheap stuff) or make-up (mid-range, but only one of everything, not lots of different colours etc). Don't spend on holidays either, or alcohol (at all).

silvercar wrote: »

Integrated fridges and freezers seem to have far less usable space than their non-integrated same size comparisons. Odd as integrated dishwashers and ovens offer the same size.

You can always change integrated appliances for ones that suit you better or take them away all together. You can also move radiators (well, you can get a plumber to do it for you).

This comment will look fairly random if other comments are deleted!

Indeed. My house had a stupidly small integrated fridge-freezer with cupboards above and below. I had it taken out straight away, and put a free-standing one in the space that's full height. Much better.

Also, I got the radiator in the en-suite moved from being squeezed in between the loo and the wall to beside the door. It has a sort of integrated towel rail - no idea why they wanted to hang their towels in such close proximity to the loo, but I didn't want to, so I got it swapped with the loo roll holder. Quick easy job for the plumber. We had a radiator moved in Aged P's flat too. It's now beside the front door where you can only put something very thin anyway because of the door opening, and along the long wall where it used to be there's now an enormous bookcase with lots of his books. (By "enormous" I mean about 183cm wide, slightly shorter than I am (and I'm 5'7"), and 52cm deep, so he fits three rows of books on each shelf, one in front of the other. Sorry for the mix of units but I measured the furniture in cm for the floor plan and only measured the heights of things that were likely to have other measured things on top of them, or fit under windowsills etc, which this wasn't. He has framed photos of his kids and grandkids all along the top of it.)

Talking of Aged P... Went to see him on Saturday with DD. Two of my 4 nephews were there too. We ended up playing table tennis. (Seriously cool sheltered housing complex has table tennis table just along from where his flat is.) Nephew #2 (aged 23), who's very good, partnered Aged P against nephew #3 (nearly 19) and me. They beat us easily. After that we got DD to play too and played "round the table" - co-operatively rather than competitively. Our longest rally was 17. Aged P ran round the table returning shots with the best of us. Not bad for 92, eh? When I told him afterwards that I thought he'd done very well, he said "Well, I did play quite a lot at boarding school." He was at boarding school 1939-44.

ivyleaf

Oh Lydia, Aged P is amazing

SingleSue

James' move in day did not go to plan. The landlord hadn't signed and returned all the documents to the estate agent so key handover etc was delayed.

Both only had very limited time because they have only been able to get one day off from work so it put them very behind. They finally got the keys just before 3 today (should have been around 10 this morning) and I zoomed up to help them as much as I could. Unfortunately, by the time they were ready to do another pick up of stuff it was rush hour so the turn around time was massive, even more unfortunately, his GF scraped all along her dad's car which she had borrowed for the move, getting out of their parking space.

Nerves shredded, exhaustion, stress and not a huge amount (but at least a dent made) sorted by the time I left tonight. They are now going to be fighting against time as James needs to be out of his flat by this time next week but there is barely any time available to do it in as they are both working full time (weird hours) and she currently lives about 60 miles away on horrible and slow country roads and works about an hours drive away!

The apartment itself is wonderful. Loads of space (my front room would fit twice in their front room), lovely high ceilings, their own garden and easy access to the A14, so although she is further away from work than her previous home, she can actually get to work in a very similar amount of time.

LydiaJ

SingleSue wrote: »

James' move in day did not go to plan.

Sounds grim. Glad they got in in the end. Hope they're able to sort his flat out in time. Don't overdo things helping with that and wreck any more of your mobility.