Archive for the 'Home' Category

Househunting

Published on 18 July 2011 in Diary and Home. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

A busy weekend: Saturday started off fairly well with an opticians’ appointment to have a contact lens check at Surrey Quays. On the plus side, there was no change in my prescription but on the minus side I was then forced to go food shopping in Tesco with my glasses on (due to the yellow dye they put in your eyes to check fit).

Then a very enjoyable evening in Epsom with a drink at the Assembly Rooms, followed by a meal at the excellent Cinnamon Spice Indian restaurant and then on to the Barley Mow for more drinks.

Sunday saw lots of bike racing on the telly – MotoGP and BSB – interspersed with househunting. It’s about time I sorted myself out something for the long-term and with my divorce pending, now’s the time to start looking if I buy new.

So off I went to see Berkeley Homes’ Kidbrooke Village Development. This isn’t too far out of London – 15 minutes’ train journey from London Bridge (near my office) but as it’s early on in the development, there’s nothing there yet in terms of shops, bars, restaurant and amenities. Lovely place though but the lack of my own secure and powered garage is still a major issue. Perhaps it’d be better to buy a house in Rotherhithe near where I am as this is a short bus ride from work and I can even walk it (and do!).

Then back home for a Thai stir fry and TV including “Salt” which I’d recorded. And copious wine…

Neighbours…

Published on 11 February 2009 in Home and Society. 0 Comments Tags: .

So a new neighbour has moved in opposite and below. He seemed OK when I spoke to him in the garage.

Except…

…he clearly likes a ciggy. How do I know? Well when I come in from work, all you smell in the hallway is ashtrays and there’s even more than a hint of it inside my closed front door!

Grr!

London is drowning and I live by the river

Published on 12 June 2008 in Home and Work. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I will shortly be starting a new full-time job in London which means that I shall be moving to a flat to live in during the week. Commuting isn’t an option even though living near the far end of the train line means at least I ought to be able to get a seat, £6000 for a second class ticket is money wasted especially when it’s two hours by train each way and another half hour from the rail stations to home and the office. Six hours’ travelling each day isn’t exactly my idea of fun … and that’s when the trains are running to time, but there was a recent issue with a new bridge closing the line outside Liverpool Street and more recently shuttle buses after a power line was brought down by a train.

So I have taken a lease on a flat in Rotherhithe overlooking the Thames.

The landlady insures the property itself and her own contents – it’s being let furnished – but I need to insure my own contents so I got some quotes this morning and will be going with More Than. A number of other insurance companies wouldn’t quote because the property is within 400m of a river, though it would have to be a major catastrophe for the Thames to rise to the degree of it overflowing its banks and water levels reaching a second floor flat, I’d have thought!

Oh and I shall also be adding on cycle cover for the first time: £25 extra to cover a bike, as if I buy one to get around on, it’s more likely to go walkies in London than it is in Norfolk.