I have found some strange things when visiting vacated properties.
Bits of clothing, furniture, books, cd's, letters, electronics, the odd pound coin, even bits of hair and scabs !
I've not yet been left a pet, thankfully. Unlike the American landlord who on arriving at a vacated property to clean up before the new tenants arrived, found a surprising bit of unwanted tenant property.
The landlord from the Wisconsin town of Beloit arrived a month after the tenant had vacated the rental property, only to discover a hungry two-year-old alligator in one of the rooms.
The landlord got the assistance of a local animal charity who took it in and said that although it was unwell it would probably make a full recovery.
The animal charity said alligators made bad pets. "They are going to look at you as food at some point," he said.
A further incident of tenants trying to take a bite out of their landlord !
The question is would this be covered under landlord insurance policy ?
Just off now for my lunch at Ord Ban in Aviemore, the one I recommended in my blog a month or two back. I'm pleased to say the standard is still excellent and the cakes to die for ! A pear strudle for me today - Thankfully they don't yet serve aligator steaks.
Well worth a trip out if you get the opportunity.
Ord ban restaurant cafe
Yours mouthwateringly.....
Mr Jackson.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Hopeman's a star !
The sleepy fishing / seaside village of Hopeman was on the TV twice last week.
I was fortunate enough to meet Fiona Bruce when she was filming in the village in the Summer. Fiona's links with Hopeman are widely known in the village, where she still has relatives, but these were broadcast to the nation in the new series of 'Who Do You Think You Are?
Her great-grandfather, John Bruce, was the skipper of a fishing boat, while her great-grandmother, Isabella, had a family of eight children to support and would go around selling fish from a huge basket that she carried on her back.
What a lovely lady she is too, I joined her and the crew at at the Harbour Tea rooms in Lossiemouth - I think Mrs Jackson may be slightly jealous, as when we next saw her on the news she kept referring to her as 'my other woman'.
Hopeman was again centre of attention when the Channel 4 show 'A Place In The Sun - Home or USA' filmed in the village, they visited a cottage that was up for sale for ages, which strangely enough I had considered purchasing myself.
The shows presenter Jonnie Irwin showed the couple around and also took them on to Towiemore and Tomintoul, this being the place where the couple decided to purchase a second home.
Now if only Amanda Lamb was presenting this episode and had come to Hopeman, that would have truly made my Summer. I would share a fondant fancy and a pot of Rington's with her any day of the week.....
'You've no Hopeman' as Mrs Jackson tells me, smiling to herself.
Yours 'Hope'fully
Mr Jackson.
I was fortunate enough to meet Fiona Bruce when she was filming in the village in the Summer. Fiona's links with Hopeman are widely known in the village, where she still has relatives, but these were broadcast to the nation in the new series of 'Who Do You Think You Are?
Her great-grandfather, John Bruce, was the skipper of a fishing boat, while her great-grandmother, Isabella, had a family of eight children to support and would go around selling fish from a huge basket that she carried on her back.
What a lovely lady she is too, I joined her and the crew at at the Harbour Tea rooms in Lossiemouth - I think Mrs Jackson may be slightly jealous, as when we next saw her on the news she kept referring to her as 'my other woman'.
Hopeman was again centre of attention when the Channel 4 show 'A Place In The Sun - Home or USA' filmed in the village, they visited a cottage that was up for sale for ages, which strangely enough I had considered purchasing myself.
The shows presenter Jonnie Irwin showed the couple around and also took them on to Towiemore and Tomintoul, this being the place where the couple decided to purchase a second home.
Now if only Amanda Lamb was presenting this episode and had come to Hopeman, that would have truly made my Summer. I would share a fondant fancy and a pot of Rington's with her any day of the week.....
'You've no Hopeman' as Mrs Jackson tells me, smiling to herself.
Yours 'Hope'fully
Mr Jackson.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Hero to Zero....
I'm fully recovered from my bout of 'Man Flu' you'll be pleaseed to know. (Thanks to everyone for their good wishes). Unlike the economy and the interest rates which seem to be in freefall, plummeting to their doom ?
The Daily Mail (I'm not a reader by the way - It was in the Bakehouse Cafe at Findhorn, and I couldn't resist a read) reported some homeowners could see their monthly mortgage payments drop as low as zero this week.
The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to just 1 per cent on Thursday, bringing a windfall to those with interest-only tracker loans.
If it does, Cheltenham & Gloucester customers who took out a deal at 1.01 percentage points below the Bank's base rate will be paying no interest at all. For technical reasons, they will still have to make payments - 8p a month for a £100,000 loan - but the money will be refunded.
Those with repayment mortgages will need to pay around £333 a month on the same-sized loan.
When they have reduced the interest rate to zero and it still hasn't fixed the problem - what do they do then?
The crash will go into overdrive as soon as it's realised that all the government's headline grabbing manoeuvres with interest rates etc have close to zero impact on the dire state of the economy.
I've buried my head in the sand (not literally) and thought I'm too old to be worrying about all this. I simply cheered myself up with a hot chocolate and a double chocolate muffin.
Hope that you can do the same - many I fear will not, soon it seems we may have to print more currency, lets hope it does not go the same way as the Ugandan Dollar !
Keep Safe,
Mr Jackson.
The Daily Mail (I'm not a reader by the way - It was in the Bakehouse Cafe at Findhorn, and I couldn't resist a read) reported some homeowners could see their monthly mortgage payments drop as low as zero this week.
The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to just 1 per cent on Thursday, bringing a windfall to those with interest-only tracker loans.
If it does, Cheltenham & Gloucester customers who took out a deal at 1.01 percentage points below the Bank's base rate will be paying no interest at all. For technical reasons, they will still have to make payments - 8p a month for a £100,000 loan - but the money will be refunded.
Those with repayment mortgages will need to pay around £333 a month on the same-sized loan.
When they have reduced the interest rate to zero and it still hasn't fixed the problem - what do they do then?
The crash will go into overdrive as soon as it's realised that all the government's headline grabbing manoeuvres with interest rates etc have close to zero impact on the dire state of the economy.
I've buried my head in the sand (not literally) and thought I'm too old to be worrying about all this. I simply cheered myself up with a hot chocolate and a double chocolate muffin.
Hope that you can do the same - many I fear will not, soon it seems we may have to print more currency, lets hope it does not go the same way as the Ugandan Dollar !
Keep Safe,
Mr Jackson.
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