The house is the most problematic – although the economy is still looking wobbly the demand for family houses in the Wimbledon area is high, with many buyers seemingly in the same position as we are, having sold their houses and househunting from a chain-free position. I’m amazed at the speed with which offers are made and how quickly the asking prices are being exceeded at the moment. The situation seems exacerbated by the limited availability of new houses - a situation that has been building in London (no pun intended) for years - and a reluctance of homeowners to sell until they perceive that the market has risen again, even though it means the house they are wanting to buy will be more expensive. Too many people seeing property as a long-term investment in pure financial terms. I saw a great sketch by the comedian John Bishop (edit: no it wasn't, it was Alun Cochrane) the other day, where he pretended to be talking to a home-owner worried about negative equity and suggested that, as much as the homeowner might be worried about the falling value of the house, they could perhaps “just live in it?” So I have no idea how much longer we’ll be renting for, how likely we are to succeed in bids for houses, how many ‘house investors’ we’ll be up against or how many more family houses are likely to appear on the market over the next few months.
At least I’m feeling fairly relaxed after a week-long holiday in Cyprus. We stayed in a really nice hotel near Paphos on the south-west of the island and enjoyed seven days of great food, hot sunny weather, lovely swimming pools, hot weather, fun, relaxation and hot weather. Did I mention the hot weather? We experienced a Cyprus heatwave, with temperatures reaching 46 degrees on two days! As relaxing as the holiday was, I wouldn’t go back to Cyprus in a hurry – too many low-cost tour operators and unsympathetic construction have turned much of the coastline into a concrete eyesore selling cheap full English breakfasts!
Finally, the new frame. I had it built up in Sigma Sport (they did a great job, very neat in the detailed bits) and I reused most of my old components. I’ll post a pic soon, but for now here is a stock pic of the frame. I’m certainly not keeping this for ‘best’ use – it’s going to be ridden and races as often as I can manage. Speaking of racing, I messed up and am only on the reserve list for the Surrey League 3rds race this weekend at Walliswood. Heavy rain forecast the night before and drizzle on the day will probably make it a puncture-fest so I may just choose to have a lie-in instead!
No comments:
Post a Comment