Will code for food

I recall that during the last recession my step-dad lost his estate agency business, was declared bankrupt and nearly lost the family home which he had remortgaged to pay for the 'business' (i.e 2 cheap suits and pot of Brylcream) Small independent agents just cannot sit tight and ride the crash like the bigger chains - it's a hand-to-mouth existence (cue violins) Big fish like Fuxtons, Wards etc go into predatory mode during downturns, attempting to 'grow market share' by putting the squeeze on the little guys. Just STR's myself (completed last week) and moved to Sevenoaks - can't believe how many EA's and letting agents there are on the high street. I'll post back when the first one goes under... and the little t*rds go from flipping houses to flipping burgers for a living.

I feel qualified to speak on this subject, having survived a childhood and adolesence in Strood, Kent - the English equivalent of Cleveland, Ohio. The Southeren shore of the Thames Estuary Corridor is still pretty post-industrial at present - i.e. there are a lot of abandoned buildings ranging from Napoleonic forts to derelict filing stations. Not even Krusty could ramp this desolate hole and unless David Lynch is planning a sequel to Ereaserhead and needs a good location, there is no need for any sane human to visit. This land is bad karma; they knocked down the old Darenth mental hospital and threw up a load of new builds - like those 80's horror films when the families discover they're living on top of old Injun burial grounds. This picture is beginning to change as developers move in and sh*t rabbit hutches all over the place. Ironically they used to moore the Prison Hulks around here - so no change in use then. There is no infrastucture to speak of (unless you urgently need to buy £150 Diesel in which case you can pop to Bluewater) and as for 'Ebbsfleet' (a marketing w*nker rebranding of Greenhythe), the station will shut within the decade just like Ashford 'International'. Local sites: The slip road where Kennith Noye shivved Road Rager Stephen Cameron in front of his girlfriend in '96. The statue of syphilitic princess Pocahontas in Gravesend. Err.. the quarry where the bus went over the cliff un that Young Ones episode Oh, it gets visciously cold when the winds scream in from the North Sea. And the term ‘Chav’ is widely believed to have originated here (we used it in the early ‘80’s as a generic often affectionate term for any male person) I pop back to see my mum and pops and notice that they've started putting housing estates actually IN the old chalk quarries.... WTF?? Basically it's a sh*thole and someone is trying to scam you into living there. North of the A2 is a sound rule (just avoid Cuxton as well though)

I actually feel quite hopeful, for myself and English society in general. It will do us good to consume less, work harder and stop complaining. If we have to tighten our belts for a few years or much longer, so what? Were our lives really that great? For a start I'll have to get a 'proper job' I expect (I'm an IT contractor for an investment bank) but serves me right for being greedy and lazy. I've been dreaming of downshifting for years and this finally forces my hand. The Impreza WRX and BMW X5 already have gone, replaced by shoe leather and public transport and on Thursday (with huge luck) I exchange contracts on the ridiculous house I bought 2 years ago. I will have lost about 40k but easy come, easy go. I will be happier in a small flat in the country with rice steamer and mountain bike. The life I was living was simply unsustainable and totally over-leveraged - something had to give. "Koyaanisqatsi" I guess