Garf

Gavin Turk, sculptor, worked here. He even created a blue plaque to remind himself of the fact. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44718749.html For once, the agent is justified in calling a flat "unique". I might go mad if I had to spend a night there, but it is in a class of its own ...

Always suspected Scotty was a stoner.

Brown swan.

At least there was a shop in the high street.

Is your deposit in a deposit protection scheme?

Merthyr Tydfil sticks out like a sore thumb - 20% up y.o.y. (But the numbers are distorted, it seems) http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/29/house-prices-creep-up-2012-land-registry

Thailand has become famous a great place to go for affordable, top quality medial treatment. What's to stop China from creating the same kind of offering?

I got talking with a retired couple at a Christmas party - both taking university courses. I wonder if they were also benefiting from a permanent loan. Sheesh.

The local estate agent quoted in the BBC article seems to agree with you. I wonder why they didn't select this for their headline:

People are strange, when you're a stranger. Facebook looks ugly, when you're alone.

Evictions create a homeless crisis in Spain: (NYTimes) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/world/europe/spain-evictions-create-an-austerity-homeless-crisis.html?hp&_r=0&gwh=F88AE3944655501C5D9F5A28B394E719

4. Thorium reactors still need some uranium as a "seed" source of neutrons, so you still need uranium (but much less)

They have my sympathy. It must be hard to explain a noise problem to a deaf person. Oh.

Love the "Keep Sandbach Historical" sign. But what period of history should we return them to? Wikipedia tells me that "Traces of Settlement are found in Sandbach from Saxon times the town was then called Sanbec, during this time little is known about the town apart from the fact that there were Welsh and Danish raids frequently". So perhaps they would like us to re-instate the rape and pillage of that era?

Tony Blair.

I think I heard that councils were specifically prohibited from creating sinking funds to cover maintenance and building works. As a result, private tenants should prepare their own slush fund to cover the possibility of a once-in-a-decade repair being billed to them in one go rather than spread over 10 years.

Oh you beat me to it. Come friendly planes and land on Slough!

Were these constructed from shipping containers?

Google has the answer: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=executive+style&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&authuser=0&ei=6B8uULa6EqjgyQGs2YG4Bw&biw=1280&bih=934&sei=7B8uUPXuI4nu6wH6jYCoDA

But China's demographic situation doesn't look good for folks hoping to "ride out" a 1930s-style depression and enjoy a 1950s style era of prosperity. In 2000 there were six workers for every over-60. By 2030, there will be barely two. (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/20/china-next-generation-ageing-population)

Met the landlord of the place I'm about to move into. First impressions are that he seems to be a decent business person. I hope he is, because my current landlord is a twunt and my previous landlord was a crook and a twunt.

She's not wrong there. Her only problem is that she doesn't have a buyer.

Unfortunately, it's only a stone's throw from the local school.

North Dakota... brrrrr.

I seem to recall reading that things that are flat on the ground (like, say, tennis courts) aren't subject to planning permission requirements in the way that things that stick up above the ground (like, say, walls) are. I might well be wrong ... someone will correct me if I am.