dougless

A good friend lives in Suffolk and his daughter has two part-time jobs in cafe's/restaurants in a posh seaside haunt and both establishments have been moaning about how quite it is and 'its not normal' for this time of year. This seems to be indicative that even the well heeled are cutting back and yet we keep being told how well the economy in the UK is doing?!?

Yes, a bit like most of us here. We will be right one day.

That won't make some visitors to this site happy.....

What a wonderful image.

Heard that from a friend last week who has had their property on the market for over six months without a nibble. Its in what is considered a good commuter town on the Surrey/Hampshire border on the Waterloo line. I kept shtum.

This looks promising: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-12/australia-growth-to-be-hit-by-housing-perfect-storm-amp-says

I think for most people we are already in recession and regarding rate rises, it may well be a decision taken out of the UK's hands.

That has got to be a bit like Brown announcing that he would sell a substantial part of Britain's gold reserves - that really helped the price he achieved.

A great film; this song was based on the real gardener who was the inspiration for the character played by Peter Sellers.

I didn't have help from my parents because they weren't in a position to. However when they married in 1953 my Grandparents gave them a £1000 towards their new house which was being built and cost £3000 in total. That sort of house, nice detached in a spacious road between the sea (1/2 mile) and a commutable station (1/4 mile), would probably be worth £750,000 today or more. It helps to contextualize how twisted and crooked the housing market has become.

That's a good way of putting it.

An excellent find, thanks.

I admire your optimism, as I see it we are fast sliding into an even bigger crisis because nothing of substance was done to address the issues that resulted in the 2007/8 downward blip.

Are you implying that the Financial Crisis has ended?

Met up with some old friends yesterday. One has been trying to sell their house in a desirable part of Surrey and hasn't had a nibble all year. The good news keeps on coming......