@Lamb Chopped, I agree I hate the, "If you have questions call this number," only to go to robo answers and no way to speak to a human. I found the local number for the drug store we were scheduled to get our shots and were able to get through. Good Luck.
And here I am again. Despite promises, my doctor’s office failed twice to fax in orders for my chest X-ray, leaving me sitting at the local hospital for hours. And then they closed. I get to do it all over again tomorrow.
It's mostly the breathing through a mask, for two fucking hours, when I'm already short of breath and entirely unsure whether I'm actually recovering from pneumonia or not. Did I mention I already have asthma?
Petty and disagreeable dispute with next door over a shared back stair and door, which we had repaired on the understanding that we split the cost. He's already quibbled over what he regards as 'extra' (eg a handrail - because his currently infant daughter is never going to steady her toddler steps by holding on to it is she?) So he is still withholding even a reduced contribution on the basis of a half inch gap between the door and the sill.
I don't give a gnat's fart about the money, but I hate that it's taking up so much room in my head.
Would that I could. But that's the trouble with being banged up in COVID house arrest - not a lot to think about. Well there is, but it's all a lot more worrying.
And you can't prevent that sort of thing by getting everything in writing first. When I was organising the purchase of the shared place, I did that with someone with a history of reneging on agreements, and she still did it. Not on paper, but by running out and telling me as I was driving off somewhere. She nearly made it impossible to get the freehold.
What makes telling this story really difficult is that I can't use the punchline, which is that her surname should have made it quite clear that doing what she did was in her bloodline. But using it would be not acceptable.
As those above have said, let it go.
Or find some really nice way of heaping burning coals, like giving him a potted plant, just because it's spring.
I agree that' it's hard to let these things go under Covid19 lockdown/shielding. I got so fed up with my downstairs neighbour the other night that I shut down the WhatsApp group I set up early on in Covid19 to support the close I live on. It's been useful - a shielding neighbour asking me to pick up a prescription, information shared about companies delivering - but not taken up that well. I was hoping we could continue to use it to coordinate responses to overdevelopment of a neighbouring site, so our two storey flats will be heavily overshadowed by five storey flats butting up against this close, let alone what it will do to the existing sewage problems.
Unfortunately the downstairs neighbour has persisted in sharing QAnon or Russia Today crap however often she's been asked to keep it to issues that affect the close, so my fingers have been itching over the shutdown buttons for quite some time. The only way of dealing with her is ignoring her, because if you respond you're stuck in a never-ending argument. The one that triggered the shutdown was new parking charges in an area in the local Forest that we can reach on foot, with so many free car parks still available between here and the area she was getting her knickers in a twist about, I counted 8 in my head and didn't get all the way there. It's one of four areas which are oversubscribed or abused by commuter parking where charges now apply. No pointing out that it wasn't relevant to most people in the Close, on the WhatsApp group, worked or that the consultation period shut 3 months ago, or ... I did eventually work out that her distress is because she will have to pay parking if she wants to take her father, dying of stage 4 cancer, to visit the Forest in that area, or organise him a blue badge. But no, she can't shrug her shoulders and sort out a blue badge or pay, she has to try to get everyone to campaign against the charges (which I actually agree with as a walker or cyclist in the Forest).
But having given up and shut down the group, I couldn't sleep properly and I still feel churned up about it. Even though I am really glad that I don't have to see the QAnon crap any more.
Totally with you there: I slept maybe 4 hours last night.
I tell you the garden will have to work overtime this week to impart the calming power of nature.
Except the other thing I'm fretting about is the delivery times on a large consignment of live plants - the courier the nursery uses averages about a week, which is a long time for a baby petunia to spend rattling around in a dark box.
Not Campbell. Wrong ethnicity. I taught with a Campbell once. It's amazing how, being about as far from Glencoe as one can get, and not even being Scots, one could feel an awkwardness. She was a perfectly nice person.
With such people, I often channel my annoyance into song with made-up lyrics, especially about them--the more LOUD and operatic, the better. It doesn't remove the problem, but it puts off the dreadful day when I get taken away for assault.
House-buying chains. We thought we were moving in mid June, but the family at the end of the chain have just disclosed that they aren’t, after all, in a position to move till early September - which means the two people below us in the chain may well withdraw their offers, if they can find anywhere. This completely buggers up everyone’s summer.
As an American, I had never heard of house-buying chains until seeing an ad several years ago while leafing through a magazine in England. They sound absolutely absurd!
I'm happy to say that my move this Thursday involves nothing of that kind. I pray for those of you who have to put with such things.
Seems like it doesn't work for most people, and the Scottish have managed to work out that signing a contract and sticking to it is much more sensible, so I don't know why the English haven't. As far as I know there isn't even a serious discussion about change. Everyone grumbles and puts up with it.
As an American, I had never heard of house-buying chains until seeing an ad several years ago while leafing through a magazine in England. They sound absolutely absurd!
I'm happy to say that my move this Thursday involves nothing of that kind. I pray for those of you who have to put with such things.
Buyers may be subject to people putting in a higher offer even after supposedly binding contracts are exchanged and they lose the oroperty - gazumping.
Sellers can think all is going well - price agreed, moving out date agreed, contracts exchanged - only for a buyer to pull out because they don't have the money, their mortgage lender doesn't agree with the valuation, etc.
All of that before you get into the business of the chain, where a whole series of purchases are linked and all it takes is for one person to change their mind, lose their mortgage offer, etc, for the whole chain to collapse. And don't forget the lawyers dragging things out, the Land Registry taking up to 3 months to supply information, ettc.
Many years ago I had an offer on a flat accepted and contracts exchanged on 4th July which I, in my naïvete, took to be a good omen. When I still had no completion date by the middle of October I took matters into my own hands (my solicitor was dead set against it) and wrote to the seller saying that for every 7 day delay from 1st November I would reduce the price I was prepared to pay by £500. I moved in on 25th November.
But until you have a binding contract for someone to buy your current house, how can you sign one to buy the next one up? And once you have that, you are bound to leave your house even if you haven't got anywhere to move to (like @Sarasa nearly was). I couldn't agree more that some vendors and purchasers operate with a complete lack of good faith, and some solicitors are worse than useless, but I'm not sure how it could be improved. There was a move a few years back to introduce a home sellers pack, so that all this was tied up in advance, but I think in practice purchasers weren't prepared to rely on surveys, searches etc provided by the party who wanted to sell their house and needed an independent survey, valuation etc.
@TheOrganist if contracts have been exchanged rather than just signed, a date is set for completion and if either party doesn't complete on that date they lose the 10% deposit, so I don't quite understand how that happened with your flat.
What I - and I suspect @KarlLB - would like to know is, how does it work across the pond?
In Scotland each transaction is separate. If you sell and haven't been able to buy, then you rent until you have bought.
If you buy but haven't been able to sell then you need a bridging loan. But it would be a foolish person who bought without being confident that they had or could sell.
When we bought a house in Texas the contract was signed at a very early stage, with a definite date to move which could only be changed in dire necessity. So none of this booking the moving company at the last minute type stuff. Admittedly we were moving out of a rented flat, so I don't have experience of a chain. But everything struck me as being tied down a lot tighter at a much earlier stage than in England.
When my parents were moving from Kent to Gloucestershire to be near my sister, the chain "below" them was held up by two properties, one in Norwood with a lease and a roof repair needed, and one in Bromley, which sounded good. Dad had enough money to buy one to enable the chain and rang me up to check Bromley. I went and saw it after Meeting one Sunday and rang him to tell him not to. He had an idea that it would be a good place for me to get out of my leasehold, which it would have been anywhere else. It was a backland development in what had been the garden of a Victorian house, and though advertised with parking was ludicrous. The parking was accessible via a sort of private road behind the garden. You had to unlock a wooden gate, park your car, lock the gate and then walk round the unlit road round to the front. Not surprisingly, someone had made a hole in the fence, from which the route led through an orchard used by the builder as a store and then up a path by the front door of the house. In the back lane there was a building with an external concrete fire escape which was used by young people who left bottles, cans, graffiti and other rubbish there. No way was I going to live there, and I could see that selling it on would be a problem.
I spent a year dropping in every Sunday checking it over and dealing with the post, some of which were credit card bills, and which I eventually sent back to the issuing company. It took that long to sell. Given his reluctance to clear his debts, it was surprising that the seller was a policeman, and even more surprising that when I asked him about problems with people using the path from the back, he explained that they didn't, because it was private. If that worked, he wouldn't have a job.
When the place eventually did sell, the estate agent told Dad it was the path which had been the problem. So, thanks to Dad, everyone upstream had been able to move. The builder eventually filled all the space behind with other houses, so it would have been a bit crowded with not much garden, and overlooked.
I don't quite understand how moves can be organised without a chain, unless there are lots of dead people involved, or people having to sell up because of poverty.
We've only been through this once, when we were moving out of an apartment and into a "real house" for the first time. The place had been vacant for a year, as the sellers were jerks and cheats (should have realized this earlier) and wanted far too much money for the shape that the house was in. But because they were already out, AND because we had no home to sell behind us, it all went very easily. I've known other people to spend several months paying on two properties, because you commit yourself to a date for the new house--and whether or not the old house has sold, that's the date on which you become responsible. I've known other people whose houses sold unexpectedly immediately, before they had found and locked in the next place, and ended up living in some form of temporary housing (sometimes with in-laws) to cover the gap.
I don't quite understand how moves can be organised without a chain, unless there are lots of dead people involved, or people having to sell up because of poverty.
Either someone owns two houses for a while, or someone is in short-term rental accommodation. Like @Lamb Chopped mentioned, I too have known people who have sold their house faster than they were expecting, and have spent a couple of months living with relatives with all their stuff in storage.
... What I - and I suspect @KarlLB - would like to know is, how does it work across the pond?
My experience of over the Pond was a real pain. We'd accepted an offer on our house in St. John's, and agreed a date by which we'd have the house cleared (we'd already moved to New Brunswick).
At considerable expense (which we could ill afford), David flew back to Newfoundland to assist with the packing up, and we thought we had a deal. Over the next few weeks, the buyer (who turned out to be a right shyster) kept asking us for extensions to the closing date, which we agreed to, as we were desperate to sell (his excuse was that he was having trouble getting financing sorted out, but I don't believe that for a minute).
In the end, after promising the deal would be done by a particular Friday, on the Wednesday he pulled out altogether, leaving us back at square one, having to rent a flat and pay for storage of our stuff and (annoyingly) having to pull out of the purchase we'd agreed on a house in Fredericton when we thought we had ours sold.
I'm not even sure how one would go about getting an extension on closing date here. I suppose it might be possible, but I'm pretty sure the real estate agent and possibly the banks involved would have a hissy fit, foreseeing just the sort of problems you had. Certainly we were given the impression that even if the Lord returned the day before, we were still expected to show up, pens at the ready.
I rather think there is no good answer to all of this. Which is part of why I hope to live in one place till the day I die...
The place where I'm moving tomorrow will have me for the rest of my life. I'll be independent, but if I ever need medical or mental health care, they will provide it -- in my own place or in one of their special facilities if necessary. I paid an extremely large sum of money to move in (as well as monthly fees), which I will not get back if I want to move, so I've also made a life-long commitment.
hah. Color me envious, in a way. I know that I'll never have that sort of money, and will probably never qualify for Medicaid either, so will be wholly ineligible for out-of-home care.
For the health care system who look for zebras first rather than an easy fix wee pony. On top of newly discovered cancer, for a number of months now, Mr. Image has been having dizzy spells, falling down, feeling weak. So they were sending him to eye doctors, heart doctors, having brain scans, and such. Looking for Zebras, It turns out that the extra blood pressure medication they gave him because his blood pressure was high one time in the office, ( note we take it at home and it is normal and we told them that, even bringing in our home record.) the medication had made him withdraw liquid from his body and with it the salt he needed to be alive. We had a blood test, 4 months into this and his sodium level was so low they were ready to put him in the hospital. Our cancer doctor who we informed about the weakness and dizzy spells but was not involved with all of this called his primary care doctor and suggest they drop the blood pressure meds 3 days later after no longer taking the extra blood pressure meds all is back to normal. Good Lord, deliver us from the medical professionals who seem out to kill us.
The problems of low sodium or potassium I have encountered because of being an old person. We're supposed to take plenty of fluid, but that washes out the salts! I make sure I eat several bananas a week for the potassium, but have no idea what to do about the sodium levels so just take it for granted that they must be okay if I don't feel dizzy!
Yes Susan, first they told him to drink lots of liquids to flush out his one good working kidney, then they called and said only drink small amounts of liquids and eat lots of salt. It was crazy making. The good news is after being off the blood pressure meds for almost a week now, drinking plenty of liquids to help the kidney, no more dizzy, falling down, sleeping 14 hours a day. Good News. What a relief after months of hearing it must be a brain, heart, or eye problem, or so they suggested.
So they do. I use Mr E Bay's emporium quite a lot, and, although I always leave feedback, I'm constantly getting emails entreating me to let them know if I liked my latest Widget...
I'm finding that with purchases from the Big River; if I've been particularly pleased with something, I'm happy enough to leave a review, but if it just does whst it's meant to and no more, I find that I can't be bothered.
Going back to the salts; if you need balanced replenishment of salts (both sodium and potassium) you could try over-the-counter sachets which are normally for use after diarrhoea, but I’d suggest checking with your doctor or at least your local pharmacist if this will meet your needs.
Comments
I don't give a gnat's fart about the money, but I hate that it's taking up so much room in my head.
What makes telling this story really difficult is that I can't use the punchline, which is that her surname should have made it quite clear that doing what she did was in her bloodline. But using it would be not acceptable.
As those above have said, let it go.
Or find some really nice way of heaping burning coals, like giving him a potted plant, just because it's spring.
Apparently a shrub in my garden produces cyanide berries. Hmmm.....
Unfortunately the downstairs neighbour has persisted in sharing QAnon or Russia Today crap however often she's been asked to keep it to issues that affect the close, so my fingers have been itching over the shutdown buttons for quite some time. The only way of dealing with her is ignoring her, because if you respond you're stuck in a never-ending argument. The one that triggered the shutdown was new parking charges in an area in the local Forest that we can reach on foot, with so many free car parks still available between here and the area she was getting her knickers in a twist about, I counted 8 in my head and didn't get all the way there. It's one of four areas which are oversubscribed or abused by commuter parking where charges now apply. No pointing out that it wasn't relevant to most people in the Close, on the WhatsApp group, worked or that the consultation period shut 3 months ago, or ... I did eventually work out that her distress is because she will have to pay parking if she wants to take her father, dying of stage 4 cancer, to visit the Forest in that area, or organise him a blue badge. But no, she can't shrug her shoulders and sort out a blue badge or pay, she has to try to get everyone to campaign against the charges (which I actually agree with as a walker or cyclist in the Forest).
But having given up and shut down the group, I couldn't sleep properly and I still feel churned up about it. Even though I am really glad that I don't have to see the QAnon crap any more.
I tell you the garden will have to work overtime this week to impart the calming power of nature.
Except the other thing I'm fretting about is the delivery times on a large consignment of live plants - the courier the nursery uses averages about a week, which is a long time for a baby petunia to spend rattling around in a dark box.
I'm happy to say that my move this Thursday involves nothing of that kind. I pray for those of you who have to put with such things.
May we all soon come to a state where our worlds are NOT characterized by insane amounts of difficulty.
How does it work over there?
Buyers may be subject to people putting in a higher offer even after supposedly binding contracts are exchanged and they lose the oroperty - gazumping.
Sellers can think all is going well - price agreed, moving out date agreed, contracts exchanged - only for a buyer to pull out because they don't have the money, their mortgage lender doesn't agree with the valuation, etc.
All of that before you get into the business of the chain, where a whole series of purchases are linked and all it takes is for one person to change their mind, lose their mortgage offer, etc, for the whole chain to collapse. And don't forget the lawyers dragging things out, the Land Registry taking up to 3 months to supply information, ettc.
Many years ago I had an offer on a flat accepted and contracts exchanged on 4th July which I, in my naïvete, took to be a good omen. When I still had no completion date by the middle of October I took matters into my own hands (my solicitor was dead set against it) and wrote to the seller saying that for every 7 day delay from 1st November I would reduce the price I was prepared to pay by £500. I moved in on 25th November.
@TheOrganist if contracts have been exchanged rather than just signed, a date is set for completion and if either party doesn't complete on that date they lose the 10% deposit, so I don't quite understand how that happened with your flat.
What I - and I suspect @KarlLB - would like to know is, how does it work across the pond?
If you buy but haven't been able to sell then you need a bridging loan. But it would be a foolish person who bought without being confident that they had or could sell.
I spent a year dropping in every Sunday checking it over and dealing with the post, some of which were credit card bills, and which I eventually sent back to the issuing company. It took that long to sell. Given his reluctance to clear his debts, it was surprising that the seller was a policeman, and even more surprising that when I asked him about problems with people using the path from the back, he explained that they didn't, because it was private. If that worked, he wouldn't have a job.
When the place eventually did sell, the estate agent told Dad it was the path which had been the problem. So, thanks to Dad, everyone upstream had been able to move. The builder eventually filled all the space behind with other houses, so it would have been a bit crowded with not much garden, and overlooked.
I don't quite understand how moves can be organised without a chain, unless there are lots of dead people involved, or people having to sell up because of poverty.
Either someone owns two houses for a while, or someone is in short-term rental accommodation. Like @Lamb Chopped mentioned, I too have known people who have sold their house faster than they were expecting, and have spent a couple of months living with relatives with all their stuff in storage.
At considerable expense (which we could ill afford), David flew back to Newfoundland to assist with the packing up, and we thought we had a deal. Over the next few weeks, the buyer (who turned out to be a right shyster) kept asking us for extensions to the closing date, which we agreed to, as we were desperate to sell (his excuse was that he was having trouble getting financing sorted out, but I don't believe that for a minute).
In the end, after promising the deal would be done by a particular Friday, on the Wednesday he pulled out altogether, leaving us back at square one, having to rent a flat and pay for storage of our stuff and (annoyingly) having to pull out of the purchase we'd agreed on a house in Fredericton when we thought we had ours sold.
All in all, an expensive nightmare.