20.08.07

Flattened

Posted in People, Travel at 8:59 am by alby

Ever get the idea that there’s a different world to the one you live in?

I want a flat not a house.  I want a decent flat not a shitty house.  So there’s some new flats being done in Leicester and I went to see their Marketing Suite on Saturday.  The woman kept reiterating that it was the Marketing Suite and not a show home; she was very insistent about this.  Still the flat was nice enough if you discount the slightly dimpled piece of ceramic that passed for a sink in the en-suite bit.

So this was a ground floor, right next to a busy road flat.  Yours to own at a knock-down price.  Merely £230k.  What!? A mere £100k overpriced for the area.

£230k for a ground floor flat?  Well the spec demands a premium price.  Where else could you have kitchen drawers that are slightly longer than usual?  Or a hideous brown carpet in the bedroom?

And they think they’re going to sell 44 of these.  The cheapest flat in the whole building is a tiny 1 bed flat at a bargain £160k.  That’s 50k more than my house is worth and I have quite a decent sized house.

Who on earth thinks this up?  They’re building stage 2 soon, another few dozen flats then stage 3 is 450 “dwellings” and then there’s stage 4 with even more new flats.  There aren’t that many people with that much money in Leicester.  I spy Londoners designing and pricing and having no bloody clue.

Shocking.

Second flat I saw was DB’s place in Liverpool.  A nice drive there with P listening to ISIHAC on cd.  Lovely little flat with peculiarities such as the hot water pump shutting off when it gets hot (as is its job to get).  He has a mezzanine.  I want a mezzanine.  Some of the flats in the same block were also available to buy and they were at decent prices.  I don’t want to live in Liverpool though.

Nice event with a bunch of nice people including Sweavo, Mamph, another Pete, Helen showed up late (typical) and of course Deeb. He has too many gadgets and I want at least one of them. Internet radio jobby was excellent. Had fun trying to find international radio stations but they didn’t have RRR, tsk.  Chatted to various folk about various stuff and watched internet videos and giggled a lot. Got laughed at for timorously suggesting that the chocolate goodies could be placed on the table. Not sure why they giggled. The table was the obvious place to put stuff if you ask me.

Then went to sleep only to be woken by a combination of seagulls and dickheads singing (for 2 hours starting at 5.30).  So a long drive back. Then more driving to pick up K from t’airport.  Then home to sleep, properly this time.

A good if frustrating weekend.

Have fun.

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