Quote from: Thenop on Today at 07:34:51 AMHappy to see all the succes stories in buying houses. I have been a bit less fortunate, I am renting a place after selling the house some 12 years ago with a huge loss. Mostly to do with health and self preservation: the health of our neighbours was in jeopardy because I would have killed them (both sides), and self presentation to keep me out of prison doing so.
No more buying for me for the forseeable future, the prices are ridiculous over here.

Anyway, it's Friday, which makes it a good day always.

I feel your pain with the less happy side of your story. I've lived in the same house for a very long time. It's in a lovely area and it would be a real wrench to leave. However, about twelve years ago new neighbours moved in. Things were ok to begin with, not my kind of people but live and let live and all that. He's in a fairly ordinary white collar job, works at home now since lockdown, and after a few harebrained attempts at running a business she now does the same. Things escalated for a variety of reasons and I took some really low drunken insults from them and some co-revellers late one summer's night last year. It's been a quiet war of attrition ever since and is taking its toll on my health. Time to up sticks I think but really unsettling. Sorry about the crossover nature of this post but it seemed to fit.

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Quote from: Slim on April 18, 2024, 03:24:25 PMOur mortgage deal is due to expire in May, so I phoned Santander to arrange a new one. But the best deal they could offer me was going to cost me an extra £200 a month, because it's a very short term (due to end in December). The only other option was to pay the whole thing off now.

So they sent me a redemption statement, I did the sums taking into account interest I'd lose and I've just paid off our mortgage. I made a payment of nearly £49,000 using a smartphone app (we were due to pay them £43,600 in December).

I'll never forget that sense of relief and satisfaction on the day I paid off the mortgage. I paid it in person at my local RBS branch. I visited a couple of local hostelries afterwards and as I turned the corner of my road seeing the house that I then owned for the first time, I took a photo with tears in my eyes. The decision to pay it off early came at the cost of losing quite a bit of my social life and driving a pretty ordinary (but great) little car for years longer than intended. This was due to it being an endowment type mortgage with the associated shortfall, so some serious saving was necessary. I was petrified at the time of cashing in the endowment as memories of the banking crisis were fresh in my mind and my fear was something similar might have happened just as I was about to do the deed. I hope you enjoy a glass or two of something expensive tonight, James.

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Thinking about it now, my proper introduction to The Who was Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy. Released 1971. Quite early for a compilation.

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I always loved The Who. Only managed to see them once, at Celtic Park in the mid-seventies, although many would say that The Sensational Alex Harvey Band stole the show that day. I was on my way to see them at the Hydro a while back but took ill before I got there and had to go home. I've never understood why they didn't receive the same accolades as the Stones. I believe they were (are) the better band.

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Good for you, Nop. Pond life some folk. Hope the police find some CCTV footage and catch the scum.

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In the late seventies my parents finally gave me the go ahead to buy my dream bass, a Fender Precision. My preference was a black finish, but as I scoured the stores, adverts and phoned every music shop accessible to me there was nothing to be had. The only Precision I could lay my hands on was in MacCormacks, Glasgow, but it was in Antigua Burst and I absolutely hated the finish and wouldn't buy it. Due to this I switched my focus to a new kid on the block. The Peavey T-40. It weighed a ton but was a magnificent guitar and I loved owning it. Stupidly, a few years later I traded it in for a synth and have always regretted it. I've recently started to look for another but it has to be in near perfect condition and nothing as yet has persuaded me to part with my cash. It seems ironic timing for Squier to release a range of Antigua Burst guitars just now, including a Precision. I'm still not keen on the finish but the older me doesn't hate it quite as much. Strangely it looks better on the back of a guitar rather than the front. Back in the day I could have picked up a Jazz bass in a couple of nice colours but I really disliked the offset shape. Now, I absolutely love and own Jazzes and would be ok if they were the only ones I could own. It makes me quite emotional now though to think of my poor young sister being asked to collect the T-40 for my Christmas present. I don't know how a fourteen year old girl managed to carry that brute in its case all the way home.

What's happened to this place?😂

My knee did the massive "clunk" thing again. Move very slightly in a certain direction when something on the right side of my right knee seems to dislocate and the whole joint ceases with a great deal of discomfort until it dramatically returns to its correct position. I'm guessing it's cartilage slipping in and out of place but it feels like the entire joint is distorting. X-ray only showed up expected wear and tear for my age. A small price perhaps for the memories of tying Davie Moyes in knots in my youth. Becoming a multimillionaire was his revenge.😂