Will these people ever go away?!

Not content with pestering me on the phone, now I get another postcard through my door from no less than the manager of the local branch of Foxtons - an estate agency we decided not to invite to sell our house.  Why is the manager being so pro-active?  He writes

I have tried to contact you on several occasions regarding a potential applicant desperate for a property such as yours.  Please contact me urgently.

Anyone looking for a house such as mine can easily find this one on the internet, in the estate agent's window, in the London-wide property magazine "Move To" ...

If Foxtons has a client then they are, surely, acting as property search agents and should receive payment from the client for whom they are acting.  Property search agents do not charge the seller and earn their commission from the house-hunter.  This is a tantalising prospect.  I must seek clarification of the situation! 

My gut feeling is that there is an impending bloodbath in the estate agency world. There is a scramble to rake in some fees.  The market is dead.  No movement means no money coming in. 

A case of every estate agent for themselves.

Harriet Harman says that sporting a stab vest on a stroll around Peckham was like wearing a white hairnet at a meat factory, or a hard hat at a building site.

When John Humphrys, on the Radio 4 “Today” programme, exclaimed

You wear a hard hat on a building site because... there is the danger that something might drop on your head. You don't need to wear a bullet-proof vest on the streets of London, do you?

Ms Harman responded

No of course you don't.  It was just a courtesy, there was no security issue whatsoever, it was almost like wearing the kit when you go out with the team.

Is that the same team that don’t deserve a back-dated pay rise, or is it the team of Military Police who couldn’t have a full complement of bullets in Iraq, or the team that had to share flak jackets in the Iraqi war zone (but unfortunately for one there weren’t enough to go around)?

Could our politicians hold us in any more contempt than they already do?

All animals are equal - but some are more equal than others!

A House of Lords committee will report next week that it is not the case that, as the Government claims, ten years’ worth of record levels of immigration has added £6billion per annum to the wealth of this country. In fact, the UK has seen virtually no economic benefits from the newcomers to these shores!

Shocking stuff.

Meanwhile, the exodus continues, aided and abetted by none other than the eminent Daily Telegraph which is already trailing a live webchat it will be hosting on Monday 31^st March at 1.0pm UK time “Emigration: money matters” – all about how to best protect your money when emigrating.

Start your new life with as much money as possible! Help is at hand as Andrew Nelson, Migration Team Specialist from foreign currency specialists HiFX, Simon Neville from Prism Xpat, independent pension and finance specialists for both Australia and New Zealand, and John Hicks, property expert with Approved Properties Abroad will be joining us at 1pm on Monday 31st March for a live webchat.

So whether you want to know how to protect your assets from fluctuating exchange rates, what to do about your pension, how to set up bank accounts or credit cards before you go or just tips on saving money, Andrew, Simon and John will be on hand to answer your questions.  Send in your questions for them now - and be sure to join us again when we go live!

I ask the question again?  What is this Government thinking? 

The brain drain is turning into a veritable flood!

I received this lovely offer in the post from Tesco - Free (always like anything that starts with that!)

                         Finest*

          Half Coated Triple Chocolate Cookies 

                      200g

So it was off to Tesco.  "Where are these lovely biscuits?" I enquired, brandishing my offer voucher.   "We ain't got none luv", was the disappointing reply I received.  "And we ain't had none delivered yesterday neiver.  Ain't seen any".

What a disappointment!  But so typical of everyday life now.  Why is it that nothing works properly here any more? 

I suppose I shouldn't complain too loudly. At least I'm not stuck at Heathrow Terminal 5 on the first day of opening where utter chaos reigns.  Symptomatic of the decline of a once great nation.

The Virtual Husband has just flown back to Blighty for Easter, bringing with him this – a simple, pre-printed, plastic envelope from www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com which he found tucked into a parcel of books he ordered from Amazon.

Cell Phone Recycling Program.

A brilliant idea. And clearly Amazon is signed up to help.

All orders of books, delivered in packages, now appear to contain one of these. It’s a plea to Americans not to discard their old cell phone but to put it in the enclosed envelope and post it, free of charge if sent within the USA, to an organisation helping serving military personnel to keep in touch with the folks back home.  

The instructions are clearly written on the envelope. 

The Mission:  Help Our Troops Call Home                                   

What an admirable “can do” approach. Why can’t we organise something similar in this country?

We should be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves.