Ah... London...

For all you Londonites out there (and the ones who aren't - just look at what you're missing?!!)

This is how you know you have been in London for too long..

1. You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which one.
2. You have never been to The Tower or Madame Tussauds but love Brighton.
3. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get most quickly from Shepherds Bush to Elephant & Castle at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Dorset on a map.
4. Prostitutes and the homeless are invisible.
5. You step over people who collapse on the Tube.
6. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multilingual.
7. You've considered stabbing someone.
8. Your door has more than three locks, and you consider living on the ground floor or lower a 'security risk'.
9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
10. You call an 8' x 10' plot of soggy, patchy grass a garden.
11. You think Hyde Park is "nature".
12. You're paying 1,200 a month for a studio the size of a walk-in wardrobe with a grand view of a brick wall, and you think it's a "bargain".
13. Shopping in suburban supermarkets and shopping malls gives you a severe attack of agoraphobia
14. You pay more each month to park your car than most people in the UK pay in rent
15. You pay 3 pounds without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.
16. You actually take fashion seriously.
17. You have 27 different menus next to your telephone.
18. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
19. Your idea of personal space is no one actually physically standing on you.
20. 50 quid worth of groceries fit in one plastic bag.
21. You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever" >stories.
22. You don't hear sirens anymore.
23. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's air/water quality and what it's doing to your insides.
24. You work in a building with a larger population than most towns.
25. You take a bottle of water with you on every tube journey, just in case there's another 5 hour delay where you have to stand with your face in someone's armpit in 30 degree temperatures.

Rugby at TCASU... (calling Lostcarpark...?)

What's the score with the Rugby in Ireland, is it being shown on TV channels which are likely to be in the hotel, just there are 2 matches on the Sunday that will be worth watching.

My, how sad am I?

House Thinking...

I've been having a chat with lproven about buying a house. M and I rent at the moment and are going to be moving in the next 4 months, possibly to London, or Manchester, or in Bath or whereever.

I own a house in the NW which I rent out, but when I moved south during my divorce it took me nearly two years to get tenents.

Liam suggests I should buy ASAP. I, on the other hand, think not at the moment - unless I buy another rental place in the North West where the ROI is signficantly larger than the South East.

Part of my reasoning is we can't afford the costs of buying, not in terms of deposit, fees and so forth. But also because I am pretty sure there will be a signficiant (10-20%) change in London area house prices over the next 2 years and I've had negative equity once and never want it again.

I've also had tenants trashing a house, people running off with the last 2 months rent owing and so forth. I never really want to rent a property I care about or have spent real cash on again.

But that's just me.