What are you all up to
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Brue, Not only is it a good walk with great views also the website you mentioned is great for walks and very detailed. We had already eyeballed the walk and were further prompted by Nellie the Hooker. If we get good weather and time permits we will try again. The site we are staying at overlooks the Beinn.
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I live on a small estate of mainly bungalows built mid 60s. We are about 8 miles from Chester in Wales. The last bungalow sold on my street was in April. 3 Bed detached bungalow with separate garage went for £155,000. One that went end of last year had been extended with new kitchen and bathroom and totally revamped for £175,000. Certainly possible to pat around £150,000. Mine is worth about £180,000 and is on a larger plot. 1500 sq foot detached three bed with large living room and a separate sitting room in a third of an acre. I could park 5 cars and get them off the property without having to juggle as long as one was our Yaris or similar. With the caravan only 4. When we last had a party I was able to park the Yaris alongside the caravan with the X-Trail in front and still have room for another 4 cars to park and be able to get out without moving a vehicle first.
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The south of England has always been expensive we bought our present house in 1976 two years old, an extn: had been added we paid £15,000 current price £320,000 + and it's only a 3 bed semi. Kids will reap the benefit when we pop off lol . 😉😉😉
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Unless you have to spend it on care home fees MrRoute
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Our next trip away in the caravan is booked for 10 days time as all the grandchildren will be on holiday with their parents so no child-minding - yippee
. As much as I love them all it will be lovely to get away on our own for some R&R. We have now pencilled in the second week in September for a week away after they all go back to school. Now we can't decided where to go. 
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New oven eventually arrived 18.50, about 30 minutes after the latest stated time, right as we were about to have dinner, but at least it is here now. And they carried it up into the kitchen.
They still had at least one more delivery to do.
Looks good, now I have to rebuild the housing unit.
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As Lord Rothschild once said as a speaker to a bemused local garden club audience. "If you have space in your garden, why not plant a small wood."
I took this photo today, our nice Magnolia is getting a battered by the rain, the flower is about nine inches across and smells of lemon and ginger. The bees love them, as I once discovered when I poked my nose in for a sniff.
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That is an amazing HP inflation, our first house we bought in 1970 for £5750, a 3 bed detatched, we did improve and extend it, sold it in 1975 for £14500.
Then we bought in a totally different area, a 4 bed detatched, for £19000 in 1975.We also extended it, an extra bedroom and a big kitchen/ living room, original kitchen became utility room, then sold in 1987 for £60000.
Our next house, again in a totally different and pretty upmarket area, we had built to our own design,total cost including plot, house, all lights and flooring, plus landscaping the garden was £160000 in 1988, even doing a LOT of the work ourselves.
Now, almost 30 years on, I doubt we would get much more than £500000 for it looking at what houses here are going for. Maybe I am being pessimistic. HPI in Scotland is way lower than down south, plus of course everything in our house now needs replaced or upgraded............kitchen, windows, insulation, CH, all the bathrooms.......maybe a £50k spend if you have to pay someone to do it.
House is a total of 3200 sq feet, including integral double garage, 5 bedrooms, 3 reception, 3 bathrooms +toilet, 2 kitchens (OH's mum stayed with us so had her own kitchen) , utility room and 2 good boxrooms, loads of cupboards. Just under 0.25 acres total plot. Driveway takes 3 cars at least. Second kitchen would make an excellent study.
We are hanging on to it and gradually doing some improvements as we hope DD will take it over eventually. We could move into the "granny flat". It is certainly the only way she will be able to afford a bigger house in a nice area.
Her house, a 4 bed townhouse with dining kitchen, 2 living rooms, utility room, 3 bathrooms and a toilet, she bought almost 5 years back for about £260k by the time she had it all fitted out, the adjacent houses are now selling for £300k+
Floor area is 1500 sq ft over 3 floors, tiny garden and 2 parking spaces. No garage, only a shed.
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That is why we are not leaving our half of the house plus money to each other.
The first to go will leave their half of the house and any other assets to the children.
At least that way we can preserve half the house value for the kids.
Of course, if we both need care at the same time, we will ome unstuck!
It's not good getting old and doddery!
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How disappointing OP. I do hope you get to have a succesful attempt before you leave. How is the ukelele practise going?
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We have the same plan re the grandchildren Millie, just different dates. For us it's this weekend for two weeks and we have already booked for September.
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The big chuch near Cathedral Square also give free music recitals on a Tuesday lunchtime bakers2. As you say there is a retiring collection and I am more than happy to contribute in order to keep them going. We are so very lucky to have the opportunity to listen to such lovely live music. It was a wonderful recital today. Just the thing for such miserable weather. It has been more like October than August today.
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Wherever you go Millie hope the weather improves and you enjoy.
My September trip to meet my brother may get canned as if he gets his visa in time he's off to China for a year.
Just watching our CL owner give his border collie a run out rounding up and moving 6 sheep, think he's practising for a competition. Dog looks very fired up.
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No, this one(20:37) didn't arrive Brue-try again
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Is that Peterborough parish church? Our cathedral was originally the parish church (I believe this is quite unusual I only learnt this at Lincoln cathedral recently) and became a cathedral in 1912, although the church Pre dates this.
Yes it is lovely live entertainment for, if you are so inclined, a fraction of the cost of a live show 😉. It's also very varied from the local Welsh choir thro ukele band, come on Mrs Oneputt 😆, to organ recitals.
Couldn't agree more about the weather today we've put the gas flame fire on to give some cheer 😲.
Brue glad your OH enjoyed a wet day fishing - each to their own 😉.
Still got a slight leak round the skylight 😤😤😤 now covered the roof with tarpaulin and hope it's dry tomorrow so it can be redone - apparently we may need a different sealant.
Oneputt the free entertainment with a sheep dog sounds lovely.
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That sounds a real treat OP.
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Today's housework didn't get done
had a surprise visit from youngest son, we saw him at the weekend but he called round again this morning. He's being staying at his girlfriends parents as her Grandparents are visiting from America. Enjoyed a catch up with what he's been up to since the weekend, trips to London and Oxford. Didn't really want to go to work this afternoon
Millie are you off to Houghton Mill? We have booked a few nights at Stamford, first visit this year...not like us!
Usually been at least once by now.0 -
Wow we're really happy bunnies 😆😃. Just had a very impromptu fb messenger video call with our daughter and granddaughters whilst the girls breakfast. So great. Is technology wonderful? 5 months til we see them in the flesh 😆
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Yes bakers2 it is Peterborough parish church. We are lucky as we have both the Cathedral and a parish church.
How lovely to have a live video chat with your NZ family. Isn't modern technology wonderful. My parents had some neighbours/friends whose family moved to Australia and they could only rely on letters. Phone calls were prohibitively expensive.
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We have a lunchtime concert at our local parish church within Portchester Castle today. I think I'll miss it as we are off to Sussex Caravans at Cowden to look at a motorhome this morning. Can't decide if it's exciting or scary.
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If he's married to a Chinese citizen, he can get a two year visa but even this kind of visa is a maximum stay of 180 days.
I lived in China for just over 5 years from July 2009 to March 2015. In 2009, I was granted a 2 year multiple entry Chinese visa because of marriage to a Chinese citizen but with a maximum stay of 180 days on each entry. We lived in Wuhan to set up an English language school there.
We found that the lowest cost way to keep the visa renewed was to take a train from Wuhan to Shenzhen and then walk across the border at Shenzhen into Hong Kong to get the necessary exit stamp on my passport. It was then possible to immediately walk back across the border and thereby get the necessary entry stamp that renews the visa for another 180 days.
Two years later when it got near the expiry date, I crossed the border in that way which qualified me for another 180 days. This meant that I got nearly two and a half years on the two year visa.
After that it became more complicated. I had to apply for a new visa and was sometimes 90 days and other times 180 days. This could be done at the local administrative office in Wuhan. On expiry of this, I was required to go out of China to renew. This meant having to stay in Hong Kong in a hotel and apply through the Chinese embassy in Hong Kong. The maximum stay visa allowed by them was 180 days which on expiry could be renewed at the local visa office for another 90 days. So it was getting more expensive as it involved not only travel to Hong Kong but a hotel bill on top.
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By 2015 it was no longer viable to continue in this way so we closed down the school and returned to UK.
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