House prices go up, the neighbourhood goes down

[the-e-dealer]

Fekking Pizza Leaflets ! etc!

[StraferJack]

"self-indulgent whimsy? - discuss"

That it is. Nowt wrong with that tho. Harmless fun is another description.

[the-e-dealer]

MY neighbours nuked their characterful garden Its like a scar on the street.

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I would hate to think this thread encouraged

> anyone to get rid of their tumble-down front

> garden and replace it with concrete or asphalt.

> Gravel over membrane, yes, brick loose laid over

> sand, yes, but please don?t tidy things up so that

> you get run-off and soil drying. I'd rather see

> untidy beds and eroded grass than an impervious

> parking space.

[MrBen]

EPB Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> MrBen Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > And a Victorian tiled path is about 2-3 grand

> to

> > re-lay properly.

>

> I'd love to know why it has to cost that much.

> Topps Tiles do a pretty convincing range of little

> black/white or black/brown tiles...

Good question...answer is that a lot of the original Victorian mosaic paths crack due to heave/ground movement over the past 100+ years...especially in SE22 with it's subsidence prone clay subsoil. And so the ?2k cost covers digging up the subsurface (usually old cracked concrete) with a drill, laying a new foundation and re-concreting at the right angle...all before any tiling actually starts. Then you have to make a call on quality of the tiles, add borders etc..

If anyone knows anyone who can do a great job of this for less than ?2k I'm all ears...

[miga]

.

[MissKing]

Smart houses certainly make a road feel nice - I love the houses with the nice white shutters and pretty doors. But it's expensive to do and for the people in rented flats or the elderly it's probs not their first priority with money.

[jimbo1964]

A bit of pride in one's appearance is never a bad thing. See attached photo.

First prize in Camberwell Council's competition for the smartest pre-fab garden in the borough has been awarded to Mr L.T.Jackson, of Friern Road, Dulwich. September 13th 1948. Compulsory Credit: UPPA/Photoshot

[Siduhe]

I'm still not clear what the OP was trying to say/achieve with his/her first post - was this some sort of political point? I ask because the helpful clarification of:

No judgement passed; regret expressed, sympathy offered.

doesn't seem to tie in with the content of the original post at all:

If one can't afford to re-paint, then at least one might find the time and self-respect to wash down the grimy encasements of windows, enjambments of doors. But -- not. And the dank stench that wafted outward through some of those mail slots!... Wherever humans den is, I suppose, Arkham.

Our house is currently under regular surveyors' monitoring for movement/subsidence, with the result we can't patch up the cracks or paint the front of our house for fear of messing up the process. I wonder if we're included in this category of people bringing down the area to slum-like levels? I am hoping our neighbours are sympathetic, but reading this, maybe not.

[Zebedee Tring]

Are you sure that isn't Mr Cholmondley Warner in the photo?

[????]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "self-indulgent whimsy? - discuss"

>

> That it is. Nowt wrong with that tho. Harmless fun

> is another description.

Oh absolutely. I just prefer self indulgent contrariness myself :)

[StraferJack]

I must have had you pegged all wrong all these years ;-)

[fazer71]

MrBen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> If anyone knows anyone who can do a great job of

> this for less than ?2k I'm all ears...

If your house is worth 600,000k to 1,500,000 is 2k too much to spend on what is probably one of the most important looking Victorian features?

I don't get it.

Everything to do with property cost what it costs easy to costed per Sq M.

If your path is 1 metre wide and 4 metres long that's 500quid per Sq M a tiny 0.333 percent of 600,000

If you don't have the money totally different argument but if you do that's the price would you risk paying 500 less to get a rotten job pay the best people the right price.

Common practice in Europe for some reason here in the UK it's a mystery.

Find out what it should cost per Sq M sooner we all arm ourselves with that information the sooner we can get work done for the correct price and stop getting ripped off.

[*Bob*]

fazer71 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If your house is worth 600,000k to 1,500,000 is

> 2k too much to spend on what is probably one of

> the most important looking Victorian features?

Says the person who merrily fitted plastic windows - and encouraged everyone else to do the same!

[Burbage]

fazer71 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If your house is worth 600,000k to 1,500,000 is

> 2k too much to spend on what is probably one of

> the most important looking Victorian features?

>

> I don't get it.

Good grief. Look, it's bogus money. Only on paper. Not cash. The eerie flatulence of a chain reaction sparked by greed gone critical.

For many, it doesn't matter if their house is worth a million. For the most part, it's not their million, it's the bank's. For some, who've done nicely, it won't all belong to the bank, and there may be a tidy, theoretical profit tied up in it. But that profit only becomes money if they sell their home, in which case it's not their home any more. While it is their home, they don't have the money.

Just because someone convinced a bank to buy them a house, back in the days when their skills looked relevant and forty looked distant, doesn't mean things worked out all shiny. Optimism, the viperous beast that lurks in every brochure and behind each salesperson's grin, gave them no reason to think that savings would collapse, salaries would flatline or the cost of living go up. And never did they imagine that, rather than being appointed to the acronymical valhalla of senior management, they'd get given the option of flexible hours with or without their consent. So the upshot is, big house, borrowed money and nothing beneath the mattress. Unless they've hit negative equity, in which case they're worth less than nothing, and will have to put every penny they manage to scrape from the labours of others into paying things back before the bank starts asking why their income's gone lumpy, or rising interest rates force them to sell on an ebbing tide and go beg for a hostel in Stoke.

To be fair, most won't have been entirely innocent of the predictable nastiness of the world, and some might have even been prudent. But for all of us there comes a time when we must meet the burdensome demands of those we used to love, and the young and the old cost a lot to look after, too. You try explaining to Granny why you blew her meals-on-wheels on a garden path or spent the Dignitas money on a palm tree. In other words, there is never a time when anyone can be sure that their disposable income is disposable, and that means discretionary spending is, as a result, shockingly low.

This is, in a sense, roughly why the economy is stagnant. Those with cash are sitting on it in justified fear, and the rest of us are watching our pittances dribble into the coffers of governments and multinationals while stuff-all's coming in. We know we should be bolder, take risks, and strive for success. But we can't forget that the parks and pavements are strewn with the cider-sodden remnants of the last lot of highly-motivated, self-starting, enthusiastic risk-takers. And that's nothing to do with the fact that nobody, in two generations, has seen fit to scrub a doorstep.

[lucky]

Too many people trying to keep up with the Jonesses. Worried about what others will say about them and their front gardens and propertiesm. Forgetting the most important things in life:solidarity snd justice. No time for talking to the neighbours, too busy trying to pay for the Victorian path and front garden, the cleaner and windiw ccleaner the nanny and the extension.Too busy being mean and turning their noses up.enslaved to pay for the mortgage.Stripped of humanity and drinking to forget it all.They should have gone to spec savers!

[mikeb]

Whether you view the OP as irrelevantly whimsical or irreverently lyrical, Burbage's post is definitely highlight of the year so far.

[EmED]

As mentioned by a few other posters earlier on, I would also love to hear from anyone who can quote on using these tiles for a front path: http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/tprod42210/section-1/Victorian-Black-White-Corner.html

They look great online and presumably this would be an affordable way of getting the original victorian look?

I do think that there are too many bins...I had one of ours taken away (the garden waste one) as three is a bit ridiculous. I used to live in a Lambeth council area and we just got given different coloured bags, one for recycling and one for normal rubbish which we put outside on the right day which worked well.

It would be great if people did pick up rubbish/not leave masses of junk in their front gardens/occasionally paint their walls if needed - I think that is just normal politeness towards your neighbours.

One annoying thing is that the bin men always leave the bins all over the place/on their sides etc. Not great if you were an old lady or something and have to keep sorting that out as they are quite heavy.

[Mustard]

edited for not reading properly.

[EmED]

It shows a picture of them being used outside a house though...which is a bit misleading if you can't use them...

[Mustard]

So it does, and I missed the part that said pathways!

[tallulah71]

em ED I agree totally although I think this is possibly addressed in another thread.

I hate flyers of any kind - and no: Greasy Chicken vendors are not better than those trying to persuade you to one political party or another.

I live in a great street in ED with stunning houses but sadly cannot afford a house/front door re-paint or patio touch-up. I used to pay someone ?15 to mow front and back lawns (it is a shared victorian conversion and I am the only one bothered about the garden looking acceptable). I can't believe that some people have actually apologised for their houses looking below par.

You should have tried leafletting 20 years ago; to call East Dulwich slum-like is disengenuous and, frankly, offensive.

[Otta]

This thread is about the best I've ever seen on here in terms of showing the element of ED that has changed for the worse in the past few years.

[LadyDeliah]

Burbage is on fire though, so said 'element' should be applauded for giving him/her such first class ammunition!

[The Minkey]

"And for want of those monies, I fear that East Dulwich will stay a slum, albeit a more expensive one" - says someone who has no idea what a real slum is.

[Otta]

LadyDeliah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Burbage is on fire though, so said 'element'

> should be applauded for giving him/her such first

> class ammunition!

Absolutely, I must admit that I'd not read Burbage's post having lost the will to live before getting there.

I've now read it, and it's a brilliant post.