Well the good news is that Warm Front grants will be back next year and concentrate first on elderly and poor households. http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Resources/Energy-saving-news/Energy-bills/Warm-Front-will-return-DECC-says/(energysavingtrust)/808901
I haven't written much over the past few weeks as I have been hit by a nasty bug - otherwise known as proper flu. I spent the majority of last week in bed and am still very run down with little energy. I can't believe that I caught this bug over my birthday as well as I had, for once, got a lovely birthday weekend planned.
The cold weather has once again returned to the UK after a week or so of warmer weather. It was snowing yesterday and its trying to snow again now. I must admit the weather reports are frustrating me though - it would be nice if for once they got it right. The midlands didn't get much of the snow last time but according to the current forecast we will be getting more this time. I don't mind too much though as all the Christmas shopping is done and my husband is on his way home later today and doesn't have to go back to work for another two weeks. It will be lovely to be able to spend some time with him and the kids love having him at home.
Friday, 17 December 2010
Thursday, 2 December 2010
I can't
Its been a very different Thursday. It started off when I woke up feeling very very cold, checked thermostat and it was reading 10 degrees, felt radiators and they were icy cold. Then the panic set in - I have a combi condensing boiler (I practice what I preach) and no heating also means no hot water! 3 children to bath and washing to do, 3 children at home and no heating?????
So there I was 6am outside in the old toilet where the boiler lives, in pyjamas, dressing gown and wellies trying frantically to make the boiler work - I defrosted the external condensing pipe, did a restart, switched it off, everything that I could think of but still no boiler, no heat and the only thing turning the air blue was my language!
In the end I was talked through how to fix it by a kind friend who is a plumber but it still took the majority of the morning.
Its been snowing here now on and off for the past week, nothing substantial and not enough to close the schools so I have been carrying on going to work - just factoring in more time and being careful on the roads. I do wish that my area would just get some proper snow like everywhere else in the country seems to be getting so we knew what we were doing.
In light of the weather I am now with just over 24hrs to go still unsure if I am going to my husbands mess do tomorrow night - I don't want to drive down there if its bad and according to the other half at the moment there is over 6" of snow around him. It is a shame as I was really looking forward to the night out!
What is playing on my mind at the minute is some of the people I know. There is one of them that has been given the worst run of luck for the past 5 years, her father was very ill and passed away and now her grandma (who is her last relative) is very ill. She is slightly younger than me and is facing all these problems with a show of determination and bravery that makes me so proud to know her. Another friend is one of the "I can't" brigade - although she and all her family have their health, everything to her is a problem. Not a day goes by at the moment when she isn't sending 15 odd texts asking for help and advice on the silliest of things, she expects an awful lot of hand holding. I feel incredibly frustrated when I get one of these texts and am resisting the temptation to tell her some "home truths".
I suppose the whole morale of the above situation is that you never know what is going to come your way and there isn't a whole lot you can do to alter destiny/fate but what you CAN always do is manage the way you handle problems. There are lots of occasions when I want to sit on the floor and have a tantrum like my 3 year old would but I try to do something positive instead.
So there I was 6am outside in the old toilet where the boiler lives, in pyjamas, dressing gown and wellies trying frantically to make the boiler work - I defrosted the external condensing pipe, did a restart, switched it off, everything that I could think of but still no boiler, no heat and the only thing turning the air blue was my language!
In the end I was talked through how to fix it by a kind friend who is a plumber but it still took the majority of the morning.
Its been snowing here now on and off for the past week, nothing substantial and not enough to close the schools so I have been carrying on going to work - just factoring in more time and being careful on the roads. I do wish that my area would just get some proper snow like everywhere else in the country seems to be getting so we knew what we were doing.
In light of the weather I am now with just over 24hrs to go still unsure if I am going to my husbands mess do tomorrow night - I don't want to drive down there if its bad and according to the other half at the moment there is over 6" of snow around him. It is a shame as I was really looking forward to the night out!
What is playing on my mind at the minute is some of the people I know. There is one of them that has been given the worst run of luck for the past 5 years, her father was very ill and passed away and now her grandma (who is her last relative) is very ill. She is slightly younger than me and is facing all these problems with a show of determination and bravery that makes me so proud to know her. Another friend is one of the "I can't" brigade - although she and all her family have their health, everything to her is a problem. Not a day goes by at the moment when she isn't sending 15 odd texts asking for help and advice on the silliest of things, she expects an awful lot of hand holding. I feel incredibly frustrated when I get one of these texts and am resisting the temptation to tell her some "home truths".
I suppose the whole morale of the above situation is that you never know what is going to come your way and there isn't a whole lot you can do to alter destiny/fate but what you CAN always do is manage the way you handle problems. There are lots of occasions when I want to sit on the floor and have a tantrum like my 3 year old would but I try to do something positive instead.
Monday, 29 November 2010
To snow or not to snow?
So The bad weather started early last week and since then I have been glued to the weather reports and the websites such as the met office. It finally started snowing here overnight Friday and we woke up to 5cm or so of snow lying on top of the dreaded ice - the council gritters were no where in sight despite all the warnings of snow and the side roads were like an ice rink but I had appointments booked for Saturday morning so of to work I went.
I managed to do all my appointments and only fell over once or twice - injuring my pride rather than anything else!
We all went sledging in the afternoon and the kids loved it, it was the first time the boys (age 3 and 20 months) had been and they really did enjoy it.
But now we are in limbo - you get up every morning and rush to see if there is enough snow to shut the schools and if there is that much snow you then have to wait for the official announcement via the local radio that "yes the school is shut" or you risk life and limb by chucking all 3 kids in the car for a trip to school via the local skating rink (the roads closest to the school - the school is on a bus route but the gritters still don't go down there) and hope that a few of the teachers have arrived and the school is open. Depending on which website you go on we are in for lots of snow overnight and all day tomorrow or a little bit of snow tonight and none tomorrow - complete and utter limbo, definitely a wait and see situation.
I do miss the snow from my childhood (that makes me sound old - although it is my 33rd birthday in just over 10 days) when there was enough to literally stop the country for a couple of days rather than just enough to make it awkward and difficult for 2 weeks.
So while awaiting the news from Cancun I will be watching out my window for the snow........
I managed to do all my appointments and only fell over once or twice - injuring my pride rather than anything else!
We all went sledging in the afternoon and the kids loved it, it was the first time the boys (age 3 and 20 months) had been and they really did enjoy it.
But now we are in limbo - you get up every morning and rush to see if there is enough snow to shut the schools and if there is that much snow you then have to wait for the official announcement via the local radio that "yes the school is shut" or you risk life and limb by chucking all 3 kids in the car for a trip to school via the local skating rink (the roads closest to the school - the school is on a bus route but the gritters still don't go down there) and hope that a few of the teachers have arrived and the school is open. Depending on which website you go on we are in for lots of snow overnight and all day tomorrow or a little bit of snow tonight and none tomorrow - complete and utter limbo, definitely a wait and see situation.
I do miss the snow from my childhood (that makes me sound old - although it is my 33rd birthday in just over 10 days) when there was enough to literally stop the country for a couple of days rather than just enough to make it awkward and difficult for 2 weeks.
So while awaiting the news from Cancun I will be watching out my window for the snow........
Friday, 26 November 2010
Co-operatives
At the moment there are 100s of websites offering EPCs, both commercial and domestic, at low cost prices Nationwide.
These are more often that not middle-men, and there has been lots of cases recently where DEAs are not being paid and the "middle-men" firms are going under, shutting up and both the DEA and the clients are getting burnt.
In 2008 I was involved with trying to set up a "union" for DEAs - mainly because I am passionate about this industry and wanted to see it promoted more but also because I felt that DEAs NEEDED to work together to provide more coverage and to effectively "cut out" the middlemen.
I feel that this, more than ever, is required. DEAs need to be working together - to provide holiday cover for each other, support and if there were enough DEAs working together to be able to provide a service to larger nationwide estate agents and clients.
If there was Nationwide coverage from a co-operative of DEAs then they would be able to have a larger pot for advertising - putting them "up" there with the middlemen on google rankings and therefore the DEAs would benefit by getting more clients and therefore more work. It would benefit the client because they would be speaking with trained and accredited DEAs and not a call centre operative who would simply be passing a message on.
This solution of a co-operative would benefit all concerned and is definitely on my Christmas wish list this year.
These are more often that not middle-men, and there has been lots of cases recently where DEAs are not being paid and the "middle-men" firms are going under, shutting up and both the DEA and the clients are getting burnt.
In 2008 I was involved with trying to set up a "union" for DEAs - mainly because I am passionate about this industry and wanted to see it promoted more but also because I felt that DEAs NEEDED to work together to provide more coverage and to effectively "cut out" the middlemen.
I feel that this, more than ever, is required. DEAs need to be working together - to provide holiday cover for each other, support and if there were enough DEAs working together to be able to provide a service to larger nationwide estate agents and clients.
If there was Nationwide coverage from a co-operative of DEAs then they would be able to have a larger pot for advertising - putting them "up" there with the middlemen on google rankings and therefore the DEAs would benefit by getting more clients and therefore more work. It would benefit the client because they would be speaking with trained and accredited DEAs and not a call centre operative who would simply be passing a message on.
This solution of a co-operative would benefit all concerned and is definitely on my Christmas wish list this year.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
General.
Am feeling quite positive today - the 3 year old is a playschool (where is finally starting to behave), 8 year old at school and I have now had 6 nights undisturbed sleep - might not sound like a lot but when you have not had more than one night undisturbed over the course of 3 years its fantastic!
Have got the day off work today and have been good and spent the morning getting organised, lodging new addresses with Landmark ready for work tomorrow and doing that dreaded task of chasing invoices. I like to get "ahead" of myself where possible - it means that the clients get a quick turnaround from access to a property to receipt of the EPC and that is very important to me. I am very glad that I have been able to continue with being a self employed DEA (although it has been and is a struggle sometimes) because I was talking to a gentleman yesterday who because of unpaid invoices and lack of work has had to quit being a DEA - he simply cannot afford to do the job anymore.
I have also arranged a babysitter (grandparents - thank you!) and am off to my husbands mess function next week - very excited have never been able to go before, although am now nervous about what to wear (can't believe I said that - but don't want to show the other half up and need to be correctly dressed). Any ideas? I don't think it is a ball gown kind of function but the men are in suits so need to be smart - definitely not a Saturday night out with the girls kind of outfit from what I can understand.
Its been so cold overnight that there is ice on all the cars and on all the roofs in my street - its one of those times when you can clearly see who has insulated their lofts - those that melt quickly that's your heat and money heading skywards!
Have got the day off work today and have been good and spent the morning getting organised, lodging new addresses with Landmark ready for work tomorrow and doing that dreaded task of chasing invoices. I like to get "ahead" of myself where possible - it means that the clients get a quick turnaround from access to a property to receipt of the EPC and that is very important to me. I am very glad that I have been able to continue with being a self employed DEA (although it has been and is a struggle sometimes) because I was talking to a gentleman yesterday who because of unpaid invoices and lack of work has had to quit being a DEA - he simply cannot afford to do the job anymore.
I have also arranged a babysitter (grandparents - thank you!) and am off to my husbands mess function next week - very excited have never been able to go before, although am now nervous about what to wear (can't believe I said that - but don't want to show the other half up and need to be correctly dressed). Any ideas? I don't think it is a ball gown kind of function but the men are in suits so need to be smart - definitely not a Saturday night out with the girls kind of outfit from what I can understand.
Its been so cold overnight that there is ice on all the cars and on all the roofs in my street - its one of those times when you can clearly see who has insulated their lofts - those that melt quickly that's your heat and money heading skywards!
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Good News
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20101123/tbs-uk-nationwide-03c9bed.html
Nationwide Building Society , the country's second-biggest mortgage lender, reported a 26 percent jump in first-half profit, and said it did not expect big house price falls despite signs of property market weakness.
The improvement reflected a 44 percent drop in bad debts as a partial recovery in commercial property prices since mid-2009 helped more customers avoid defaulting on loans.
Britain's retail banks have all reported stronger profits in the past year as tighter lending criteria and a tentative economic recovery have helped reduce loan impairments.
Mortgage and savings-focussed Nationwide, the country's biggest customer-owned lender, has emerged as a relative winner from the financial crisis, snapping up financially weaker rivals including the Cheshire and Dunfermline building societies.
The Bank of England, which slashed interest rates to 0.5 percent during the crisis two years ago, was unlikely to start raising borrowing costs until the end of 2011, Nationwide said.
"We think house prices will remain relatively flat for the next few months, with some possible downward migration, but nothing significant," chief executive Grahame Beale told reporters on a conference call.
Surveys show house prices have been falling over the past three months, reflecting scarce mortgage finance and worries over the economic impact of government spending cuts aimed at reducing Britain's budget deficit.
Nationwide also said it was losing out on 300 million pounds per year because of a pledge to cap its base mortgage rate at two percentage points above the Bank of England rate, relative to the typical 4 percent rate offered by other lenders.
Over a third of Nationwide mortgage customers now pay the base rate, and more are choosing to revert to it when their fixed-term loans expire, the company said.
Wow, thank goodness some good news from the banks in the UK. I do really like this part -""We think house prices will remain relatively flat for the next few months, with some possible downward migration, but nothing significant," chief executive Grahame Beale"
Nationwide Building Society , the country's second-biggest mortgage lender, reported a 26 percent jump in first-half profit, and said it did not expect big house price falls despite signs of property market weakness.
Nationwide, which publishes a closely watched monthly house price survey, said on Tuesday major price falls were unlikely in 2011 because continued low interest rates would keep mortgages affordable and prevent a flood of distressed sales.
Mutually-owned Nationwide made an underlying pretax profit of 147 million pounds in the six months to end-September.The improvement reflected a 44 percent drop in bad debts as a partial recovery in commercial property prices since mid-2009 helped more customers avoid defaulting on loans.
Britain's retail banks have all reported stronger profits in the past year as tighter lending criteria and a tentative economic recovery have helped reduce loan impairments.
Mortgage and savings-focussed Nationwide, the country's biggest customer-owned lender, has emerged as a relative winner from the financial crisis, snapping up financially weaker rivals including the Cheshire and Dunfermline building societies.
The Bank of England, which slashed interest rates to 0.5 percent during the crisis two years ago, was unlikely to start raising borrowing costs until the end of 2011, Nationwide said.
"We think house prices will remain relatively flat for the next few months, with some possible downward migration, but nothing significant," chief executive Grahame Beale told reporters on a conference call.
Surveys show house prices have been falling over the past three months, reflecting scarce mortgage finance and worries over the economic impact of government spending cuts aimed at reducing Britain's budget deficit.
Nationwide also said it was losing out on 300 million pounds per year because of a pledge to cap its base mortgage rate at two percentage points above the Bank of England rate, relative to the typical 4 percent rate offered by other lenders.
Over a third of Nationwide mortgage customers now pay the base rate, and more are choosing to revert to it when their fixed-term loans expire, the company said.
Wow, thank goodness some good news from the banks in the UK. I do really like this part -""We think house prices will remain relatively flat for the next few months, with some possible downward migration, but nothing significant," chief executive Grahame Beale"
Monday, 22 November 2010
Nothing of interest
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20101122/tsc-uk-climate-costs-011ccfa.html - worth reading. Its interesting to know that it will cost money if we don't work together to save energy and money!
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Work is picking up quiet a bit at the minute (fingers crossed and touch wood) so hopefully it will continue for a while. The evil creatures I live with (my children) have finally been sleeping through the night so I have been playing catch up on my sleep while I can.
Am eagerly awaiting the Cancun fortnight and whatever (hopefully lots) of decisions are made during that time, I haven't been writing as much lately as I think you will all get very bored with me during that fortnight as I get on my soapbox and rant about whatever is released in the press.
I am sad to say that there seems to be still alot of problems for some DEAs getting their money out of an EPC company - it is a shame and there are always two sides to every story but at the end of the day if you have done the work you deserve to be paid and in this current climate it is essential that you are paid and paid on time! There was another story about it today - follow this link http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/News/Story/?storyid=3738&type=news_features
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Work is picking up quiet a bit at the minute (fingers crossed and touch wood) so hopefully it will continue for a while. The evil creatures I live with (my children) have finally been sleeping through the night so I have been playing catch up on my sleep while I can.
Am eagerly awaiting the Cancun fortnight and whatever (hopefully lots) of decisions are made during that time, I haven't been writing as much lately as I think you will all get very bored with me during that fortnight as I get on my soapbox and rant about whatever is released in the press.
I am sad to say that there seems to be still alot of problems for some DEAs getting their money out of an EPC company - it is a shame and there are always two sides to every story but at the end of the day if you have done the work you deserve to be paid and in this current climate it is essential that you are paid and paid on time! There was another story about it today - follow this link http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/News/Story/?storyid=3738&type=news_features
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