Poor Man About Town

I see that the chickens are finally come home to roost in this property boom bullshit where houses, flats and homes were transformed into property; no longer an abode or an habitation, a place where one could relax - no, property is a means of generating wealth and feeding greed. Home is where the heart is, so the saying goes - but in this bullshit there are now no homes and many people have been made homeless in all of this shit. It is even worse, because in reading today's Metro, people are now having to keep up with their mortgage repayments and rent by credit card. This is worrying, there is a limit to credit card and the interest charged is extortionate. I, for one, have been paying my council tax through it (I am also going through a skint time). The fall of Northern Rock speaks volumes, yet house prices and rents remain grossly inflated. Shelter is a basic human need and should be a right. Market forces have determined that we should pay through the arse for this. Yet it does not make economic sense - people can only afford so much out of their salaries and wages towards the rent or mortgage - they have other needs to attend to such food and fuel; costs such as travelling to work, council tax, water bills etc, etc, etc. It is as if greedy property developers and those in the housing market have ignored these basic economic details in their unregulated greedy pursuits. Someone is going to pay for this fucking mess that these greedy bastards have made and it won't be property developers, estate agents or greedy landlords; oh no, it will be the taxpayer.

On a lighter but related note, I found a couple of videos on Youtube

Labels: "greedy property developers", homeless, homes for sale, landlords housing, property

We are living in a time when economics and the market have become the driving forces behind how we live and how are culture is defined. A good example of this is around accommodation or dwelling. Property developers and many companies who flog or rent properties no longer use the words home, flat, house, dwelling - they now use the word "development", "luxury apartments", "property", "investment" etc. It's as if these bastards are doing a splendid job in alienating people - being without a decent home. A really good example of alienation. House and home no longer exist. When more well-off people buy a house, they no longer buy a house they buy into greed - buy to let, buy to exploit. We shall have to wait and see how this very nasty development will pan out on the social and cultural landscape.

On an indirectly related note, I went past a Foxton's Estate Agent today. I thought it was a coffee bar - coffee and ice cold soft-drinks available to customers. The decor looked like a fucking multi-coloured nightmare - furniture in cardinal colours - all brightly lit with neon - you would need a welder's mask to walk into the place. The place looked as if it suffered too much interior design - panache and style were conspicuous by their absence. The employees appeared to be twelve year olds in suits. My suspicions were confirmed - Foxton's exist solely to encourage people to flog their property through other better established estate agents.

Labels: culture, Economics, Estate Agents, Greedy Property Developers, property, Society

Having one's gaff burgled is no fun; but when a trash tv programme "Location, Location, Location" becomes a brochure for burglars one is left to wonder why invite a trashy tv programme into your home; it is only a Trojan Horse for burglars. Let this be a lesson to all those egoists out there - don't encourage shit television, it only encourages shit people to come in and have it on their toes with your your valuables.

Labels: burglars, crime, Lifestyle, property, Television, trash

In surfing the web, I found this campaigning blog against property developers who are laying waste to garden space in Cardiff. It's nice to see a like minded people on the blog. What is interesting about this entry, however, how these greedy and destructive bastards become so well embedded and networked in Government. Another area of concern is that these greedy buggers are alleged to be using dirty tricks to get their own way.

The article, and for that matter, the entire blog makes interesting reading

Here's another article on the same subject

If you think that things could not get any worse check out channel

Also check out Channel 4 Despatches "Bad Housing"

Labels: goverment, Greedy Property Developers, New Labour, property, Property Developers

I checked my bank account today, the figures told a pretty horrible story - I'm skint. When skint, the bills start to wash around your head like dirty clothes in a tumble drier. I paid the council tax. I paid the rent. What about the holiday? Got to pay for that, the kids expect that. Get the credit card out. The current account, however, indicates that I have too much month at the end of my pay.

Things could be much worse. I heard that repossession of homes is up 30% on last year, this means that numerous people have lost their place they call home. It's not good - these people are struggling and surely there is a better way than this property owning bullshit to provide homes for people.

By unusual coincidence, we got "The Pursuit of Happiness" out of the library. Ever since the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I have always had a soft spot for Will Smith - cocky but funny, even in "I Robot", it comes peeping through; but he carries his films extremely well. In this film, however, he plays a completely different ball game with a different set of rules. A man, Chris Gardner, and his family living in impecunious circumstances, having to flog medical equipment to survive. We see his marriage break up and we see both he and his son having to sleep rough and live in motels and doss-houses. He plays this part completely straight and with such passion that I started to live in his shoes (or lack of one - see the film). The film has lifted my despondent mood. Great stuff , Will - you are what acting is all about! Getting people to live your character's life.

Labels: films, finance, movies, poverty, property, repossessions, Will Smith

This is a frequently asked question to search engines and lo! people find their way onto this blog. See earlier entries about the fun I had when living in a bedsit.

Now here's the response:

Bedsits are rooms in a house where the owner or landlord has decided to let out his / her rooms to individuals (supposedly). One has to share facilities such as kitchen, bathroom and bog. Bedsits are relatively cheap, but like all privately rented accommodation the tenants have very few rights - whether you keep up with your rent does not secure you a home for life, oh no - the Landlord can get you out at a month's notice. He can also hassle you over this and that, if you want to keep your room for the foreseeable future it is best to be acquiescent, otherwise you will be trudging the streets again.

Conditions within a house may vary - I was living in a house that was cockroach infested and I had hours of fun gunning them down with a spray loaded with Dettol. The cooker was constantly filthy and the surrounding area around the cooker was as slippery as an ice rink. The bath was rarely clean, likewise the bog.

Your fellow residents can be quite varied - noisy Albanians coming in at all hours to the smouldering axe murderers.

You have to a strong stomach and high degree of tolerance to live in such an environment.

It is a few steps removed from living in a doss house or sleeping on the street. It's no fun at all.

Of course, giving that we live in a situation where we are free to choose - we can always hope to buy affordable accommodation on offer for a quarter of a million quid by some benevolent property developer - he is obviously going through extremes of poverty to offer you the place at such a paltry price, all because he loves you and he cares.

Labels: accommodation, bedsit, property, property developers;, rent