Cottage or Ruin fo sale.

I was sent some pictures of a property a friend is interested in about 60km from where i live. The property price is only 5,000€ but the seller wants a quick sale and wants everything to be completed by the 24th October. It does look a very interesting property and water obviously is not a problem.

The bottom picture is not as sharp but then again i didn't take the pictures

Another company who give great service

This time last year i put my car in for it's yearly MOT but sadly it failed due to a faulty Catalytic converter and my exhaust emissions where to high. I contacted the supplier i had used last year  and they where happy for me to send the unit back. I did ask could i buy a new one and they credit me after i returned the old one. I expected then to just say yes but first we need it back and then send it for testing, but no i would have to produce the original invoice etc.

It's not what i expected i expected that i would just buy a new one and send the old unit back but listening to them i didn't feel comfortable. It's here i decided to find another supplier and i did find one who i did feel happy with.

First when i called a machine said thanks for calling and we hope to have someone to answer within 45 seconds and they did and fast. I explained that i was in Portugal and i would like to use my own Courier. Let me explain why after many deliveries from UPS i have got to know the driver and even though they don't delivery out in the country as often as in the towns and cities when he sees my address he just gets it to me because it's a quick drop off for him. I was told that Gary would call to confirm that i could in fact use my Courier.

Being on a pension like many other i watch the  exchange rates to change my money for the best rate. That's all well and good but suddenly when you need money in UK £'s it's a problem but not for http://www.cats2u.co.uk . I mentioned about having t e my money transfered to UK £'s and they made it easy by giving me transfer details so i could make payemnt as and when i was ready.

I had e-mailed four times over the two days i waited for my Euros to change to £'s and my e-mails where replied to within as little as three minutes now that's what i call service. Its' a pity the previous company could not be as good as this one. The girls who answered the phone knowing i was calling from Portugal couldn't have been more helpful. So Gary thanks to you and your excellent staff.   

The rich get rich

I noticed that directors often get share options when they start a new position in a new company. It's only when you see just what that means The rich get rich and the rest of use just get on with things.

Today i saw a director take up an option on 850,000 shares and they paid only £0.2179 per share a total of £185,215.00 and then immediately sold them for £1.60p each a total of £1,360,000.00 a difference of £1,174,785.00. To make it worse the person would probably have off shore accounts or some clever way to avoid paying the tax.

If that's not bad it gets even worse, the same person has further options of another 2,827,809 shares value today if sold of £4524494.4.

Not a bad perk for just doing a job, if i wanted to buy the same shares the price as i type this is £1.68p each. 

From the London stock exchange. "A company director exercised an option over 850,000 issued Ordinary Shares held within the Company's Employee Benefit Trust, at an exercise price of 2.719p per Ordinary Share.

The director then disposed of 850,000 Ordinary Shares at a price of 160p per Ordinary Share. Following this transaction, The director has an interest in, via option, 2,827,809 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 4.24 per cent. of the Company's issued Ordinary Share capital. "

All the above is taken from Published accounts from the  London Stock exchange.

Top or bottom that is the question

Work here in my place in the sun is slow at the moment. A parcel sent from Liverpool was lost because the label was destroyed in an accident but thankfully the matter has been resolved and it has been sent back to the sender to be parcelled up again and then sent back to me. I have even been offered a free delivery for my next parcel so a happy ending to a difficult time waiting for a lost parcel.

While waiting for the glass for my windows i decided to carry on with the bathroom. I had to cut back the wall at each end of the bath. The wall was 138cm wide and the bath is 140cm long but after removing the render from the walls the bath fits, Just.



I had wanted a shower in the corner where the door is and a corner toilet where the bath is but i found out i could have a bath with a shower above.

 I now face a huge dilemma where to put the sink. The one in the corner is on a pipe just so i could see how it's looks. This is really how the bath and toilet should be and i would need to get a sink to go in between the bath and toilet. But the picture above is really how i planned the bathroom to be. 

 
 
The question is do i go for what i want or what would look right???

Top or bottom that is the question

If you know me please get in touch with what you think i should do because i don't have a clue what to do.

Logburner now in position.

Because of delays in getting a parcel delivered due to a problem with the label getting damaged i am waiting for materials to finish jobs i am in the middle of.  But today i got a couple of sections of chimney pipe for my log burner the picture below shows the wall behind that still needs a couple of sheets of plasterboard but that's on order.

The first job now is to cut a whole in the ceiling where the pipe will then go up through the loft space to the roof above.

The loft space should benefit from the heat given of from the pipe and when the space is made into a bedroom it should make the bedroom nice and warm.















For now once the parcel i am waiting for arrives i will have to finish the outstanding jobs.

Peter's RANT

Last week i was having a nice cup of tea in a cafe with friends. While we where talking one said to me that the night before they had been talking about me. Oh nothing bad i hope, no they said and they then told me that of all the English here i was the only one not to moan or complain. That's nice i thought and then thinking about what they said yes it is correct, i am living in the nearest place to heaven so why moan.

Little did they know and here goes. In the village i live in there are only three cars and we park where we want with only three there is no chance of getting in anybodies way until now.

It's August and the owners of all the empty houses come back for a holiday. My neighbour and I started to park out of the way at the bottom of the lane. All was OK for a week until one car to many arrived and things went downhill after that. My neighbour and I parked under a tree out of the way until i went out one day and this new car parked in my place. I was then left to park in the sun now i got angry. When i next went out i as lucky and came back to my spot but to try and show how more cars could park i parked at an angle. My neighbour saw what i was doing and started to park the same and thankfully the new car kept out of the way.

Since the car has now gone along with some of the other visiters myself and my neighbour  have kept to parking as we have started to do because it's so sunny we are under a tree.

Culmac perfect service again.

Some of you may remember when i went back to the UK and got myself a back box for my cars exhaust system. Well i have a problem with the center section but as i am not flying back to the UK i still want the service i have come to expect from a company i have used many times over the years.

The branch i used to used was closed after a huge fire and i had to use another branch but still with perfect service. http://www.culmac.co.uk/ Today i called for bank details so i could make payment and i soon had an e-mail with those details. The time from ordering to paying to sending confirmation of payment was less than 30 minutes all done by bank transfer.

I should say that having to pay by bank transfer is just because the Culmac sell to account holders and the public who walk in to purchase parts for there cars. For than reason i paid by bank transfer.

The Courier http://www.pharosparcel.com on there site said order by 12pm and collection would be today. Having used the same courier many times i know that this evening by 2am the parcel will be south of Paris on it's was to me here in sunny Portugal. 

The cost of the same parts here would cost me over 200€. The cost from the UK including courier to my door £84.27 quite a saving.