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AS: More tea, Vicar? - the British thread 2020

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  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    So glad you've got another offer @Piglet. Let's hope this is the one. I love the looking round and deciding which place to buy bit of house moving, but the selling, no that is horrid.
    We've just taken down the Christmas tree and packed it all away for another year. Like that book A Squash and a Squeeze, our living room now looks very big.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Good luck @Piglet - you must be tired of hoping!

    🤞 🤞
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited January 2020
    The Scottish system seems to work in favour of the vendor, AIUI, inasmuch as it's hard/expensive for buyers to suddenly 'drop out'.

    Is that correct?
  • Wishing you all the best for the 3rd offer, piglet. (I share your views on the soon to be ex husband of the woman who made offer no2).
  • What a b****r, Piglet. Here's hoping that the third buyer is The One who will purchase the Chateau and allow you to move on.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Thanks, everyone!

    AIUI (from a few years of working for a solicitor/estate agent in Orkney), the Scottish system involves sealed bids and closing dates, which may well prevent buyers from pulling out of the deal.

    My family here in Edinburgh have certainly been quite taken aback at the way things seem to be done in Canada. What I don't understand is why anyone would consider making an offer if they didn't have finances sorted out first. Anyhow, all forms have now been electronically signed, so now it's just another waiting game. I wouldn't mind so much, but my nephew and his wife are treating the family (including me) to a nice Sunday lunch in a restaurant some time in February as a Christmas present, and I'd like to be over in time to be there.
    My brother, sister-in-law and I went to Peebles for lunch today; the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed, so we tried the Peebles Hydro hotel, but most of it seemed to be closed as well (and tbh they didn't seem all that keen on having our custom), so we ended up in a nice wee pub on the high street, and my s-i-l and I had v. good fisherman's pie and my brother had a very decent burger.

    Then off to help my sister clear the last of the stuff from her kitchen before the new one arrives tomorrow and the real chaos commences. I love the idea of new kitchens, and I'm sure this one will be lovely, but I think if it were me, I'd want to just go away for a week or two and come back to it being finished!
  • Peebles Hydro is AFAIK fairly recently taken over by Crieff Hydro (which is very successful). I think the have a lot to do to pull it up and are mainly relying on conferences while they do so. The Sunday after New Year I would bet they only had a skeleton staff! Lots of nice pubs in Peebles, though, and probably always a better bet than the Hydro!

    P.S. I stayed in Peebles Hydro in the first weeks after the take over, (CofS conference) and had to have my room changed as they couldn't get the COLD water to work! Lovely period pool, though.
  • Well, it turns out this year's victories so far were just the warm-up act...

    I got a letter this evening to tell me that I AM OFFICIALLY A FRENCH CITIZEN!!! Yippee!

    Am I still welcome around here now I'm a doggie?

    Ah! Félicitations!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Cathscats wrote: »
    Peebles Hydro is AFAIK fairly recently taken over by Crieff Hydro (which is very successful). I think the have a lot to do to pull it up and are mainly relying on conferences while they do so ...
    We reckoned the same re: conferences; I remember my dad going to several at the Crieff one (and possibly the Peebles one too) back in the 70s and early 80s - he retired in 1986.

    The place was certainly opulent, if in a rather faded way; the Christmas decorations were still up* and they were lovely: garlands of greenery with hundreds of white lights, and trees in every available nook and cranny.

    * as is Right and Proper, as it was the day before Epiphany :wink:
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask for my fleas back because I need them to infest the armpits of the strikers. The bus has stopped running again.

    I’m trying to see the upside – walking 6 miles a day is doing wonders for my fitness – but this morning for the first time the thought of it made me feel very fed up. I was rather expecting things to improve because I believe many of the strikers got a nasty shock when they got their payslips. What? You didn’t get paid while you were on strike? Never! No sign of any immediate improvement, tho.

    @Dormouse I’ve being meaning to say that you may find the language requirement for French nationality less onerous than you think. I know at least one person who succeeded in getting a French passport despite their language skills being distinctly shonky. You need a B2 on the Common European Framework, i.e. you can follow a complex conversation but you don’t need to be completely fluent. The test I took involved listening, reading and speaking but no writing. There are a few informal tests on the internet you could try to see approximately where you are on the scale.
  • Meanwhile, you could practise drinking WINE, and waving your hands/arms about, as these are estimable helps in speaking the French language.

    Je vais prendre mon manteau (I'll get my coat...)...
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    WINE works both ways, tho. Husband en rouge’s English improves immensely after a couple of glasses.
  • Mine doesn't, alas...
    :naughty:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited January 2020
    For some reason I'm reminded of this little gem. :mrgreen:
  • JapesJapes Shipmate
    @la vie en rouge 6 miles a day is my current walking commute and I do it most days. But it's a heck of a lot more enjoyable when I know I'm choosing to do it, and there's the probability of a bus turning up if I'm flagging on the way home. Much sympathy for your fed-up-ness with it all.

    I'm tempted to borrow the camels' fleas for the days when the buses here are too scared to travel in less than bunches of 3s. I can't decide yet if having the bus app helps me know there are three buses all huddling together 30 minutes away and I might as well just walk the last mile home, or it just infuriates me more that the app seems to be failing for Best Bus Route home since the timetable change on Sunday and I could've been home half an hour faster if I'd trusted the timetabled time.
  • When we first sold (or tried to sell) my wife's flat, we did the whole sealed bids and choosing one. That whole system ties in with the Scottish idea of advertising at "offers over" - ie we knew it was worth at least 105, we needed at least 100 and at the time were expecting offers around 110k (as opposed to the English system which - if the TV programmes are anything to go buy - seems to be advertising at the maximum you hope for, and expect to get offers below that). We do also see adverts for "fixed price" and "offers around" up here.

    But the general fact is that it does seem to be harder to back off when you've made / accepted an offer in Scotland than down in England. As well as being good for the seller, it also prevents the initial buyer from being gazumped if the seller gets a "better offer" once the initial agreement was made

    So we advertised at "offers over 100"
    At that time, buyers were responsible for getting their own values/surveys (now the seller has to get an official Home Report to save buyers having to do multiple things on every property they are interested in) so all the offers we received were "subject to survey" which was to be expected

    the offer we chose, the biggest one, was substantially more than the rest. (like 120 vs 109, 110, 111)
    We accepted but the person backed out after the survey, based on subsidence. My wife had seen the same "issue" on the survey she had received 2 years prior when she bought the flat, her surveyor saying the evidence was there but given that the building had been standing for over 100 years, the subsidence probably settled itself out long ago. We suspected the buyer (whom it turned out wanted to let out the property) realised he had bid too much but this was a convenient and valid nail upon which to hang his withdrawal

    After all that, we put the flat back on the market shortly after and because by then we had our offer on a new place accepted, and needed to move things along, we had the solicitor deal directly with the first person who submitted a note of interest , who then offered a perfectly fine amount and actually wanted to live in the place.
  • Scotland The Brave - getting things right!

    (O please, Good Queen Nicola - come over into B*r*s*a*d, and save us!)

  • This is a really random request, but if there are any British shipmates who have some experience buying flags from any of Britain's flag companies, could you PM me? I'm an avocational vexillologist and am looking at buying some flags that aren't available in the US. There are a few companies (that I'll pass on naming here) where I've found what I'm looking for, but I have a few questions about the fabric options, so I thought that if by chance anyone here had bought flags from either of the places I've found online (or had other suggestions), I could get a little better idea of what I might want to order.

    Thanks!

  • A bald statement from Westminster Cathedral - to be found here - breaks the news that their Master of Music, Martin Baker has left the cathedral.

    In a breathtaking display of arrogance the statement ignores entirely that by choosing to stop full-boarding at the cathedral's Choir School the cathedral has itself brought about the "new circumstances" that no doubt formed a large part of Mr Baker's decision to leave.

    Gob-smacking. A sad day for cathedral music, a catastrophic one for music in the RC Church in the UK :rage:
  • I think Pants’ husband has a flag company, but I’m not sure if she’s on the new ship.
  • Priscilla wrote: »
    I think Pants’ husband has a flag company, but I’m not sure if she’s on the new ship.

    Who was responding to a post by Nick Tamen
    This is a really random request, but if there are any British shipmates who have some experience buying flags from any of Britain's flag companies, could you PM me? I'm an avocational vexillologist and am looking at buying some flags that aren't available in the US. There are a few companies (that I'll pass on naming here) where I've found what I'm looking for, but I have a few questions about the fabric options, so I thought that if by chance anyone here had bought flags from either of the places I've found online (or had other suggestions), I could get a little better idea of what I might want to order.

    Thanks!

    @Pants
  • PantsPants Shipmate
    She is! Nick, I've PM'd / responded to Jengie's PM with our details. Thanks all! :)
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    A bald statement from Westminster Cathedral ...

    Gob-smacking. A sad day for cathedral music, a catastrophic one for music in the RC Church in the UK :rage:
    Quite so. It's one of those (many) circumstances where I'd have valued D's opinion, but it seems to me that the decision to only have the choristers boarding during the week must have had some impact - a very short-sighted decision, if I may say so. I wish Mr. Baker the very best in whatever he does next.
    My extended holiday is almost over - my brother's leaving me to Glasgow tomorrow afternoon. I had a lovely afternoon today with my niece-in-law and the adorable Archie, followed by supper (cooked by me) with my brother, s-i-l and sister before I head off.

    I've mixed feelings about going back: I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends in Canada again, but apprehensive about (potentially*) having to say goodbye to them, not to mention all the palaver of moving back, and if I'm honest, I just want to move on, try and find work in Edinburgh and try and rebuild my life.

    Why did that last sentence make my eyes start to leak? :cry:

    * I'm really trying not to tempt Providence here ...
  • Your eyes started to leak because this isn't the life you planned or foresaw even six months ago. Don't beat yourself up.
  • Pants wrote: »
    She is! Nick, I've PM'd / responded to Jengie's PM with our details. Thanks all! :)
    Many thanks, y’all! Pants, I’ve PMed back.

  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    Your eyes started to leak because this isn't the life you planned or foresaw even six months ago. Don't beat yourself up.
    Dear, lovely Piglet: Verily, I say unto thee:

    Even the Great Plumber In The Sky leaked. We, who are not worthy to hold his spanner, may certainly leak too!
  • Hearken ye, all! Brother Wesley doth speak the Truth!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Thanks, gentlemen - you are, of course, quite right.
    I'm now sitting in a hotel at Glasgow Airport - I didn't twig when I booked it that I've actually stayed here before, when I was en route back after coming over for the St. Magnus Festival a few years ago. It was only when we pulled into the car-park, I thought, "this looks familiar".

    That's fine though - it did very nicely then, and was ridiculously cheap (£34.50 a night), so will do nicely now.

    I'll have a bite of supper (and possibly a glass of WINE), followed by a very early night; my first flight's at 9 in the morning, so I'll need to be at the airport by 7:30.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    All the best for the next few weeks @Piglet

    I’m glad to be home ‘tho missing the little family. I’m going back for a week in February, so not long to wait. :smile:

    Today I had my U3A German lesson. I really enjoy them, such a positive experience. Learn9ng in class is great fun when we are all over 60! I shall be looking of other things to learn.

    While I was in Germany I found I understood lots, which pleased me enormously. My speech is still very, very basic - but improving.


  • And perhaps allow a little extra time to peruse the duty free shop? It's one of the best anywhere, and if your taste extends to the finest in fermented fluids, they have them, yea even Highland Park and Lagavulin, to name but two that the whisky gods look upon with special favour.
  • Safe journey, Piglet.
    It’s very quiet here, eldest is back at uni and husband is in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronic Show so it’s just me and the 15 year old, who only talks to the computer. Today I did some studying in preparation for starting the literature review for my research - yikes!
    Just put some potato wedges in the oven, which we will have with sea bream and cheesy fried cabbage.
  • Wishing you a good journey back, piglet.
    I’m about to drop Kid A at the theatre in town for her first ever show (on the stage, that is). There’s been a lot of pacing up and down. I so hope it goes well...
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    We've had a squishy few weeks as Mr F has tooth trouble. Fond as I am of fish, mash, pasta, eggs etc, I could do look at something to go with a red.

    I am accordingly casseroling the bejabers out of some beef in red wine with mushrooms.
  • Poor Mr F - I shudder at the thought of Tooth Trouble...

    The casserole sounds tasty, though.

    Safe flight, @Piglet.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    Safe travels @piglet.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Thanks for the well-wishes, and hope Mr. F's toothache is short-lived!

    Mmm ... beef in red wine with mushrooms ... :)

    I treated myself to supper in the hotel, and it was really quite OK. I went "old school" and had breaded mushrooms with aioli followed by scampi and chips (neither of which you see very often on Canadian menus), washed down with a glass of NZ Sauvignon Blanc. It wasn't usually available by the glass, but they'd run out of the Chilean one which was, and substituted it at no extra cost - happy piglet!
  • A little victory to speed you on your way - hopefully a good omen :smile:
  • Hoorah for wine by the glass, and scampi.
  • What a miserably poor, small, and mean, portion! I hope you didn't pay more than 2/6d for it...

    WINE by the basket really doesn't work. It's the gaps, you know...

    (A local pub, back in the Days Of My Yoof, once advertised 'Chicken SOUP in a Basket', but I never found out if they were serious, or if it was a typo...)
  • It's quite practical given the right kind of basket: http://tiny.cc/2yzhiz

    I have had, in Romania, soup served in a loaf of bread: http://tiny.cc/z0zhiz. And very nice it was.
  • Now, that SOUP in bread looks very appetising. It must be time for lunch...
  • A delicatessen just down the road from me serves soup in a loaf of bread. A friend with whom I sometimes go there for lunch always has it.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Tim Horton's used to serve a sort of cottage pie in a hollowed-out loaf. Which reminds me - I've been back in Canada for four hours, and haven't had a Timmy's yet - if there's one in Montreal Airport, it's very well hidden ... :flushed:
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    Clearly, it's Timmy Time!

    Welcome back to Maple Leaf Land! :)
  • Piglet wrote: »
    Tim Horton's used to serve a sort of cottage pie in a hollowed-out loaf. Which reminds me - I've been back in Canada for four hours, and haven't had a Timmy's yet - if there's one in Montreal Airport, it's very well hidden ... :flushed:
    You may be pleased to know that there are 12 branches in Scotland, though the nearest ones to Edinburgh are Dunfermline and Stenhousmuir (most are around Glasgow).

  • Bunny chow is a South African curry served in a hollowed-out loaf ... mmmmm...
  • We had an excellent butternut squash soup a couple of weeks ago which you eat with a knife and fork! Mrs S thought it a bit too solid but I thought it was perfect. Bread went well,but you couldn't push bread into it easily!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Home safe and sound, after a very long day yesterday - my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. UK time (1:30 a.m. New Brunswick time), and I got back at about midnight (NB time), so it was almost a 24-hour trip.

    I did sleep briefly en route across the Atlantic, but aeroplane sleep isn't really proper sleep, and just makes your eyes gritty and your mouth feel that you want to clean your teeth (which you can't because they won't let you take toothpaste on the plane ...).

    However, all the connections connected, and I managed not to get lost (and neither did my luggage), so now I've had about 9 hours' sleep, I'm almost myself again.

    Have now replenished fridge, larder and wine-rack, and there's a batch of bread doing its thing in the machine, so things are almost back to old clothes and porridge.

    The current offer on the château has now got to the stage of an inspection: I've to let an inspector in at 8 o'clock on Tuesday morning, and at some point get off-side before the Potential Buyer arrives to find out what he says. It's a step further than the previous offers have got, but I'm still wary of starting to pack things up, even though the closing date is the 22nd, which is frighteningly close; if it falls through, I'll still be living in the place and needing to use my belongings.
  • Trotters crossed for you, @Piglet !
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