I was stunned by this report on the BBC that reveals that the UK house market is overvalued. Stunned in so far as credit rating agency Fitch estimate it’s only by 20%.
Now I’m not exactly stupid but the world of finance and in particular house prices just confuses me. If all house prices rise then the only way I can see to actually make money is to downsize, renovate or move to a less desirable area.
Of course there’s being a house builder, mortgage lender or estate agent but apart from these areas I just can’t see where new wealth is being created.
This morning saw the last BBC Breakfast video podcast of the trial period. I really hope that this trial showed the Beeb that this kind of thing is really popular.
My morning routine is pretty, well, routine I guess. My MBP wakes up about 15 minutes before I do and with a little bit of AppleScript downloads new podcasts and syncs my phone. I was able to watch the news headlines on my own schedule, pausing and restarting while eating my breakfast, showering and generally getting my things together for the day ahead.
The BBC also launched its iPlayer application today. This is along the same lines as Channel 4’s 4oD and allows Windows XP (for now) users to watch BBC TV shows for up to seven days after their initial broadcast. I’m a little peeved that an OS X version isn’t out yet but we’ve been assured there’s one in the works. This is the end result of work that started back in 2003 with the innovative use of P2P technology in the then monikered iMP and I can’t help but feel that the delay in getting this full release out has harmed its appeal.
In case this hasn’t made it to your part of the World, the UK has had a little rain recently. The aptly-named flood plains have obviously flooded and damage estimates are around £2.5bn. Some of the affected house prices in these areas have halved and insurance quotes quadrupled.
However I have been less than shocked by dramatic helicopter footage of rescue workers wading ankle deep through water pulling a dingy behind them. People who have been branding this a “catastrophe”, “disaster” and a “crisis” need a bit of a reality check. As for those suggesting that we need aid from countries like Bangladesh “because we helped them out” . . . sometimes I just despair.
Coincidentally, has anyone else noticed that it hasn’t really stopped raining since Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z) has been number one in the UK charts with “Umbrella” (the first time in a decade that a single has stayed at the top spot for more than 10 weeks). Stop buying it people and lets have some Summer!
An interesting point was raised at last Fridays weekly Edinburgh Web2.0 coffee morning. As usual of late, Facebook was raised at various points and the question was asked if people are spending more time on their social networks instead of updating their blogs.
I’ve also noticed a reduction in phone calls, SMS messages and “social” emails apropos nothing but my recent escapades as (most of) them are recounted through Facebook. However, that may have to change now that more of my work colleagues have been joining my network!
Of course, it may just be my imagination.
Last weekend I participated in the Edinburgh Rat Race which, with hindsight, I actually really enjoyed. I ended up joining up with two random girls to form a hastily put together team as, with a week to go, both of my original team mates had to drop out due to injury and illness. I suffered in the heat, badly underestimated just how much food and water I would need and was very much lantern rouge it has to be said.
Despite my total lack of training due to recovering from shin splints and a dodgy knee (thanks to the Edinburgh 10k two months ago) we finished 58th from over 200 teams.
I’m trying to balance the memory of just how drained I was feeling towards the end against the curiosity of how much of an improvement I could make if I trained properly for a good few months beforehand.
Believe me, I would have liked to launch into a tirade of full-on, no-holds-barred swearing. The kind of swearing that would make a docker blush. The kind that makes you just feel better about things. But annoyingly, I had to curb it somewhat as there were pesky kids around.
I was having another one of those journeys. 45 minutes sat next to a clearly unbalanced, intoxicated, self-titled “street musician” on a slow running train which resulted in a missed connection and a two hour Guinness-fuelled wait in Preston for the next service to Edinburgh. We then had to endure a full 50 minute stand in Carlise due to the police closing the West Coast mainline after a “situation” arose in Abingdon. Eventually we were diverted via Dumfries and a 20 minute wait in Kilmarnock thanks to the questionable genius of having a single line track.
I have to admit that given the current climate (both political and meteorological) I was half-expecting some form of disruption but this entire sequence of events ended up setting a new record of eight hours and 40 minutes for the standard 200 mile journey which usually takes an average of around four hours.
At least I had my trusty MBP with me, loaded with music and movies which proved to be good distraction from my rumbling stomach. Which was left to rumble as the understocked onboard shop rapidly ran out of provisions - although I did manage to grab the last Mars bar and a can of Heineken. Still at least I had plenty of time to sit and think without the distraction of the Internet - I wasn’t even stranded on a Pendolino.