There's a man waving not drowning

I was out doing a take on this morning and popped out in the garden to take some photos when I heard a shout from high up. Actually it was more of an "Oi, oi!" which made me think I might see someone mooning on a roof.

Thank goodness it was just this guy waving at me to take a picture of him and make him famous. I didn't catch his name......

Pig? Pig? Where?

I did a viewing at a property in Abingdon today which we have described as much like a Volvo from the nineties: boxy but big inside with loads of storage space.

It is a true maisonette with two floors and stairs inside to get up stairs to bed. It isn't on the ground floor, it starts on the first floor. As such it doesn't have a garden but it does have a large kind of roof terrace.

I was leaving this maisonette when I heard some snuffling and thought that I could hear a dog next door sniffing to see if I had a bone in my sock or something, but no!



It was a pig. Who on earth keeps a pig in a maisonette?

Feeling like Tom Cruise in every film he has ever done.

So he was a cocktail maker and a pretty good cocktail maker too, til he had a crisis of confidence and couldn't make cocktails any more... Then he meets a good looking woman who talks him into being a better cocktail maker.

So he was a fighter pilot, and a pretty good fighter pilot too til he had a crisis of confidence......

If you haven't seen Rich Hall on Live at the Apollo you should look him up on youtube or the BBC. This sketch about Tom Cruise is really funny.

I'm a man in lettings, and a pretty good man in lettings too but I'm having a crisis of confidence. I went out last week for our office Christmas dinner with the folks from Redmayne Bentley downstairs and the chap from the office next door. We went to Kitsons which is ok but I came home feeling like I needed a sandwich or something. The head of RB commented on how good I look in a suit (my dear wife thinks so too...) and how she thought I would get more business if I wore a suit every day.

If you have ever met me in real life you will know that I don't wear a suit every day. I used to when I worked in the corporate place but I chose not to when I started BlueDoor. I like the freedom of a short sleeved shirt in summer and a wool v-neck jumper in winter paired with fine wool trousers but I have also been known to do business in jeans.

Maybe I would get more business if I wore a suit? Could it be true? I don't know.

Since starting BlueDoor I have never failed to get an instruction from a prospective landlord. When I did the corporate thing one or two did get away despite the suit wearing so I'm not sure the theory holds water.

My co-director says it is more about me than the suits and more about the prices than the ties or the cuff links.

Mmmmm what to do? What do you think? Don't suggest that I need a good looking woman - if I look for another one I'll get in trouble!

Topical Tip of the month

It is freezing some nights isn't it? If you are cold, your pipes are too and if you drink the water from the bathroom tap in the middle of the night you might freeze your teeth! Brrrr.

Here are some tips from Direct Line insurers

• Insulate your pipes with preformed insulation, and replace the washers on any dripping taps - if the taps freeze, the pipe will get blocked.

• Know where your water valves are, and learn how to shut them off in case a pipe does burst.

• In very cold weather the heating will need to be on low, or set to come on a couple of times a day, especially if you're going away.

• Open the loft trapdoor on cold days to let heat in.

Click here to read more about protecting your home from leaks caused by burst pipes.

We Simpsons are about as frugal as you can be in lots of ways but we don't scrimp on keeping the house warm enough to keep the water flowing through the pipes. We don't have it like the Bahamas though! We use an oil filled radiator in our living room, freeze in the kitchen and get under the feather duvet at night but we keep the heating switched to constant and the thermostat on about 12-15 most of the time A few nights this month we have heard it click and the heating come on inthe small hours but this is a GOOD thing.

Keeping the chill off the house while you are at work means that it warms up more quickly when you get home. Your central heating switching on and switching off is good for the boiler and keeps it all from seizing up through lack of use.

If the bills worry you then save money elsewhere by taking a packed lunch to work, leaving your car at home when you can and asking your Mum or Gran for some tips on cooking from scratch to save on all those take aways!

Water going places it shouldn't can lead to scenes like this:

Thames Water had a broken pipe under the ground in front of this flat. The grass and weeds there grew like...grass and weeds but the flat was also curiously damp despite there being no leaks from anything inside and the shower pressure was very low. After investigating all possible causes we ended up calling Thames Water to check the pressure on the water main.

They found a crack and got some men out to fix it the same day. Thanks to our dehumidifiers the flat is now nice and dry and the problem is solved. Who'd have thought one call could make diggers appear so quickly! If only everything could be fixed so swiftly and without a bill to the landlord!

Board Stupid?
or
Board Silly?

Free Advertising? Nothing is life is free my friends, someone has to pay and it is likely to be you as you are the only people giving agents any money! Do you want to pay for this stuff that visually litters our streets then can end up abandoned like these boards?

We don't do boards, we don't do flash cars, we don't do plasma window displays and we don't do suits. We are unusual but what we do works just as well as all those other companies who are spending all your money on power hungry window displays and gas guzzling cars.

If you want to go greener you should think BLUE. Call us for a market appraisal and we will call or email you then fro then on communicate with you using as little paper as possible. When we do need to write to you it will be on recycled paper.

We will encourage your tenants to use kerbside recycling and energy efficient light bulbs. We will fit a Carbon Monoxide detector in your property not because anything with 'Carbon' in the title is cool nowadays but because we value your tenants lives.

Blue Door Unusual and green

Builders, who'd 'ave 'em?

I met a landlord at a brand new property yesterday and instead of being greeted by a smiling face I found him hopping mad.

'There's a stool in the bathroom' he said.
'Oh, that's useful for a bathroom isn't it?' said I wondering what had got him so angry.
'No, a STOOL, a sh*t' he shouts and I finally got it.
'Bloody builders taking bloody liberties' he ranted.

Lost for a suitable reply I said 'The toilet works ok doesn't it? Shall I check?'

And there it was with no sign of toilet paper either. Ewwww.

In my professional capacity I have only needed to use a vendor's toilet once and I can assure you that I asked for her permission, used the outside toilet and went to great lengths to ensure that it would be as if I had never been there.

My dad was a builder and used to think nothing of peeing in a sink. What can I say?

Join the Rush

Oh dear!

Landlords are in such a rush to instruct bluedoor that they will abandon their cars anywhere.

Poor parking courtesy of the car park at Waitrose Abingdon. The most expensive and mouth-wateringly tempting corner shop in the world.

No one was injured in the taking of this photo.