Ebay And Shopping.

[Puffer]

8 hours ago, FastFreddy2 said:

I haven't been for a couple of years, if not a bit longer. I am overdue a visit, if for no other reason than to acquaint myself with the promenade while riding a bicycle. I've tried to use Google Street to find the gaff I used to go to for a veggie breakfast, with no success. I'm hoping my male based DNA is still good enough to locate the street from memory.... What memory?  

I find Soho quite an entertaining place, though I also recognise what seems to be an 'air' of menace too. Islington is a big place. Were it not for the parking, I might still visit two restaurants we used to frequent just off of Upper Street. 'Discovered' some time ago, while reminiscing the whereabouts of Covergirl (the shop).  

With the increasing number of people arriving on our shores, both legal and illegal, this can only get worse. I am SURE, we will be reading about families sharing homes soon, if it doesn't happen already. I very nearly converted my current abode to a 'home+granny annex' but got talked out of it by Mrs Freddy, probably with good reason at the time.

...

This may be the veggie eatery:  http://www.foodforfriends.com/   I've not eaten there but have a feeling it may have moved premises in recent times, which could explain your inability to find it.   There are other veggie establishments in the North Laine area (e.g. in North Road).

Yes, Soho can be entertaining, but the dirt, the sleaze and the rip-offs are off-putting.   (Alas, also true of most of the West End and many other areas of London.)   I don't dislike Islington - it has character and variety with (still) something of a 'village' atmosphere - but I would not feel at home there, given the attitude/activities of many of the residents or the council.   Cover Girl was originally midway in Upper Street and finally off it in Cross Street.

My mum-in-law is becoming more and more immobile and somewhat forgetful.   She lives alone (widowed in 2013) and relies on my wife and others to do shopping etc; we live 35 miles away.   We're currently exploring possibility of selling her house so she can move into flat bought in 'assisted housing' near us.   This is what she favours but I would not be unhappy with her living in our basement (which would need very little work to make it a self-contained granny flat) but she would lack the degree of attention and company she needs.   Such an arrangement is not uncommon of course and I can also quite see a reversion to the 'traditional' arrangement of a young couple lodging with parents until they could get/afford a foot on the housing ladder, given the growing shortage of affordable housing and the effort needed to raise even a deposit.   And (I read today) some Welsh councils are charging double council tax on 'second homes' as an attempt to release them for family occupancy - a very unfair ploy which I hope will not escalate.

[FastFreddy2]

3 hours ago, Puffer said:

This may be the veggie eatery:  http://www.foodforfriends.com/   I've not eaten there but have a feeling it may have moved premises in recent times, which could explain your inability to find it.   There are other veggie establishments in the North Laine area (e.g. in North Road).

Sadly, that is not it. I'm not sure if it was a 'veggie' gaff, but the brekkie I travelled a 100 miles for, was a veritable 'veggie' feast that meant I ate little else all day.

From what I remember ..... It was 3 or 4 hundred yards up a street, perpendicular to the beach BUT, the road didn't lead directly to the main road that runs the length of the promenade. It was also to the West of the pier. The café façade was painted a dark maroon, that could be described as 'the colour of dried blood', and might have been next to another eatery that was much busier. Not far up from these two was a junction with a road that ran parallel to the promenade. The road outside the café ran down a slope that led toward the beach, and toward the bottom of the slope was (i recalled) a tattoo parlour. While writing, I realise it may have been a piecing parlour, as I distinctly remember seeing this type of jewellery displayed in what was a black (pseudo gothic) façade? They didn't open on Sundays. At the time, I parked in the road almost opposite the café, where doubtless yellow lines now live.

For some reason, I'm thinking the word "Rose" might have been part of their name? Might fit in with the colour scheme.

 

Quote

My mum-in-law is becoming more and more immobile and somewhat forgetful.   She lives alone (widowed in 2013) and relies on my wife and others to do shopping etc; we live 35 miles away.   We're currently exploring possibility of selling her house so she can move into flat bought in 'assisted housing' near us.   This is what she favours but I would not be unhappy with her living in our basement (which would need very little work to make it a self-contained granny flat) but she would lack the degree of attention and company she needs.   Such an arrangement is not uncommon of course and I can also quite see a reversion to the 'traditional' arrangement of a young couple lodging with parents until they could get/afford a foot on the housing ladder, given the growing shortage of affordable housing and the effort needed to raise even a deposit.   And (I read today) some Welsh councils are charging double council tax on 'second homes' as an attempt to release them for family occupancy - a very unfair ploy which I hope will not escalate.

I had in mind, my parents would live in an annexe close to me, if not next to me. It needed financing, and this was to be done by them 'buying' a property they had paid for several times over during their (then) 45-50 years of residency. My mother wouldn't agree, so she lives alone away from the family and gets infrequent visits.

Had the same idea for the mother-in-law, and to avoid any notion of greed, thought all her children's families could share the mortgage burden (if there was one) with one of the families being able to enjoy a 'leg-up' when the property was sold on - whenever that might be. Nope again. Consequently, these two elderly folk paid council rent for 60+ years with absolutely zilch to show for their money. Worse (IMO) is there is no legacy for their children from the money spent. Yes they got a roof over their heads, but they could have had that and got double their money back (if not more).

 

As for the Welsh over-charging the English on their part-time homes, nothing surprises me there. At least they've stopped burning them down.  

Edited March 23, 2016 by FastFreddy2

[Puffer]

15 hours ago, FastFreddy2 said:

Sadly, that is not it. I'm not sure if it was a 'veggie' gaff, but the brekkie I travelled a 100 miles for, was a veritable 'veggie' feast that meant I ate little else all day.

From what I remember ..... It was 3 or 4 hundred yards up a street, perpendicular to the beach BUT, the road didn't lead directly to the main road that runs the length of the promenade. It was also to the West of the pier. The café façade was painted a dark maroon, that could be described as 'the colour of dried blood', and might have been next to another eatery that was much busier. Not far up from these two was a junction with a road that ran parallel to the promenade. The road outside the café ran down a slope that led toward the beach, and toward the bottom of the slope was (i recalled) a tattoo parlour. While writing, I realise it may have been a piecing parlour, as I distinctly remember seeing this type of jewellery displayed in what was a black (pseudo gothic) façade? They didn't open on Sundays. At the time, I parked in the road almost opposite the café, where doubtless yellow lines now live.

For some reason, I'm thinking the word "Rose" might have been part of their name? Might fit in with the colour scheme.

OK, we must be talking of the area between West Street and Old Steine, south of North Street - 'The Lanes'.   There are all sorts of eateries there but only a couple of north-south streets not extending (more or less) to the seafront road.   There is a tattoo parlour in Boyces Street but that runs east-west.   There is also a tattoo/piercings emporium in Meeting House Lane, which is north-south but largely a (wide) pedestrian thoroughfare.   Is the 'slope' (non-Asian, I assume?) actually onto the lower promenade or merely a roadway that slopes down a little in a southerly direction towards the seafront road?   'Rose' rings no bells in this area.   

One problem is that so many businesses come and go or change names/facades.   Sorry, I can't help more specifically unless you have better evidence.

15 hours ago, FastFreddy2 said:

I had in mind, my parents would live in an annexe close to me, if not next to me. It needed financing, and this was to be done by them 'buying' a property they had paid for several times over during their (then) 45-50 years of residency. My mother wouldn't agree, so she lives alone away from the family and gets infrequent visits.

Had the same idea for the mother-in-law, and to avoid any notion of greed, thought all her children's families could share the mortgage burden (if there was one) with one of the families being able to enjoy a 'leg-up' when the property was sold on - whenever that might be. Nope again. Consequently, these two elderly folk paid council rent for 60+ years with absolutely zilch to show for their money. Worse (IMO) is there is no legacy for their children from the money spent. Yes they got a roof over their heads, but they could have had that and got double their money back (if not more).

As for the Welsh over-charging the English on their part-time homes, nothing surprises me there. At least they've stopped burning them down.  

Your relatives were, sadly, too cautious in their approach - but the good news is they probably neither truly recognised nor cared about their potential gain, despite your efforts.   All too common a scenario, and not just typical of those who have grown up in a 'rental' environment.   My late maternal grandmother (widowed in 1920) lived all her long adult life in a modest but pleasant, if unmodernised, terraced house in a Surrey market town.   She paid a low fixed rent to a landlord with whom she had little contact.   Her youngest daughter and son-in-law had bought their post-war council house on a peaceful estate in the same town as soon as they could, and never looked back.   They then discovered that Nan's landlord was willing to sell her the freehold for a nominal sum (probably well under £1,000 - this was c1965) and suggested to my father (her other son-in-law) that the two couples should buy the freehold between them and carry out some modest improvements, such as putting in an inside bathroom/WC (it had neither).  I think that Nan would then have lived there rent-free (unless social services were paying!) .   My father (also a houseowner) had the means but was never a speculator and refused; my uncle/aunt could not afford the outlay by themselves so the opportunity was lost - to everyone's ultimate detriment.   If it had been 10 years later, I could and would have made the purchase myself without hesitation - and that without knowing that Nan was to die peacefully in 1976, aged 93.

As to the Welsh situation, many of the homes affected are owned by Welsh nationals.   But I well remember the spoof TV advert of a few years ago: Come home to a real fire - buy a cottage in Wales.   Very short-sighted: owners of holiday homes generate a lot of local business when they require building work etc, and they probably eat out and visit local attractions far more than at home.   In effect, they subsidise the local economy whilst getting no council tax discounts and using much less of the council-funded facilities.

[FastFreddy2]

Found it (I think).

 

Rose, Royale, close enough. 

As for the "not being immediately linked to the main road along the promenade", and Piercing Shop, I may be confusing two venues/roads and have remembered them as a single road. 

And as previously surmised, double yellows down both sides of the road. They might have been there years, but I might equally be underestimating how long it's been since I ate there (by some considerable margin). I began my 10 year hiatus from cycling in November 2002, so my previous cycling visit would have pre-dated that. The two business visits I made around that time would have likely pre-dated that too.

My two heeled visits, would have been post 2008 when I started wearing them in public, so likely 2009/2010 (ish), but I would not have been in Brighton early enough on either occasion to have had breakfast. While I didn't remember all that I could have perfectly, locating a venue I last saw 14-15 years ago in a place I'm not that familiar with, ain't too shabby.  Conversely, while she has eaten there too, Mrs Freddy couldn't remember a single thing about the place.... 'Hunter/gatherer DNA", wonderful stuff. 

[Puffer]

Well done!   Preston Street is quite a bit further west than your original area (and description) suggested, so I never considered it.   It is a street of a hundred restaurants and has something for everyone; the 'Curry Garden' (if still there) was a favoured eatery in the mid-70s for me but I doubt it is still the same.   I don't know about double yellows (both sides, all the way?) as it certainly didn't used to have total restriction, with evening parking (if you found a space) perfectly lawful, without borrowing Nan's disabled badge!   Happy days!

[FastFreddy2]

2 hours ago, Puffer said:

Well done!   Preston Street is quite a bit further west than your original area (and description) suggested, so I never considered it.   It is a street of a hundred restaurants and has something for everyone; the 'Curry Garden' (if still there) was a favoured eatery in the mid-70s for me but I doubt it is still the same.   I don't know about double yellows (both sides, all the way?) as it certainly didn't used to have total restriction, with evening parking (if you found a space) perfectly lawful, without borrowing Nan's disabled badge!   Happy days!

I remember parking in that street, with the car in sight. It might have been 2002, and an outing for my new Clio, which was without any doubt a car with the worst build quality of any I've owned. A story for a different thread. 

[Heels]

For couple of months now I have been watching a pair of Zara heels on Ebay. I would post a photo on here but for some reason  downloads are not working at the moment but I think they have been talked about on here.  Wanted to compare other Zara heels (price wise) so I had look on Zara online and I think the seller is asking to much for them.

[FastFreddy2]

2 hours ago, Heels said:

For couple of months now I have been watching a pair of Zara heels on Ebay. I would post a photo on here but for some reason  downloads are not working at the moment but I think they have been talked about on here.  Wanted to compare other Zara heels (price wise) so I had look on Zara online and I think the seller is asking to much for them.

To include a picture of them, first copy the URL of the picture. [Open picture in Google Chrome, right click, select 'Copy image address').

Come back to your post. In 'Edit' mode, click on the option toward the bottom right-hand-side, "Inset other media", then choose "Insert image from URL".

Paste previously copied URL from Ebay listing into pop-up address window. Select "Insert into post". The picture you saw on Ebay, should appear in your post.

No need to download/upload. 

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by FastFreddy2

[Heels]

I could do it that way but I like to collect photos from Ebay anyway. For some reason photos are only downloading halfway and then freezing.

[FastFreddy2]

58 minutes ago, Heels said:

I could do it that way but I like to collect photos from Ebay anyway. For some reason photos are only downloading halfway and then freezing.

In the meantime (while you work out what's going wrong your end), your post doesn't make a lot of sense really?

Don't we all know of some shoes that are being offered at more money than we think the are worth?

These for £60?

 

 

Without a picture, the comment is a bit  .... vague? 

These were the shoes I used as a base for the wedges I 'mocked up' as Russ's "perfect shoe" BTW.

 

[Heels]

Photo of those Zara heels. Seller wants £60 for them. Maybe on the Zara website might be worth £60 but not on Ebay.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by Heels

[FastFreddy2]

You are right. Maybe new from the shop at £59.95, but I'm sure I've seen (new) for £34.50 some time ago.

There is quite a high demand for Zara shoes though I think, as I seldom see them being offered at 'low' (bargain) money.

[Tacchi Alti]

On 28 March 2016 at 9:02 PM, FastFreddy2 said:

In the meantime (while you work out what's going wrong your end), your post doesn't make a lot of sense really?

Don't we all know of some shoes that are being offered at more money than we think the are worth?

These for £60?

 

 

Without a picture, the comment is a bit  .... vague? 

These were the shoes I used as a base for the wedges I 'mocked up' as Russ's "perfect shoe" BTW.

 

Those are the ones I asked the seller a question about and she immediately hiked the price by nearly 50%. I told her I wouldn't buy them on principle because she did that, and she didn't like me calling her sneaky. If I'd just ordered them I'd have got them at the advertised price. I've put a bid on a pair of wedge loafers. Not as high as I'd like (about 3.5 inches) but the only ones anything like what I've been looking for. They come up a bit small for size, apparently, but I'll just have to see whether they fit.

[Heels]

This pair was listed today on Ebay today. Had the seller said what the heel height was i would of bought them straight away but I waited for the seller  to get back to me.  They were sold in the mean time at the bargin price of £14.

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by Heels

[FastFreddy2]

On 10/04/2016 at 7:04 PM, Heels said:

This pair was listed today on Ebay today. Had the seller said what the heel height was i would of bought them straight away but I waited for the seller  to get back to me.  They were sold in the mean time at the bargin price of £14.

 

"Karma", what is meant to be, will be.

Perhaps a more attractive pair will come along soon?

[Heels]

Should of bought there and then.  The heel height did look over 4.5 inch, which I liked and I think I seen another seller sell another pair that went for a higher price.  Like you say, there be another attactive pair come along soon.

 

[Heels]

At long last I have managed to sell those 2 pairs of  New look I been trying to sell for sometime now.  Tried to sell them at £15 last month and had no buyers. Both sold for £10 this time. Made a loss on both pairs but thats Ebay for you.

[FastFreddy2]

I would say auction sites benefit buyers, less so sellers.

I've sold shoes for as little as £6. Time I pack them, get them to a Post Office, have paid seller fees, based on an hourly rate it would be cheaper to just give them away.... Which I have done with some.

 

I struggled to sell a pair that should have gone quickly. I wouldn't be surprised to find I'd been trying to sell them -at decreasing prices- for nearly a year. They were a nice pair of suede (real suede) ankle boots from an international (American) 'brand'. Lovely boots, and the only reason I didn't wear them was a stitched seam crossed a toe joint. A blister was inevitable. They finally went, when I was able to px them against something more expensive with another seller.   

[Heels]

This pair came in the post today. Looked much better in photo on Ebay Going straight back to the seller. Very poorly made as you can see in the photo.

[FastFreddy2]

They look like they are coming apart? Is the sole covering detaching?

[Heels]

47 minutes ago, FastFreddy2 said:

They look like they are coming apart? Is the sole covering detaching?

 

48 minutes ago, FastFreddy2 said:

They look like they are coming apart? Is the sole covering detaching?

Yes, the sole covering is coming apart. Noticed that as soon as I took them out of the box. Might be only a cheap pair at only £14  but I still expect them to have no defects. The two pairs I sold last week which sold for the same amount had  nothing wrong with them, yet alone a major defect as this pair.

[FastFreddy2]

21 hours ago, Heels said:

 

Yes, the sole covering is coming apart. Noticed that as soon as I took them out of the box. Might be only a cheap pair at only £14  but I still expect them to have no defects. The two pairs I sold last week which sold for the same amount had  nothing wrong with them, yet alone a major defect as this pair.

 

I am staggered someone would even try to pass these off as suitable to wear? Reminds me of the woman who sold me a pair of mismatched boots.... Do people not even bother to check what they post I wonder?

Does the auction site now insist the seller now pay for their own return carriage once a S.N.A.D. case has been raised?  

 

[Heels]

8 hours ago, FastFreddy2 said:

 

I am staggered someone would even try to pass these off as suitable to wear? Reminds me of the woman who sold me a pair of mismatched boots.... Do people not even bother to check what they post I wonder?

Does the auction site now insist the seller now pay for their own return carriage once a S.N.A.D. case has been raised?  

 

I always double check any heels I go to sale and so far had to throw away 2 pairs that I thought were unsuitable to wear.

I have just responded to the seller, telling I expect the return carriage to be paid for. To be honest If there any point me in returning these heels. The seller has seen the photo and can't see him trying to sell them on again but thats the seller choice.

[Puffer]

3 hours ago, Heels said:

I always double check any heels I go to sale and so far had to throw away 2 pairs that I thought were unsuitable to wear.

I have just responded to the seller, telling I expect the return carriage to be paid for. To be honest If there any point me in returning these heels. The seller has seen the photo and can't see him trying to sell them on again but thats the seller choice.

If you get any argument, suggest to the seller that either he gives you a full refund of whatever you paid (including shipping to you) and you scrap the shoes or, if he wants them back, he must undertake to pay the return shipping cost as well.   And if he reneges, report him to eBay or PayPal.

[Heels]

Waiting fort he seller to respond to me. Have asked full a full refund including both lots of postage he wants the shoes back. Otherwise Ebay will step in about 6 days time.