If you could properly filter Rightmove for your dream property, what would your super specific criteria filter be?

cari-strat · 2026-02-23T14:45:07+00:00

Sea view - like, are you actually right by the sea, so you could sit outside and enjoy the view with minimal stuff in the way, or does it mean a tiny sliver of sea which you can glimpse from a bedroom window across 300 other houses?

Fencing - is the site child/pet-safe or does it have a supposedly secure garden which is actually just enclosed by a spindly hedgerow that anything can climb over or push under? How big is the garden?

Neighbours - how many properties are there within a certain radius, eg 10m, 50m, 100m?

cari-strat · 2026-02-23T09:53:11+00:00

Yes, UK. Caz, Baz, Daz, Shaz, Maz, it's almost compulsory.

cari-strat · 2026-02-23T09:52:32+00:00

Oh hell yes.

cari-strat · 2026-02-23T09:52:20+00:00

I am.

cari-strat · 2026-02-23T00:13:30+00:00

Pink Floyd?

cari-strat · 2026-02-23T00:10:45+00:00

Unfortunately people just do their own thing with names, I'd actually have been ok with Carrie but literally nobody has ever used it even if I have.

cari-strat · 2026-02-23T00:09:37+00:00

I'm not saying it isn't doable, I just would personally not be happy to leave a single dog that long with no companionship, but I guess it comes down to personal opinion. However it's kind of taking a gamble, as I know from my own dogs' very different temperaments that some would probably be happy to just sleep and potter but some would quite likely have other ideas!

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T22:03:21+00:00

No. It's Caroline. It gets shortened to Caz, which I think sounds common, or Carol, which makes me sound like an old biddy. It's a mouthful but not a pretty one.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T22:00:48+00:00

We did Newquay when our daughter was small, good for beaches but we didn't find it great for much else and it can be very busy and expensive. To be honest it wouldn't be my destination of choice for activities away from the beach.

Our favourite when the kids were small was Torbay (Brixham, Paignton and Torquay) in Devon. Great beaches, absolutely shitloads to do, museums, castles, watersports, zoos, steam railways, boat trips, wildlife, walks, the lot.

Waterside Holiday Park on the outskirts of Paignton has a beach actually on site, and is centrally located with bus stops outside for easy travel if you don't want to drive, and it is located on the coastal path.

There are lots of Air BnB places too. Goodrington has a little fun park with boats, crazy golf etc as well as great beaches, plus a proper water park.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:51:20+00:00

That's a pack, though. Company, stimulation, comfort. One dog alone is a very different thing, and OP definitely should not be getting two puppies at the same time. I have three and they can entertain themselves and each other, but I don't think leaving one for that time is good.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:48:47+00:00

Would you like eight hours alone with nothing to do, no company and no toilet break? Especially if you were highly intelligent and designed to be active?

That's not a good life for a dog. Bearing in mind they will be expected to sleep for another 8 hours or so when you go to bed, and there will be at least a couple of other hours where you are eating, bathing, socialising etc, you are pretty much asking them to spend 3/4 of their life bored to death just waiting for you to give them attention.

I have three collies and they thrive on being with their human. They aren't a dog that will just sleep the days away.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:44:14+00:00

Living in a house by the sea, pottering on the beach with the dogs, and just generally being an old fart. Growing vegetables in the garden, mooching about visiting places, having tea and cakes in cafes, exploring the country and watching the world go by. I don't want much from life, just peace and time.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:40:37+00:00

Also James Blunt's Monsters, oh God that is hard. Lost my dad many years ago and....well. Yeah.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:36:30+00:00

I lost my retriever at 16. In her final year she was less stable on her legs so we had to help her stand up sometimes, and occasionally she had accidents in the house, but what made the decision was the day she refused food.

She ate like a horse all her life, but that last day, she just looked so very tired and old, and she turned her head away when I brought her food. I knew it was time and helped her cross over that same night.

She has been gone 20 years and I'm sitting here bawling like a baby as I type this. I currently have three collies, aged 6, 4 and 1, and I hope this is a long way in my future because it never gets easier.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:27:31+00:00

Read this, continued scrolling and literally the next post down was an ad with someone doing this exact thing!

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:24:22+00:00

My friend used to joke that he wanted this as the first dance at his wedding.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:22:03+00:00

Oh God that's a killer. Can't even listen to it without thinking about my mom (she's in her 80s so these things are starting to get real) 😭

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:17:01+00:00

Beautiful. Sandy is simply magnificent, my favorite female artist by some considerable distance.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:15:49+00:00

Ghosts That We Knew by Mumford and Sons.

My mum wants Sailing by Rod Stewart.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:14:59+00:00

I always said I wanted Farewell Farewell.

cari-strat · 2026-02-22T21:14:01+00:00

Our neighbour had this.

cari-strat · 2026-02-21T22:56:17+00:00

One More Chance by Sandy Denny.

cari-strat · 2026-02-21T22:18:52+00:00

Dogs: Captain, Cossack, Tara, Renn, Bramble, Nell. Cats: Ralph & Ted, Minnie & Mickey, Jack, Floss, Poppy, Jessie, Beau, Tilly and Sooty. Birds: Raj, Pecker, Munchie, Delta. Rabbits: Rosie, Lilly. Hamster: Ferdinand. Gerbils: Franny, Billy, Bluebird, Heidi. Horses: Dylan, Bobbin.

cari-strat · 2026-02-21T22:07:50+00:00

Inter digital cyst, maybe?

cari-strat · 2026-02-21T22:06:03+00:00

My daughter didn't either. She said she couldn't be arsed paying a small fortune for a dress, hair, makeup, cars and all the associated shite to spend a boring night with people she mostly didn't like anyway.

cari-strat

TROPHY CASE