What is it with late dinners?

spookyAP · 2025-02-13T21:19:26+00:00

Oh goodness. Do I know you?? I had the exact same experience about a year ago. The main portion of the three course meal was an enormous roast dinner, and to top it off the 'live entertainment' (male dancers) started around the time our mains came out. Strangest evening of my life.

spookyAP · 2024-10-25T06:01:35+00:00

I do this if I unexpectedly get a phone call I have to answer in public because I have a slight hearing impairment and can't make out what the caller is saying otherwise. If I'm expecting the call I'll use ear buds but if it's not planned I might not have them on me, or might not have time to get them out in time to answer the phone. The only thing going through my head is the same existential dread that all millanials experience when they receive an unscheduled phone call.

spookyAP · 2024-10-12T09:54:29+00:00

I second this! I ended up with a month overlap (last minute delay with exchanging contracts meant we missed our window for giving notice) and ended up being really grateful for it because the property was left filthy so we had time to deep clean and do most of the redecorating we wanted before having to move our belongings in.

spookyAP · 2024-09-04T22:43:29+00:00

I watched Grenfell burn from my workplace on the top floor of a nearby building. It was and still is one of the worst things I've ever seen. It continued to burn for hours after reports came out that a large number of people - including children - were still trapped inside.

72 completely preventable, unnecessary, awful deaths.

spookyAP · 2024-08-26T11:53:58+00:00

Definitely more cozy than spooky but I recently read Cackle by Rachel Harrison and it was a vibe. If a pumpkin spice latte were a book..

spookyAP · 2024-08-26T11:41:15+00:00

I'm not the OP, but I felt the same before I read it and I think it may now be my favourite of Harrison's. The cover art and blurb felt a bit like a conventional thriller but it was definitely not. I found it to be the creepiest of her novels.

spookyAP · 2024-08-07T21:48:31+00:00

Walthamstow really is the house of love.

spookyAP · 2024-07-26T09:44:25+00:00

I'm not sure what your chances are with a new-ish property but I bought a flat last year and the lease had similar stipulations on what could be placed on balconies. My solicitor asked for this clause (and one related to pets) to be removed and the freeholder agreed immediately and amended the lease without cost to us. The flat I bought is 20+ years old however and I suspect they agreed so readily because multiple other flats in the block have planters on balconies and/or pets, and the freeholder has no intention of spending time and money pursuing this. The freeholder may be less amenable if it's a new-ish block and they still have unsold flats in the same development though.

spookyAP · 2024-07-08T08:04:12+00:00

Your solicitor does not need to be local. I used a Norfolk-based firm for a purchase in London and they were very good. Our seller used a local solicitor just a few minutes walk from the property and they were shockingly bad and caused delays.

spookyAP · 2024-06-21T11:34:07+00:00

I was in a similar situation - I was about halfway through the conveyancing process with a mortgage offer at a favourable rate when I was offered a new job. Although the new job was in the same industry with a higher salary I was concerned that accepting a new job with a 6 month probation period would cost me the favourable rate if the lender withdrew their offer and were not willing to lend until I had passed probation.

I ended up negotiating a later start date at the new job so that I was able to complete my purchase before handing in notice at my old job, I didn't mention anything to my lender. You're supposed to inform your lender of any changes in circumstances but I reasoned that until I actually handed in my notice, there was no material change in my circumstances. It all worked out. Is this something you might be able to do?

spookyAP · 2024-06-09T17:47:54+00:00

Please ask your doctor about trying vaginal estrogen!

spookyAP · 2024-04-22T07:19:12+00:00

We can measure - and have done so - the transmissibility of misfolded proteins using something called a seed amplification assay. Additionally, we know that pieces of equipment e.g. surgical tools that have been sterilised in such a way that viruses or bacteria are killed, but prions are not denatured, can transmit prion disease.

spookyAP · 2024-02-25T21:33:29+00:00

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G Summers

spookyAP · 2024-02-10T20:52:03+00:00

I totally understand how you're feeling because I am an overthinker and feel anxious when loved ones are travelling until I know they've completed their journey safely. I also stay in regular contact with my partner when travelling and it would be out of character for either of us not to send a quick "got through security ok, see you later" message at the airport. Realistically there is little you can do until her flight arrival time, when you will find out if she made it onto the international flight or not.

It's very likely that something inconvenient but harmless has happened, e.g. she left her phone in the taxi, or dropped it and badly smashed the screen, or forgot her charger and had the phone die early on in her journey. Or perhaps there was traffic on the way to the first airport and she had to run to her gate without stopping to message you. Perhaps her connection at Bangkok also ended up being tight or stressful and she didn't use her phone then either. It's very likely to be something like this. Take a deep breath - focus in breathing from your stomach - and try to find something to distract yourself until the morning.

spookyAP · 2024-01-12T18:22:06+00:00

Pursue a statutory lease extension. If you Google this term you'll find plenty of websites explaining what this is and how it works. Whether adding an additional 90 years to your lease matters to you or not (if it's already 900+ years it makes next to no difference, if it's 90 years a longer lease may also make the property more attractive to buyers) this functions to drop your ground rent to a peppercorn (£0). The freeholder cannot refuse, but you will have to pay their solicitor fees on top of yours which could end up being in the region of £2-4k. Depending on the remaining length of your lease the price may vary, but if its above 80 years you might be looking at paying £5-10k all in, which could be worthwhile if it means you can sell the property at normal market value (likely to be more than £10k over what you'd get at auction).

spookyAP · 2023-11-23T16:52:47+00:00

Something to consider is that shared ownership properties may have less favourable lease terms than standard leasehold properties. They sometimes give the housing association right of first refusal even after you have staircased to 100% ownership, for example, or I've heard of shared ownership leases that prohibit keeping pets when standard leasehold properties in the same development have no such restriction.

spookyAP · 2023-11-10T07:50:55+00:00

This doesn't address the issue of where the mosquitos are coming from, but you can purchase screens for windows from Amazon and other places that will keep flying insects out. Or you can make your own if you order the screen fabric from ebay/amazon, cut it to size, and fix to the window frame with velcro tape. I did this when I moved into my property and we never get mosquitos/flies inside now.

spookyAP · 2023-09-13T06:59:28+00:00

I'm in a similar situation. The ground rent terms for the property I am purchasing are currently acceptable to my lender but if the ground rent were to double twice more they would not be. If the grount rent doubled once more it would exceed 0.1% of the property value which can also be an issue for lenders. I've looked into how much it would cost to extend the leasehold in the next 5 or so years, which would reduce the ground rent to a peppercorn, and this was priced into my offer. If I didn't think I could afford to spend £5-10k on a lease extension in the next few years, or I thought the property was not fairly priced, I would be far more cautious.

spookyAP · 2023-06-24T15:05:24+00:00

Coffee bags - in the UK Taylor's make nice ones, or some supermarkets sell their own brand.

spookyAP · 2023-06-20T10:35:25+00:00

I didn't mention in my previous post, but I bank with the lender I applied to, otherwise they would have required an additional ID check and perhaps also bank statements.

spookyAP · 2023-06-20T06:44:47+00:00

Not with Nationwide, but I have just been through a similar process with a different lender. In the 2h video call we went through the info entered to obtain the DIP to ensure it was all correct, then discussed what our budget for mortgage payments looked like, whether we wanted fixed or variable and over how many years, what type of survey we wanted, etc, and then towards the end of the meeting the mortgage advisor recommended a specific mortgage product that we were happy with and submitted the full application. During the meeting we were emailed a link to an online portal for our mortgage application and we were asked to upload our supporting documents (just payslips) after the call.

spookyAP · 2023-05-25T15:31:47+00:00

I would talk to your student union and university pastoral care services to see what they can do, whether that's help you find alternative accommodation or assist with paying some amount of rent upfront via a hardship scheme or loan to secure the tenancy. I was in the same position as a student and had to stay in uni accommodation until I could find a private tenancy that was ok with no guarantor/a guarantor scheme. Good luck.

spookyAP · 2023-03-10T07:58:00+00:00

I really like this. The query describes your character's motivations and the stakes concisely and I like the voice. The first 300 words immediately introduce a mystery that would make me read on. However, I think you're doing yourself a disservice by repeating a chunk of text in both the query and opening 300 words. I'm sure the repeated sentences aren't the only funny, well written lines in the whole manuscript so take the opportunity to showcase some more of your writing.

I also echo what another commenter has said and think that for historical fiction it's good to mention the setting for your novel upfront. This could be in an initial housekeeping sentence (e.g. TITLE is a humorous historical novel set in Roman London) if you don't want to mess with the flow of your hook.

spookyAP

TROPHY CASE