Living by the seaside.....thoughts and things...............

Saturday, 31 October 2009

Snowflakes


I've been making these snowflakes out of beads for a swap on Swap-bot. It's fun to do and you can use up all your old bead oddments.....

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Saturday, 24 October 2009

Selling the car

So, the old car went wrong and we wanted to sell it. We thought we'd try "Webuyanycar.com" because, well, they said they buy any car. What an odd experience that was.

You go to their website and put in your postcode and they tell you your nearest branch. Ours was in Bristol. then you phone and make an appointment. When we got there, it wasn't a garage, or place of business, but a rented room in a conference centre. The people outside looked pretty disgruntled and were driving away in their cars, so they obviously hadn't sold them

We'd looked up the price of our car on Auto Trader and they said £1,800. obviously, that wasn't taking off the cost of the work it needed doing to it.

So, we waited for our turn and a kid salesman type in a suit, who obviously knew nothing about cars, had a quick look, (didn't even lift the bonnet) and offered us £400 quid, minus £20 for their processing.

Now bear in mind, at this stage we hadn't told him about the work the car would need doing on it, he was basing that estimate just on a quick glance assuming it was in running order and trying to offer us less than a third of the actual street value. I suppose they must trade on people being desperate for the cash. In fact, that was probably all the car was worth but we were so indignant about the attempt to rip us off that we said no. At no time did they ask about the mechanics of the car, just not interested.

And now, exactly a week later, they have phoned us back and asked what is the minimum price we would take. I guess that's how they work? offer a ridiculously low price in the hope some may accept and then negotiate later with the others, in the hope the 7 days in between will make you more anxious to sell?

We said £750 and he said he would call back in 15 minutes, but he hasn't. Maybe the price is still too high for them but I think it's more likely they allow another  'delay' in order to make us more likely to get anxious and accept their next offer.

We are just going to take it t a local garage, tell them what's wrong with it and accept what they give us. Should have done that in the first place but we thought this lot might be quicker.

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Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Upcycled crafts

The buzz in the craft world at the moment is upcycling. That is making your crafts from stuff that would usually end up at the tip. Of course that's not new. Us crafters have always re-used, like our patchwork and rag rugs.

But the fashion now is for your crafts to proudly show their humble origins. Cereal boxes, drinks cans etc all proudly showing their labels in the finished product. And very good they can be too. This robot with re-cycled teeth is great tooth bot .

But you know I'm not as committed to going green and doing it myself as I should be, and I have been known to venture into Marks and Spencers.

So I have to say that some of  the creations can look a bit post-apocalypse. They remind me of that settlement in Waterworld after the flooding...

You get: Capri-Sun handbags,  
starburst wrapper bracelets,
crisp keyrings
and
purses made out of milk cartons

And if you think I'm being bitchy, meet the people on this site and their comments on the worst craft for sale on Etsy.But be warned, some of the content is very adult......     Regretsy  


Hope they never find one of mine

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Tuesday, 6 October 2009

One of my Bookcrossing releases has been found!

I like the bookcrossing site. You register books on the site, get an individual number, then leave them in a public place and hope that whoever picks them up will go to the site and record their find and leave them somewhere else, for the next reader.

 I haven't been on there for years, but I've been having a sort out and I've given loads of books to the charity shops and jumble sales so I thought I'd bookcross a few.

So I looked at my profile......and someone has found one of my books!
 It was Mr Murder by Dean Koontz. I left it on the train at Bristol in May 2006, and a lady found it in a second-hand shop in Maesteg Mid Glamorgan in August 2008!

I wonder who read it in between? She said she will pass it on to her daugter, who will pass it on to a friend. It's the first find I've ever had recorded.

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