The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: jameslindsay on March 03, 2009, 11:58:55 am
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We decided we would like to add a bedroom extension onto our hotel and so began talks with Fife Council. As the hotel is a Grade 2 listed they said they would never entertain us adding to the original building. So, we went off with our architect and after a lot of research we came up with a beautiful12 bedroom, all en suite building in the shape of a Latvian Lodge. We went to see a building of this nature and they are beautiful and we thought perfect!
However, after many months of fighting and bad manners from the Planners at Fife Council they refused our application and it was sent before the Committee Members of Fife Council. These good people voted in favour of our application - 14 votes for, 2 against. Planning Permission was granted on October. However, it took the planners until the middle of January to send us a letter confirming our approval and of course until you receive written confirmation you cannot go to building warrant.
The planners we dealt with at the council were the most unhelpful and unprofessional bunch of people god put on this earth. They have held us back a year in building and caused us no end of stress. However, it gets more farcical. In January 2008 the Scottish Government past a law saying that any new build must have a lift fitted if more than 1 level - wait for it - just incase we employ any disabled staff!!! Have you ever heard so much crap? How could someone in a wheelchair clean a bedroom, no disrespect to those disabled people. Now surely it contradicts itself when if there is a fire you should not use a lift so how can a disabled person get out??? We are now fighting this crazy decision so fingers crossed. No wonder this country is in the mess we are.
I know this is nothing to do with small holding but I feel that if people say nothing of the mental bureaucracy of this country it will be allowed to go on and get worse. These idiots should not get away with their rudeness.
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Ah, legislation & planners ::) ::) ::)
Don't even get me started ! (Look out for my rants on previous planning posts)
I wish you the best of luck with it James, just try and 'keep the heid' ;)
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hello James ,
the coffee lounge is for any subject (within reason) so no need to worry about it not being about smallholding. However, planning can very much be related to smallholding, so is a very apt subject to discuss. Planning depts. are like a lot of things in the UK nowdays, they have gone off on a tangent , and think they are a law unto themselves. It is (sadly) us who have allowed this to happen . The recession (if it gets bad enough) may in a strange way be a handy thing. I think it could clear out a lot of the superfluous crap and bureaucracy, that has grown out of all proportion to its real function. It will take a long time to happen , and things will need to get much worse , as it is always the bureaurocrats that are the last to be hit, but it could happen ...fingers crossed ;D . In most cases the only way to beat the planners is if you know someone in the dept. or on the council or , you are a very wealthy big developer, who gives out BIG xmas pressies or has a villa in spain for the use of ?????. I have looked into a dozen or so cases of planning permission, where it was given in really strange places or for strange buildings , and every time the people who got the permission were related to councilors (or even were councilors) or were developers or just knew the right people . The planning dept. are on to a good thing ....they must get millions in planning application fees which are turned down , and millions more as back handers. This isn't an off the cuff rant ,my late dad used have a building/mainenance firm that worked mainly for the council . I know what it used to cost him to keep in business and how corrupt it all was and still is . If you can get round all of that , you then hit the jobsworth ....oh my god I hate those ba*stards, instantly get my back up. :o ::) ;D ...still good luck with your enterprise , Bring on the revolution...... :o
cheers
Russ
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Planners should remember that they are not demi-gods, they too have to sit down to have a poo! Just like the rest of us mere mortals!
:farmer:
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You will find a lot of sympathy on here, James. Mine included. I built my own house a few years back after my husband died (previous garden too labour intensive for one person), and before I moved down here near the kids. It was a nightmare - and like yours they were SOOOO RUDE! My plans showed a bay window, one planner said I couldn't have that as it wasn't in keeping with the local style - I lived in a hamlet of 7 houses and there weren't two the same, the village 2 miles away had a variety of styles too - many with bay windows. So I spent half an hour going round photographing them, including one right next door!, and zapped them at her one at a time in emails. She phoned me when about 10 had gone through and asked "what the B H" I was doing. I told her that there wasn't a local style, and that if I couldn't have my bay window I would write to the Head of Planning and cancel my application explaining why - her words were "Oh, you can have your f(lipp)ing bay window now get off my back" Truly!!!!
My house was almost finished when a new planner phoned me and said she'd looked at my plans and the building stage inspections, and that I didn't have permission for the type of chimney I was going to put in and would have to change it before the house was built - it went through the tiles instead of on the apex of the roof. I asked her to come and have a look but she said she was far too busy to see every piece of ground and told me to get my architect to change the plans. I told her the house was already built and she flew off the handle! Anyway, I reported her attitude to her supervisor, got a letter of apology and one of approval in two days. So it's worth challenging these little tin gods. You should hear the stories my friend has while building her eco friendly house - it has taken 4 times longer to go through planning, three times as long to build and easily cost twice s much as mine. And a lot of it is down to planners saying one thing then another one changing things! Rant over! Sorry everyone, one of my favourite subjects is Beat the Planners ;) ;)
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Where are you going from here,James? You possibly get around the lift problem with fitting one of the lifts which can be attached to the stairs...Unfortunately and really sadly with planning a lot of it has to do with who you know...Do you have any names who dealt with your application? :&>
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We haven't tried local planners yet, only for advice and they seemed great......anyway, I found it very hard to understand where we lived in England we face a very pretty Edwardian House, door in the middle and four windows, they then built a huge extension which I did agree with as the village was a local beauty spot, BUT when it was build, the extension had completely different bricks, I thought they may be going to render it as it was also very bad brickwork, the window was a very strange affair and did not match anything anywhere I had seen and the roof was a different angle and of different covering, the extension took well over a year to build and I would not be exaggerating but people passing used to stand and look pointing at things and as we were selling our house at the time, most people asked how they got planning permission in a conservation village....strange in deed, the people were very nice and also wealthy, cannot say too much more as they may be know....How do they do it? And we are thinking af making a tea room so what I wounder would they have in store for us...no money just yet anyway.
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I have started something here eh?
The planner that we dealt with was a Samantha Stone (name and shame). She was a vile creature. She would not return calls, would not answer e mails or communicate. She put obstacle after obstacle in our way and we discredited her attempts every time.
Annie, I am originally from Clackmannan. I have heard that most council planners are bad, not just Fife although my architect thinks they are the worst.
The lift has been quoted at £30k so a lot of money for nothing. This is an obscene law!!!!
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Had forgotten about the tearoom, Sandy - you need to start that in early summer to catch the many visitors. Use that beautiful front room, and do the disabled toilet on a shoe string temporarily. I have a table you can borrow long term that would seat 4 for tea/coffee, although a bit tight for a meal. I'll happily help you get started with business plans etc if you need to get the Bank involved.
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Sounds to me like someone is deliberatly putting obsitlces in your way, how stupid to have to put a lift in, I can understand disbled acsess fair play, and lifts in public buildings, disability can and does happen to us all but as you said someone in wheelchiar would find it VERY difficult to make beds, you could certaily employ disabled people, even people in a wheelchair to do other things, sounds to me you should take the matter further, is your Hotel Big then? We have a B&B and are not planning any extension, could you not say it was for your sole use and chang downstairs rooms to be disabled friendly.......this is nothing to do with me but I am very mad about it myself...stupid..stupid..stupid...off for a strong coffee.
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the lady who lives in teh flat about my house has 5 acres, she has sold 1 acre - adjacent to the canal - to a couple who want to build a bistro and 4 self catering chalets.
1 year later, planning still ahven't made a decision and they have now asked for everything to be resubmitted.
I'm hoping it goes ahead, be nice to have a local 5 mins away. but some of the nonsense they've come away with to delay things is beyond belief. it's made worse by the fact this exact spot (it's by a canal basin where numerous baots can dock and it's currently NEVER used) was identified by the planning authority as somewhere ripe for tourism/leisure development - it's on the canal, it's near muiravonside park, it's on a road - so it's pretty much ideal
but apparently not
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Sellickbhoy - We only have 3 bedrooms at present and spend half the year refusing so much business as we just don't have the rooms. We have incorporated2 specially incorporated rooms on the ground floor for disabled guests and due to the location of the new build it would not be easily accessed by a wheelchair as its on a hill!
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Friends of ours with an eventers business applied for a horse arena, so they could start a riding school. Unfortunately their objecting neighbour had better relationships with "important" people and it was rejected every time under the most pathetic of terms. They ended up selling the house, just keeping the horses for events. I think it is outrageous how small businesses are stung by all this, how is this supposed to be helping anyone? The big shots get away with murder because they have good lawyers. :&>
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After a very stressful day yesterday, guess what I dreamt about? Planning permission for the Hotel and the need for a lift!!!! The sad fact is, small business's cannot afford to make properties ideal for everyone, there should be a fund if the government really want to help disabled people, then, the cost would not be so much of an issue.
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being classed as disabled due to an accident I think I am in a good position to comment on some things disabled. I know there should be some things done to make life easier for disabled people , but there are limits I think . If there has to be this and that and god knows what else , for disabled then what about tall people? I have known quite a few people that had to duck to enter shop doorways or to walk bent over in old pubs, why isn't everything knocked down and changed for them ? or blind people ? no obstacles such as trees or lamp posts or telephone boxes?, or for overweight people ? the list just goes on and on , tall buildings built without windows so that people who suffer from vertigo can use them ? the underground in London moved above ground for those that suffer from a fear of going undergound ( whatever thats called ?) . Most of what goes on now has nothing to do with disablilty, it is good old polical correctness gone mad . If there is one law they should bring in and apply it should be common sense !!!! Will that ever happen ? not in my lifetime, as it would put thousands out of work at a stroke, all the divs making up these bloody stupid laws .
cheers
Russ
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Well done Russ, very well put. Remember this lift is not for disabled guests but INCASE we employ anyone disabled!!!!!!
Sack them all and start again, maybe get ourselves out of the mess we're in.
James
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Right Russ, that sounds far far too sensible, so we'll have none of that nonsense in here. consider yourself warned!! :)
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[glow=red,2,300][color=blue]Woman, 108, gets jury duty call
Mrs Richardson celebrated her 108th birthday with family and friends
A woman who celebrated her 108th birthday at the weekend has been called for jury duty despite being more than 40 years over the age limit.
Marion Richardson, from Airdrie in North Lanarkshire, has told how she had a great laugh when learned she had been selected as a potential juror
[/i] [/glow]
Further example of this country gone mental. This is on the bbc News website[/color]
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lol... I shall go lock myself in the stocks for the day ........ ::)
Political correctness is something I do not suffer from (now theres a suprise !!) and when I have it spouted at me, I have a one word (very unpc) answer !!!! would anyone need three guesses what the word is ?
cheers
Russ
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We sold our old place because we decided it was too much hassle to try and go through the planning ourselves. We submitted outline ourselves, and then they didn't like what we wanted to do so refused detailed.
After we sold, the builder who bought it, managed to get permission for more houses than we were looking for, a revolting "pretend" courtyard development with 4 houses. 2 houses sold within a year, but the remaining 2 didn't sell for years, in which time the owners of the first once had theirs back up for sale! Builders always seem to get the planning permission they want.
Sympathies are with you James!
Beth
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As I understand it firms have to provide facilities for disabled access. It does depend on the size of the firm though, so Barclays bank would have to provide much more in the way of facilities than our small guesthouse. www.kingswood-guesthouse.co.uk I think there may be some confusion between disabled employee and disabled guest. If they stick to the employee line can you argue that a disable employee would only have to clean certain rooms?
We've all had it with planners though at some time, we had an objection from next door about a window, tell the planners you'll go to appeal, this costs them money but not you, at this stage they will often fold. Fortunately in our case the letter of objection called us names and the planners didn't have a leg to stand on after I'd seen that. Yes you can ask to see the objections.
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If someone is so disabled they need a lift to get up stairs would they be physically capable of cleaning rooms?
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We had some work done on our house a couple of years ago which included some re-wiring. Due to regulations all light switches had to be lowered so that wheelchair users could reach them easily. I have no particular problem with that except that it included light switches upstairs - I don't know how anybody with a disability that necessitated the need for wheelchair would ever make it up our stairs!! Fortunately no great cost involved here, but a bit unnecessary. How does the saying go....."The road to hell is paved with good intentions!", or something like that?
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When we built our house we were told to put the light switches at a rediculously low level. Im 6' 5" tall. We argued with the council to no avail. In the end I put them where I wanted them and the architect signed off on it anyway...What a load of old crap councils come up with. If I had to keep bending down to switch on a light I'd have ended up in a damn wheelchair. We have a friend who's disabled and she uses the ramp at the front of the house (we had no difficulty putting that in) as the kids can't trip on it, unlike steps. She can turn on any light switch downstairs with no effort. SO I ask you, was the council right and I wrong?
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Strange indeed, so what about electric sockets, they are usually very difficult for people to plug things in or out of, in the elderly world, or for people with bad backs etc, a socket on the floor line causes great problems...we will end up with rows of sockets and light switches around the middle of the rooms..then people with be knocking them on accidentally and wasting electricity...what ever next?
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The village that I live in has a very corrupt planning system. Those in the settlement area can get permission to build 20 houses on a 2 house plot. Out of this area anyone with a large house can get 40-50%, those with a small house have trouble getting the 25%. If you live in an usual house don't even try to get any sort of planning as they don't like you.
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I suspect this will alienate me on this forum, but I have to say I have been concerned for many years by the Anglicism of Scotland in terms of some of the ridiculous abominations which have been allowed to be built here.
'Brookside Close' type shopping centres have sprung up in many of the new towns, such as Dalgety Bay, Glenrothes, and many others, which were created predominantly for incoming electronics white collar workers who, presumably, had to be catered for so that they would feel comfortable in their little piece of Englandshire up here.
In smallholder terms, there have been allowed so many barn/steading conversions and developments of housing schemes that there are now very few traditional buildings in which to house livestock, and many of the holdings have been built over, or swallowed up by large agricultural businesses, so that now there is not enough land left in small plots to satisfy the needs of those who would seek to feed themselves.
Wildlife has suffered directly as a direct result of the predations of those who deny the importance of maintaining traditional agricultural buildings and practices; barn owls, swallows, swifts, house martins, house sparrows have all gone into severe decline due to the destruction of their habitats and preferred nesting sites.
Some of the buildings which have been allowed to be built in this country are complete eyesores, I cite Aviemore in particular, and should be torn down and replaced by something in keeping with the local materials/designs.
One doesn't have to go far in any direction to see buildings of alien designs sticking out like sore thumbs in my once beautiful landscapes, in many cases occupied by people who have little or nothing to do with others around them, thus fragmenting any sense of community which prevailed before they came with their ideas for change.
The planners may indeed be contentious, and may lack social skills when dealing with applicants, and I certainly don't condone their alleged misuse of power or their disrespectful attitudes but, given the amount of disregard of the rules by those who would build then apply for retrospective permission, or developers who tear down listed buildings then pay a paltry fine before going ahead with their original plans anyway on the strength of backhanders and funny handshakes, I imagine it must be very frustrating to be employed in a planning department.
Scotland has lost its way due to social engineering by the UK government, and is fast becoming just another piece of England, sadly.
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I agree Scotland is becoming another piece of England. Scotland has better social care than England, free prescriptions, free hospital car parking and goodness knows what else, now you have your own parliament don't blame the planning on us !!!!!
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I think its called progress ( :o :'()
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I thought we were 1 "UNION"?
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How many times have we hears of Scottish Bank notes being refused down South.
This is on the BBC News website this morning under "Scotland"
Scots 'hurt' by banknote refusals
Three Scottish banks print their own notes
An MP has told the House of Commons that Scots are "hurt" by the suggestion in shops across the UK that there is "something wrong" with their banknotes.
David Mundell was introducing a bill which would ensure Scots banknotes had to be accepted south of the border.
He said people in his Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency wanted their money to be "accepted and not challenged".
He said it was time to put Scots notes on an "equal footing" with all others.
Mr Mundell told MPs that Scottish people were often "hurt by the implicit suggestion that there's something wrong" with their notes.
I am sceptical that the legislative vehicle is the best way to solve this problem
Angela Eagle
Treasury exchequer secretary
He stressed: "There is no difference in the financial value of Scottish notes."
He said his Scottish Banknotes (Acceptability in the UK) Bill could put an end to notes from the Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank being rejected in other parts of the UK.
"There is absolutely no reason why Scottish notes should be questioned unless there's a substantial reason to believe they are forgeries," said Mr Mundell.
"My constituents want their money to be accepted and not challenged."
Treasury Exchequer Secretary Angela Eagle said she understood how "potentially embarrassing, inconvenient and annoying" it could be to have Scottish banknotes refused.
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Same with Jersey, you can spend UK notes in Jersey not Jersey notes in UK.
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It's absolutely mental, I will accept anyones money as long as it's in Sterling!!!!!
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Doesn't take a lot to wind a Scot up does it. We live in Cumbria and see lots of Scottish notes, we accept them without any problem, we spend them or bank them, no problem again. Go to London with one and you may have problems. It's probably come to light because of the banking crisis and RBS so some people may think they are going to get stuck with a worthless note.
I see this MP wants to introduce legislation to force them to be accepted. Well do we need another law, I think not, does this MP need to do something which will make him look important to his constituents, I think so.
That's what it's all about and if the English and the Scots had any sense they would tell their collective governments to stop squandering money on more rules and regs. and concentrate on providing the services we've paid for.
The latest idea for upping the cost of alcohol in Scotland is another example, you don't need a new law to solve a drinking problem, you just enforce the existing 'drunk and disorderly' one. This however would need courts to deal with offenders and there would be a cost to the government, if they up the price this brings the government money in. Hey presto, which one will the government choose to do ??
My own view on Scotland / England - we've been 'married' for so long and done so much together why get divorced ?
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I agree totally. The government is spending millions of pounds on the under age and binge drinking. However, the real culprits are the supermarkets selling alcohol far cheaper than any wholesaler can and still the supermarkets go unhindered. I just wonder when they will waken up to the problem and realise that the people that want to binge drink will continue to. This country has a massive drug problem, the government spend millions on advertising the evils of drugs and still the drug problem continues. Last year they spent £3million in on go advertising the dangers of carrying knives and today knife crime is on the increase. Now I'm not suggesting we just give up and do nothing but questions have to be asked where do we go from here?
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I don't agree on the drinks issue, James. Alcohol is far cheaper elsewhere on the continent and they don't have the problems we have here, at least not to the same extent. Although binge drinking is on the increase there as well, kids generally seem to learn to drink more sensibly or don't have the same amount of psychological or sociological issues as we have here. Who wants to drink will do so even if it costs a fortune.
Regarding banknotes, we receive disapproving looks here when my mum comes with English notes, as you can't exchange Euros for Scottish ones abroad...At least they take them in the shops. I had coins from Jersey refused here. A lot of this is due to ignorance. Let's have the Euro and all of this is sorted lol. :&>
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I agree with Kirsten - the Euro for the whole country then people will see that our money is as good as anyone else's! I ALWAYS have to get English notes (I'm Treasurer) to take to our Club shows for prizes as they look at the notes as if they were bits of newspaper otherwise. I had every note I bought stuff with when i was down there in February checked under a fraud machine - it's not just hurtful it's damned insulting! And that was in the Midlands - not London! I'm BRITISH, and proud of it. but this makes me mad!
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My own view on Scotland / England - we've been 'married' for so long and done so much together why get divorced ?
:o It was a shotgun wedding..........with the English holding the shotgun.
We were bought and sold for English gold...........sic a parcel o' rogues in a nation.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti English, but I am fiercely pro Scots, and I'm afraid you're right........it doesn't take much to get me going. ;D
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Me too! British, but more Scottish ;)
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Definitely European, not born here, but living here by choice
Think globally, act locally :&>
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On the drinking issue, I do not think more education is going to do much good, it is the modern culture to drink for many people and young people like to do grown up things. One of the main ways to cut down the use of alcohol consumption is encourage hobbies, intrests and sports etc, it may help a little making alcohol more expensive but not a great deal, the way drink is marketed now is very attractive, alco pops, posh cans etc. Young people with no interests meet up with other young people and then are more likely to drink anything that they can get.....I did not drink much at all but started to have a "Martini" before I went on stage as I was in a band, I hated the drink and it did not seem to do anything except make me feel a bit dizzy, but I was told it was the thing to do, needles to say it took me until I was well into my 40's to enjoy a drink or two, it was/is part of my master plan...to try lot's of things when I got to 50 ? not got very far yet.. ;)
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You're a dark horse (no insult intended lol) You never told me about being in a band - what did you play?
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I used to play key boards and went around all the working mens clubs, I was very young looking, we had our groupies. I gave up when I went on a cruise after I left school and the band got other members in so I never went back, funnily enough I noticed some one on face book posted a photo of thier mum and dad and thier dad was one of my replacements. At the same time my cousin, Paul Pryde, was in "the love affiar" but left before thier hit song and formed another group who mad a 70's cult film, Groupie girl, I think with Billy Boyle as director......my cousin want to live up here as he has the same roots as me..he regularly plays with his brilliant band in the highlands. "the drovers inn" my brother was also in many band, namely with finbar fury.........do you want my autograph???????
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I judged at Crufts in 2007 - do you want mine ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Yeh!!! I may get money on E bay...you can have a cut...50/50
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It was a shotgun wedding..........with the English holding the shotgun.
That was then this is now. I'm proud to be English but I've had tears in my eyes at the Edinburgh tattoo.
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But will Scotland ever get Independence??? Personally I doubt it... and hope not.
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Brilliant news! Today we received word from Building Control that they wll not insist we put the damned lift in - £30k saved!!!
James
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Better work quick before another new law is past. 8)
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yes and before the next letter comes , stating that have to convert your building to a bungalow !!!
:o ::) ;D
Russ
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The whole system is a farce!
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I've just heard that the man who bought my old cottage has got permission to change the barn into a house - but there is a restriction on the percentage increase in the hamlet (20% of current stock in any 5 year planning period) he's got the go ahead and and I was told I had to wait till 2011 when the next period starts! I am SOOO mad at him as well because when he moved in he buried all the beautiful plants we had that hadn't yet come through in weed fabric and 3 inches of gravel. Hundreds if not thousands of pounds wasted and plants murdered! I had them all charted and if he'd told me what he wanted to do I could have rescued the plants. URRGGHH
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My GP's surgery has 2 surgeries, 1 in Leuchars and the other in Balmullo. It has 3 full time Dr's and both units dispense the presciptions on site. However, about 6 months ago the tiny post office in Leuchars applied to open on site a chemist dispensary. The entire community went to war against this idea as the post office is far too small, offers no privacy, has no car parking and no disabled facilities. Our Dr's organised a massive campaign against the proposals, their objections being that due to the new dispensary being opposite one of their own surgeries it would have to close down. If the Dr's lost the revenue from the prescriptions they would have to close down one of the surgeries, pay off one of the Full Time Dr's and several receptionists and dispensing people would also loose their job.
However, the Board that makes the decisions to "grant" licences to dispense drugs through the Post Offices application out and both our surgeries were safe. Then, wait for it, the same Glasgow based company that applied for the license the first time, changed their name and reapplied and low and behold yesterday they were granted their licence!!! This beggers belief. One of the partners of the surgery is a friend of ours and he is gob smacked that this has happened. Why????
The Leuchars surgery will have to close, if this madness goes ahead. Balmullo is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and to get a bus there is not very easy so the elderly will really struggle to go see a Dr. Plus if they loose a Dr you will have approx. 10 days to wait for an appointment it is estimated. This country is pure mental and I am sure that the s**t will hit the fan in our community once people learn what has happened this time.
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Funny that the same thing happened in our village GP dispensing meds but then a pharmacy was allowed to set up virtually next door to the surgery. It was stated at the time by the GPs [3] that they would not be able to continue our satelitte practice and that a GP .would have to go without the revenue from the dispensing .Yes a GP did leave he retired but was back within a few weeks doing only a few less hours a week than before. As for the chemist the locals didn't want it but now it's here they love it and the owner although not living in the village has become very much a part of village life joining in with many activities and helping to organise many more.Don't forget the very substantial salaries GPs earn and that they get money for prescriptions no matter who dispenses.
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Surely the answer lies in people power . .. just boycott the new chemist
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With regards to the scottish notes down south, it may just be my childish attitude, one supermarket in particular refuses to except them, so while visiting folks fill up large trolley, after going through checkout hand over my hard earned scottish notes and get told we dont accept those here, my cheery reply, enjoy putting that lot back on the shelves then!! Gives me a chuckle every time.
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That's just the sort of bloody mindedness that really appeals to me! Now eveyone in the office is wondering why I am laughing to myself.
As to planners, there is nothing worse than a jobsworth that can't see the bigger picture. My ad does kitches, staircases, floor boards and windows for conversion and the times planning has been lost because a barn is listed. This means instead of being sensitively preserved the thing falls to ruin, is that the point of lising a building...?!?
James, great news about the lift!!! As you say, there is a distinct lack of common sense around these days!
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With regards to the scottish notes down south, it may just be my childish attitude, one supermarket in particular refuses to except them, so while visiting folks fill up large trolley, after going through checkout hand over my hard earned scottish notes and get told we dont accept those here, my cheery reply, enjoy putting that lot back on the shelves then!! Gives me a chuckle every time.
Ha ha ha,I love it... ;D
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I've done that at an English petrol station(not deliberately though) - £42 of petrol and I'd left my card at my friend's house but had cash in the car. They refused to start with but called the manager, he had to come from another garage 20 minutes away and everyone in the petrol station was being held up after me. They finally accepted the notes. If anyone refuse tehm I just tell tehm theya re worth more than the ones they ahev down there. Our banks have gold reserves, theirs have gone bust! ;D ;D
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We had a group of well non french, in a superstore brico place near hear who held up the queue at lunch time for so long arguing about currency that finally they got to walk with all their shopping ...
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Crazy mental world ;D ;D ;D
The reason they don't like any notes that are not from English banks, is because most of the shops employ people who would not be able to identify a counterfeit. ???
There are so many different notes from different banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland ( and before we went euro Ireland too) that they would have to have a big manual explaining how they look and how to spot a forgery, which would have to be updated on a regular basis. ???
I know there's a lot of people here against the Euro, but once you get used to it, its not that bad, at the end of the day you spend it - and most of us use plastic laser cards, not cash. ;D ;D and realistically we don't have hold of the damn stuff very long now, do we, be honest ;D ;D ;D
The euro would solve a lot of problems if we were all using it - and you can still have scottish, irish, welsh and english euro - coins and notes. ::)
If everything was changed for ease of use, and pride, prejudice and stubbornness were put aside, I am sure things would be more acceptable and there would be less problems in the world - look at religion ;D
On second thoughts - don't :o- please don't - ::) honest - ;D slip of the tongue - ;D don't want to cause a war ;D ;D ;D
Julie
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I'm sure they pay someone in Brussels to sit in an office and think up some extreme crap that they can then inflict up on us! They certainly have come away with such nonsense so far that most of their laws are a farce!
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I agree James - its probably like the politics with the swine flu and this recession
- both are probably diversion tactics to keep us tax payers from watching the real stuff that they are up to ::)
- Whilst they are focusing us on this stuff, they are passing other things that they do not
release information on - and eventually we will find out these new laws when it is too late to
change them. ???
Julie ;D