Last week the Cambridge Evening News published its article on the impending hike in car parking charges in Cambridge. Parking spaces in Cambridge are now likely to reach the £23 a day figure in the city which is hardly likely to be greeted with open arms. There is no easy solution to this, you have to ask why this figure has to be so ridiculously high and one would guess that the increase in fees (a 4% rise in income for the city council) are to be re-invested in increasing public transport into the city centre.
The much anticipated guided bus route will soon open and hopefully this will see further a reduction in the numbers of cars trying to park up in Cambridge centre. One would have hoped that any increase in parking charges could have been postponed at least until a review was made on the effectiveness of the guided bus route.
The Cambridge Evening News poll as to how people will respond found that 66.9% of people will look to go elsewhere, 26.5% will look for alternative transport and 6.6% will continue to pay the car parking fees.
Not pretty reading for Cambridge based businesses.
So! Those schools, churches, private business premises, and those with private driveways in the city, get your parking spaces for rent on Spareground!
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
This last week also saw Spareground featured on the Radio Surrey and Radio Sussex Sunday morning DigIt programme, it’s nice that the website is still attracting media interest and long may it continue!
My trip to Wales did not prove to be as successful as I had hoped in promoting Spareground but I won’t be giving up on it not by a long shot! I am still looking to promote it in every corner of the UK as it can only set to directly benefit most of the people at some stage. The more users we have then the better for everyone.
Yesterday also saw me complete my first 10K race. This was the first time that Cambridge has hosted a run10K for cancer research event and I really hope it goes ahead again next year. The weather was great, the course organisers did a fantastic job and the samba band playing their drums and their hearts out on Midsummer Common were brilliant! My body wasn’t feeling that great today though but I’m sure it’ll pass off at some stage.
Perhaps that what we need in Cambridge, lots of shower facilities somewhere so people can Park and Run! Park on the outskirts, run into town, shower and then get on with your daily business!
www.spareground.co.uk
Monday, 19 October 2009
Monday, 5 October 2009
Bringing In The Sheaves
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve
Waiting for the harvest and the time of reaping
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves
When I was a kid, I used to love singing this in Sunday School,…I had no idea what “the sheaves” were but nevertheless I used to enjoy singing it with gusto and eyeing up the harvest produce display on the front altar. Back then, in the early 70s the sights of all that fruit was heaven to me! Unfortunately and a sign of the times, but it would probably generate rows of churned up faces of terror in a lot of kids.
My allotment this year has been rather bountiful in its yield, more so than we normally have and it’s been a hard job eating through what we had! A lot has been given away or frozen and we still have the butternut squash the cabbages and sprouts plus the parsnips to come too. We had none of any last year. I think I am one of the few people who squeals with delight when I see the arrival of sprouts on the shops! If I tell you I love you more than sprouts, then you know I really do!
The desire to get allotment space or garden space for growing produce still remains high and thankfully with Spareground and schemes such as Landshare, there are now options other than notoriously long waiting lists available for people to find this space. Lots of schools, churches and community groups are also seeking growing space as a way of educating both children and adults in growing food and appreciating it that bit more. My own nieces and nephews are involved in such schemes and whereas before, a lot of vegetables were considered to be the devil’s deeds, they are now far more open to at least trying what they have helped grow from seeds to something steaming in a pot on the cooker.
Long may it continue I say.
When I was a kid, I used to love singing this in Sunday School,…I had no idea what “the sheaves” were but nevertheless I used to enjoy singing it with gusto and eyeing up the harvest produce display on the front altar. Back then, in the early 70s the sights of all that fruit was heaven to me! Unfortunately and a sign of the times, but it would probably generate rows of churned up faces of terror in a lot of kids.
My allotment this year has been rather bountiful in its yield, more so than we normally have and it’s been a hard job eating through what we had! A lot has been given away or frozen and we still have the butternut squash the cabbages and sprouts plus the parsnips to come too. We had none of any last year. I think I am one of the few people who squeals with delight when I see the arrival of sprouts on the shops! If I tell you I love you more than sprouts, then you know I really do!
The desire to get allotment space or garden space for growing produce still remains high and thankfully with Spareground and schemes such as Landshare, there are now options other than notoriously long waiting lists available for people to find this space. Lots of schools, churches and community groups are also seeking growing space as a way of educating both children and adults in growing food and appreciating it that bit more. My own nieces and nephews are involved in such schemes and whereas before, a lot of vegetables were considered to be the devil’s deeds, they are now far more open to at least trying what they have helped grow from seeds to something steaming in a pot on the cooker.
Long may it continue I say.
Spareground has also through this year seen adverts for people seeking land for other uses such as keeping chickens or bees or other livestock, for grazing of horses etc and we have been surprised by the generous offers of free or very cheaply available land.
We have also had offers of land for camping, and for storage of large vehicles, boats, caravans etc so hopefully we will see the website continue to grow year upon year.
Now we are in the harvest season and the time for clearing space is on us, the time is probably right to list that piece of land you don’t use. Let someone help clear it for you and get some plans in place for growing season 2010.
My land clearing time is now intertwined with my 10K training. My legs seem to be permanently aching at the moment but I am sure it’s doing me some good! I will be running my first 10k in just over 2 weeks time for cancer research, so feel free to check my sponsor page if you so wish.
http://www.run10ksponsorme.org/annejones
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Check your insurance! fancy a spin in an Aston Martin?
This is not going to be a ‘War and Peace’ blog entry, these last few days have been pretty hectic and with some horrible lurgy working its way into my system, I have little energy to expend!
This week saw another radio interview; this time for BBC Radio Nottinghamshire on 21st Sept. Quite a good interview, questions I had not been asked before mainly concerning security of property etc and as I always say to people, if you are unsure about letting out to someone, then don’t go ahead. Seek further advice if necessary from your Citizens Advice Bureau or even your local police station and get signed agreements in place as to what is or what isn’t permitted.
This brings me onto another serious issue concerning insurance. If you are taking advantage of the Government's Rent A Room Scheme to earn upto an additional £4250 tax free a year then read on. There was an article published in last Sunday’s Observer which brought to light the amount of insurance companies which do not allow lodgers living in your home within the remit of their insurance policies. Any claim you make wirthout disclosing you have a lodger could be invalidated. Two of the main ones who totally oppose lodgers in your home seem to be Esure and More Than so if you are looking to rent a room in your house then you must check your insurance policy first. Give them a ring to clarify; if there are problems then there are lots of other insurance companies out there which will permit renting a room to lodgers. You will also need to find out of they have any criminal convictions. See the article for further details http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/sep/20/homeowners-student-lodgers
Finally, are you involved in sorting out corporate functions for your company or business? Then why not take a look at http://www.alanblencoweracing.com/
Alan kindly supports and links to our website, as we do to them, and he has emailed me to let me know they have an Aston Martin DB9 that they now use for corporate days, so if you’re interested then get in touch with him and he’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
Finally, our listings continue to grow, lots of offers of parking spaces, garden space, storage facilities including more caravan storage and even 10 acres of land in mid Wales for horses or cattle, along with storage facilities big enough for boat or caravan storage.
We also have our wanted list growing. If you have an unused garage, or workshop, cabin etc in London then there is a writer seeking such places as their workspace. Lots of wanted listings for storage of cars motorbikes caravans needed too!
Right off to watch TV…
http://www.spareground.co.uk/
p.s this blog entry turned out to be just as long as the others,….oh well..
This week saw another radio interview; this time for BBC Radio Nottinghamshire on 21st Sept. Quite a good interview, questions I had not been asked before mainly concerning security of property etc and as I always say to people, if you are unsure about letting out to someone, then don’t go ahead. Seek further advice if necessary from your Citizens Advice Bureau or even your local police station and get signed agreements in place as to what is or what isn’t permitted.
This brings me onto another serious issue concerning insurance. If you are taking advantage of the Government's Rent A Room Scheme to earn upto an additional £4250 tax free a year then read on. There was an article published in last Sunday’s Observer which brought to light the amount of insurance companies which do not allow lodgers living in your home within the remit of their insurance policies. Any claim you make wirthout disclosing you have a lodger could be invalidated. Two of the main ones who totally oppose lodgers in your home seem to be Esure and More Than so if you are looking to rent a room in your house then you must check your insurance policy first. Give them a ring to clarify; if there are problems then there are lots of other insurance companies out there which will permit renting a room to lodgers. You will also need to find out of they have any criminal convictions. See the article for further details http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/sep/20/homeowners-student-lodgers
Finally, are you involved in sorting out corporate functions for your company or business? Then why not take a look at http://www.alanblencoweracing.com/
Alan kindly supports and links to our website, as we do to them, and he has emailed me to let me know they have an Aston Martin DB9 that they now use for corporate days, so if you’re interested then get in touch with him and he’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
Finally, our listings continue to grow, lots of offers of parking spaces, garden space, storage facilities including more caravan storage and even 10 acres of land in mid Wales for horses or cattle, along with storage facilities big enough for boat or caravan storage.
We also have our wanted list growing. If you have an unused garage, or workshop, cabin etc in London then there is a writer seeking such places as their workspace. Lots of wanted listings for storage of cars motorbikes caravans needed too!
Right off to watch TV…
http://www.spareground.co.uk/
p.s this blog entry turned out to be just as long as the others,….oh well..
Friday, 11 September 2009
More radio, caravans and beer
It’s been another week of more radio coverage for Spareground. This week, I was invited along to the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire studios to be interviewed for the Andy Harper show. Both he and the producer Carol Carman really are lovely people and have kindly invited me back in a few weeks for an update on what’s happening with Spareground.
For once it was nice to see the inside of a radio studio instead of conducting interviews over the phone sat on my bed!
The response has been encouraging and we are now in the processes of furthering the sponsored advertisements on the site from interest generated from this programme. Our rate card is now available to any potential advertisers with very favourable rates, well I am bound to say that aren’t I! But it is definitely true!
This week has seen some great listings on the site; probably my favourite has to be the log cabin in London for writers, thinkers and tidy artists, ..Brilliant! And only minutes away from Turnpike Lane tube. Who would have thought it eh…a log cabin in London. Am sure there will be plenty of people interested in that one!
Also on the site this week we have lots of new storage space rentals, including a lot advertised for caravan storage. I am currently waiting for a response from the caravan club on this, I am pretty keen to let caravan owners know about Spareground. I am aware that with certain insurance companies, they may only permit storage in certain facilities but if this is not the case then why not use the Spareground site to look for other caravan storage options.
There’s lots of new car parking space offers for renting too, including garages, driveways and yards. Not forgetting the increase in listings for land or garden space both offered and also on our wanted pages.
So whatever spare space you’re after, keep checking the site as new listings for space for rent or even for no charge are appearing on the website all the time.
Tip of the day, when you are in a hurry for a cold beer, don’t leave it too long in the freezer. It goes flat! My much anticipated quaffing of a bottle of Badger Champion ale was ruined by my impatience!
More soon….
www.spareground.co.uk
For once it was nice to see the inside of a radio studio instead of conducting interviews over the phone sat on my bed!
The response has been encouraging and we are now in the processes of furthering the sponsored advertisements on the site from interest generated from this programme. Our rate card is now available to any potential advertisers with very favourable rates, well I am bound to say that aren’t I! But it is definitely true!
This week has seen some great listings on the site; probably my favourite has to be the log cabin in London for writers, thinkers and tidy artists, ..Brilliant! And only minutes away from Turnpike Lane tube. Who would have thought it eh…a log cabin in London. Am sure there will be plenty of people interested in that one!
Also on the site this week we have lots of new storage space rentals, including a lot advertised for caravan storage. I am currently waiting for a response from the caravan club on this, I am pretty keen to let caravan owners know about Spareground. I am aware that with certain insurance companies, they may only permit storage in certain facilities but if this is not the case then why not use the Spareground site to look for other caravan storage options.
There’s lots of new car parking space offers for renting too, including garages, driveways and yards. Not forgetting the increase in listings for land or garden space both offered and also on our wanted pages.
So whatever spare space you’re after, keep checking the site as new listings for space for rent or even for no charge are appearing on the website all the time.
Tip of the day, when you are in a hurry for a cold beer, don’t leave it too long in the freezer. It goes flat! My much anticipated quaffing of a bottle of Badger Champion ale was ruined by my impatience!
More soon….
www.spareground.co.uk
Friday, 4 September 2009
Radio, Rugby and Dying Chickens
If someone had told me earlier this year that I would have spoken on the radio in front of millions, I would have suggested they take a trip to the nearest witch doctor for some treatment. Alas, it has happened! Yesterday saw me interviewed by Rebecca Pike, aka Foxy on the Chris Evans show on BBC Radio 2. Its weird how for the few hours beforehand, you are gripped with nerves and the imminent on air time produces that hideous stomach lurching and a dryness in the mouth that no amount of water seems to quench! Anyway, it went well I think! Looking at the increased website stats and listings, it was a job worth doing. We have a number of new listings on the site now covering all aspects of space and it’s great to see people using their creative thinking and adding stuff that probably wouldn’t have been in the realm of Spareground in its earlier days. Spareground will always be an iterative website and we will move in accordance with how people are perceived to be using it.
On other matters, where have all the fish gone? Spent last Sunday fishing for mackerel on the Norfolk coast and didn’t catch anything at all. All I got was wet feet and an empty freezer bag to take home! Don’t think one person caught anything so I will just have to put it down to one of those years where my catch tally is zero. I did have some lovely fish and chips in Sheringham though so that did make up for it to a certain point.
I also spent a day this week nursing a dying chicken. My lovely friends managed to get two rescue chickens which have had the life of Riley this last eighteen months, full run of the garden, lots of corn and a great coop. Alas they are now down to one chicken after some horrible virus snuffed one of them out. So it’s half an egg quota and less fertiliser for the allotment now…nevermind.
I see we have listings on the site for people who wish to keep chickens and I can now report that we have had a successful match up with one Spareground user. So a chicken coop is currently under construction with the aim of getting four chickens so I have been told.
Anyway, time to walk the dogs. They are feeling a bit neglected with me having been sat near this computer all morning.
Rugby season kicks off tonight; the worse thing of the summer months is the wait for the rugby to start again!
Until next time
www.spareground.co.uk
On other matters, where have all the fish gone? Spent last Sunday fishing for mackerel on the Norfolk coast and didn’t catch anything at all. All I got was wet feet and an empty freezer bag to take home! Don’t think one person caught anything so I will just have to put it down to one of those years where my catch tally is zero. I did have some lovely fish and chips in Sheringham though so that did make up for it to a certain point.
I also spent a day this week nursing a dying chicken. My lovely friends managed to get two rescue chickens which have had the life of Riley this last eighteen months, full run of the garden, lots of corn and a great coop. Alas they are now down to one chicken after some horrible virus snuffed one of them out. So it’s half an egg quota and less fertiliser for the allotment now…nevermind.
I see we have listings on the site for people who wish to keep chickens and I can now report that we have had a successful match up with one Spareground user. So a chicken coop is currently under construction with the aim of getting four chickens so I have been told.
Anyway, time to walk the dogs. They are feeling a bit neglected with me having been sat near this computer all morning.
Rugby season kicks off tonight; the worse thing of the summer months is the wait for the rugby to start again!
Until next time
www.spareground.co.uk
Friday, 14 August 2009
BBC Radio at last!
It’s been a busy few weeks both on the Spareground front and with my other business commitments so no blog posts for a while! …and after all my earlier promises!Well, this week saw my first ever radio interviews about Spareground on BBC Radio5 and also on BBC Radio Ulster (Northern Ireland). I must admit I was shocked with how nervous I felt beforehand but once we were ‘live’, things went well and I am pretty happy with the final outcomes.
Both features came about from recent polls showing that a lot of older people are now considering renting out rooms to lodgers to make cash to bolster their current financial shortfalls. With low interest rates, savings accounts are not bringing in the interest levels they once were and this coupled with increased living costs means that options such as renting out rooms are now being considered.
In the UK, the Government's Rent a Room scheme allows people to receive up to £4,250 a year tax free through renting out a room in their main home; quite a significant sum of money to add onto their regular income. There are restrictions to this for example, you cannot modify your property to create a separate space or create a private access for the lodger so it is wise to check the government websites to check for further details.What Spareground have tried to get across is that for a lot of people renting out a room in their house may not be a favourable choice. However, it’s always an idea to look at what spare space you do have and see if you can rent that out, hence our promotion to rent out driveways, parking facilities, storage facilities and garden space. You would not be able to create a huge amount of money from something like an attic space or garden space for example but it all helps!
Spareground was also featured on this week’s Enterprise Nation website http://www.enterprisenation.com/ and we have seen an increased in the hits on the site related to this. I have also signed up to attend the Enterprise Nation conference in November this year so I will make sure that I will report on this with all the news and stories of what happened. Busy times ahead!
Great news that the UK gets the Rugby League World Cup and the Rugby Union World Cup! Hopefully we can be of some use to help cater for peoples parking and accommodation requirements!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Ryder Cup 2010 Newport Wales, get ready now!
Two of my favourite sporting events have now passed and my life is now back to its normal ebb and flow.
I am really disappointed for the Lions that they didn’t come away from South Africa with a series win but very pleased that this tour was no whitewash and albeit for a few narrow margins, the result could easily have gone the other way. Still that’s sport for you. Just ask Andy Roddick, with four set points in the second set tie-breaker or when at eight games a piece in the final set with two break points, Lady Luck could have waved her wand in the opposite direction and we would be looking at a new Wimbledon Champion and Federer looking to the US Open to eclipse the Sampras record.
To the British and Irish Lions and Andy Roddick, you didn’t achieve what you set out to do but you all showed how sport should be played at the highest level.
Congratulations of course to the Springboks and Federer!
The remaining summer months now sees the arrival of the Ashes series in the cricket and I personally will be interested to see how Cardiff responds to hosting the first test. Coming from the South Wales area, I am always keen to see major sporting and music events being held in this part of the world and how Wales welcomes and responds to its visitors.
In 2010 Wales also hosts the much anticipated Ryder Cup tournament at the Celtic Manor resort in Newport and this event alone could easily become the catalyst for other large events in Wales if this proves to be successful.
No prizes for already guessing that accommodation for this event is already squeezed and as always I am keen to get people and businesses to use the Spareground website to advertise their spare accommodation, parking facilities, camping facilities etc.
As with the Wimbledon tennis tournament, there are agencies specialising in top dollar private accommodation which gives local residents a fee charging agency service for leasing their properties and parking. That is fine and I certainly don’t ignore the fact that some people will want their properties to be managed in such a way.
However for those who cannot or do not wish to pay such agency fees and are happy to manage their property then why not use the Spareground website. It’s free to use so no harm in giving it a go.
Of course, go ahead and use it to advertise what space you are looking for if you are heading to the Ryder Cup too!
www.spareground.co.uk
I am really disappointed for the Lions that they didn’t come away from South Africa with a series win but very pleased that this tour was no whitewash and albeit for a few narrow margins, the result could easily have gone the other way. Still that’s sport for you. Just ask Andy Roddick, with four set points in the second set tie-breaker or when at eight games a piece in the final set with two break points, Lady Luck could have waved her wand in the opposite direction and we would be looking at a new Wimbledon Champion and Federer looking to the US Open to eclipse the Sampras record.
To the British and Irish Lions and Andy Roddick, you didn’t achieve what you set out to do but you all showed how sport should be played at the highest level.
Congratulations of course to the Springboks and Federer!
The remaining summer months now sees the arrival of the Ashes series in the cricket and I personally will be interested to see how Cardiff responds to hosting the first test. Coming from the South Wales area, I am always keen to see major sporting and music events being held in this part of the world and how Wales welcomes and responds to its visitors.
In 2010 Wales also hosts the much anticipated Ryder Cup tournament at the Celtic Manor resort in Newport and this event alone could easily become the catalyst for other large events in Wales if this proves to be successful.
No prizes for already guessing that accommodation for this event is already squeezed and as always I am keen to get people and businesses to use the Spareground website to advertise their spare accommodation, parking facilities, camping facilities etc.
As with the Wimbledon tennis tournament, there are agencies specialising in top dollar private accommodation which gives local residents a fee charging agency service for leasing their properties and parking. That is fine and I certainly don’t ignore the fact that some people will want their properties to be managed in such a way.
However for those who cannot or do not wish to pay such agency fees and are happy to manage their property then why not use the Spareground website. It’s free to use so no harm in giving it a go.
Of course, go ahead and use it to advertise what space you are looking for if you are heading to the Ryder Cup too!
www.spareground.co.uk
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