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..
Tuesday 22 September 2009
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
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