Squish Pages

Hi-Ho. Hi-Ho!/ Thoughts on a cracking Wimbledon

Published on 2008-07-10 15:43:00

WorkThis week I returned to the workforce. Ironically with the same company that put boot to ass, just a short while ago. I have been welcomed back into the fold to work with my then manager, but in a new area, EC1; Barbican, Smithsfield, Clerkenwell. (I have grown to like the area already in my few days there).I also have had to take up a new discipline; lettings! Probably the more lucrative field to be in during this credit crunch but still a field I have to learn. The motivations behind buyin

The bat cometh

Published on 2008-07-06 04:30:00

I am so excited about The Dark Knight movie that I am drooling like a new born baby about to suckle on a nipple. Heck, I'm drooling like I do at the thought of sucking on a nipple!I can assure you that no one was as upset as me to learn that the inevitable sequel to 2005s Batman Begins would not be coming out till 2008! That was 3 years away! I can tell you that I uttered lots of naughty words. So many, in fact, that I've already booked my afterlife ticket to Hell.2008 is now here, and The Dark

Game, Set, Match

Published on 2008-07-01 03:55:00

What a corker of a match Andy Murray had last night against Richard Gasquet. A nigh on 4 hour, 5 set match. Unfortunately I had to watch on TV but in week 1 of Wimbledon I saw some live tennis on the 1st and 2nd days of the tournament.This was the first year I made a conscientious decision to go twice after last year my chosen day got rained out forcing me to make a second visit to see some tennis; and in 2006 I chanced on a second trip on the mid Saturday after finishing work at 5pm, and found

And through it all

Published on 2008-06-27 08:52:00

There's nothing like the love of a good woman when times are hard but when you can't afford to go out in order to meet one, and even the moths in your wallet have packed up and left you, all you are left with are your dreams. And hey, where would we be without dreams. Man would never of reached the moon (even though by 'moon', I mean Hollywood backlot).Dreams girls never leave you, always listen, and they shut the hell up when sport is on the TV! In the last few months my top 3 dream girls have

Previously, on Squish Pages

Published on 2008-06-26 10:37:00

I had got my dream job. Ideal location in East London's Victoria Park. A 30-40 minute journey to work. I had lucked into use of a company car which I managed to end up with it 95% of the time. The company itself suited my personality and style; it was professional, catered to the mid to top end range of properties, and preferred a more laid back style over a pushy, aggressive style of some other estate agents.But sadly 2 weeks ago I became victim to the credit crunch and was made redundant. A ca

Happy Birthday to ya!

Published on 2008-04-06 08:53:00

Sorry guys but I am absolutely useless with remembering birthdays. If you don't tell me when its coming up then there's no chance of me coming through. I even struggle with my own Mom an Dad's! I used to pop all the dates in me mobile phone, but as I upgrade every 9 months it would mean I would not be using the same phone and wouldn't have the information any more come the following year.'What about using a diary?', I hear you cry.Well as they found out in my old job, I've never used a diary so

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Published on 2008-04-05 11:30:00

As of April 1st I had just £50 left in my account. Just £50 to get through to my next payday on April 28th. The bad news was (if that wasn't disastrous enough), that I still had a £45 mobile phone, £43 gym membership and £55 Sky subscription still to come out!!!!As off today, though, things were looking far rosier. The mobile phone company had already had their money, so its just the gym and Sky to worry about. Down to £30 too.My March credit card payment is still AWOL, however, Barclays a

Remember the name.

Published on 2008-04-01 13:45:00

Crikey! Its almost a month ago but me and Channa popped along to see Cat singing in another showcase. This one was different though as she performed one of her own penned songs. Also it was her first time with a live band! She even launched her new stage name that night, which I forget! I've know her as Cat for so long that nothing else will stick.These showcases are always great fun with the varying styles of music, performing styles and ages, there is really something for everyone, plus I enjo

Another month, Another money malady!

Published on 2008-03-25 15:58:00

Is it just me or do you guys get financial mishaps as well? Shesh!Listen to this one...Like most folks who have a credit card, I get a statement through every month with a 'payment due' slip at the bottom, which when I pay it keeps 'the man' happy for another month. Having got behind with my credit cards once before a few years ago, I am at great pains not to let this happen again, and make my payment each month like a good little boy. I do then have to 'borrow' it back again, just to squeak thr

'Merry' Easter

Published on 2008-03-24 04:59:00

Cold enough for you! Snow at Easter, whatever next.I hope you boys and girls are having a pleasant Easter; better than my miserable weekend! With no money in my pocket and no petrol in the car, I've confined to the house, with the gogglebox as company. Not a major problem seeing as my Sky+ box was rammed full of unwatched shows. But with just £5 to get me through to this coming Friday and the fact that I enter the last month of my probation period at work, with me effectively not selling a thin

Out in the big wide world

Published on 2008-03-22 13:46:00

Like the mighty field mouse poking his twitching nose out of the burrow for the first day in months, the mid Sunday in February was literally my first social trip out since my birthday night out over a month before. Money and new job fatigue were the reasons why, but it was certainly about time as I was going stir crazy!My darling lil sis had come up with the idea of visiting Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. I had heard of the place, but that was about all. I was up for the idea. As always; doing s

Confesions of an estate agent

Published on 2008-03-16 03:58:00

For this story to make sense there are a few facts you need to know. - My job is Mon - Fri, with a stint every 3rd Saturday, accompanied only by a young lass who, only, works Saturdays. - My company has 5 offices, and I'm able to offer any property from any of those 5 offices. - This all happened on the weekend I expected my pay cheque to have cleared. It hadn't so I had no money on me. Not a penny!My 1st SaturdayI had only worked 2 weeks before I had to do a Saturday, and unlike during the week

The great payday debacle

Published on 2008-03-09 08:33:00

Now those of you that know me, know that I am always banging on about how I am short of money 'this' month. Blah, blah! I know! Hopefully I will pass my probation and keep my new job, which if I bring in the same about of business in 2008 as I did in 2007 I can expect a 30% pay increase in '08 over '07. Fingers crossed!Right now, I am out of money! Lol! But it was January's pay that wiped me out.......Like most folks I was paid early in December, on the 21th in fact. I had to pay off for the Fra

Guess who's back? (Well sort of)

Published on 2008-03-05 14:00:00

Hello! I'm still alive! While the rest of the world works on reducing its carbon footprint I've working on reducing my 'cash' footprint. December's pay, paid for my ultimately expensive trip to France. January's pay covered Christmas (and there's a story behind that which come in a future post); and as I didn't work all of January (new job) I didn't get a full month's pay. And with February, March and April being my probation; I am/will be on on a wage equivalent to a semi-bad month in my old j

My first week as a REAL Estate Agent

Published on 2008-02-03 12:10:00

IntroductionWell, I made it through. My first week in my new job, and it was a week of many ups and downs, all of them internal as I got to grips with my new environment.This ain't Kansas anymore!I am used to a paper based office; applicants filled out on cards and kept in a box on my desk. Viewings logged in a monthly book (with the month's applicants logged at the back), and the property information kept on files which had to be noted up with every viewing. Lots of writing and no computer in s

The long, long road

Published on 2008-01-27 06:44:00

This is my 250th post! Wowzers! Yay me!I start my new job tomorrow and I am a little apprehensive. I did the journey run for the first time on Friday morning and took a lil look around my new 'patch'. Despite it being a little bit more 'inner city' than where I've been used to working, there is definitely an insular village feel to the area. In fact I been told by someone who lives around there that it is now known as Hackney Village.This past month I've not been able to go out as my cash flow i

The end of an era...

Published on 2008-01-24 17:20:00

3 weeks ago I quit my job.......and today was my very last day with my current employer. Although, it didn't blooming feel like my last day. The phone still rang just as much, the problems still spewing out of the earpiece with their everyday regularity. Seriously you would not believe the amount of ways buying a property can go, and does go wrong. The slogan 'Same shit, different day' really does apply in my job. Most folks will move twice, maybe 3 times in their lives, so every problem they en

Birthday, Birthday

Published on 2008-01-20 04:20:00

As has become standard in the last few years I combined my birthday celebration efforts with my, slightly better looking baby sister, as her birthday falls 2 days before mine. I know I probably said this on my blog last year but its always worth saying; my birthday is part of what is a modern day Holy Trinity. In the Bible you have the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but now you have Christmas Day (Jesus' birthday (allegedly)), New Years Day (the year's birthday)and capping it all off, my b

2k7 to 2k8 (aka NYE)

Published on 2008-01-13 15:30:00

Now that all is said and done I can come clean on how much I spend on my New Years Eve ticket; £111.50 (including p+p and booking fee!). I did miss out on the £40 tickets by virtue of wanting as much money left available for the Paris trip. Who knew the NYE tickets would sell out so fast! Nevertheless, it was worth the money; Hedkandi, in the Indigo down at the O2 Arena. It was a bit of a no-brainer when Melissa came up with the suggestion early November. The Hedkandi Ibiza weekender we went o

Christmas with Squish

Published on 2008-01-11 05:40:00

Now I know I said this once before in an earlier post but I'll say it again, 'Christmas not only sucks, it blows too.' Over commercialized and full of fakeness! I guess I'm the only one, but I usually eat less over the festive season, not more. I'm not a big fan of the Christmas menu and can never wait to tuck back into my usual foods.Now you might say, 'Boo! Bah humbug, you Grinch!', but you'd be wrong, because I love the giving part. I love knowing that I've got someone something that is neede

Squish's Birthday

Published on 2008-01-08 15:02:00

Happy Birthday to me.Happy Birthday to me.Happy Birthday dear Squishman!Happy Birthday to me!As usual I took the day off today. I consider it tantamount to blasphemy to toil on the day I began to exist. In fact, I was thinking today, (and 'no' it didn't hurt); technically we existed from the day of conception. So that means we should celebrate our day of inception. Only problem is we then have to ask our parents on which day they did the deed. Ah...... on second thought, lets just stick to the d

New Faces; same good times.

Published on 2008-01-08 13:47:00

It's a little known fact, but today is my BIRTHDAY. Yep. tha Squishmiester is a year younger! Yay me, but more on that later.First. I need to continue my mission to catch up......Saturday 22 December.Bless Charlene. She tried so hard to arrange a night out with over one month's notice but it still didn't happen. Her plan was for everyone to travel to Bas-Vegas (Basildon Festival Leisure Park), for eats and a night of merriment in Jumpin Jaks. In hindsight it think that plan failed because the 'e

Survivor. Estate Agent stylee

Published on 2008-01-06 09:06:00

Two weeks before Christmas I had a bombshell dropped on me at work. A chain of events were put in motion which could of cost me my job! Our Ilford office is a hulking great Georgian building over 3 floors, which at one time was utilised fully, but now 3/4 of the building lies unused; but the company still had to pay rent on the whole thing. A cost which has, from a business sense, ceased to make sense. So on 21st December that office closed its doors and transferred itself wholesale to our Barki

New year salutations/ Paris, France (days 5, 6)

Published on 2008-01-03 12:51:00

Well hello to 2008! I hope the transition from one year to the next went well for you all. A quick look at the newspapers would show that not everybody made it through, so lets count our blessings.I'm about to embark on the final chapter of my France trip, just so I can crack on and tell you about my Crimbo!WednesdayThe cab was booked to take us to the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp, a 30 minute drive away. Gregg was irked by two situations; the 1st being that the chapel was only open f

Paris, France (day 4)

Published on 2007-12-30 12:36:00

Well that last entry took 3 hours from start to finish.. Here's hoping I can get that time down.......TuesdayIt had always been the plan that at some point we all would leave Paris and head to a building of 'architectural' interest elsewhere in the country. Gregg had picked a chapel near the Swiss border. An option to visit Switzerland was thrown on the table, which met with universal agreement. The decision of when we went there, and how long we stayed, was made on the Sunday; leave on Tuesday