Bits of nonsense!

At around 3.30 this afternoon I heard the gentle plinky-plonk melody of the ice-cream man! Now, I know the weatherman has said that the cold snap is over and we can expect temperatures to get into double figures but I am still wearing two pairs of socks some of the time and we still have the heating turned up. It really is not ice-cream weather. When I was a child that annoying tinkly music was a sign summer was officially on its way, even if you still needed a jacket when you went out. But now, Mr Softee turns up all year round! More sensible European countries used to say that you should only eat ice-cream in the summer months but I have noticed that ice-cream parlours now seem to stay open all year round in Vigo, for example. Maybe they are catering for the holiday cruise market! 

Our downstairs next door neighbour has two small, yappy-type dogs in a basement flat the size of our kitchen-dining area. (The house next door, total area the same as ours, is divided into two dwellings: the main house occupied by a couple with two almost grown-up children and the basement flat occupied by the lady with the dogs. I occasionally feel almost guilty that Phil and I have so much space at our disposal.) The small, yappy-type dogs frequently race up and down the garden like things demented, leaving tracks in what cannot truly be called a lawn, tracks akin to sheep paths across fields. 

 For I don't know how long now the owner of the small, yappy-type dogs has maintained that it is perfectly fine for them to run around freely as they cannot get out. She has tried to persuade our daughter when she visits to let her dog join in the fun. Our daughter, however, is not convinced about the security and the reliability of the fences and barriers. Today she appears to have been proved right. 

I heard our neighbour's frantic cries as she disappeared out of the garden in pursuit of the younger of her two small, yappy-type dogs. He had clearly discovered a breach in the fence and made a bid for freedom. Now I notice that she only allows him to go around the garden at the end of a long lead. Small, yappy-type dog is grounded! His friend, older and wiser but equally noisy and even more prone to pointless running up and down, is still permitted to hurtle around the place, getting progressively muddier and muddier! 

Of course, if we did not own our house, we would undoubtedly be subjected to the dreadful "bedroom tax" to penalise us for having sleeping areas which are unused except for when friends or family stay over. Well, I read today about further restrictions on tenants by some landlords - not even government enforced! In some parts of London tenants have to pay £10 extra per night if they have a friend come and stay over! And in some cases they have to pay an extra charge every time they cook a meal or use the washing machine! 

How does the landlord know if and when his tenants have friends to stay? Does he pay someone to check up on them? That could explain his need to charge them extra. As for paying extra to cook meals or wash your clothes, surely the tenant usually pays the utilities bills and as a rule pays a hefty deposit from which landlords deduct charges for wear and tear on items such as washing machines. The level of greed is astounding! The exploitation is astounding! 

Add to that estate agents who charge would-be tenants quite large amounts for showing them accommodation to let - in addition, most likely, to charging the owner for finding them a tenant - and my faith in humanity takes another nose-dive! 

I remain amazed at the tenacity of young people trying to make their way in the capital. And I am extremely glad not to be a young person trying to make my way through that jungle.