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Post by Kimby on Jun 27, 2020 14:27:05 GMT
Cheery, I’m glad you didn’t have to take the bus. That would have been the riskiest part of your shopping excursion.
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Post by bjd on Jun 28, 2020 7:08:50 GMT
I thought about Bixa this morning after reading an article about Amlo (Mexico's president) in the most recent NY Review of Books. The writer, Enrique Krauze, lumps him in with authoritarian rulers like Trump, Putin, Duterte, Orban and others, although he does say that most of those are usually on the right. He calls Amlo a self-proclaimed Messiah. Let me know, Bixa, if you want me to email you the article. It's not cheerful reading, especially about his response to the Covid19 epidemic.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 28, 2020 16:59:33 GMT
Thanks, Bjd. I've already read the part of the article that is not paywalled and am aware of Krauze & his dire warnings about López Obrador. My problem with Krause is his entrenched conservatism -- calling the PRD "left-wing", for instance. Yes, of course AMLO poses problems as well. I was very happy he was elected, as it seemed to be a breath of fresh air for this country. But some of what he is doing now, particularly in regard to the virus, is reminding me of what a much younger friend said about him during his previous run for the presidency. She called him a dinosaur, something I dismissed as ageism on her part at the time. But his goofy and dangerous response to this pandemic makes me wonder if he isn't maybe losing his marbles or is so overwhelmed that he's falling back on the drug of popular adulation. This article on Krauze might interest you: www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/enrique-krauze-mexican-historian-reflects/
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 28, 2020 20:51:11 GMT
Something that probably only my countryfolk will relate to. My great-niece Poppy has been awarded a Blue Peter badge. Blue Peter is a childrens' programme. It has been running since the early 60s (I think) and I watched it throughout my childhood, I watched it with my children when they were little too... The badge is a BIG deal. It entitles the bearer to free entry to all sorts of exhibitions and attractions...and there is huge kudos to having one. I was desperate for one as a child and entered lots of competitions to try to win one...altho I later learned that my Mum didn't post my entries...
Anyway...I am happy that at least one family member has won one!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 28, 2020 22:59:44 GMT
Gosh! I don't know exactly what it means, but from your description, it's obviously wonderful. How did she come to be awarded it?
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Post by lugg on Jun 29, 2020 12:35:55 GMT
That's great Cheerie - one of mine had one too , cant remember which one or what for but now wondering where it is.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 29, 2020 16:48:45 GMT
I saw the programme many many many years ago. I was fascinated and thought the contents were the very essence of a good NORMAL functioning family. Maybe too little families came close to the wonderful content.
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Post by monetsmum on Jun 29, 2020 21:12:45 GMT
Something that probably only my countryfolk will relate to. My great-niece Poppy has been awarded a Blue Peter badge. Blue Peter is a childrens' programme. It has been running since the early 60s (I think) and I watched it throughout my childhood, I watched it with my children when they were little too... The badge is a BIG deal. It entitles the bearer to free entry to all sorts of exhibitions and attractions...and there is huge kudos to having one. I was desperate for one as a child and entered lots of competitions to try to win one...altho I later learned that my Mum didn't post my entries... Anyway...I am happy that at least one family member has won one! That's brilliant Cheery! I wasn't aware that they still awarded those; then again, none of my grandchildren watched Blue Peter.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 30, 2020 16:27:28 GMT
Thanks folks. Poppy sent in a picture I think.. but it was a very interesting one according to her Granny...I'm waiting to see if her Mummy took a photo. Not certain but she may have raised some money for the NHS too...
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 30, 2020 19:00:17 GMT
Last day of the month and my new student neighbours moved into the flat next door. They look absolutely identical to the previous season, so I must be getting old. To their credit, they asked for my help twice, which was much better than ignoring me. The first time was to ask if I had one of the tiny bolt turning widget, such as for assembling Ikea furniture. But they needed a smaller size than the Ikea size, so I didn't have it. Later, they asked if I had scissors because they had one of those impossibly tough plastic blister packs for some sort of item. I was able to provide satisfactory help for that.
I will not judge them until I see if they fill the bin downstairs with McDonald's bags every single day, like their predecessors did.
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Post by casimira on Jun 30, 2020 21:48:57 GMT
Cheery, you should have posted that in Childhood Disappointments with reference to yours not being submitted. However, BRAVO on your grand nieces accomplishment. Lugg, "and you my pretty..." you don't remember yours and what it was for. I'm reporting you to the authorities as soon as I can figure out which authority it goes to. FORGOT?
Kerouac, you bought that ruse your new neighbors tried on you, asking you to borrow something twice? They were checking you out!! Whose our weird neighbor we hear doing whatever over there?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 30, 2020 21:52:51 GMT
They probably know he cooks and are hoping he falls for the feckless, starving student ploy.
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Post by casimira on Jun 30, 2020 22:02:19 GMT
So, are they next door to you Kerouac or down one floor from you?
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Post by tod2 on Jul 1, 2020 9:54:53 GMT
Kerouac -If students have moved in does that mean they are renting? If so, does the apartment still belong to an owner like yourself? I thought there is quite a rig-ma-roll in renting an apartment with loads of documents to be presented to a said authority. I'm not talking about holiday rentals which are short term. I also wonder what kind of rent these students pay or are they on a Freebee by government?
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Post by bjd on Jul 1, 2020 11:06:16 GMT
If I may answer for Kerouac, yes, it certainly means that they are renting from an owner. There is often a rigamarole with all kinds of guarantees required by the landlord who wants to be sure his rent is paid. For students that often implies a written promise from parents that they will cover the rent if their kid doesn't pay. So it's not an authority, it's the landlord him or herself, unless they go through an agency which is even more demanding and picky.
No freebies from the government. There is not much subsidized student housing, especially in a high-priced area like Paris. And there are lots of conditions to be fulfilled in order to have the right to have student housing. I imagine things have changed, as they do, but when I went to France as a student, I was told I couldn't live in student housing because I was from Canada, i.e. I was rich. Meanwhile, another Canadian student managed to get in after a couple of months because a Lebanese guy -- hence "poor" -- went to live with some friends in a nicer place and let her have his room.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 1, 2020 11:53:34 GMT
Thanks, bjd. I will add the other details -- it is the flat next to mine in the same corridor. Every year my other neighbours (on both my floor and the floor below) always complain about noisy parties, and I never hear a thing because of my thick, thick walls. My building was apparently originally two buildings that were joined, so my place has double stone walls between me and the others. And since I have an armoured steel plated door, I almost have to put my ear against it to hear anything in the corridor.
Students don't have it too bad in Paris, because the city pays a housing subsidy to them, and the owners can get rent guarantees from the city as well. (Which means that the city will go after the guarantors -- the parents -- to get any unpaid money back.) The owner will be paid no matter what. Also, students can have a one year or a nine-month lease whereas a normal lease is 3 years.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 1, 2020 14:19:07 GMT
Kerouac, you obviously know the owners so might be able to tell me why they don't rent their apartment to say, a married couple or even a family. Here students are the last, very last, people you would want to subject your property to, simply because they are an irresponsible bunch who most certainly will wreck it in no time. That is here in S.A. but I'm guessing in other parts of the world also. Not only will you run after them for your rent but when you finally kick them out you will have damages, no rent and if you pursue the matter in court you are going to fail. They won't be found anywhere on this continent.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 1, 2020 14:50:12 GMT
The only reason I ever met the current owner is because the mother of one of them lived in my building. When she died, they sold her place but in the meantime, they snatched up 2 other flats next door. I didn't even know they were on the market, or I would have been (slightly) interested. The two small flats were combined into a quite nice one and immediately became a rental property. The neighbourhood estate agent is in charge of everything, so the owners have no problems but of course pay a fee for that. Even though most students are pigs everywhere, I generally get a chance to glance inside on moving days when the door is open, and it has always looked pretty good. I don't get to see any possible filth in the kitchen or the bathroom, but cleaning such things is not one of the major problems of the world.
Obviously lots of owners would absolutely never want to rent to students, but there are quite a few others who consider it to be a mission or a duty, especially when they have offspring who are or were students. As I wrote earlier, there is the advantage of guaranteed rent, but there is also the obligation of renting for a bit less than free market prices. Frankly, if I owned a rental property, I would tend to want to rent it at a "social" rate as well, since I already have enough money to live and no goal to become richer.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 1, 2020 16:05:07 GMT
Yes I see your point. When one has siblings, partners or children it is a completely different kettle of fish.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2020 18:26:36 GMT
It's kind of a moot point about the students in Kerouac's building, as the owner could be their aunt or whatever. They could even be living rent free because of that. I think that's pretty common all over the world.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 1, 2020 18:49:06 GMT
No, the students change every year. And they are definitely renting or the agency would not be involved.
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Post by casimira on Jul 1, 2020 23:53:36 GMT
We haven't had any Bombay Videos in a really long time. C'mon Kerouac, Mark..We deserve one. It's been too long. And with Covid going on we need to have something in the archives to commemorate this time. PLEASE?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2020 23:54:33 GMT
I don't think that platform works anymore and worse yet, some of the screen gems of yesteryear posted on here now can't be seen.
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Post by casimira on Jul 1, 2020 23:59:02 GMT
I just went looking for them and could not find them. Where did they go? What a shame. "Your bad".
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 2, 2020 0:05:55 GMT
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Post by casimira on Jul 2, 2020 0:12:59 GMT
Same here. That sucks. Some real classics up in the cloud somewhere.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 2, 2020 0:14:14 GMT
Reminds me of the ole country classic, "Will there be Anyport in Heaven?"
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 2, 2020 5:45:59 GMT
Olivia de Havilland had her 104th birthday on July 1st. Here she is at age 103.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 2, 2020 17:03:01 GMT
She is really something. Just saw about her birthday elsewhere on the web, with a closeup of her quite beautiful face.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 2, 2020 17:05:55 GMT
I was also impressed by her legs in the above photo. My mother had good legs for a long time compared to the rest of her, but they suddenly withered away at the end. Not Olivia!
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