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J-dubya

Listed below are comments made by J-dubya between Tuesday, 4th November 2008 and Monday, 1st June 2009.

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Have you heard a cuckoo? 08:45am on 01 Jun 2009 I heard a cuckoo this morning, 08:35 in Stoke Mandeville, Aylesbury, HP22 5UQ.
Property management fees 8:51pm on 20 Apr 2009 Good to see that Watchdog is covering this. Thank you.

Our short story: A few years ago our local council in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, transferred its stock to a management company. The process was put to the vote, but only renting tenants, NOT leaseholders, were allowed a vote. There are around 7,000 properties of which about 650 are leaseholds. The new management company of course peppered the tenants with glossy leaflets about all the free improvements that would come their way if they voted for the transfer to take place. Needless to say the transfer was voted in.

Prior to this transfer the council charged a nominal ground rent and buildings insurance to leaseholders. Some months after the transfer the management company issued estimate service charges for hundreds of pounds, much to the surprise of leaseholders. We now understand that the council had poor records of its properties which it passed onto the management company who then issued the estimated bills without any kind of survey of properties. Many leaseholders found that they were being asked to pay for services they could not possibly receive, issues arose over possible double-charging with Council Tax and some leaseholders in the same block had differing charges. A regular leaseholders meeting suddenly saw around a 1000% increase in attendance after this. Though this shouldn't detract from other busy or vulnerable leaseholders who might pay the bills no questions asked.

Since then some leaseholders have formed a group to represent all the leaseholders and we are attempting to present a legal challenge to the management company. Suffice it to say, we are now being faced with the second annual bill and not much has changed and many leaseholders have no proof of services or have to retrospectively ask the company to produce proof, of which is often vague. Progress is difficult, but finally the management company has admitted that a property stock survey should take place. However we still feel we are a long way from fairness and transparency from this organisation that has charity status but acts like a greedy corporation. If you would like to learn more about our plight, please search for Leaseholders (LRG) Aylesbury in your favourite search engine or go to http://www.lrg-aylesbury.org.uk/
Why are we ashamed to talk about God? 9:30pm on 03 Feb 2009 BACK ON TOPIC, PEOPLE! :)

Just before Christmas, a couple of Christians knocked on my door and were very polite and asked me about my beliefs, talking about design, etc.

They were not at all pushy and accepted that I am an Atheist, and the man even congratulated me on having a view!

Now, look at how tolerant and unembarrassed we all were!

So please stop worrying and enjoy your life :)

James,
Stoke Mandeville
Why are we ashamed to talk about God? 8:18pm on 03 Feb 2009 krazy_kuba, please learn about why the Athiest Bus Campaign came about:

"The campaign began when comedy writer Ariane Sherine saw an advert on a London bus featuring the Bible quote, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find Faith on this Earth?” [sic]. A website URL ran underneath the quote, and when Sherine visited the site she learned that, as a non-believer, she would be “condemned to everlasting separation from God and then spend all eternity in torment in hell”...."

http://www.atheistbus.org.uk/faq/

Regardless, there are passive *and* aggressive in all stances.
Why are we ashamed to talk about God? 7:26pm on 03 Feb 2009 For anyone wishing to about Atheists and the bus campaign, don't take Adrian Chiles opinion:

#####################

http://www.humanism.org.uk/

http://www.atheistbus.org.uk/

#####################

Yours, a very moral Atheist.
Why are we ashamed to talk about God? 7:05pm on 03 Feb 2009 Proud to be an Atheist - no embarrassment here!
Basically... what expressions annoy you? 7:14pm on 27 Nov 2008 Where do I start!? I've been at my place of work nearly nine years and one of my colleagues causes me so much distress with the plethora of superfluous content that comes out of her mouth! "Actually"/"actual" used several times in the same sentence. "whatever", "doogitwhatsit", "thingamebob", said like I'm supposed to know what it means! Replacing ings with inks, i.e. "anythink", "summink". "I done it", "He done it", "They come over last night". Ending a sentence the same way it was started: "They went into town, they did". "Can I ask a quick question?" well it's not going to be quick is it because you already asked one question. No! I started to create a league table in a spreadsheet to see if that would make the aural torture fun... sadly not.

James
Aylesbury
Is it embarrassing to be posh? 7:21pm on 24 Nov 2008 Keep your booms and diverse vocabulary, Gyles! You're a dying breed! It's such a shame that people seem to be judged so easily on the basis of their accent or for sounding posh :(

James
Aylesbury
Dishonest doorstep tactics discovered 10:11pm on 11 Nov 2008 A Southern Electric salesman came to my property about a year ago, I listened to his pitch at the door and then said I would think about what he had said but that I would only make my switch online after checking out the competition. He said thank you, no problem and left, no pushiness. Although I do worry about more vulnerable people who are targeted by unscrupulous sales people.
Sir David Attenborough answers your questions! 7:26pm on 04 Nov 2008 Sir David,

You have inspired me, and I'm sure a great many others, with your incredible passion for the natural world for which I thank you.

I've become severely disillusioned with capitalism and dearly would love to become a naturalist or conservationist and give something back to the planet that gave me life, what advice would you give to someone considering a complete career change from IT into an area of work which they have zero qualifications, yet need to earn a living! Is getting qualified the way to go or should I start with volunteering to get experience... or both?!

Sincerely,

James [Personal details removed by Moderator]
Aylesbury, Bucks

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