Freshly Social

The recent ongoing recession has seen many of us saying goodbye to our fancy vehicles and opting for more economical cars, cutting back on excessive spending and limiting our once extravagant life style. Home movers downsizing to smaller spaces has become the norm, with a considerable amount of home owners selling their large homes for more humble abodes. Discretionary home movers are have a different motive however when it comes to the purchasing of new London property. These individuals are moving up the ladders instead of sliding down the snakes in the property game and opting for bigger, better living spaces than they had before, just because they can.

For many of us sailing novices, taking a beginners sailing course at our local sailing school is the limit of our sailing experience. The thought of sailing long distances might scare us, the truth is that professional sailors sail around the world all the time and most of these individuals do it solo. Sailing solo is exactly that – taking to the seas by yourself and battling the treacherous waters with no one else to help you. As professional sailors become younger and younger, there are individuals who are still in their teen years that hope to complete the challenging and daunting task of sailing around the world on a solo mission.

Lately there has been much controversy in the sailing world as a handful of young teenagers have spoken up in the hope of doing a solo sail around the world. This debate continues to heat up, with some teenagers already circumnavigating the globe alone. The spotlight is directed towards the parents of these individuals who are questioned for their parenting skills.

When many think of Paddington in London, the first thing that springs to mind are the charming Paddington Bear books that they used to watch as a child as well as the famous Paddington station. This area is a fascinating and diverse area of London, and the Paddington property market is now highly regarded as a richly rewarding place in which to reside. Excellent schools, a serene park just minutes away and an array of interesting recreational activities make Paddington the property pick of the year.

Paddington is part of the City of Westminster area in central London. It features various highlights that ensure tourists and locals return constantly to this cosmopolitan area. Property buyers in London have most definitely taken a liking to the area of Paddington because of its reputation for safety. There is also much to do and see only a few steps from your front door. As we watch the property rental and sales market steadily increase in the UK, more members of the public are opting to grab a slice of the Paddington property market and settle in this urban, yet relaxed area.

Slowly but surely, various industry sectors are beginning to see the light in terms of environmental safety and discovering ways in which they can help reduce their carbon emissions as a company and therefore do their part to contribute to the preserving of the environment. An industry that is also beginning to follow this initiative to go green is the shipping sector. Freight ships travel thousands of kilometres daily in order for you to receive your cargo in its desired destination. There are now a few companies that are taking a stand and adapting their services to make sure that they are using the least amount of energy possible in order to reduce their carbon emissions and contribute to the saving of the environment.

According to the Economic Times, the prices of luxury homes in central London have risen on an annual basis for the first time in 17 months. Estate agents in Kensington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge are happy to report that the sales of properties over the coveted £1 million mark are 1.6% higher this November than November 2008. Kensington property is particularly favoured by bankers who anticipate enviable year-end bonuses. In fact, those working in finance are the primary drivers behind the brief resurgence of Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea property.

Interestingly, the over £10 million property bracket has experienced the greatest improvement, rising by nearly 2% from October to November this year. Aside from the interest in houses and flats from soon-to-be very affluent bankers, the rising price of property in Kensington and Chelsea is due to demand by foreign investors. Estate agents say that the Pound’s decline and a tax-evasion amnesty can be directly attributed to an increased interest from Italian property buyers, who now constitute roughly 50% of European property buyers.

Experts have recommended that you decorate your home this Christmas in a theme which you can reuse for any festivity or gathering throughout the year. Even better, you can choose to keep your fairy lights up all year instead of taking them down after Christmas and still stick to your home’s classy theme.  In this article, we regale you with plenty of ideas for decorating your county home or London property at Christmas which will make your mother proud.

Lights, camera…action

Tall alter candles and a collection of tea lights can transform your lounge from a dull cream room into a festival of lights. If you choose to buy white candles, you can reuse them anytime of the year and save a few pennies doing so. Similarly, small white fairy lights are a great addition to a child’s party or a cocktail evening and can even be kept up all year as part of your outdoor decor. If you need to buy a new set of lights to decorate your home for Christmas, don’t go for the large colourful bulbs that you can only use once a year. Rather choose something that won’t gather dust for 11 months out of 12.

South Africa’s trade market is not as robust as the country would like it to be. For one thing, South Africa currently operates at a trade deficit; for another, it’s often cheaper to import goods than it is manufacture them locally. The good news is that South Africa’s import market is growing, particularly with the emerging BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), especially China. According to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), African trade with the BRIC countries increased from $20.3 billion to $162 billion between 2001 and 2004.

In strictly South African terms, the Brazilian import market increased from $154 million to $201 million and exports leapt from $38 million to $80 million. Russian imports increased from $40 million to $301 million and exports increased from $97 million to $240 million. Trade with India increased phenomenally from $1.2 billion to $4.4 billion. Shipping agents had the pleasure of ferrying inorganic chemicals, coal and coal products from SA to India and returning with petroleum, petroleum products, electronic equipment and pharmaceutical products.

Parents dread empty nest syndrome even more these days because they know that they’ll probably have to fit the bill to rent an appropriate London property near the University. However, a new scheme by the Bath Building Society offers students in the UK the opportunity to buy a house near their university with a student mortgage, instead of throwing away their parent’s money on rent.

Students can pay off the mortgage loans by using the money they would normally use for rent to make interest-only payments. Parents have to stand as guarantors and are required to borrow 20% of the loan against their own house if they require a loan larger than 80% of the total payment. One of the conditions of the student mortgages, however, is that the property has to be within a ten mile radius of the student’s university.

Business meetings, lunchtime chats or catching up on the mountain of emails in your inbox. All of us need to be connected to the internet and because some of us don’t have broadband at home, we venture out to our nearest coffee shops to take advantage of its WiFi hotspots whilst enjoying a snack or drink.

Even though a number of restaurants, coffee shops and other hospitality establishments have free WiFi hotspots, there are still a considerable number of owners that have not entered the age of technology and offer only broadband internet. Setting up a WiFi hotspot in your establishment will lead more patrons to your door as not all people have internet at home and many need a social place to conduct meetings. In the past, owners have shied away from the implementation of WiFi hotspots in fear of overspending. Red Button, in collaboration with Web Africa, a top Internet Service Provider, have come up with a way in which even the smallest café on the corner in South Africa can now enjoy the benefit of their WiFi hotspots.

Many men and most central London estate agents wouldn’t be surprised to learn that, according to a recent survey, when it comes to deciding where to move, women have the final say. The research, which involved 400 households across the UK, concluded that women were far more influential with regards to moving house than their husbands or partners.

Researchers deduced that the reason is because women spend more time in their homes and neighborhoods. Other possible reasons could be that men feel it is their duty to make their wives happy with regards to domestic arrangements and women are more outspoken about where they want to live.