Unsure how this worked but might be useful, might also create more worry, sorry fella

https://laqm.defra.gov.uk/tools-monitoring-data/no2-falloff.html

Appreciate the tree issue Cosby but it's important to note having a tree lined street adds thousands to your property price. So whilst it might not be best to have one directly outside your bedroom window, it is good to have them. Promoting sensible tree planting down residential streets should be made a priority from a public health perspective which leads me nicely on to

Dino's post... planting broadleaf trees like the Indian bean tree (best one) or surprisingly some coniferous trees capture huge quants of particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide which would have significant benefits for you and your neighbours health. It's just a shame you paved over your garden !!

Round my way they are removing the larger street trees and replacing them with tiny fruiting trees which do very little.

You should lease it to the local Safety Camera Partnership as a speed camera site.

Tree surgeons are expensive.  I spent 2 effing grand on one last year during our landscaping project.

That involved the removal of two very large trees mind and lots of pruning back of what was left. 

So a prune might be reasonable but it won't be cheap if it's a "proper" tree surgeon.

Not sure how much I mentioned about our little property hunt and offer etc. 

Saw couple of houses; liked them both, different pros and cons to each, made an offer on one, negotiated price, mortgage went through, building survey done (nothing major to worry about), got a builder in to have a look too (he thinks good prospect and also nothing major, just lots of renovation and modernisation)...

Now waiting for searches etc to finish and seller’s solicitors to clarify a couple of points.

All quite exciting really but wife gets stressed out about every little thing.

Exciting. I look forward to the house warming.

So, I’ve had a shocker of a phone call.

You know how, in the building trade, a lot of things are done cash in hand? No big deal, happens all the time. Just a bit here and there to reduce your overall bill by avoiding a bit of tax.

Well. That happened on our flat refurb. The project manager was amazing. On site every morning from 6am. Really proactive. Nothing was too much bother. He ran a tight ship.

He offered to help us keep the price down a bit by taking some payments in cash. Not all of it, of course. Just when he had materials to buy, for our job or for others, he could take cash from us towards our bill and use that cash to buy his materials in. Win-win.

So, bit by bit, here and there, I paid around £21k of our bill as cash transfers into his personal bank account. He knocked them all off our final invoice.

Then, at the end of the project, we got a full invoice for the entire job from the company on proper headed paper. With none of our cash payments knocked off. Uh-oh.

I phoned the owner of the firm and explained what that we’d already paid in full, and how we’d done it. He said that was fine. No problem. But did I have any records of all the transactions? Of course I did, so I sent him bank statements showing all the payments and transcripts of all the text messages where his man had solicited the payments from us.

Guess who’s now been fired and is under investigation for embezzling?

Not one of those payments made it to the company. He kept it all. And he’s been doing it with tons of clients, big and small.

Yeesh.

Ouch, good job you're covered, but what a dozy twat, no way he could get away with that even medium term. Just hope he had enough lucrative concurrent contracts to make it worth his while

I’m counting myself lucky that the owner of the firm is a good bloke and isn’t demanding that I pay up again.

Technically, it’s me that’s been scammed. By one of his senior employees, under guise of his company, but still.

Dodged a bullet there mate.

Sometimes it is just pure greed. Or entitlement, he is working hard and not receiving his perceived share. It is amazing how people can piss through money that isn't theirs though.

I remember a guy at John Lewis got put away for embezzlement. He was going into orders for TVs and such that had been delivered, then changing the card details to his own and having Saturday staff  put the orders through as refunds. He was always going to get caught one way or another but it was actually his bank that reported him and worked with John Lewis to work out why he was having £1000s of electrical goods returned to his card that he hadn't paid for.

This is why shops insist on refunding onto the same card.

I’m guessing gambling, hookers, or both. But it’s just guesswork. Like I said, fuck knows.

Do you have to pay VAT?

We have been having an intermittent power trip issue.

It has been happening on and off for a couple of years now - since we had an extension done.

Have identified a few culprits (an outside had water inside it, a leak and damaged a power outlet etc.) but it hasn't ever really gone away.

It happened when on holiday when the house was empty for a week. No trips had happened in months. It has been a bit of a mystery.

The electrician has tried various things to identify the source but to no avail. He had proposed replacing the board with one that has an RCD on each circuit so that only the culprit circuit would trip but we had put that off.

I had been suspicious of the supply. The power had tripped a few times during the night and it was always accompanied by an alarm up the street going off.

Last night it all went nuts - power tripped 3 times in 20mins but then the street lights went bonkers as well - making noises like a Universal film Frankenstein lab set. There was an alarming smell too.

So we rang the electric board (called NIE here) and today the guys are out digging up the road.

Hope this is what has been the underlying problem. Though I'll probably still get the electrician to replace the board with a multiple trip/RCD configuration.

Hylian how long and how many viewings did it take you to find the right house?