Savills said volumes of properties changing hands in the five million pound-plus market were down 23 percent on the year, while the value of deals has declined 11 percent, compared to a 106 percent surge in 2006.Douglas & Gordon, one of London's largest independent estate agents, has witnessed a 35 percent drop in buyers on last year, but from an abnormally high peak in early 2007.Despite a general consensus for a correction rather than a crash, some agents were more bearish than others.
This blog is almost neck-to-neck to compete for the 500th Post with my photoblog, Wailea Daily Photo. The countdown is on, and soon one of them will cross the finish line for the Big 500!I haven't been posting as much on this blog because I recently caught a cold and have felt icky. It's much easier to post a photo and write a couple of sentences as I usually do in the Wailea Daily Photo than to write paragraphs! :Smile:Everyone I know on Maui has caught a horrible cold, and it has been passed around Maui like a hot potato. Of course, the chilly weather hasn't helped. Maui folks aren't used to temperatures in the 60's! As I write this post today, I'm still in my warm, fluffy robe with my warm slippers. For those of us who live in South and West Maui, we can't remember a colder winter. The
Weathering the Storm of the Dollar SlippingThe dollar has been sliding against the euro, the Chinese yuan, and the pound for the last nine months, reaching the lowest in the midst of a credit and the fall in property prices. What does this mean for American growth? According to the Federal Reserve, forecasts for economic growth will slow from over 2.5, and inflation remains a concern. But one figure does not give an explanation.The dollar is an indicator of how strong and robust of the American economy, compared to other countries and currencies. As news of record mortgage to market volatility and soaring oil prices continue to spin in the United States, consumer confidence has fallen, and with it have tightened their spending. The signals of an impending change that the Americans will have to weather, but which in reality is a good start for making some fundamental changes in the economy.If the Americans are forced to effectively, (instead of going in the negative savings, as the aver
Bittorrent is facing a small crisis with the loss of Leaseweb for hosting Bittorrent trackers. The major issue with a Bittorrent tracker is that it consumes a very large amount of bandwidth to ensure that all the open peers and seeders for a particular torrent file are maintained and current.
Azureus has a distributed tracker system that helps it work without having a formal tracker to connect to, to grab a torrent file. This in many ways is similar to how the later versions of P2P protocols like eDonkey worked before the MPAA figured out there had to be a central way of connecting peers to other peers. The Azureus trackerless system though requires that other clients also use Azureus to connect using the distributed system.
However, a distributed tracker does exist, and if the major Bittorrent trackers are stopped on 01 December 2007, then the next step in how to keep the culture alive is to use a distributed tracking and searching system based on (N) number of smaller trackers. A d
It's fine for tomato ripening, but a little too hot for me. We are seeing temperatures of 89 to 90 in October this year- I sure hope this isn't our Indian Summer! Funny how I feel all lazy when it is this sort of midsummer weather, and how a brisk normal October day can be so invigorating. I just need to shake off my habitual response and remind myself of the time and the short season to finish up garden chores.Haven't seen any of the usual fresh cider yet. Plenty of 'pasteurized', which changes the flavor; but nothing of the good old fashioned kind. But then it was a bad year for the local apple crop due to that late frost we had this spring. More of the fields lay bare and the harvesting, while still underway, is winding down. A farmwoman I know said the corn crop was good if the area got rain, not so good in places where rain was scarce. It was patchy this summer, with my own area getting sufficient rain for decent crop production. The farmstands are still selling sweet corn, b
I can feel it in the distance. It sits on the air like warm molasses. Hovers in the deafening silence that descends before it. Pushes before it uncertainty, desperation, fear. It is almost physical in its threat… before it even comes near. It cannot be stopped. It can only be escaped.
Suddenly it is before me… around me… above me. Churning emotions and thoughts in its path. Ripping up dreams. Blowing over possibility. Flattening hope. Not in one steady stream. But over and over again in waves of destruction. Until there is nothing left standing untouched.
Except you. Unscathed, you stand in the aftermath. Amazed at the fragile beauty of survival. A spectator of the human spirit. Cocooned in emotional distance. Trapped in safety. Disconnected.
A boatload of thanks to you all, for your wonderful words of support. How very, very sweet to hear, sshhh, we don't need to hear, to give our support, to extend our arms. And how very, very generous of so many of you to open your virtual homes to me as places where I might tell my story, share my upset and my anxiety, secretly.
I can't do that, I don't think, because my vow to not share stories
