Owain

Colin Bignell wrote
    | It is an advantage to have nosy neighbours when you are away.

Well, there may be limits to that, especially if you're giving them a key
and asking them to feed pets. It's nice if they mow the lawn for you, but
not everyone wants to come home to be told their sock drawer has been tidied
for them.

Owain

Nightjar

"Owain" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Colin Bignell wrote
    > | It is an advantage to have nosy neighbours when you are away.
    > Well, there may be limits to that, especially if you're giving them a key
    > and asking them to feed pets. It's nice if they mow the lawn for you, but
    > not everyone wants to come home to be told their sock drawer has been
tidied
    > for them.

When I come home, my neighbours can tell me exactly when I had callers and
whether they recognised the caller. You don't think I'd let anyone like that
have a key do you?

Colin Bignell

Owain

Colin Bignell wrote
    | > | It is an advantage to have nosy neighbours when you are away.
    | > ... not everyone wants to come home to be told their sock drawer
    | > has been tidied for them.
    | When I come home, my neighbours can tell me exactly when I had callers
    | and whether they recognised the caller.

That's no use. They should find out what the callers want.

    | You don't think I'd let anyone like that have a key do you?

Sounds like they don't need one.

Owain

Donald Newcomb

"nightjar .uk.com>" <nightjar@<insert_my_surname_here> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > You don't think I'd let anyone like that
    > have a key do you?

Don't worry. They had duplicate keys made while you were asleep. ;-)
Wouldn't be named "Hyacinth" by any chance?

--
Donald R. Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

EvelynVogtGamble

Donald Newcomb wrote:
    >
    > "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > If you're on good terms with your neighbors, why not just leave a key
    > > with one of them, and ask them to take in your mail and keep an eye on
    > > things, knowing no one is at home? I've found this a very satisfactory
    > > solution to leaving my pets at home when I travel. (Cats don't take very
    > > kindly to travel, but I'm not sure how much a dog would appreciate long
    > > air journeys, either.) Of course, I pay them a bit, by way of incentive
    > > - the pets know them, and otherwise I'd have to pay a pet-sitting
    > > service -
    >
    > This is a big concern for us. We used to have a vet-tech who we left our dog
    > with. She spoiled him rotten. He got to sleep in her bed, which we don't
    > allow. Lots of other animals to interact with, etc. She had a change of
    > situation and now we leave him at the best kennel in our area at $15/day. He
    > doesn't get to sleep in anybody's bed there but he does have his own outside
    > run and it's spotlessly clean. We do have good neighbors (the best) but they
    > don't want to keep him in their home and we can't see leaving him alone day
    > after day for two weeks with only and occasional run outside and feeding. At
    > $15/day pet care is actually a signifficant item in our travel budget.

I was very happy with the pet-sitter I used to use (but they seem to be
out of business - I can't find them in the phone book). Cats really do
best in their own homes, if it can be arranged (since I'm at work all
day, it really isn't that different for them, because the pet-sitter
used to give them play-time as well as food). But I agree - making
provision for pets DOES add to the expenses of travel, unless you go by
auto, which most dogs enjoy (although I'd not inflict that on cats).

EvelynVogtGamble

Owain wrote:
    >
    > Colin Bignell wrote
    > | It is an advantage to have nosy neighbours when you are away.
    >
    > Well, there may be limits to that, especially if you're giving them a key
    > and asking them to feed pets. It's nice if they mow the lawn for you, but
    > not everyone wants to come home to be told their sock drawer has been tidied
    > for them.

Considering the usual state of my housekeeping, I'd probably appreciate
it!

    >
    > Owain

Joni

"Jesper Lauridsen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:40b27b10$1$11572
    > If you need heating to maintain a proper indoor temperature, when it's 10
    > degrees outside, you need a better house.

What on earth do you mean??? If the daytime temperature is +10 then it drops
to about +5 duirng the night.

Do really mean that if you have a really good house, it warms to 25 degrees
when the outdoor temperature is 5-10 degrees. And all this without heating?
Oh man, you should get a Nobel price for such an innovation.

If you go to the northern Sweden/Norway/Finland you'll easily notice that
the houses are actually quite well insulated because it gets -25 regulary in
January. And still it's +25 inside the house. With poor insulation your
heating bill would be astronomical.

Frank F. Matthews

Jesper is probably a Polartech vendor with a different idea of a proper
indoor temperature. FFM

Lennart Petersen wrote:

    > "Jesper Lauridsen" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
    > news:[email protected]...
    >
    >>On 2004-05-24, Lennart Petersen <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>10.3C outdoor in Stockholm today,
    >>>21.3 indoor thanks to central heating.
    >>If you need heating to maintain a proper indoor temperature, when it's 10
    >>degrees outside, you need a better house.
    >
    > 5 C only in the night hours. I can assure you we have excellent
    > insulation and three glass windows but there's still need for some heating.
    >
    >

Lennart Petersen

"Frank F. Matthews" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected]...
    > Jesper is probably a Polartech vendor with a different idea of a proper
    > indoor temperature. FFM

To satisfy him, today's outdoor was 16C, late evening 12C and heating is OFF

    > Lennart Petersen wrote:
    > > "Jesper Lauridsen" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
    > > news:[email protected]...
    > >
    > >>On 2004-05-24, Lennart Petersen <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >>
    > >>>10.3C outdoor in Stockholm today,
    > >>>21.3 indoor thanks to central heating.
    > >>
    > >>If you need heating to maintain a proper indoor temperature, when it's
10
    > >>degrees outside, you need a better house.
    > >
    > > 5 C only in the night hours. I can assure you we have excellent
    > > insulation and three glass windows but there's still need for some
heating.
    > >
    > >

Bobby

Thanks to everyone who replied.

I created a checklist from all of the advice if you're interested:

http://www.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=9...320DE9D0B74C33

It's a Word file.

Thanks again.

Bobby


"Bobby" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I appreciate that this isn't a "European" question but can anyone give me
    > advice about checks I should make on my house before I go on two weeks
    > vacation?
    > I have a large family and this is the first time in a long time that at
    > least one of my kids hasn't stayed at home. But this year the house will
be
    > empty.
    > So I'm looking for advice about what to do with the house. For example,
    > should I switch off my (gas) central heating or just turn it down?
    > Cheers.
    > Bobby