A Good Thriller discussion
General
>
Let's All Have A Chat
Heather and Lisa, I think the roads are an abomination the world over. More and more people are moving to Tennessee, and the traffic is like a war zone. I taught all of my kids how to drive. But my youngest daughter didn't care to learn until she was 18.And don't get me started on insurance. It's a ridiculous SCAM!!!! I cringe every year my car and house insurance are up for renewal!!
Heather wrote: "Amber wrote: "Ah. Have fun teaching her."Ooh, I think I'll leave that to the driving instructor - too stressful. :)"
LOL. Chicken. *wink* The UK's got nothing on how stressful it is in the US on the roads. If you think it's stressful being a driver wait until you're a passenger in an LA county parking lot that USED to be a freeway... . "Been there, done that, got the (bleeping) t-shirt!" as my parents used to say.
Groovy: Yeah, I can't afford it, not with an apartment rent of $451 US on a monthly income of $733US. To everyone from the UK, an "apartment" is what we in the US call a "flat."
Mod
Renting here is so hard, and you cannot buy here unless you are a millionaire or Jersey resident or lived her for 20 years !
Sean wrote: "In Jersey a one/two bedroom flat(apartment) the standard rent is around 1,200 -1,500 a month( I guess around 2,000-2-500 dollars)Renting here is so hard, and you cannot buy here unless you are a ..."
Whoa, that's pretty steep.
Mod
Damn. And I thought my rent was bad, considering my income.Who else is ticked off about this one? http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/...
Sean wrote: "In Jersey a one/two bedroom flat(apartment) the standard rent is around 1,200 -1,500 a month( I guess around 2,000-2-500 dollars)Renting here is so hard, and you cannot buy here unless you are a ..."
A one/two bedroom apartment? (flat) That sounds a lot like New York City. They charge about that much for a very small one/two bedroom apartment. If you live near wealthy Central Park, it's even higher.
While in Tennessee, I have a four bedroom, two and half bath home I had built for my daughter and me, with a back yard, no less!!! and I don't pay anywhere near that much. If I didn't have to pay property tax and home insurance, my mortgage would be less than $800 a month. It's all location, location, location...
Amber, I read about that. I don't understand how some people sleep at night. But I know they will pull through this. Something will work out, it always does...
Mod
Groovy: $451 for my 2 bed/1 bath apartment, even at a discount, is pretty much average for Belleville, IL. If it were NOT for the discount I get because of my SSI, I would be paying much closer to $600 a month for it.They sleep at night because they have no conscience. The people who jacked up the rent for the nuns, I mean..and others of their ilk. These are the people Robert S. McElvaine and I both call Jesus Thieves. As he puts it in his book Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America, these people "say "Jesus" so they think they don't have to DO Jesus." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Mod
3 bedroomed house is around 2,000
4 bedroom house is around 3,000
Some houses here the rent is 5,000, to 7,000 a month (pounds)
You can only buy a house if you come in as a millionaire resident
with a tax bill of 250,000 a year, and but a 2 to 15 million pound house.
Dear Lord!!! I'm thinking you have a lot of celebrities and oil magnates, Sean. LOL!!!I mean, Jersey must be absolutely beautiful to get people to pay that much to live there...
Mod
But as you know life takes over. It is when friends/family come to Jersey and we show them around that we realise how beautiful it is.
Yes many rich residents, although not here all the time.
I follow the property market closely, an interest, some Saturdays I go and look at houses on open days, some times when I am out walking.
One rich Swiss Resident bought a house here in Jersey for 12 million pounds, then also bought a house for his Mum for 4 million.
A rich resident who has been renting, is building the biggest house in Jersey, less than a mile away from we live, it will be worth 15 to 20 million.
He own an LD Lighting company.
A house that sold in Jersey for 15 million, is on the pictures on the home page with my wife and I in the garden, when we went to have a look!
I do love where I live and am so happy to be in the country but this morning I am reading your descriptions of homes abroad and dreaming of travel! Today will certainly be a day of reading (and I must admit Netflix) as we are under an Extreme Cold Advisory. It is currently -16 without the windchill factor and boy oh boy is the house cold! I just let the dog out and cranked up the heat and crawled back in bed to read a bit while the house warms up. Our prediction is to reach between -36 and -40 today. We are not allowed out in the beautiful snow which is calling the kids names due to frostbite warnings. Toronto is hosting a big basketball event and at the press conference all the players from the States were commenting on how cold they were. I honestly felt bad for them. We live here and this cold snap is a shock to our systems. So thanks for word pictures of warmer climates! I'd love to be in your garden today Sean....it's bound to be warmer than here!
Mod
Cold here in Jersey if it goes to plus 4 or 5 C
We had -15 C a few weeks ago, and btw you can buy a village cottage for about £12,000... but the country does have few downsides.
Mod
I love watching A Place In The Sun, and shocked at the prices in Italy, Spain and Portugal for that price in certain areas.
Wow! That village cottage is sounding nice right now. I hear Portugal is amazing Sean. Well on the bright side I heard on CBC Radio that we do not have to worry about the Zika Virus here as the combination of cold and elevation prevents the proper mosquito from surviving.
It's a funny old thing the price of property... 'Location, location' as they say :)
Melanie wrote: "Wow! That village cottage is sounding nice right now. I hear Portugal is amazing Sean. Well on the bright side I heard on CBC Radio that we do not have to worry about the Zika Virus here as the com..."For NOW, yes. But as the climate continues warming, how much LONGER do you think Toronto will be Zika free? When I originally lived in Springfield, IL. back in '87, we NEVER had to worry about West Nile Virus. Now we do.
Christine: Ditto.
Absolutely, Amber! Cases of Valley Fever have erupted here - Washington State!
Wow, Sean, that's nice. I'm sure you and your wife help that house to sell. Hope you got some of the commission:)I hear you, Cristine. I'm sick of being in a freezing cold house all day to help keep the heating bill down. I hate winter. We're under a weather advisory--cold, cold, and more cold!!
And is it me, or does it seem as if winter lasts forever, and summer only a few months?
immersed in
Summit Lake this morning. Hubby says 'time to get up and go to work.' 'Can't be,' I reply. 'It's only 4.45 am." I was at 43%. Chapter 16 Kelsey Castle Summit Lake Day 6 4.45 am
Sucking me right in......it was acutally 9.45 am - due to start work at 10.00 am.....Ooooops!
Amber wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Wow! That village cottage is sounding nice right now. I hear Portugal is amazing Sean. Well on the bright side I heard on CBC Radio that we do not have to worry about the Zika Virus..."To be honest I was shocked to hear we were not on the list of affected countries, or that we would be come summer. I agree that things change quickly. The fact that it is such a concern this year is total proof of change. It is far from being a "new" virus. (Been around about 30 years) it's just affecting a much larger area and many more countries. The negative affect it has had so far is truly heartbreaking.
Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* wrote: "immersed in Summit Lake this morning. Hubby says 'time to get up and go to work.' 'Can't be,' I reply. 'It's only 4.45 am." I was at 43%. Chapter 1..."
LOL, Sandy!
Melanie wrote: "Amber wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Wow! That village cottage is sounding nice right now. I hear Portugal is amazing Sean. Well on the bright side I heard on CBC Radio that we do not have to worry about ..."I think one of the reasons they say that is because we have good mosquito control. That doesn't mean it won't. What with Republicans in charge, things like public health take a bad seat to faith healing.
Groovy wrote: "Wow, Sean, that's nice. I'm sure you and your wife help that house to sell. Hope you got some of the commission:)I hear you, Cristine. I'm sick of being in a freezing cold house all day to help k..."
They BOTH seem to last forever here in Belleville, IL.!
Melanie: By human standards, 30 years IS new! Re: Zika. The negative affect it has on kids is an argument IN FAVOR of those countries ABANDONING their "no abortion for any reason" laws. Or so common sense tells me. But, as I have said elsewhere on GR, "As a species we abhor common sense solutions the way folklore says that traditional vampires are supposed to abhor garlic, running/holy water, silver, sunlight, wooden stakes, crosses/crucifixes and rose bushes."
Kirsten: Amen, especially with some of these Teathuglicans being what I call "functionally illiterate." This means that they KNOW how to read but don't (bleeping) bother...just like they seem to not (bleeping) bother wiping their own (double bleeping) arses after taking a dump.
Hi everyone. I happen to have 4 credits on Audible. Could I request some audiobook suggestions? Thanks everyone I am brand new to audible.
I can't help you, Melanie. I don't do audio books very often to begin with. And when I do, it's ALWAYS an UNABRIDGED version.
Melanie wrote: "Hi everyone. I happen to have 4 credits on Audible. Could I request some audiobook suggestions? Thanks everyone I am brand new to audible."Absolutely, Melanie! Always an unabridged!! There are some great audiobooks out there. I love audiobooks. Especially if they have some great performances. Not all narrators are created equal. Some great ones are Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgren, Bronson Pinchot, Wil Wheaton.
Great story on NPR's Morning Edition this morning about the phenomenon of "girl" books. You know, the habit of putting on the cover of a new thriller: "the next Gone Girl" or "the next Girl on the Train".Crime novelist Megan Abbott and Sarah Weinman of the newsletter Publisher's Lunch were the guests.
http://www.npr.org/2016/02/22/4673927...#
Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Hi everyone. I happen to have 4 credits on Audible. Could I request some audiobook suggestions? Thanks everyone I am brand new to audible."Absolutely, Melanie! Always an unabridge..."
Thank you, I will check those out. Yes I agree with everyone I have never been a fan of "abridged" versions. They can be very choppy and confusing.
Not to mention just plain LAZY, Melanie.
Do any of you go in a shop pick up books that sound interesting only when you get home they don't hold any interest at all so you put them on the TBR pile and now you hold no interest in the book. I just don't know what to do with books like that
Mod
Mod
Janet wrote: "Hhmmm - still on the run are you?!! :-D"Ohh yea!!!
Mod
I'll get ya!
Janet wrote: "Grrrrrrrr! :-D I'll get ya!"
Mod
And it's a beautiful day, 12-14 C.
So in 3 hours have taken car to the garage , done shopping, put washing and drying on, mowed the front lawn and back lawn, yes sunny and warm enough and dry.
Played with cats outside, then loaded one of our cars with all our stock of jewellery/displays, tables, stands.
Washing outside, cats outside.
That's not a bad afternoon off !
Sadly no time to read this afternoon, and snooker tonight.
I take a second look at them later. Then if they still hold no interest, I either donate them for second hand sales, or dump them in a recycle bin to be shredded and turned into a brand new book...esp. if they're paperback. Paperbacks are easier than hardbacks to recycle.
Sean wrote: "This afternoon took off, decided at 10.00 to ask to leave at 12.00 as owed a afternoon.And it's a beautiful day, 12-14 C.
So in 3 hours have taken car to the garage , done shopping, put washing ..."
Now you can come to the US and do all of those chores for me, Sean.. LOL!!! I'm sure your wife really appreciates the efforts you made on your afternoon off. Now try to get some reading in:)
Question: What is snooker?
Snooker is similar to pool, but with a table almost three times as big, and more complicated rules on the order in which balls are potted.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwSGd...
I'm laughing as I reply: Over here, that would take on a whole--'nother--meaning!! :) And the way Sean phrased it...**laughing**
Mod
We finished at 4-4 all.
I won one and lost one.
The table is 12 feet long, think 6 feet wide.
15 reads, 6 colours.
One red, one colour, then one red and one colour.
Mentally tough, as we play 2 and referee 2.
Bu not as physical as the tennis, although a bit of walking !
A Good Thriller
Books mentioned in this topic
A Wasted Hour (other topics)Dark Voyage (other topics)
Bangkok Tattoo (other topics)
Bangkok Tattoo (other topics)
Dark Voyage (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jeffrey Archer (other topics)Maria Semple (other topics)
Dennis T. Avery (other topics)
John Jakes (other topics)
John Jakes (other topics)
More...
One of them can drive. We keep offering to put him on our..."
Yes, we have very good public transport links in Manchester, UK. I think another thing that puts them off is the cost. We were going to let my son have my old car but the expensive element is the insurance here - it's extortionate. It would have cost more for insurance than the car was actually worth.