It has been tough work getting through 2017 so far, with the cold weather and a new, depressing Donald Trump headline every day. But one thing helping Diary smile on through is our superhero calendar from Prizm Solutions. They are insurance brokers with a difference, and this year that difference is colourful costumes. January – starring Prizm managing director Peter Robinson as a striking Poison Ivy – was a strong start, but imagine our delight when February revealed a childhood favourite. But this is no Eric Wimp. This is sales manager Matthew Small, who leads an exciting double life. For when Matthew eats a banana an amazing transformation occurs. Matthew is Bananaman – ever alert for the call to action!
Coming up Trumps
Did we say depressing Trump headlines? They don’t all have to be like that. Even if the new US president seems to be bad news for Mexicans, women and people who had the misfortune to be born in countries he doesn’t like, it’s always good to accentuate the positive. Top marks then to Glentree International managing director Trevor Abrahmsohn for his blog post titled “President Trump will be good for Britain”. Abrahmsohn outlines how Trump will “set the American economy alight”, meaning US investors will have more buying power to purchase property in the UK. Maybe 2017 is looking up after all.
Grave news
One of the more unusual community contributions from a developer came to the attention of Diary this week. Rather than new roads, theatres, Christmas lights, or good old pots of cash, Urban&Civic is donating an acre of land to the Abbey next to its Waterbeach site in south Cambridgeshire. The site will be used to expand the cemetery, which, it transpires, is full. It’s not just accommodation for the living that is in short supply in and around Cambridge.
Ladyscraping the barrel
Diary loves learning a new word, but the latest is one that hopefully won’t take off: “ladyscraper”. As well as being the name of a hardcore musician whose records include The Death of Mary Poppins (among other unprintable ditties), it is also “a skyscraper with a curvaceous shape”. That’s according to the online Skyscraper Dictionary, which cites the 68-storey Premier Tower in Melbourne as inspired by Beyoncé – in particular her somewhat revealing music video for the song Ghost. For any other architects out there keen to pay homage to Ms Knowles, may Diary suggest another of her hits as a basis for a fitting design choice – “if you like it then you shoulda put a wing on it”.
The cost of gazumping
Gazumping is almost as dirty a word as double-dipping in property, and it’s easy to see why. According to bridging lender Market Financial Solutions, pesky British gazumpers are costing estate agents and solicitors more than £4.4bn in lost fees. Is that the sound of the world’s tiniest violin I hear? As if house prices weren’t already high enough, apparently buyers in London are three times more likely to be gazumped than those across the rest of the UK. No wonder the capital’s residents have a reputation for being rude.
Is this a dagger I see before me?
No, it’s a sword. A mid-19th century cavalry sword, to be exact. It may look like something from Game of Thrones, but it was actually unearthed on a development site in Hulme, Greater Manchester. On finding the antique blade during the site clearance, housing and community regeneration specialist Keepmoat funded Salford University to lead an archaeological programme aimed at digging up its origins. It concluded it likely belonged to an officer of the Land Transport Corps, formed during the 1855 Crimean War. If he’d like it back, let Diary know.
