Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

Now that the film has finished, it doesn’t look like there’s much on. In fact, the television shows seem to range from shows on the economy and finance, to shows on the essence of beauty, and that is as sure a sign of anything that I should be getting to bed.

When I said as much to my dog, though, who was slobbing out beside me on the sofa, and she promptly looked at me in disgust. When I repeated myself, it was obvious she wasn’t having any of it, and she crawled sleepily off and hid underneath the table.

Not Insomnia — quite the opposite, in fact: she’s plain lazy. Although I don’t feel like walking much myself, I must admit. But then, when I look again at the TV, my decision becomes just that little bit more reinforced. Although if there’s one good thing about hearing three people chatting about the economy late at night, it’s that it reminded me to get in touch with my friend the banker, and bring that subject of offshore financial services again – I think he would appreciate that, this time, I can sound a bit more knowledgeable on the topic that he was so interested in last time we met.

In a sort of continuation of the last blog, this will be on a similar theme. I just thought that sthe subject sort of deserves its own thread. As far as earning extra money is concerned, the field of property could be particularly fruitful – although again it is something where you’ll need a bit of money beforehand. I posted a bit the other day about fast house sales – but now, it seems, there is evidence to suggest the house market is stabilising. At least a little bit.

Although it doesn’t sound like much, property prices have just risen by £1, 500.

In addition to this, if you look here, there are property blogs here that probably go into it in a lot more detail than I’ll ever be able to, but it’s certainly another option. At least for UK property. I can’t speak for other countries, but property shows are constantly on the TV here, and people always seem to be able to pick up bargains at auction, and then turn them into big earners.

Just a thought, anyway…

This morning, just as I got back from a walk with the dogs, the local newspaper came through the door. On the front page was a very gloomy, very big picture of a house, and an accompanying story of how bad the house market is looking at the moment. As you might expect, the whole thing was filled with news of the recession; now a sort of endless, brooding, dark cloud that is swallowing our lives.

I decided, after seeing it, that I’d look it up a little bit online, and see if it really is moving as slowly as the article said it was. And there are all sorts of property news websites online – it’s great for that sort of thing. Rather interestingly, there are a number of similar sounding stories there as well. Including one that says, rather darkly, that house prices are set to fall even further over the next 18 months or so, and aren’t going to get better until around 2015. It must be hell, with such low property prices, if you are trying to sell. Certainly not a nice time to be dealing with it all.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t options out there. If you’re looking for a quick house sale, then there are still ways to do it. I suppose it might come with the slight downside that you’ll have to settle for less money … but it could be something of a blessing to get rid of your house so quickly, especially in a market like the current one. Sitting around, trying to sell, only to run into the metaphorical brick wall over and over again can only add to the depression.

And there are forums, too: real estate forums, and all sorts, that are all there to help out if you do find yourself immersed in this sort of thing. And they are a brilliant thing, because they put you in direct contact with other, similar people who are also going through the same thing that you’re going through.

Yes, the internet can be such a marvellous thing sometimes.

Graphic design is something that I thoroughly enjoy dabbling in. I’ve loved it for a long time – right back to when I was about fifteen. Although saying that, when I first started, calling it “graphic design” would not do. The first images seemed to consist of dragging a few pictures together, slapping a bit of text on and calling it finished.

That first program was old, and pretty rubbish. When I got my hands on a copy of Photoshop, I found that using it was so much fun that I practised, and fiddled, and messed around nearly every day. After a while I was producing things that were actually pretty good. And over the years, I’ve continued to work with the program – even if it is just messing around, or producing background images for my desktop, or profile pictures for my friends. But it has paid off. Because now, rather suddenly, I’ve got a chance to really call myself a graphic designer.

Now I could potentially be producing a magazine for my friends business – a business that seems to be going quite well. He’s set up an office, it’s starting to get rolling quite nicely, and it’s really quite exciting. I’ve been to check out the office, and had a play on the computers, and it’s pretty cool stuff. With leased line providers, there is nice, fast internet available already, and it all feels so professional. I told him as much.

Business SDSL availability can sometimes be more lacking than you might like, apparently, which makes it quite difficult sorting it all out. So it wasn’t as simple as just rolling into the office and ordering any old internet. He had to research into all the available broadband companies to make sure that he didn’t get ripped off, and was ordering a package that could actually be of use to us if this thing snowballed – which hopefully it will.

It can only be beneficial in these tough financial times, to have as swish a CV as possible. So I think I’ve decided to do an MA degree. Spending a year getting more qualified, and, on top of that, using it as an opportunity to take some time to expand the CV further with work experience and other writing just seems like a good idea at the moment. In a year’s time, with luck, the job market will be looking a little bit more peachy, and my more peachy resume will be right at home in it. That’s the hope, at least.

The most interesting courses, for me at least, are in London. It’s an interesting place, too – obviously, being a thriving, bustling capital. But there is an interesting video on You Tube, too, where someone has seen and recorded a UFO flying around the city. It seems the general consensus is that it’s a bunch of balloons drifting on the air, but still … it’s nice to have an air of mystery about a place. My worry is that to study there, and pretty much do anything there, really – well – it’s very expensive, though … there’s no getting round it. To make it possible, I’d probably need a loan, even if I can manage with a small one, and try and work up the rest of the money. So I’ve been looking around at the various current accounts to see what sort of deals they have on offer, and some of them don’t look too bad. With so many banks available, I suppose it’s always nice to have some healthy competition.

There also appear to be foreign currency bank accounts, which seem quite interesting, allowing you to bank offshore. I’m not sure it’s for me at the moment, but having leafed through quite a lot of pages on these bank websites, I stumbled on it and thought it quite an interesting idea. There are so many different accounts out there, and so many benefits, and so many different loan packages that I think I’ll certainly have to look into it more before I make a decision which to go with.

It kind of beggars belief, but according to the BBC seven local councils moved £33 million into Icelandic banks, days before they collapsed.

This is all the more amazing because concerns about their solvency had been raised long before and were reaching a head by the time the councils made their move.

It seems a typical case of council workers making decisions they are not qualified to make, and additionally a lack of accountability that means that there are no consequences for the individuals involved.

What’s more amazing is the rebuke made against the Audit Commission releasing this report, with Kent County Council retorting that the AC has £10 million tied up in Icelandic banks.

Arguing and recriminations aside, there’s little to be learned here, excepting that government bodies are inefficient and often incompetent at what they do – no surprises there.

In the meanwhile, the safest UK banks are still chugging along nicely, with the caveat that savings rates are now pitifully poor.