On 2007-07-03 00:04:20 +0100, ":Jerry:" said:


Not if it gives a couple of years (or more, laminate looks crap but
is
hard wearing) and it would have meant living in a '**** hole' for
even
longer

What nutty logic. There is something very wrong with a scale of
values that suggests that putting down crappy flooring just for a
couple of years. Better to wait and buy something better. The
problem is really that people expect instant results and aren't
willing to wait.

So they should have bare concrete or bare (possibly splintered)
boards, probably with young kids around? Sorry yours is the nutty
logic.

Nope. There are plenty of alternatives - floor tiles, rugs,.....




, sorry Andy but you are obviously completely out of touch with
the reality that many live

Oh, I'm very in touch with it. I began with very little indeed. The
difference is that I did what was required to change it - tough
decisions, taking calculated risks, sheer hard work and with
socially inconvenient arrangements and waiting to obtain the right
things. Some people feel that a 40 hour working week, going to the
pub and to football on Saturdays is where things are. For them it
may be. I don't recall ever having a 40 hr a week job.

You were saying?


You've lost touch with reality.

Nope. In my particular place of life I've made a difference to reality.
That's a different matter entirely.

It doesn't matter a toss were you (or
anyone else) has came from, it's were you are and what you think now
that matters.

Actually both matter.








- just as you fail to understand that (IMO)
most people are doing DIY not as a hobby but as a necessity to get
an
affordable, half decent home.

Of course. However, that does not mean that the standard of the
results has to be compromised by poor purchasing decisions.


But that is all governed by the budget available,

As always.

Budgets can be prioritised and spending can be over different periods of time.



now you might be
able to blow, what for some is the entire budget, on power tools or a
(relatively) expencive flooring but many can't

Of course, which is why it is important to buy on the basis of value
and not just price.



and it's ****ing
patronising for you to suggest that because they won't wait with bare
floors they are making poor purchasing decisions

Why? I began with tantamount to zero and I certainly didn't think
that anybody suggesting different and better ways to do things was
being patronising. I always followed the principle of buying good
quality materials and tools and waited if I had to in order to do so.
I think that it's better than accepting mediocrity

The point is that it is possible to do something about one's lot
if one so chooses. Most people would prefer the opportunities to come
to them rather than going out and looking for and making them.

This is the jamjar principle. Give somebody a 500g jamjar and
tell them to fill it and most people will do that and no more. A
very few will ask for a 2kg jamjar because they see no reason to limit
themselves to the 500g one. Those with the 500g jamjars will then
say that those with the 2kg ones have ripped them off and life isn't
fair. The fact that the 2kg people took all the risks and worked
three times as hard seems to escape them.


- next you'll be
suggesting people live in tents until they can afford their own
Mansion, talk about mutterings of "Well can't they eat cake?"...

Unfortunately for many that is metaphorically true. The question is
are they going to wait in the queue, get the 500g jamjar, fill it and
be satisfied with their lot in life or go out and ask for the 2kg one
and fill it using their initiative and efforts?