OK, OH earns 125k, his secretary probably earns 35ish, how much should he spend on her Christmas present?

[DontWantToLookTight]

Just that really.
Hev namechanged cos don't want you to all think I'm minted!

What about all the Scots coming to england? Bah humbug back

Yeah, but they're not buying up beautiful ruined crofthouses in Sutherland and turning them into luxury holiday homes.

I used to be a legal sec for two partners who earned in excess of £150k and frankly was lucky to get a box of chocolates from the train station!

However, I've just agonised over what to buy my secretary (am now solicitor) and have plumped for a Dior bag type thing with perfume and smellies which cost around £35.

I don't think the difference in salary has anything to do with it. I'm newly qualified so I think my secretary actually earns more than me. however, she is fabulous and very helpful and since she's quite glamourous I wanted to buy something that showed I valued her rather than just a token present.

I was cacking my pants about her reaction before I read this thread but am really bricking it now!

I adore London. I always feel really, really happy in town.

Sorry - just noticed all later posts about houses. That was just in response to OP

Cashncarry, she'll love it. Everyone needs a bit of Dior in their life

i love london, i lived it in for years, i still live on the outskirts.

that's why i can see what's going on now, how people are being driven out. it's just my half cocked/pissed up view

Yeah but the rich Londoners who buy up these crofthouses are saving them from crumbling completely and disappearing altogether.

i must live in a parallel universe

Perhaps that's the answer? The OP's OH should buy his secretary a crumbling croft in the North?

thanks Hunker It's all wrapped up in Dior paper with Dior ribbons so dead classy

Can't abide London btw - the smell of it used to make me barf every day having to commute whilst preggers! Thank the Lord for the green green grass of the Home Counties I say

Yes quattro, i hear a rich Londoner can pick up a croft north of the border for £50 or so these days

What about all those of us who were brought up in London in ordinary suburbs before they became ridiculously f**king expensive - it's not like all of London vs all of the rest of the world. Outrageous city salaries and runaway house inflation have buggered us too

No they're not, they're either demolishing them to replace with swanky new houses with swimming pools. Or they're stopping a local from buying them to renovate or (less ideal) building a modest house on the site. Or they're buying up perfectly habitable houses which they then don't live in for 90% of the year, thus ensuring that any local services that do still exist become unsustainable.

CnC - that was my fault, sorry.

I mean all my old friends and family live in SE London and are moving further and further out of town or out of London all together because they can't afford anywhere decent to live

Lyra - that much you think?

Shreddies - I did acknowledge a while back that it is seriously cr*p for people who need to live and work in London on a low wage.

I know, it is a problem.
It's only a small minority of Londoners doing it though. Most of us aren't rich in terms of disposable income.

that's what i mean twinkly and shreddies.

my family were from west london in the 30s/40s

i do seriously think that the middle(new rich) class have and will ruin london once and for all

Sounds lovely, CnC

Hatrick, South Bank's fab, isn't it? One of my favourite things to do is amble along watching the mad street performers on the way to Tate Modern. I went there to take pics of the crack on my phone so I could say to people "Do you want to see my crack?" [childish as hell] VVV and I laughed at toddlers getting stuck in it (they were fine, obv, we're not cruel).

No disposable income in the quattro household