Anyone watching that Kevin McCloud programme?

[SwedishEdith]

Missed the beginning - are they living on that island alone? What are the kids going to do when they're teenagers?

And exactly how much money do they have that they can live without working? They still have to buy stuff. How do they plan for old age?

Ha! I thought it was me being all suburban and odd, worrying about glasses and tampons and qualifications.
I'm sure it is idyllic with primary age children but I was fucked off enough by being a teenager in a market town in the home counties. I'd have been throwing myself in the volcano in a strop if I had to live in the wilds of Chile with my family.

Yeah, this weaek was a bit crap. Less of the volcano and the bloody boars, more of the practicalities!

It said they'd chucked in their jobs two years ago, didn't it? I got the impression they'd been mooching around Chile in the van until they found a spot they liked.

But I doubt they were that isolated. They seemed to know plenty of people so theres probably a decent village community about. Don't the bottom of volcanos attract settlements cos the soil is so fertile?

I thought I could see a large town at the edge of the lake when Kevin and Jago were taking in the view from the top of the volcano. Anyone else?

Dh said they were near a town and they were only and hour from the shops according to the mum.

Nothing about education

Wrt being independently wealthy, you get a lot of bang for your buck once you sell up in London and move out.

Poor Kevin looks knackered in this series and looked properly scared gong up the volcano!!

It seems to me that you have to be pretty well off to bankroll this lifestyle this lifestyle in the first place. I'd be curious to see a "10 years later - Revisited" programme, where the children are young adults- what do they do, where do they go, how do they relate to the rest of the world. How do the parents get on once they don't have house building and home education to focus on?

I'm just enjoying Kevin's obvious discomfort.

Oh it's all just marketing isn't it. These are wealthy people living out some sort of fantasy - of course they fly home occasionally, of course they rely on large towns for provisions and building g materials.

I wish I had the money to do it - I wish they didn't keep pretending that you don't need to be independently wealthy to live like this. The vast majority of people could never afford the luxury.

One of the island boys opted for boarding school which is a pretty big financial commitment when you are allegedly living the 'back to nature' idyll on an island. Most people couldn't afford that with two decent wages.

The more I think about it, I bet the reason they didn't talk about education is because the children probably go to the local school, and it would burst that bubble of living solitary in the wild.

Some of you sound over invested in this programe! It is only meant to be light entertainment!

Kevin falling into that volcano, being eaten by the dogs boar or getting squished by rocks would have been light entertainment

Given he seemed so catsbumface about the island children, I was surprised that he didn't seem to be overly bothered about the volcano ones.

Ok then. Whathaveilost.

To be fair to the families though, they haven't said that anyone can do this and do it with next to no money. They have all have really good jobs and lived in expensive areas prior to upping sticks and moving away. I think the point of the program imo is more to do with the self build of the house and upkeep of the land and adapting to the new environment, rather than suggesting that every one can just move away with a few thousand pounds in their pocket.

Whathave, I think it's the reverse! I wasn't engrossed it in enough to think it sounded fabulous and forget the mundane ordinary stuff. I spent most of the time snorting at Kev's pretentiousness

It's frustrating when you don't really find out how they manage the practicalities - education, what if they're ill? What if they need new glasses? Do they go to a dentist? Do they ever go back to uk to visit, do family and friends visit them? Do they read books? I'd rather find out that sort of stuff than see them hunting boar.

I agree. Kevin has said in both programmes so far that he's really interested in how these people really live and make their new lives work, but then we get loads of crap about wild boar hunting (which was clearly a stunt for the cameras as Jago had never done it before), and the chopping down trees bit, which was boring. Having described how they selected trees in an earlier scene we really didn't then need to see it! And its great that the DC are learning to wield a machete, but yes, what about schooling? I too reckon those DC must go to a local school.

I also saw the town by the lake. It was to the right of the volcanic mud flow! The volcano erupting eight weeks after filming too . Bet that made old Kev thank his lucky stars that they hadn't chosen that day to climb it.

The trees and vegetation all looked well established so I don't think the volcano pours out lava every time it erupts and decimates everything in its path.

'Wrt being independently wealthy, you get a lot of bang for your buck once you sell up in London and move out.'

Not enough to never work again and support 5 people for years and years, especially if they had a mortgage to pay off with the proceeds and they are too young to have bought in the 70s and 80s and capitalised on huge profits.

With again suggests independent wealth.

They weren't too young to profit from the housing market. We have friends our age (early 40's) who bought a house for 200k ( they've been mortgage free for a long time) house is worth 900k and they're selling up and moving abroad. Maybe the people last night did similar.

The woman last night was a lawyer,they hinted she was successful so it's quite probable she had savings - plus his job too. She also said she they will worry about tomorrow when it happens so I think there is an element of winging it as well.

Can't wait for next week, I agree, the dad looks an arse

Even then, they don't work and had no plans to. I used to live in C. America, even there, £700k will not keep a family of 5 ad infinitum and a couple for the rest of their lives when they are only in their 40s, if they even had that kind of money in the first place. For one thing, you have to pay for healthcare. One illness and whatever monies they have/had is gone.

I get the live for today, but there's realism and just being stupid.

Those two struck me as the latter.

Like the other poster said, by the time they finish that weirdy house the older two will be in secondary school at least.

LOL@weirdy house

I've only seen the first one, but I agree, I want practicalities. I'm a bit of an anxious parent (well anxious person!) and I know a lot about wildlife. So my first thought about that island, while it's obviously beautiful, was there will be snakes, stingrays, jellyfish and various other things that can cause you some very serious problems and I really wanted to know what they do in an emergency, or if they've ever had anything like that happen. They've brought up three sons from very young, what about all the things that we have to go to a&e for like broken limbs etc?

I also felt a bit sorry for the wife in the island one – I just got a feeling that lovely and impressive as her H was, it was really his project and she wasn't 100% sure about it. She seemed slightly alarmingly overjoyed to see Kevin! (And presumably a large film crew.) But if they have paying guests, then she wouldn't need to be as lonely as she appeared.

The first thing DP said was "what about when they're teenagers, they'll be bored witless" and so it proved. They were very sensitive about it but for them to have agreed to send him off to boarding school their eldest must have had to make it very clear that he couldn't be doing with it.

I think it's a great idea for a programme though, Kevin at his best. Combo of weird architecture and slightly awkward personal delvings. The only thing missing was the rule of Grand Designs that the woman of the house must always get pregnant during Kevin's visit :o

Apparently, Boris from the first programme, comes from one of the wealthiest families in Europe so clearly they are ok for money. The house was built with a huge input from Tongan men too. KM kept saying how he had built it all himself..(with a little help..) It really annoyed me too

'Apparently, Boris from the first programme, comes from one of the wealthiest families in Europe so clearly they are ok for money.'

Surprise, surprise. Would explain how they got visas and how they afford to send Boy 1 off to boarding school in NZ. They will likely be paying 3 lots of school fees soon.

I don't think we are over invested, rather than irked by the basic dishonesty of these programmes. The attention to detail would make them more informative for any viewers thinking: "ooh, I fancy a bit of that - I wonder how we'd do it" (and also manage the expectations of people who think you can manage the lifestyle with a hacksaw and pocket change). But mainly they are dishonest (albeit entertaining with it).