IT’S TIMES LIKE THESE WE LEARN TO LIVE AGAIN

from Southsea Lifestyle June / July 2021

BEYOND THE CHAPEL DOORS - ART SPACE PORTSMOUTH

Neil Maxwell

I’ve stolen the title above from the Foo Fighters, but it seems very pertinent to emerging from the various lockdowns and heading towards the ‘sunlight uplands’ of a post COVID-19 world. Not quite sure how Churchill would feel being quoted in the same sentence as the Foo Fighters, but hey ho! Looking back on the last twelve months, personally and professionally, I’ve been really struck as to how so many of us have been stretched mentally and been forced to cast aside everything we took for granted three years ago, yet for many people I’ve spoken to reconnecting with our local community and environment has been a pleasure money couldn’t buy. It has also been a time to innovate — with many of us turning our hands to long forgotten skills, be it sewing, joinery, DIY, or… taking time to really understand how New World Sauvignon compares to Chablis and Sancerre, ably helped by Dave, Karen, and Christina, at Camber Wines. To be able to walk around the shops again has been fantastic, albeit with a slight queue here and there, yet the buzz of life coming back to Palmerston Road has been palpable, coupled with the work well under way at the former Knight & Lee building — the promise of better days ahead for the precinct is very reassuring. The enforced closure of March, April and May 2020 allowed us to pursue various projects, that are now bearing fruit for the benefit of our customers and staff. But apart from the first lockdown, Fry & Kent has been working consistently throughout the year with high demand keeping us on our toes. As I’m constantly visiting and valuing properties across the city, I’m amazed at the volume of junk mail emanating from estate agents being put through letterboxes of people’s homes, especially empty properties. Apart from being irritating and wasteful, I can’t imagine home-owners are going to choose to sell their most valuable asset on the strength of a few promises on the back of a flyer. It’s far better for potential sellers to ask people they know for recommendations of estate agents, investigate exactly what each agent is offering as part of their service and to be certain that the chosen agent really understands the local property market. Strong local demand for both sales and rental properties, puts property owners in a good position, but in many ways getting the valuation and marketing just right is more important than ever. Hopefully, as we gradually return to a semblance of normality more property will come onto the market, ‘It’s times like these that we learn to move again’.