Proposed: “NormalTown” TV Series
Covid Free Life
From An Organisation That Can Make This Happen
Whilst we cannot guarantee a cure for Covid19, we can make something constructive happen that will provide a fairly normal town where Coronavirus has been banished.
NormalTown: CovidFree Life. An Example of What We Seek To Establish
Quarantine is required to get in and out.
But relatively normal life within a moated town?
Unique Property Bulletin are looking for a suitable location similar to this.
Even if it has to be a newbuild in the UK., and possibly other countries too.
Grandparents can visit with their grandchildren and crucially for some families, they can babysit whilst the kids parents go out to work within the “NormalTown” covid-free environment. Telecommuting will be the predominant work. We’ve been banging on about the benefits of remote-working and telecommuting since 1989 when it needed to be by fax machine. Never in a million years did we reckon telecommuting from remote areas would become very popular so quickly. Fortunately with the internet, it is possible to be safe from covid and work remotely earning a decent living.
This isn’t random dreams: Unique Property Bulletin have been turning ideas into reality since 1988. For Covid-free life in “NormalTown”, this is what would happen.
Through a unique set of circumstances we can and are looking at creating a small village and a medium sized town that can be made free of Covid. This new Blog will cover several examples before settling on the most suitable. Along the way we will be including examples of smaller islands for as little as GBP £5 per year and some of the techniques we have refined over the years for finding interesting places. To begin with the main idea, the best way is to locate an ideal place that is a 9/10 and either buy it or build a similar one. For the purposes of this project, we have located the remarkable Fort Bourtange in the Netherlands as a structure upon which to base a newbuild in the UK.
Example of A NormalTown Design: This Is Fort Bourtange Town Centre
Imagine living here in a way that many yearn for: a time before Covid.
This is quite a large community and the moat, whilst not impenetrable, does provide a picturesque boundary as opposed to some of the UK Ministry of Defence bases we have been studying where barbed wire fences make quite an ugly impact physically and mentally. The emotive element to Covid19 will imprint scars that for many younger folk may last a lifetime.
Example of A NormalTown Design: This Is Fort Bourtange Town Centre
Imagine living here in a way that many yearn for: a time before Covid.
Please note, neither Unique Property Bulletin nor its subscribers are advocating the purchase of Fort Bourtange. It is currently a historical museum (here) and there would likely be local uproar if there were a diebate to sell the incredibly historical and iconic landmark. Though also worth noting that several governments are looking at selling off 5% to 10% of their land assets to jhelp pay for the Covid pandemic.
What is most likely to happen is we will purchase a smaller island or MOD (Ministry of Defence) property to establish “proof of concept”.
President Kennedy said o his citizens in America…
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
For most of 2020 all nations on this planet have tried various ways in which to minimise the lethality of Covid19. Tragically in America, the Covid death toll is 230,000 souls (here) as of this introductory page for our “NormalTown” unique property blog published on 5th November 2020.
Whereas Australia has a remarkably low 907 Covid deaths (here) and New Zealand a miraculously low figure of 25 Covid deaths (here). Of course all deaths by this horrendous pandemic are to be mourned and these numbers come with a major caveat that every death matters.
Which is why we are intent upon doing something to help remedy this nightmare.
There comes a time when people get utterly fed-up with well meaning politicians who frankly are losing the trust of the people. Not all over the worls. The Aussies and Kiwis are in politically safe hands. At least as a Brit looking across the world from afar. One of our major subscribers is a fascinating Australian who we would not be so indiscreet as to name, but he knows better than most, that politics in any country is a rough old trade.
Back here in Old Blighty, especially within our own collegiate skillset and CV at Unique Property Bulletin, we have enough of what are known in the financial world as High-Net-Worth members to ensure that we are not wasting a whole heap of time: that the project we propose can happen.
There is a question mark alongside the: If? Why? How? Who? Where? and When?
But thfrom experience, these can be the fun parts, the elements that make life interesting.
A rejoinder to that great American orator, President John F. Kennedy might be phrased in modern terms and for this first effort in the UK…
“Ask not what your NHS can do for you, but what you can do for your NHS.”
For those reading this from outside the UK, the initials NHS stand for the National Health Service. This is a beloved institution in Britain and is widely supported in the most humbling of ways…
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Although it would be good to see the UK government give doctors, nurses and healthcare workers a pay rise rather than a dose of the clap.
There is a wider debate on whether Covid19 is “just” a pandemic” or if it is evolving into an annual “endemic”. If the latter, then withou a vaccine some serios lateral thinking has to be done. Living with Covid will need to get a lot better than the current regimen.
So far in the UK we have had a stagering Covid19 death toll of at least 46,555 souls (here).
This website and its founder are non-political, f
xxx.
Both islands. Both free of Covid19. Where you can live far more normally than current cramped covid-lockdown for the next 12 to 24 months pending a vaccine that may never come. You can go to the shops without worrying about facemasks, or catching Covid, or spreading the virus. You can get back to normal. Remember life before Coronavirus? It seems a lifetime ago. The thought of getting back to normal can be worth thinking about at least.
In this worked example, you would temporarily reside, in quarantine, at this house by the moated draw-bridge…
First Covid-Free Stage Past. Then Day 15 to 28 on Certainty Island.
Crossing The First Draw-Bridge
After the formalities, and a quarantine where you would need to spend 14 days in that comfortable accommodation, you would have had several Covid tests, and then be given a final Covid Stage1 all-clear confirmation. If that is okay, you then pass over the bridge to the village of Certainty Island.
So called as I come from an island and can assure folk that island life is not for everyone. It has to suit your needs and you have to be looking for a certain way of life. This second period gives you and your family an opportunity to acclimatise. It also double guarantees you are completely Covid-free before you move into your new home in the main island town. The star-shaped island in this photograph. But you will eed to stay in secondary quarantine and acclimatisation on Certainty Island outlined in red for days 16 to 28 and give the penultimate Covid-free test results….
Days 15 to 28: Living on Certainty Island ~ Outlined In Red
You can become certain whether this island life suits you.
The main islanders can be certain you are definitely Covid-Free.
to 28 on Certainty Island.
Crossing The First Draw-Bridge
The 14 days in quarantine may seem an imposition but: (a) it is vital that everyone and all in the secure gated community is kept absolutely safe from Covid19 and (b) this is far less quarantine than the 118 days medical house arrest that I and 1,800,000 other souls with underlying health conditions in the UK have had to suffer.
Also, when visiting with grandchildren, I found it heart-breaking. No more three times a week and proper hugs or building Lego or things a grandparent is supposed to do.
No it’s once a month visit to the grandkids if lucky and because of underlying health conditions, you must stay 6 to 12 feet away and meet in the garden.
When two of your grandsons wander up whilst you are distracted and cosy in either side of you, the natural thing is to hug them. In their wee lives 30 days is a long time. One of the saddest things I have ever had to do, and it chokes me up just typing these words is quietly stand up and walk away from my grandchildren with as little fuss as possible and sit in a seat 6 foot away. The look on their wee faces was soul-crushing.
The mental and emotional torture is cruel to everyone. There is no perfect solution, but surely we can do better than the current lockdown-in, lockdown out, lockdown-in hokey cokey and souldl destroying government screw-ups?
xxx
Ths in Scotland have just had and 2,000,000 “shielded” forlk in the entire UK have had.
You .
Hope
A Covid-Free Island For £5 A Year?
At this point, new readers to Unique Property Bulletin may be thinking this idea of a Covid-free town is unworkable and the pandemic may well be over by the time it is off of the ground. So as a way of providing credentials, bona fides and a good measure of hope, please let me present a couple or three relevant experiences from the files of this publication.
The first is this amazing place where we started this property adventure 33 years ago. It was a small island. Population 1. Occasionally 2. Lease? £5 per annum. A bargain island. 1987 prices adjusted for inflation? £11.11. Would you pay £11 a year for a private sanctuary and a place where you ad your family could live without fear of Covid?
The Old Lookout Station on Davaar Island, Argyll
Okay, that was over 30 years ago, but even that longevity should provide the more sceptical with a comfort that we have been round the block a few times and are still here to tell the tail. In fact our unique property club has 27 tales to tell and our sister website that was born from Unique Property plc, the Argyll Group plc has 31 property ventures with 131 new jobs created over 20 years and a personal/family CV stretching back 20 properties. 78 over a lifetime. Well up to 59 years of age.
The three projects that are relevant begin at the birth of Unique Property Bulletin (UPB). UPB
The “I” newspaper and 80%.
Co-operative Power In Action
TS Queen MAry
Noss Head Lighthouse Station
Wiki link and exact UPB sentence
But on 23rd March 2020 when
The genesis came from Russ McLean (editor of this publication) and a television researcher who called looking for help in finding a candidate location in which to feature “NormalTown”.
Whether or not the fly-on-the-wall television series comes about is in the lap of the gods.
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We have four “candidate” properties that fit the description. Even a decent budget to newbuild something with a 20 to 30 houses plus a village shop, a village cafe and even a school. Though there are places like the first we bid on in the 190s such as the former Bawdsey Manor Estate in Felixstowe, East Anglia. 172 acres. Ministry of Defence security (for covid protection protocol) and a secure main gate with two dozen houses, a schools, a shop and especially a farm. Though Bawdsey is not for sale just now, later in this introductory article to this special Blog we have a remarkable book of all the buildings owned by the government in the UK. This is important as the £200 billion cost of Covid is likely to be paid from selling off 10% to 20% of the government owned buildings as a one-off force majeure cost.
Here at Unique Property Bulletin we are fed up watching folk live in fear. The uncertainty of employment, the worry of bills,, basics such as being able to keep a roof over your head. The writer of this has family working for the NHS and the fire services and worries about their safety. Politicians seem to be trying their best, but from the days, 20 years ago when this publication became a public limited company (plc) for a while, we buildt up a network of 363 seriously good friends who regularly get up to unique property adventures.
A jarring telephone conversation between Russ (the editor) and one of our shareholders in Australia threw up the shockingly dissonant numbers that at least 46,555 people in the UK have been killed by Covid (here) and
Australia 907 Covid deaths here)
New Zealand 25 Covid deaths (here)
United States 230,000 Covid deaths (here)
Singer and firefighter Stevie McCrorie, posted something that was profoundly upsetting…
We know there is a better way. Two things bother us about children and young people. The first is long term psychological damage at not having a relatively stable upbringing. Yes there is a wider debate about home-schooling and my brothers had one of the best educations at an island village school where all ages were taught in the one class. This article will become a regular blog at Unique Property Bulletin and education is one of the items that shall be the subject of how we might make things better. For this introductory piece, the fact that youngsters are not getting to play at school and meet their friends, often to form lifelong bonds of friendship is something that requires remedied. Steve McCrorie posted a photo that struck through the heart of many…
The other thing that is disturbing, and our position is to put a £5,000 bursary to fund a Ph.d student is the disturbing thesis that was dropped like a brick on your toes in a recent Panorama documentary.
Up until Dr Xand Van Tuliken coought Covid19 he was a very healthy 41 year old. We’ve posted the clip where he now has a “Long-Covid” cardiac condition where he has required his heart to be stopped in hospital setting as it is running at 172 beats per second. Then restarted by cardiac shock treatment in A&E whilst his brother, Dr Chris Van Tuliken is in tears by his bedside. These twin 41 year old doctors know a substantial amount about medicine. Chris watched his brother undergo the procedure where his twin’s heart was stopped by medical procedure and knew that hearts don’t always restart. The vast majority do, but there is always a risk, a worry.
But as much as the Panorama TV doumentary was disturbing at this point, the family distress of twins Chris and Xand Van Tuliken was of nothing compared to the very subtle but disturbing conversation Chris had with his mentor, a very senior doctor.
The distillation of that conversation is that so little is known about Covid19. Here’s the take-away from this article, even if you read no further:-
Two highly qualified doctors discussed whether “Covid was pulmonary or vascular”
That sentence doesn’t seem like much but it is a game changer. I write this as someone with medical training who has discussed this with a proper professor in epidemiology (and not gotten wisdom from Facebook “influencers”). What that means is Covid19 has been killing off old geezers by the hundred of thousands. USA: 230,000 dead of Covid as at 1/11/2020. UK: 45,000 killed by Covid. Australia
xxx.
There is a great deal of work to be completed in a fairly short amount of time. But here’s the thing: there is a significant comfort in combating the feeling of helplessness that a significant number of folk have right now. Of being at the mercy of politicians, who, no matter how well intentioned, are at the helm of a ship which, depending on the flag flying from the stern, your lottery of life and especially those whom you love and care for can have horrendous odds. Or, to torture my navy analogy, you could be like the good ship MV New Zealand
UK 46,555 (here)
Unique Property Bulletin blog has been established following one of regular telephone calls from a various television company researchers looking for assistance in locating unusual property. We’ve been publishing this thing since 1988 and since transferring to an online presence in 2012 have found the number of media enquiries looking for unique property and/or eccentric individuals has doubled year on year.
But on 23rd March 2020 when the UK had its turn to go into national lockdown something strange happened
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Stevie McCrorie is made for being on stage, in front of large crowds, singing his heart out. But on Covid lockdown Stevie is gently, but with determination, keeping thousands of folk sane. From his spare room. The audience is there, but faraway on FaceTime and Zoom. Here is a special “Hoos Gig”. The man is a very talented natural at this. In fact he is a master of the “Hoos Gig”, with trademark McCrorie interactive banter. When you are working alone, missing the grandkids and Stevie pops up on your computer to talk directly to you it is pretty good medicine. Hopefully we will all have a Covid medicine and get back to normal life soon. Never to take life for granted again But in the midst of all this covid craziness, it is thoroughly decent humanity, such as a man like this that lifts the old spirits. Thankyou Stevie.
Quick Blog Update.
For those interested in what a Covid-free way of life at NormalTown may look like, here is the Dutch Star Fort upon which a newbuild UK version would be modelled.
Would you like to live here?
Building A New Covid-Free “NormalTown”
21 day quarantine in/out but remarkably normal life throughout NormalTown as boundary of the moat ensures.
Unique Property Bulletin Ltd., and it’s team of subscribers are studying the logistics as of 5th November 2020. The first lockdown (UK was 23 March 2020) handed the government here in Britain, as did citizens around the word, the garace of 6 months to sort out a reasonable exit-route from Covid19.
Whilst several, such as New Zealand succeeded, the UK have by any measure, failed to a considerable degree. yes there will be those that say it could have been worse. But our rejoinder to that is why in the UK do we have 46,555 citizens dead from Covid (here), whilst Australia (with roughly half the population size of the UK to save 22,000 of their citizens from Covid death? To date, 1/11/2020 Australia have 907 covid deaths (here) and the official number in the UK is an appalling g?
Enough Is Enough
Time to take back some control over this.
Time to stop being put under medical house-arrest.
For our group of 189,000 Uique Property Bulletin readers (here) and 11,000 readers on our email list, along with the very active 383 subscribers of the former Unique property plc (now a private equity + sophisticated investor and high net worrth property club), we are determined to actually do something postive and constructive.
Inspired by the covid-free “NormalTown” idea developed by Russ and one of the independent television property program makers, we are now looking for a suitable place to establish a NormalTown.
We are looking for help from our readers in locating the most ideal location.
The Dutch Star Town idea withaa moat would be delighteful.
So too would some form of Port Mer
as time and faith of the electorate to sort out Coviod19.
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