Charles on… anything that comes along

I’m trying to remember these from the last time we had a proper one (1990-2). The title is obvious enough though…

1. People stop talking about how the price of their house has gone up in the past six months
2. People start talking about this wonderful new water filter thingy they can sell to you, and actually would you like to buy a few and sell them on? It’s this amazing “multi-level marketing” idea…
3. Sight of a car with new numberplates makes you blink your eyes
4. People cut you off if you ask how their house sale is going
5. Rents drop like stones because everyone’s taking in lodgers
6. Newspapers get really scarily thin - too thin to mop up, say, a spilt cup of coffee
7. Starcostabucks start shutting down because people realise that a brilliant way to save £60 per month is simply not to buy one of those bloody fattening lattes in the morning. (Bit of a guess, this one. We didn’t have Starcostabucks in the last recession.)
8. People at dinner parties and other social events start offering you cappuccino makers - and would you like to buy a few, because they can do them on this amazing multi-level marketing scheme…
9. Newspapers start running stories like “How to sue your surveyor” and “how to gazunder“. Ooh, look, happening already.
10. The “six months on” in Property Ladder, Location Location, etc return and find that the people haven’t sold the house and have had to declare bankruptcy.

Come on, tell me all the ones I’ve missed.

Update: one that wasn’t around for the previous recession: blog spam. So, the next one we can add is:

• you start getting (attempted) comment spam, amidst all the usual crap for poker/pr0n/pharmaaaa that reads “Secured Home Loans for UK Homeowners... Secured loans can be the best form of loan for homeowners when looking for competitive loan rates...

which I’ve just noted in my filters.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Is a recession on the way? And what does that mean for online businesses? (13 May 2005; score: 39.58%)
• How much coffee can a bunch of hacks drink? A lot, if you're paying (10 September 2004; score: 31.59%)
• ..though equally, people think you've evil even when you're not (22 October 2006; score: 30.22%)