Archive for September, 2005
September 9, 2005 11:57 am
A site plan indicating the windmill’s location on the property. Click the image to download a PDF.
Categories: Architecture
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More thoughts on the loan (although I appear to be giving this much more thought than it warrants): we should go for the lower interest rate at Fortis, and dump Citibank. Our friend at Citibank will hopefully understand that a 2% difference on a large amount over many years isn’t something to underestimate. So we’ll be seeing someone from Fortis tomorrow morning, sign a loan application, and wait for their assessor’s feedback.
Categories: Finances
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September 8, 2005 2:57 pm
Well, Fortis bank came through. They’re offering us a 3% interest rate (compare to Citibank’s 5%) on the full amount, and they have no problem going through the process in parallel with Citibank. We have an appointment with them on Saturday, when I have to co-sign the loan application, and early next week they’ll do an evaluation of the property. Citibank haven’t done this yet, although we’ve been waiting more than a week. Bloody capitalists.
Categories: Finances
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Why is this an open source windmill? How is this an open source windmill? And, most important of all, what is open source?
I’ve classified this windmill project as open source based on the Wikipedia definition(s): products whose sources or design documents are open for use, modification and redistribution and a radically transparent procedure or process. I intend to make documentation and information related to the windmill available for download here, regardless of whether anyone is interested or not.
For every popular open source project (say, Linux) there are thousands of projects which never get used by anyone. Open source is not a popularity contenst, it’s about opening up information to the world, allowing others to learn from your mistakes, and perhaps even allowing them to help you avoid those mistakes in the first place.
The idea isn’t to get architects and engineers and interior designers to give away their ideas for free (although more open source information is always welcome!), but to foster the culture of share and share alike that helped build the Internet in the first place. If more offline projects would adopt this approach, the world could only become a better place.
Open Source Windmill
An open source project to renovate a windmill in the Flanders region of Belgium.
Anton Raath
Update: For now, I’ve dropped the “open source” part. There’s not that much to open source, and what there is I post on the site anyway. And building blogs (or renovations blogs, if you don’t subscribe to alliteration) abound the Net, so there’s nothing particularly big or clever about this one.
Categories: General
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Well shave me nuts and call me Martha, there’s a website called Windmill World all about windmills. Apparently where strange people with strange interests gather, websites will spring up. They have photographs of windmills from all over, but none from Belgium. I’ll have to look into this, perhaps send them some proper photographs once I’ve taken them. I also have video footage of the mill, which I’ll add here as soon as I get a moment to size it down a bit.
Categories: General
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September 7, 2005 9:57 pm
Oh crap. Ilze’s bank (Fortis) have lent us the money for a deposit on the windmill. Having done that, they expressed surprise that we did not approach them about a loan for the property (which Ilze did, and they made it quite clear that they do not lend money to cover transfer costs). Now suddenly, they aren’t only willing to lend us the full amount, but they can offer us a 3% interest rate as opposed to 5% at Citibank.
But our friend at Citibank has already gone to a lot of trouble for us, our application has been processed, and apart from the signing of the loan agreement we’ve all but committed to them. Our contract with the seller even specifies that the sale depends on the loan from Citibank being approved.
Do we risk seriously pissing off (and possibly embarrassing) a friend, perhaps even violating the contract we’ve already signed, or do we bite the bullet and settle for a much higher interest rate?
Ahh, stress headaches and caffeine indigestion, my faithful companions…
Categories: Finances
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September 6, 2005 7:30 pm
Well, the big moment has finally arrived. Today I signed the contract of sale, albeit in Ilze’s absence. She was in Dublin on a jaunt, and the seller was on his way to Lyon, so we had to improvise and act quickly. The trouble we European jet-set have, you just won’t believe!
The contract stipulates that the sale is dependent upon a loan from Citibank, which should hopefully be a formality. If everything goes according to plan, actual ownership of the mill will be transferred to us within a week or two.
I’ve put some champagne on ice to celebrate this big step, although it’s only cheap sparkling wine in view of this not being the actual ownership yet. Ownership will certainly call for a glass or three of the good stuff being drunk in the mill itself, probably followed by me thundering off a ladder and breaking my neck. At least, now I have something in my will worth inheriting.
Categories: General
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September 2, 2005 10:13 pm
September 1, 2005 10:17 pm
Here’s a site that’ll tell you everything you need to know about the history and technique of Dutch windmills. Now, our mill is well and truly located in Flanders, but I expect there will be many similarities.
Categories: General
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