Nigel Reed
writes and broadcasts at CBC Sports
Canada’s pride of ownership
I am currently house hunting. This Englishman’s Canadian castle has been sold which will render the vendor homeless midway through the World Cup unless he finds something suitable in the near future.
Finding ‘something suitable’, it turns out, is easier said than done. This is due, in part, to the way in which some estate agents market their clients’ homes. Suffice to say I am now up to speed with the industry lingo.
Descriptions such as “stunning” and “immaculate” accompany many of the properties for sale. The fact most of them are neither just means the agent is being, shall we say, ‘creative’ in his or her attempt to drum up interest from people like me.
A phrase with which I have become familiar in recent days is “pride of ownership”. It is intended to convey a message of a solid property, which has been meticulously maintained and is in prime condition for a prospective buyer.
My wife and I have stopped going to see such stock. From what we can tell, pride of ownership is actually agent-speak. Roughly translated, it means the dwelling is still standing but is going to need thousands of dollars spent on renovations to drag it into the 21st century and make it habitable.
I was fortunate to witness pride of ownership of an entirely different kind this past weekend. While Toronto FC was out of town, I was asked to MC the Ontario Soccer Association’s annual awards banquet. It is, as you might imagine, a gathering of the great and the good of the province’s soccer achievers.
Nigel enjoyed your observations and I am delighted to see you really getting involved with soccer at all levels.
The media I guess are to involvrd to consider going to these banquets,but I always felt that this is the real Mccoy.
About that precious thing your house well let me know if you need a kitchen.We have done quite a few and since you are the voice of soccer I certainly will give you one amazing deal.
John