yours2share - sharing stuff & collaborative consumption » Uncategorized

Boat share case study

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:29:27 +0000

I’ve just added another yours2share case study about a successful boat share sale made just a few months ago.

Margaret Flatman from Norwich in Norfolk sold her 1/5^th share in a Hunter Legend 340 based in Nidri, Lefkas, Greece to Peter Dow from Topsham, near Exeter in Devon. The share was advertised in October 2008 and was sold the following month.

I really appreciate Margaret and Peter’s help in allowing me to use them as a case study.

Allotments on the Economist

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:21:33 +0000

I’ve just commented on an article in last week’s Economist, my favourite newspaper. I don’t remember ever reading about allotments in it before, so this probably reflects the substantial change in the middle classes that make up their readership over the last year or so. Tending your allotment is no longer the preserve of slightly batty hippies or retirees.

Anyhow here’s the article: allotments, take this job and shovel it and here is the listing of yours2share’s current garden shares.

Home for honey bees

admin — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:16:23 +0000

I was delighted to see this recent yours2share ad. The member is looking for someone with some spare land in HIgh Wycombe for his honey bees and their hives.

As the idea of land sharing takes hold of people’s imaginations, fruit and vegetables are not the only thing for which people are looking for a small unused plot of land. There are many people who dream of rearing honey bees, hens, a couple of goats, cows or pigs, if only they had some land.

Sharing private swimming pools

yours2share — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:25:46 +0000

yours2share’s latest sharing category is private leisure facilities which includes swimming pools, tennis courts and any other expensive private leisure facility that is only used occasionally, such as saunas and private gyms.

This has always been a potential category. I personally love swimming, but hate pools filled with screaming children or indeed with filled with enough adult swimmers to mean I have to swerve around them as I swim up and down.

But this category has been kick started by my recent move to Norfolk. An early conversation with a neighbour led me to explain what yours2share does. The response was “Oh, you mean like pool timeshare”.

As a result, I’ve discovered several “pool timeshares” around Norwich. The owners of private swimming pools allow people to rent their pool fractionally for specific times each week, usually for half an hour or an hour, for various periods, usually three, six or twelve months. I was astonished. I thought “how did I miss this practice: it must be commonplace”. Well it may be common, but only in Norfolk. If it’s common elsewhere, it is well hidden. I can’t find any evidence of sharing pools anywhere else on the web.

I’ve also met local people who are looking for partners to help them build a swimming pool in their garden. Usually they are looking for (say) ten families who will each contribute to the building and maintenance costs in return for use of the pool for (say) half a day’s use a week for the next (say) fifteen years.

The swimming pool sharing guidance and a template contract from Net Lawman are already available. Over the next few months we will develop the guidance and templates for other facilities.

If you have a private swimming pool (or tennis court or sauna) and are interested in finding people to rent it fractionally, post an ad, or contact me.

Finally yours2share can also be used to find someone to share your pool timeshare! In other words, find a swimming buddy. There are no lifeguards in private swimming pools which means users must never swim alone. I’ve been using the Natatorium swimming pool for the last three months, but my partner, who was never much interested in swimming, has refused to accompany me any more, so I need a swimming buddy!