GOOD TO SEE that in good times and bad – and they are pretty gloomy at the moment – people in the property business are still taking their breaks.

This mid-term has been no different to any other with agents difficult to trace and phones ringing in offices and homes. Quite a few have spent the week taking advantage of the early fall of snow in the Alps, while others are getting the last few days out of the holiday homes in France, Spain or Dunmore East.

Bulgaria has not been mentioned, presumably because nobody wants to admit that they were foolish enough to buy anything there, especially as prices have dropped by up to 85 per cent in the coastal areas. Maybe Leitrim wasn’t such a bad choice after all!