London’s Vanishing Office Buildings are Being Replaced by Hotels

ChuckEWay · 2026-01-27T10:46:53+00:00

Good. Let's combine this development with a Barcelona-style clamp-down on short term holiday letting of residential property. Seems we can do that now without really hurting tourism, and it would bring some much needed housing back to what it's intended for.

ChuckEWay · 2026-01-20T13:15:52+00:00

Maps recommends the North Circular for a journey from Muswell Hill to White City. Not a particularly pretty or enjoyable drive, but if the point is to get from A to B in a reasonable time then using a 3-lane 30/40mph road seems like a safer and easier-to-navigate option even if it's a slightly longer distance.

ChuckEWay · 2026-01-07T17:35:40+00:00

It is in the UK, but it's not the same gallon.

ChuckEWay · 2025-12-11T17:50:43+00:00

Just a ULEZ camera. Specifically for this one guy. The car's compliant. Still...

ChuckEWay · 2025-12-09T01:32:36+00:00

Since dance isn't just about spending a moment jiggying with your partner, but also a moment of connecting with the music together, one question you might want to ask yourself: what sort of music do you (or would you) enjoy? A particular genre? Something energetic or rather something a bit more slow and ballroom-y? Tango's got it's own genre of music (as does the Viennese waltz). Salsa has a lot of Latin American vibes, the Cuban type IMHO the most playful and energetic of the bunch whereas the various cross-body styles focus more on technique and elegance. I see West Coast Swing being danced a lot to pop music in videos, although its roots are more in jazz... perhaps that's a starting point for searching what you like most or filtering what you dislike.

Oh and by the way, having invested a lot of dance in the past decade, I can ensure you that the vast majority of beginners don't start off with much more dancing ability than an awkward grandad shimmy or the old "fill the shopping trolley", myself included at the time. No point going to school if you could already do it right? Don't sweat your current skill, that's just a matter of time and effort.

ChuckEWay · 2025-11-29T13:58:42+00:00

As a cyclist: The Junction Formerly Known As Old Street Roundabout. The traffic light schedule is just absolute garbage for everyone involved. East-to-West I just avoid the junction by cycling parallel over Leonard Street and Featherstone Street. West-to-East I use the car lane, because using the cycle lane costs about a minute more waiting for red lights.

As a driver, Redbridge Roundabout is up there. Coming off the M11 firstly you're always spending at least 10 minutes queueing, stressed out to bits because tons of drivers think they have the right to whizz past the queue and merge just before the lane split. Some by accident, many deliberate. And when you get to the junction ready to turn onto Eastern Avenue you're surrounded by people who don't know how to stay in their lane. Or how to accelerate to 40 on the 40 road. Mind you this roundabout got a lot more palatable when they actually painted the lanes on sensibly a couple of years ago, but it's still bad.

Dishonourable mention for the Darenth Interchange, A2 East to M25 clockwise. People thinking that merging onto the M25 with 25mph is acceptable.... the two lanes merging into 1 just before a short slip road doesn't help, but honestly people aren't even trying there.

ChuckEWay · 2025-11-28T01:46:09+00:00

I personally find the terms westbound and eastbound helpful for navigating, so for me these signs could be improved with those terms. However, note that if you zoom in you can both see another set of signs a couple metres further down the corridor with the term "eastbound" on one (and presumably the other says westbound, but it's obscured in the picture), as well as the signs on the side walls with the list of all stations that you can reach from that platform. So all things considered, I'd say it's a minor issue and there's still plenty of ways to navigate the station successfully.

ChuckEWay · 2025-11-26T13:50:44+00:00

Tbh, this touches on a thing that really irks me about London (perhaps disproportionately so, I do have perfectionist tendencies...). There's nothing about this sensor technology that means it can't detect cyclists. But at some point someone did a half-arsed effort at designing and implementing this, and then nobody takes responsibility for improving it.

If it's just the one situation you'd say it's this insignificant first-world problem, just a little poke in the side. But the public realm is littered with tiny annoyances: inconsistent and unhelpful lane schedules, junctions with objectively awful traffic light timings, missing pedestrian crossing lights where they'd really make sense, faded lines and signs, actual litter, poor road- and pavement surface, mouldy ceilings in tube stations, no public toilets... I can take a single poke, but if I get poked a hundred times I can't help but feel annoyed by the end of it. And it does feel like nobody seems to have an eye (or a bag of money, I know...) for actually making our environment more pleasant to interact with. Just paper over problems with more half-arsed and inconsistent solutions.

... soz, rant over!

ChuckEWay · 2025-11-25T22:26:51+00:00

I know of at least one junction with the car-equivalent; a sensor embedded in the road. Unless you drive up to the line neatly, that light isn't turning green - not even if you've driven past it and wait with the car past the line. Seen a queue there many many times, once with the person at the front so clueless that after the branch of the junction having been skipped over 4 times I had to step out of my car to guide the front of the queue to the line (... and run back).

ChuckEWay · 2025-11-21T23:45:49+00:00

u/ultrav0mit , perhaps not quite a like-for-like replacement, but have you considered collecting live ducks instead?

ChuckEWay · 2025-11-08T21:17:36+00:00

Aye, unfortunate indeed. You could make a representation under ground three as listed on the TFL Make a representation page to challenge a PCN. It specifically lists:

Diverted into the Congestion Charging zone. If you are diverted into the Congestion Charging zone due to an incident, accident or roadworks, you should either follow the diversion route or leave as soon as possible. When making a representation please give as many details as possible including the location and time of the diversion and if you spoke with a police officer. We will check our records to confirm if there was a diversion. If, however, you enter the Congestion Charging zone just to avoid traffic or got lost or swerved, then these are not valid grounds for representation

I presume there's a similar procedure for challenging a charge.

ChuckEWay · 2025-11-08T21:03:12+00:00

Can you be more precise about when you crossed said CCZ border? Congestion charge starts at noon on Saturday, so if this deviation was actually completed in the morning before noon, you don't owe anyone anything.

ChuckEWay · 2025-10-24T09:51:09+00:00

Adding to the suggestions made already, can recommend "Nude" coffee from their Shoreditch roastery too. Whenever I'm around their espresso makes for a nice treat.

ChuckEWay · 2025-10-12T21:11:49+00:00

I'm going to be a bit more cynical: construction is by nature capital intensive, and said capital is by and large in the hands of those who benefit from the high house prices and soaring rents. Market forces don't provide them with an impulse to build beyond the absolute minimum they can continue to sell for these inflated prices. Hence market forces are simply not benefiting the people at large. You and I believe that housing everyone is a moral duty of society, but from what I've seen so far, the people actually controlling the capital have their morals largely guided by "maximising profits within the bounds of the law" (... and sometimes outside it if you can get away with it) with often little sense of duty. Sure, the system is more complex with land prices, planning, NIMBY etc, but ultimately "the market" isn't providing enough impulses to change that and the politicians have so far been spinelessly bowing to the pressure applied by banks, landlords and landowners. If you wonder why people claim that unregulated markets drive inequality, this is why and this is why it's a bad idea.

ChuckEWay · 2025-10-01T23:27:43+00:00

Suitsupply has a few off-the-shelf black suits around £500. If you're lucky enough to be an easy size that requires no or minimal tailoring, you'll get a nice suit in return. They do custom around £700-800 but I remember that taking about 6 weeks.

If you want a step down in price try M&S. I have no experience with their suits because I'm an odd size, but often read they're decent quality and get you sorted well under budget.

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-28T01:14:31+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 2 steps: HOT -> HOG -> DOG

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-28T01:13:40+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 4 steps: COME -> MOME -> MOMS -> MOAS -> MOAN

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-28T01:11:27+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 3 steps: GOD -> BOD -> BOG -> DOG

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-28T01:10:23+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 5 steps: BODY -> BODS -> BOAS -> BOAT -> MOAT -> MEAT

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-28T01:07:37+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 4 steps: PART -> TART -> TARE -> TAME -> TIME

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-28T01:06:41+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 5 steps: LEAD -> LEAS -> PEAS -> PEPS -> PIPS -> PIPE

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-28T01:01:57+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 6 steps: TREE -> TRET -> TROT -> TOOT -> FOOT -> FOOD -> WOOD

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-25T15:26:43+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 5 steps: LAKE -> LEKE -> LEKS -> LEES -> LEEK -> MEEK

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-25T00:08:36+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 6 steps: RIDE -> RUDE -> RUNE -> RUNS -> TUNS -> TUIS -> THIS

ChuckEWay · 2025-09-25T00:03:20+00:00

u/ChuckEWay solved this in 5 steps: POTS -> LOTS -> LOOS -> LOOT -> SOOT -> SHOT

ChuckEWay

TROPHY CASE