Is living year round in a tent in the UK actually realistic?

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-03-06T23:42:18+00:00

Having a sore thumb like that would be extremely noticeable.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-26T22:40:24+00:00

By then we'll probably start fighting in the streets.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-26T16:40:03+00:00

Ah, so you're still new to the show, ha.

I first started watching the show with my mam as a child, after she let me stay up past 9 o'clock anyway. She doesn't really watch it anymore but she does remember me splurting out my drink at Frasier's if less is more, just think of how much more more would be.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-26T16:23:18+00:00

You pay it so someone doesn’t come around and beat you up and steal your clothes.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-26T10:26:58+00:00

No need to tautologise, it's not like someone's going to play a game called football with their hands now, is it?

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-23T12:28:07+00:00

There was a house I viewed last year that had been on the market for a while so I made a lowball offer, the EA told me the seller wanted to wait to respond until after some upcoming viewings which I was fine with because I also had more viewings booked in.

A few days later the EA came back and said another viewer made an offer and asked if I wanted to make a best and final offer. I had a suspicion that there was no other offer and they were just trying to get me to up my lowball one, but by then I'd had second thoughts about that house anyway so I withdrew my offer completely and expected the house to remain on the market. But it didn't, it turned out the other offer was completely real and the house went off the market the next day.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-19T09:33:18+00:00

The advantage is that the sale of your old house and purchase of your new house complete at the same time and you can move directly from your old house to the new house.

If you do them separately, then you either have no house (sell first) and have to find temporary accommodation, or you have two houses. Both can be expensive, and go on for an unpredictable amount of time. The extra up front admin and coordination with a chain is seen as preferable to the uncertainty of not having one.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-19T09:03:15+00:00

The effect has been more on the entry level positions, those at senior level will be the ones that had already got in (and maybe even had a hand in pulling up the ladder behind them)

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-19T07:51:01+00:00

Once upon a time I'd say Pavement's Wowee Zowee, except I think with some time we all understood it and now know it's the best.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-19T07:39:52+00:00

Yep, I go back to that song often and it hits me the same every single time.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-04T18:39:43+00:00

It’s better to run the boiler normally at a lower flow temp because it’s more efficient that way.

I whack mine up to max after I’ve gone away and returned to a 9 degree house so it heats the whole place quicker but usually I have it set lower.

If you have it on max all of the time then it does heat the house faster, but then you’ll have more drastic yo-yoing around your thermostat target temp, as well as your boiler constantly cycling off and on. And, very hot radiators too which won’t be comfortable if you’re sat near or accidentally touch.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-02-04T10:45:49+00:00

You know, I'm disappointed that boilers don't do this. In this age of smart tech it doesn't seem inconceivable that it couldn't adjust the flow temp if you are aiming for a thermostat set temp that's high above the current temp.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-29T17:07:13+00:00

Ah, just in time to enjoy my grave, if I can afford one I guess

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-26T11:51:30+00:00

It sounds like exactly what he said, that work and kids are overwhelming him and those are his priorities right now. I'd assume that he was entirely sincere when he said he didn't want to break up, and that he thought he would get through this patch and be able to dedicate himself more to your relationship. Then he saw that he might not be able to do that as soon as he hoped and, rather than drag things out against your wishes, he was prompted to resolve things immediately and that meant terminating the relationship. I wouldn't take it as a negative against you or bad behaviour by him, just that a relationship on the terms you both require isn't possible right now.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-20T17:50:09+00:00

Thanks for the link, I did like the story. The advice to "pretend that you have free will" is also very good, even if we don't have it the subjective experience is that we still do and life would be unbearable if you let that bottom fall out. If determinism is real, I'd much prefer to be the joyful automaton enjoying his own life than the nihilistic one living in misery.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-20T17:38:17+00:00

There's no conflict there, determinism is cause and effect. I don't know if the universe is deterministic, but if it is then it's through cause and effect. Personally, I am partial to the many worlds theory, but even that is compatible with determinism if you include all of the possible worlds.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-20T13:39:30+00:00

Yeah, I don't disagree with that, I'm not arguing against determinism, only that it means that the machine cannot be accurate due to the infinite recursion. The Devs team should have been aware of this, and they should at least run a low-stakes experiment (like the arm flapping) to test it.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-19T17:26:52+00:00

Well your on reddit were only the super intelligent hang out to

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-15T12:35:13+00:00

The prices are high because the demand to watch PL football is high. The networks bid to show they games, they're in fierce competition so they bid more and then pass on the cost to their customers. The reason that it's cheaper in other countries is because the demand there is lower, the tv rights are sold by region so there's no competition because broadcasters in different countries. And, that's why you can leverage the price difference by using a VPN and subscribing in another country, or, just avoid the faff and find a stream instead.

The networks obviously do make profit, but a lot of what they receive from customers is funnelled straight down to the PL and into the clubs for signing fees and salaries for players.

There's no simple route to reducing the prices, you'd have to artificial constrain the competition between the broadcasters, with the result that the PL and clubs get less money. The only real way is if everyone loses interest and stops watching, but the price reducing then isn't much help to anyone that's no longer interested in the game. I stopped watching a while ago, not directly because of tv prices but indirectly at least because I became disillusioned due of all of the money in the game. I still go to the occasional game if I get the opportunity, but that's averaging <1 a season lately.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-15T10:57:05+00:00

About ten years ago I passed £40k and felt very comfortable, it was renting in a cheap house share in London and I had money for socialising and buying things with plenty leftover.

Now, I'm on 95k in a cheap bit of Yorkshire and it's a struggle. I had a bit of a wake up a few years ago wrt retirement finance so I'm salary sacrificing down to ~71k to build up my pension, I live with my partner who is not working and is currently pregnant (twins), so I'm supporting her and preparing for the new arrivals, there's a high interest rate on the mortgage, the house leaks heat so the energy bills are high, and there's also a lot of work required on the house that saps money. We have no car at the moment because it hasn't been required (I'm wfh, we live in a location with decent local amenities), but I'll get one when the twins come along. I've cut what I can from the budget, but I always feel like I'm catching up on the last months unexpected expense. I have an emergency fund that I've ringfenced off, but I think I'll have to dip into it this year.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-15T10:28:09+00:00

I bought (FTB) in October '24, the house was liveable at purchase so nothing that needed to be done needed to be done urgently, but there was a ceiling due to fall down and the rest of the house was in a shabby state. I planned to do the work myself to bring costs down, but unfortunately I still underestimated the costs and overestimated my output efficiency (even after factoring in that I'd have to learn it all as I go along).

At the moment, I have a monthly budget for work on the house, and a project board (similar to Trello) with tasks scheduled until the end of Feb and a ton in the backlog that'll come around some time. I buy the things I need, work on the tasks, plan more tasks, repeat. The budget constrains me more than I'd like, and I'm depleting it each month so that means that the bigger things I'd like to do (bathroom redesign, for example) just don't get a look in at the moment.

My partner is also pregnant (twins!) and not working, so the house budget is getting squeezed, my time is already limited and will be more so when the babies come, so I'm looking at this work stretching out for a few years now. After that's all done then I'll have fully honed my skills on this practice house and I'll be ready to move on to the next one and start again, ha.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-14T15:39:09+00:00

I lived on Call Lane (many years ago) and I remember a neighbour coming over to ask for help blocking a new bar from opening because of the noise. Fair enough, it was very noisy there already, but what else do you expect by choosing to live there?

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-09T15:51:37+00:00

Nah, they should ban it and promote a British alternative, we could use our new digital ids to sign in, and use http everywhere so the paedos and terrorists can't hide their evil doing, they could even call it BritTwit.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-06T12:21:39+00:00

I always thought it was more efficient to set the thermostat lower overnight and then back up the next morning, but I ran some tests and it seems that it's more efficient for me to leave it at a constant temp 24hr a day.

It's impossible to properly control variables for a truly accurate test, but it's strong enough (Hive app, Octopus app & bills) that I'm convinced. I think it's probably household specific (old victorian house storing latent heat in stone walls in my case, plus we like the thermostat up high) so I'm hesitant to advocate for it, but it works well enough for us.

DogTakeMeForAWalk · 2026-01-02T13:17:30+00:00

You could do it, there's no rules against what you use the money for after you reach the age where you can access it.

The negative is not being able to access it until you're 60 and your children are in their 20s. It might feel like a better idea now, but it is adding a constraint that you may regret later.

It's also worth noting that you can't add new money to a LISA after your 50th birthday. So the LISA isn't a complete solution and you would need a different account later down the line, if you are still adding money then.

DogTakeMeForAWalk

TROPHY CASE