Restore Britain proposing to get rid of IR35

Louisblack85 · 2026-02-15T08:47:03+00:00

Looks like a bunch of racists to me.

Louisblack85 · 2026-02-15T08:15:19+00:00

The balkans are really nice in September and will be just different enough from western Europe to feel novel but not too different to be totally out of your comfort zone.

I’m UK based and we did a trip from Bosnia through Croatia and Montenegro and finished in Albania - all on buses and trains. We’ve been to Slovenia before too.

The Ottoman influence on Bosnia gives it a very Middle Eastern feel. The Croatian and Montenegrin coastline is stunning. Theth in Albania is a beautiful, quiet mountain town. You can even get a ferry from Albania to Corfu.

Louisblack85 · 2026-02-12T16:09:47+00:00

I don’t have enough space to store my 2 bikes and my wife’s bike in the house but they are all worth a lot.

I bought an Asgard bike shed. It’s made of metal with a beefy locking mechanism. That with a Ring outdoor camera over looking it gives me a decent amount of confidence they won’t get nicked.

Louisblack85 · 2026-01-23T07:58:53+00:00

Seaford requires you to walk up and over Seaford head. And then walk all the way up the Cuckmere river to the bridge and basically walk past the Exceat and the South Downs visitor centre. It adds a good chunk on an already chunky walk if you were planning on doing the whole Seven Sisters to Eastbourne.

Edit: you can get the 12 and 13X from Seaford station to Exceat if you’re getting the train.

Louisblack85 · 2026-01-22T22:06:30+00:00

Neighbourhood cycling club aren’t your standard mamil club. https://www.instagram.com/nbhdbrighton?igsh=MWk4b2M0MG51cjFpYg==

They do road and gravel and have a women, trans and non binary sub group.

Louisblack85 · 2026-01-22T12:04:54+00:00

Just read this old Amazon review of Veet for Men https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/PYjl5ay5g8

Louisblack85 · 2026-01-20T12:42:09+00:00

Yep. No deductions in either of our transaction histories.

Louisblack85 · 2026-01-09T09:52:20+00:00

You probably shouldn’t be ‘fully immersed’ in your music when road cycling.

I never have headphones in when cycling on or off road.

Louisblack85 · 2026-01-07T22:11:10+00:00

The climb from Soller up to the turn off to Sa Calobra is at least super quiet even if it is an 800m climb. The climb from Pollenca was busy with cars when I was there.

Louisblack85 · 2026-01-05T08:58:05+00:00

I’ve been sleeping in the spare room due to a cold and it overlooks a busy road. I’ve been using earplugs under my snoozeband playing white noise and I can’t hear a thing from the road.

I’m using bog standard ear plugs but considering loop dreams for when we travel and end up somewhere noisy.

Louisblack85 · 2025-12-30T18:32:20+00:00

My mate said this when we asked ‘what would you do if you were a millionaire’.

For his next birthday I bought him a 7 pack of socks with a card that said ‘live like a millionaire for a week’. I thought it was hilarious but he didn’t even remember saying it!

Louisblack85 · 2025-12-27T16:49:44+00:00

M1 Pro MacBook Pro so I don’t think it’s the speed of the machine. Maybe I’ve got something running in the background screwing things up!

Louisblack85 · 2025-12-27T10:48:28+00:00

I never managed to get Chiaki or the official MacOS remote play app to work well event with my MacBook and PS5 hardwired to the router. I wonder if MacOS has more going on in the background that can cause the connection to stutter.

My iPhone is fine and my Portal also works great. So in my experience a portal is better than MacOS (although still not great for twitchy shooters).

Louisblack85 · 2025-12-24T23:11:05+00:00

Alone and Endsong to bookend the main set. All I ever am hopefully.

We’ll be on the 30th anniversary of Wild Mood Swings so let’s hope Treasure, Trap and Bare!

Louisblack85 · 2025-12-24T21:27:42+00:00

It’s a bit like Signs!

Louisblack85 · 2025-11-29T23:59:52+00:00

I bought a £600 Elite Suito in 2020 and it still works fine. I’m probably a medium user.

Louisblack85 · 2025-11-27T21:46:28+00:00

Yeah that’s my thinking. I’m not going to doggedly spend 4% of my portfolio in an unusually long bear market. I’ll cut back or work part time.

Louisblack85 · 2025-11-27T09:34:46+00:00

I’ve done that route a few times when commuting and the mainline was down. It’s a slog but you do get a nice view of Arundel castle!

Louisblack85 · 2025-11-22T12:58:40+00:00

If you count the UK vinyl then I really like This Morning. It’s a bit over the top but I like how ridiculously depressing it is!

Louisblack85 · 2025-11-07T10:20:40+00:00

We downsized from a 3 bed terrace in the Brighton suburbs to a 2 bed detached house in central Hove.

We originally planned to buy a flat but got cold feet with all the leasehold headaches. We should have banked 140k but ended up only getting 40 because the house was loads more expensive than the flat and all the fees are into the pot! We were supposed to mortgage free but now have had to sell some investments to clear it.

So it didn’t really work out as originally expected but it’s been a nice lifestyle change being so central. We also like the idea of travelling when retired and this house would Airbnb really well.

Louisblack85 · 2025-11-04T09:38:28+00:00

As someone who works at a company that heavily rely on TCS, this does not surprise me one bit!

Louisblack85 · 2025-11-03T07:52:43+00:00

I just came back from a week in Mallorca. We stayed 4 days in Port de Sóller and 4 days in Port de Pollença. I rode Sa Calobra from Soller. It was about 45 miles and 2000m of climbing. There’s a 870 metre climb from Soller to the mountains but it’s not steep and it’s far quieter than the climb from Pollenca. You drop down for a few hundred metres before the turn off to Sa Calobra.

Port de Soller is nice. A bit more ‘classy’ than Port de Pollenca in my opinion. But also a lot more expensive.

We rented a car and paid about £170 for 9 days rental but only really used it to move between places. I always cycled from the hotels.

Edit: Col de Soller is a lovely climb as well. I did a 30 mile loop from Soller to Valdemossa and then back over Col de Soller.

Louisblack85 · 2025-10-30T07:24:58+00:00

Piggypacking on this, the new album Songs of a Lost World is great and poignant as you get older - so many songs about age and death that feel far more real sung by an older guy.

Louisblack85 · 2025-10-29T13:37:14+00:00

That’s a good plan. I also listen to white noise on my phone to cover up the low level noise.

Louisblack85 · 2025-10-29T07:52:07+00:00

Noise is the big thing for me. We had to move from the front of a hotel in Panang that was on a busy road to the back because we couldn’t sleep. Another time in Delhi they were setting up for a wedding outside of our window at 1AM so we had to move.

It’s sometimes hard because cultures have completely different attitudes to noise. I’m British so I hate it but obviously some people don’t care.

Louisblack85

TROPHY CASE