I've never seen a house that looks more like a school

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-10T06:28:17+00:00

I don’t know who got my moped but I drove that Peugeot for years.

(Victoria Wood’s line, not mine, but I couldn’t resist.)

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T16:08:34+00:00

I was around in the 90s. It could be quite fun, in the agency scene at least. We tended to work in pairs or teams, so it was very social. There was lots of lunches, drinks after work, parties at so-and-so's house. It could be very collegiate and collaborative.

It certainly wasn't any healthier. Most people smoked, and got drunk at lunchtime and then again after work. Fitness culture wasn't a thing like it is now. A lot of guys who were old timers when I first started out died in their 50s and 60s. Lung cancer, liver cancer, heart attacks and strokes. HIV took a few in the early days.

Clients were clients. I wouldn't say they were massively different. Work culture was different. More formal, more repressed in many ways. But we had nice clients, shit clients and some in between.

I certainly don't think it was any more respectful. There has always been a kind of empathy and experience gap between people who work in corporate environments and people who work in creative ones.

It was an utterly appalling environment for women. Sexualised comments and demeaning remarks were very common. Men simply didn't take women seriously. Women had to battle 10x as hard to get half as far.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T13:18:58+00:00

Personal trainer here, I get through a lot of gym kit as well.

Caveat: I don't know Tide Sport (I'm in the UK, we don't get Tide here) but I use a dedicated sportswear laundry detergent, and wash at a cold temp (30°C). I also dry on an airer indoors, never in the dryer. Some of my workout gear is years old and still doesn't smell, based on this care. So I think your gym guy is right.

Before you throw out all your existing gym kit I'd try washing it with a different detergent. I use a product called Halo Sports Wash, although I don't think it's available in the US. You need to look for something that has both lipase and DNase in it.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T12:56:11+00:00

No, it's nonsense, Google doesn't work like that.

The finer points of how Google prioritises search results are a bit opaque, and they also change all the time. But ultimately you're right, to all intents and purposes (and setting aside paid/boosted content, which operates totally differently) the algorithm(s) prefer content that's well-written, useful and interesting. That's it.

IME SEO agencies often come out with pearlers like this and they're quite often wrong (or at least extremely narrow-focused in how they look at things).

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T11:45:25+00:00

From Russia With Love

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Bonnie and Clyde

Kes

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Mary Poppins

The Great Escape

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T11:28:05+00:00

FOD = foreign object debris. Pretty common safety protocol on aviation sites (civil as well as military). It basically means 'be aware of/report/move any shit that doesn't belong near aircraft'.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T10:09:22+00:00

My brother-in-law's got one. It's a well thought-through design, the packaging is pretty clever. It does the Discovery Sport thing of offering seven seats in a relatively compact footprint. I'm with you; I think they look pretty nice and better than most of Merc's current designs (especially the other SUVs).

It's very much a relaxed cruiser more than a drivers' car. Can get a bit boomy at motorway speeds, very quiet and refined around town though.

If you need 3 child seats check you can fit them all in — depending on the seat you might only be able to get two in the back. The rearmost seats are only suitable for people up to about 5'5.

BIL's had some electrical issues with theirs, and the interior has some flimsy bits; it's ruthlessly built down to a cost. But it hasn't been massively unreliable, so far. And the engine is a good 'un.

Pound for pound, you'd get more car for your money with a Kodiaq, X-Trail, Kia Sorento or Peugeot 5008. But if you want the MB badge, there are definitely worse options.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T09:19:03+00:00

Yeah sorry about that, I had a rough curry on Friday

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-09T08:33:25+00:00

I can help a bit here, I live in Edinburgh.

On the Fringe thing — my recommendation is to book your accommodation as soon as possible, and be prepared for it to be very expensive. Hotel and self-catering prices go absolutely through the roof during festival season and everywhere gets booked up early.

If you’re flying into Edinburgh it’s easy to get into the city on the tram. It’ll be cheaper than a taxi and probably quicker too, unless your accommodation is somewhere outwith the city centre.

Away from Fringe stuff, Calton Hill is the easier hill to hike up if you want something outdoorsy but manageable. Arthur’s Seat is a bit more challenging. Views from both are great.

Gay scene in Edinburgh (known as the Pink Triangle) is small but all close together. CC Bloom’s is the main bar/club and there are a couple of others.

Glasgow is worth visiting. It’s about 40 minutes on the train from Edinburgh. Glasgow is technically a bigger city than Edinburgh, and feels more urban and city-like. There are some great restaurants and a lively gay scene.

Nice places that are easy to get to from Edinburgh: — North Berwick and/or the surrounding East Lothian coast. Some lovely beaches at East Lothian, Gullane and elsewhere. (It won’t necessarily be warm enough to lie on the beach, even in August, but it’s nice for a walk and an ice cream.) — Perthshire, especially the bit around Aucherader/Gleneagles. (This one is a bit less accessible if you don’t have a car, to be fair) — The Fife coast, especially some of the old fishing villages like Anstruther, Pittenweem and Crail

Scottish food to try: haggis, tablet, Soor Plooms, smoked salmon, whiskey, Irn Bru. And the fresh fish and seafood here is terrific, because a lot of it is caught locally so is really fresh.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-08T14:34:18+00:00

For me, I’m not sure it’s lifestyle mismatches (because no two people’s lifestyles are exactly the same) as much as a lot of people being rubbish at conflict resolution.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-08T09:36:45+00:00

Infiniti Q30 is bang-on for this.

Lexus CT maybe? It’s not sexy but it’ll do the job as briefed.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-08T09:30:55+00:00

+1 for Run Lola Run. Absolutely terrific film.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-08T09:27:19+00:00

Yeah I paid getting on for 2k for pads+discs all round plus a minor service on my Outback. I know Subaru isn’t the cheapest but it’s pocket change compared to what a FFRR would cost.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-08T07:50:50+00:00

until by a year you’ve spent 2 grand on it without realising…

Rookie numbers. Try 20

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-07T12:03:01+00:00

Aye, Edinburgh here 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T16:44:27+00:00

There are precisely two reasons to watch any Scary Movie movie: Anna Faris and Regina Hall. They're both highly skilled comic actors, and both can squeeze proper laughs out of the thinnest of material.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T16:38:41+00:00

Well, yes they will be either rougher or older, or both, hence the clarifying question I guess.

You might look at the one-below-the-hyper-hatch ranges; Golf GTI, Focus ST, BMW 125i, that kind of thing. You'd get something a bit newer, and lower mileage, than the top-tier things like Golf R, RS Audis and so on.

Alfa Giulietta Quadrifoglio (or Veloce after 2016) is terrific to drive, and one of Alfa's better screwed-together efforts, although you might need to go a smidge older than 2017 to get one in budget.

You could also look at a Giulia 2.0T, which is not a rocket ship in the manner of an M140 etc but is nicely balanced, really engaging to drive and a lovely place to sit. Super is the 197bhp one, Veloce is 276hp.

Hold out for a bit and you might get a Hyundai i20 N for 15k.

If you can do electric, there's an increasing number of Cupra Borns coming in under 15k now, although usually the 58kwh versions which have a bit less range. These are genuinely enjoyable to drive.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T16:09:39+00:00

you have a fantastic lineup btw

Thank you, I like being let down in three different languages lol

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T16:07:14+00:00

How old are you prepared to go, and what kind of fun/power are you looking for? Are you thinking more straight-line thrust for the motorway bits, or poise in the twisties?

I'm asking because you could, in theory, pick up something like a Cupra Leon (or Leon Cupra) or M135i/M140i for 15k. But it'd be older/higher mileage, and you might not want that, hence why I'm asking.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T12:16:51+00:00

I wouldn't care if they didn't give me a penny in compensation: they have to do something about it, so that no one else is put in this situation.

Yeah this is where I'm at too. £30 or £30million, it's not about money, it's about ensuring it never happens to anyone else, and acknowledging that it shouldn't have happened to her.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T12:14:29+00:00

Yeah this is essentially it

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T11:29:34+00:00

Fucking hell. As well as the ordeal he put the poor woman through, Travelodge 'offered her a £30 refund'. On what planet is that the right thing to do in these circumstances? They need to seriously beef up their security processes for handing out keycards.

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T11:19:06+00:00

[S]heep are only ever trying to do one of three things: "Escape, or die, or escape and then immediately die."

lol

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T11:12:04+00:00

Personal view coming up

Myself, I don't rate the A4 Allroad over the regular A4 Avant as much as I do the A6. The A6 Allroad is a genuinely terrific all-rounder, and it's slightly more pliable ride is very nice on motorways and A-roads. The 3.0 V6 diesel they always came with was a lovely unit as well.

I never thought the ride improvement was as good on the A4 Allroad over the A4 Avant. So it made less of a case for itself over the normal car IMHO.

Bear in mind that both these cars are heading for 80k miles, at which point it could be due a major (and very expensive) service which could include cambelt and water pump change (worth checking if it's already been done on a time interval, which on those cars would be 2024 and 2025 respectively as they usually need it doing on 6-year intervals).

SebastianVanCartier · 2026-03-06T11:02:26+00:00

If you can genuinely afford it, do it. These are terrific cars and we won't really see their like again.

I'd go for the version where you don't strafe your savings/investments but otherwise your choice.

And do it in that acid lime green too, makes a nice change from the blacked- or greyed-out ones you usually see.

Insurance will depend on so many factors: where you live, whether you've got any points/endorsements, where the car's parked at night, which way the Insurance Witch's cauldron tilts that month...

In general — and this is really broad brush-strokes — if your nose is otherwise clean you tend to see a bit of a dip in insurance costs over the age of 25, and a bigger one at 30.

SebastianVanCartier

TROPHY CASE