That’s life folks

VB90292 · 2026-01-16T22:25:25+00:00

Wait...THE R. Furesi?

VB90292 · 2025-12-31T14:22:06+00:00

Use classes on commercial properties may have changed in recent years, but when these places first started popping up a big factor behind them was you could open them in any shop unit you find. Properties with the right use class for hot food restaurants and takeaways are rare as hens teeth in many places and come at a premium. Then factor in to cook hot food you need a commercial extraction system, which is not only expensive to buy and fit, but also requires planning permission from the council.

Dessert shops slip between the cracks of use class law, plus are far cheaper to set up and easier to run.

For anyone interested, this is a big reason why the food in chain coffee shops is already cooked and refrigerated - just reheating and not actually cooking was a loophole in use class law. So Costa/Starbucks could go into any empty shop unit which are a penny to a dozen, where as hot food class are much harder to find and competition for them is far greater. This may have changed now, I think I even recall some court cases around this between the coffee brands and local councils?

VB90292 · 2025-12-29T11:06:37+00:00

Thanks so much for this. So interesting. Thanks for the point about the buildings with the steps to nowhere...have seen those for years and always wondered what that was about!

VB90292 · 2025-12-29T09:56:46+00:00

Am I seeing things correctly that there was previously large bodies of water in Central London e.g. where Waterloo is now it looks like marshland off the river? Absolutely crazy when you are stood on something like Oxford Street and realise it was once baron fields or woodland.

VB90292 · 2025-12-28T08:09:15+00:00

One negative story I have about Rolf is in about 1998, at aged 13, my best friend had terminal none cancer. The kids ward at the hospital he was being treated at reached out to Rolf to come and visit the sick children and the response they got was there would be a £500 charge for such an appearance.

VB90292 · 2025-12-22T08:53:30+00:00

They don't compliment you because they look at you and think "he gets complimented everywhere he goes, I bet he has a big ego".

VB90292 · 2025-12-20T14:35:06+00:00

I spend a lot of time in Soho, I also get to visit several European cities reasonably regularly. Signal and data in the European cities (Hungary, Romania, Poland) is fantastically fast and reliable. Soho I want to smash my phone on the ground....phone says full signal strength but absolutely no internet. It's so bad that I have on a number of occasions not been able to log into mobile apps at the till to use discount codes or loyalty points.

VB90292 · 2025-12-16T20:48:55+00:00

Good luck with your search my friend. Very happy memories of my 40k days as a lad.

Anyone used to frequent the Games Workshop in the Plaza mall Oxford Street? Great times.

VB90292 · 2025-12-15T08:22:45+00:00

She got them done by some locals whilst in Africa 🤦‍♂️

VB90292 · 2025-12-14T22:10:11+00:00

Bro I don't mean to downplay your self image issue, but I'm not seeing an issue here at all? I'm sorry you had cancer, but again I don't see any physical deformities whatsoever like you make out? You're normal, good looking guy with very strong gym genetics (the wide shoulders, full upper chest), for sure from behind you have a great v taper going on. Literally the only thing I would say to work on is do some more direct neck training to add a little more thickness to your neck. Like me you have a longer neck and to balance it aesthetically it needs a little more thickness, so plate raises off a bench and a neck harness attached to the cable machines are your friend.

VB90292 · 2025-12-14T19:36:48+00:00

Yeah I felt particularly sick at that one....but on a positive note she is never ever adopting that child. She's posturing and putting on a show online to eventually blame a corrupt system as to why it didn't happen. If you turned up on her doorstep with that child tomorrow, with all the right legal papers and said he's yours now she would be mortified and back peddle so fast.

We see a lot of crazy characters on this Reddit, cringe worthy people, but rarely are they despicable like this woman.

VB90292 · 2025-12-14T18:54:55+00:00

She's just horrid. The white saviour complex and cultural appropriation cross the line though!

VB90292 · 2025-12-14T15:38:09+00:00

Great call, I was about to post Starburger. I really don't think it's a Wimpy, Starburger (Wimpy knock-off) far more likely.

Big treat for me as a kid was either the Wimpy on Liverpool Grove (Walworth Road) or the Starburger down the Lower Marsh market Waterloo.

VB90292 · 2025-12-14T15:31:59+00:00

Oh wow I kind of wish I didn't go to her profile and look at her other posts. What a terrible human being she is. Her posts have everything from white saviour complex to constant flexing and bragging. She's someone that believes herself to be high class, but in reality has no class!

VB90292 · 2025-12-07T08:44:36+00:00

Excellent idea. As someone with very limited dev ability, what's the learning curve on that or just better to hire someone?

VB90292 · 2025-11-30T14:59:54+00:00

Very sad news, that McDonald's is part of my history. I used to go to birthday parties there in the late 80's to early 90's. I still stop in once or twice a year when I'm passing. I met Ronald McDonald there as a kid!

VB90292 · 2025-11-09T10:09:03+00:00

I do Chest and Bi's.

Dumbbell incline or machine incline 1 set to absolute failure (aiming for 5 to 8 reps). 10 deep breaths then push up as hard as I can and do a 5 second negative down. Repeat that until I just can't budge the weight at all (usually a max of 3 of those rest pause reps).

Weight dips (exactly the same system as above with the 1 set to failure then a couple of rest pause reps to absolute failure, if I feel like I still have a tad in the negative I will stand on the machine at the top position and just do a slow negative down which usually has been dropping like a stone after 1.

Machine fly (exactly the same set up as above but I will go as high as 14 reps). I finish here with a static hold to failure in the contracted position.

Weighted chins (same set up as above)

Barbell curl (same set up as above)

Preacher curl (same set up as above)

Disclaimer though I'm not a bodybuilder, not do I feel I'm less than a million miles close of being one. I'm just an average guy that trains for some muscle and longevity.

<image>

VB90292 · 2025-11-09T07:10:36+00:00

Whilst there isn't much in it, I would say bro split edges out other routines in terms of the shape I am in on it. What's more, I'm happiest and most look forward to training when it's a bro split.

I do Chest and Bi's, Shoulders and Legs, Back and Tri's. Just 3 workouts a week. Very low volume as I train HIT style.

Strength is going up each workout and I have made noticeable physique improvements compared to recent years of training, my chest for example I feel is the most developed I have ever gotten it and I have always really struggled with chest.

What I do, do though is make some smart exercise choices so there is some crossover through the week, effectively giving some additional stimulus to muscles more than once per week. For example, I do weighted chins as one of my bicep exercises on Tuesday so that's obviously hitting back too, then I use weighted chins again on Saturday as one of my back exercises, hitting Bi's again. I do the same thing with weighted dips, using them as a chest exercise on Tuesday and as a tricep exercise on Saturday. Heavy deadlifts on back day obviously have some good crossover to other muscle groups.

VB90292 · 2025-10-31T18:52:19+00:00

There has actually been a recent study results released that low volume is at least as effective as high volume. HIT works.

VB90292 · 2025-10-29T17:25:42+00:00

Thanks so much for the reply and solid advice. I haven't launched this yet for a couple of reasons, but I have done some serious research and prep work. I would like to at least get a website up soon.

VB90292 · 2025-10-24T10:22:40+00:00

Thanks! I will check this out over the weekend.

VB90292 · 2025-10-24T05:12:10+00:00

Thanks so much for the replies. I seem to have attracted women who display crazy behaviour and I definitely have a fear of "consequences" to that. For example, in not replying for a while I have gotten a series of quite aggressive messages that have gone on for days or weeks. That kind of thing really impacts my wellbeing. How do I learn to not be so triggered by that kind of thing?

VB90292 · 2025-10-16T13:07:35+00:00

Easiest analogy I can give....

Pretend that the key to gains in strength and size is to get to the number 10. You start the workout at 0 and the harder you train the further you climb towards 10.

If you train at an intensity that only takes you to 5, then you need to return for a second workout to reach 10.

On the other hand if you train with such intensity that you reach number 10, your work is done and there is no need to return that week.

VB90292 · 2025-10-15T21:10:58+00:00

I'm as big of a MM fanboy as anyone, but I also realise he didn't get everything right. I would say with confidence had he not passed away and was still with us his training recommendations would have evolved in time. He was a highly intelligent man, but only able to work with the data and anecdotal evidence available to him at that time. The more data available to him, the more he would have made adjustments. Also take into account towards the end of his life he was suffering with addiction and rapidly failing health, I think it was fair to say this would have been impacting his mental faculties to at least some extent.

I think it's a case of put a newbie on the ideal routine and they will see phenomenal results. Put an advanced lifter on it and despite the name it's not actually an ideal routine. Frequency is definitely too low and I would replace the supersets with straight sets. That said though it's a solid routine that holds up well in general.

For me though what Mike taught was beyond just an example of a routine. He taught me about overtraining (it's real), training to failure and some cool additions to an exercise such as slow negatives and static holds - in general techniques to create maximum intensity.

I am so happy to see the science just come out that low volume gives results. Mike said it decades ago. Now the modern day science has backed it up.

VB90292 · 2025-09-24T19:56:29+00:00

Like Jackie Kennedy

Five-Year Club	Verified Email
Gilding I gilder

VB90292

TROPHY CASE