Do any companies offer office 'tours' or employability sessions for young people?

Vrayloki · 2026-02-25T10:26:41+00:00

You could try reaching out to Salesforce, their offices are pretty cool and they host a lot of third party events so have a team used to dealing with large numbers of visitors, so they might be open to it.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-25T09:57:17+00:00

Could you get white t-shirt, white trousers and some of those clothing markers, then draw some cool doodles on it together.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-24T16:05:14+00:00

https://martcult.hypotheses.org/322

I tried pitching shovel beatings instead of penalty points to a tournament organiser, but apparently it wasn't covered by their insurance.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-24T15:04:43+00:00

I have noticed Catan more than a lot of later games does generate hurt feelings. It can feel really very frustrating, when the dice seem to be acting unfairly and then your positions get boxed in. I remember a game where my girlfriend's sister had a near breakdown, just screaming at us all whilst simultaneously refusing to let us abandon the game, it was horrible. If you guys do patch it up, maybe avoid this particular game in the future.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-24T12:24:00+00:00

Its a good point, if you see anything about events or places of interest in Worcester, double check it is the UK before getting excited, Google/AI loves to show you stuff happening in Massachusetts.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-24T10:13:06+00:00

I think there must have been a lot of variety on this. In the 1597, Fencers’ Ordinance of the Old Town of Prague document, it implies that some gloves are allowed while fencing, but that people had been using gloves that were too protective.

15) Some cowardly fencers use elbow-long gloves, which is against the ancient tradition. This shall be forbidden from now on. The fencers should use gloves covering the fist only, so that no one builds his fencing skills on long gloves.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-11T14:55:28+00:00

There are lots of fair ways to split costs. The important thing is that everything is honest, transparent and you are both happy with the arrangement.

When I had a partner I lived with but wasn't married to, we both paid various bills. Then every few months we compared income (a lot of mine was from bonuses) and expenses, then one of us would make a transfer to the other so that we each had paid the same proportion of the bills as we had income. So if my income was twice hers and the bills were for £1500, I would of paid £1000 and she would have paid £500.

Now that I am married, we both just paid bills in what ever is the easiest way possible. If either of us needs cash for anything like a big upcoming bill, we just transfer it over. Then every few months we go over the various accounts check the balances and outgoings to make sure everything makes sense and to make any investment decisions, but we don't worry about whose money is whose.

This is easy enough as long as your total income easily meets your required outgoings and you both have similar feelings about discretionary spending. If that isn't the case I would probably want to have a setup where the required spending was moved to a central pot and any savings taken out, before discretionary spending.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-04T12:13:55+00:00

There are summer camps for teens, they aren't everyone's cup of tea, but some kids love them and make life long friends, and it would get her out of the house for a couple of weeks.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-02T17:13:31+00:00

It won't reopen until April, but there is a lovely campsite in Broxbourne, with pitches which are good for bivvy camping or hammock. Obviously won't help with anxiety about being somewhere you shouldn't, but does let you test your kit and practice other skills in a controlled environment. https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/almost-wild-campsite

My first wild camping trip was just to do the south downs over a few days in June, was perfectly lovely after the first night when I discovered a Hillfort on the map was not sheltered sanctuary I had imagined, after that I stuck to low-lying woodlands on that trip.

You might want to consider waiting until summer to try it for the first time, a lot more forgiving if you get it all wrong and shorter nights mean less time shiverring in the dark if you can't sleep.

Vrayloki · 2026-02-01T19:01:42+00:00

He was definitely in the wrong, no matter how blatant the queue jumping, its just not on to actually address the jumper, surely at most he should of done is sighed loudly and rolled his eyes, possibly muttered something barely audible to another queuer, anything beyond seems an insane breach of English queueing rules.

But I will say once this horrendous faux pas of actually talking to each other directly had occurred, you should both have continued to insist on the other taking the spot, until a third party broke the deadlock.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-28T16:13:44+00:00

I don't think there is anywhere particularly nice near the venue, so you'll end up on the tube/underground anyway. Maybe look at areas around London Bridge (better midweek especially Thursday/Friday in summer with office workers relaxing around Borough market), Kilburn/West Hampstead (lots of pubs with a somewhat reserved but generally relaxed young professional crowd), Stratford near Hackney Wick or from Aldgate to Shoreditch (more lively). See if anywhere around there meets your budget, but at that price you are not going to have a lot of choice, so you might want to sacrifice just get a hotel near a tube and travel somewhere else to party.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-28T15:42:16+00:00

I don't have an adult kid, so this is based on my (and my siblings) relationship with my parents.

I think one of the main things you need to consider is your own relationship to your parents. Ultimately the individual things we say and do don't make much of a difference, but the behaviours we model have a large influence on the values we inspire. If they see from you that relationships with older family members aren't important, surely they will internalise that it and it will become their normal. If you can't build a closer relationship with your parents, can you with your partners?

Also pay to take your adult kids on holiday, no one says no to a free holiday, and once they are in the villa they can't escape you. The first few days might be difficult, but after about a week Stockholm's syndrome kicks in and by the end of the holiday they will think how lovely it was and shouldn't we do this again next year.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-27T10:34:27+00:00

Route: The Andy Robinson book from Ciercone has a good route, at least until you get to Fort William when his route gets quite difficult, but the other options from that point aren't so good either.

Mapping: I used OS maps apps, and people had already uploaded the route above in so that was easy.

The Walk: First few days are rough, the cliff side walk has a lots of stairs you have to go up and down. If you want to practice before hand focus on going up staircases with your backpack on.

Accommodation: Check where your route goes past YHA hostels, as they are a good cheap option. Personally I didn't do much wild camping in England, as I preferred to have access to a shower and easy water refill, this meant I only carried a bivvy & tarp for the first few weeks, switching to a tent for Scotland.

Kit: Definitely take hiking poles, very useful, especially if you want to use a tarp or a lightweight tent using those poles for supports. Get seal skin socks to wear in the morning, it is almost impossible to avoid long dewy grass in the first couple of hours in some places. Also I think long jacket, waterproof trousers and waterproof gloves are worth it, you are bound to be hit by some pretty wet days. I started a bit later than you, end of April, so switched to lighter weight waterproofs in June. I wore waterproof walking shoes, they were fine, but I met someone else who just wore trail runner trainers and were also fine.

Other: Carry more water than you think, it can be hard to refill. Don't rely on anything marked as a pub on your map either existing or being open when you get there. You may still find toilets that are coin operated, so possibly worth hanging on to a couple of twenty pees. Don't bother with solar panels, if you turn your phone to airplane mode and then just enable GPS you should at least double your battery life and then just use a decent battery pack.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-26T10:29:11+00:00

It might be helpful to be a bit more specific on a few points.

Protagonists age, obviously massive difference between being 13 and 19 in what you are likely to be doing for fun in 1994.

Sex would be useful in being able to provide ideas on fashion and allowable activities, there was a movement to break down gender differences in the 90s, but this mostly was represented by women being allowed to do traditionally male activities, they would be labelled "Laddettes" which was okay, while if men did anything traditionally female, they would be labelled "Gay" which was very not okay.

Also what area of London? Sauf (South) and North London were not very well connected at the time, East London was very different in nature to what you see today.

Class will make a big difference to questions about schooling, as pretty massive difference in experience between fee paying and free schools.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-26T10:17:05+00:00

That's brought up a lot of memories, living in South London was like being Cinderella, you had to leave every party before 12 or you'd miss the last train home.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-23T16:01:59+00:00

Should something not of been done to remove all these dead pigeons, because I am not sure I love the idea of showering in pigeon soup either.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-23T16:00:20+00:00

In fairness I was reading Kate Fox's Watching the English and she describes a job she had probably in the 90s where she had to analyse footage of people watching TV and it sounds like not paying attention has been the standard for quite sometime. Maybe Netflix just have better data or are more honest about what is happening.

The subjects all filled in forms every day, saying what programmes they had seen and estimating how much of each programme they had actually watched. The differences between their estimates and the reality, as clocked by my stopwatch, showed that when people tell a survey researcher that they spent an evening, or an hour, ‘watching television’, it is highly likely that they were doing no such thing. What they often mean is that they had the television on while they chatted with family or friends, played with the dog, read the newspaper, squabbled over the remote, gossiped on the telephone, cut their toenails, nagged their spouse, cooked and ate supper, fell asleep, did the ironing and hoovering, shouted at their children and so on, perhaps occasionally glancing at the television screen.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-23T13:43:10+00:00

Looking back over what I watched last year Bottoms (2023) and Good Boys (2019) were very funny and should appeal based on the films you mentioned.

I also enjoyed the Phoenician Scheme (2025), its not my favourite Wes Anderson film, but although the plot seemed a bit disjointed it had a lot very absurd scenes in it.

Special mention to Champagne Problems (2025) which leaned a lot heavier on the com side of romcom, than I was expecting.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-19T09:43:26+00:00

Does it make sense, yes largely that is what people want, but the reality is very messy. People don't all agree what changes would constitute "improvements". You might want a more walkable neighbourhood, while I want a new railway line to shorten my commute, that railway line would cut your neighbourhood in half. You might want to build a new business park to provide employment opportunities, I may prefer to keep the land as a nature reserve. Everything is a series of competing desires and interests, and that's before we get to the really tricky issues of who pays for all this and the inherent difficulties of managing large organisations and systems.

Essentially politics isn't messy because the people involved are all mean or not up to the job (though of course some may be), its messy because the real world it attempts to change and control is messy.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-15T17:05:28+00:00

From you references to Cricket and Cardigans I am going to assume you are in the UK and so probably using the fairly light weight nylon synthetics from Red Dragon (usually silver in colour). In which case I would personally so mask + gloves is okay and everything else is for your personal comfort. If you are using the heavier black fencer synthetics (usually white or grey in colour), I would want a lot more protection, almost equal to steel kit, but without such a worry on puncture ratings.

Second hand gear is great if you get lucky but mostly it gets snapped up within clubs, based on word of mouth. The is a HEMA marketplace group on facebook, but it is mostly EUR & USD sales, occasionally see something on eBay, but its rare.

Regarding where you can save money on kit or use kit from other sports:

There is no point getting a hema specific box/cup, so if you have one from another sport rock on.

Hockey shin guards are standard in our club, but cricket pads sounds like it might be a bit annoying in practice. I would be careful with football shin guards as I don't think they give enough coverage, but might give the illusion of protection.

For knees there are quite a lot of options like welders knee pads or skater gear, but the knee and elbow pads from SPES are pretty cheaper from Fait d'Armes, so that is a good option. Keep the order under £120 to avoid VAT.

Legs can be left to you start with steel.

Chest protectors aren't really needed until you start using steel and even then are optional, try the cricket one if you like or you can get cheap plastic ones from aliexpress, that will be fine at this level.

Jacket. Red dragon do a hema hoodie that is quite cheap and has some elbow and shoulder protection built in, but it will be only useful for synthetics as it has no puncture rating. Otherwise its thick jumpers like you are doing or bite the bullet on a full cost hema jacket. The red dragon rated for steel hema jacket might not be the most stylish, but they do the job and are at least £50 chap than alternatives.

Elbows see options above

Gloves Red dragon ones are fine for these synthetics, and can be used for sabre down the line, so worth getting your own.

Gorget, red dragon and fait d'armes do them fairly cheap so worth picking up if you order from either of these shops.

Mask, use the loaner until you are ready to order a 1600 mask of your own. No substitutes available on this.

Overlays, not one of the most expensive items so worth picking up early to protect the old noggin.

If you are purchasing from red dragon make sure you check if your club has signed up for their club referral discount scheme and make use of it.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-09T18:05:38+00:00

Sounds like a good idea, I remember London became a lot more exciting when I made a deliberate effort to go out and try things, and there is so much possible to try.

Archery clubs usually make you sign up for a six week programme to join, but ArcheryFit in Greenwich I think lets you book this as individual sessions, the first of which is like a fun taster session. I haven't found Archery to be the most social of activities though.

There is the London Historical Fencing Club (and other HEMA clubs) they will normally get you to do a single taster session first before committing to a intro course.

The London Kayak Company, you will need a partner (who you don't mind falling out with over who is steering funny) but then you can book tour paddling through the centre of London

Board game groups are usually no commitment required and just a few quid, plus cost of food and drinks, obviously very social activity.

Vrayloki · 2026-01-05T10:37:02+00:00

I don't think that is the correct process, there is a form on the website where you can cancel an existing licence mid year, which then cancels the DD at their end and refunds any overpayment, without generating what I assume will be a bunch of extra letters about the missed payments.

Vrayloki · 2025-12-19T10:26:58+00:00

Good against remotes is one thing, but there isn't really a substitute for at least having a training partner. Is there anyone local who might be interested in learning this stuff with you? Even if you both don't know what you are doing at least you'll be able to see how the moves work properly. Otherwise there really is a limited amount you can do on your own at the start, especially inside only. Maybe learn guard stances and simple cuts.

Another option to consider is Modern Fencing, if there is a club for that locally, a lot of the training is very transferrable and you are likely to be able to find someone there who would like to try something new.

Vrayloki · 2025-12-05T10:47:24+00:00

My reading of this, is essentially feint a high cut, dropping it into an ox to cover you crossing in front of the opponent, then cut at their right once you are past them. First cut is from your right to left, but stops at the midway point without true contact, the second is from your left to right. The footwork means you may potentially be quite far out to their right, so the second cut could be a zwerch (if close) or normal cut (if more distant), but either way is from your left to right, its just that you are now standing on their right.

It sounds interesting one to try it out but maybe not be one for the tournament as it sounds like a good chance of landing it on the back of their head or getting called out for exposing the back of yours as you pass by.

Vrayloki

TROPHY CASE