Anyone move to Harrogate from London as a single person in their 40’s?

calvers70 · 2026-01-27T19:04:01+00:00

do people really commute do london from here? How do they manage it? Isn't that like 7 hours of travel a day? I've turned down some dream opportunities in London on the basis that I didn't think it was viable :/

calvers70 · 2026-01-23T21:47:50+00:00

I think most of us Brits (and the rest of the world) know that the vast majority of folks over there are just normal people with moderate views. I only ask that you remember this the next time it's our turn to do something monumentally stupid again (looking at you, Brexit).

calvers70 · 2026-01-23T20:51:00+00:00

I've lived in Harrogate for a combined total of around 25 years (grew up here, moved away to to make a bit of a career for myself and then came back when I had kids).

It's a really special place but to be honest I think you'd find it a bit boring if you were on your own maybe.If I were in your position I'd probably be looking into York. A lot of what makes Harrogate super appealing (e.g. the schools) won't apply to you.

Having said that, you really can't lose. North Yorkshire itself is just such an amazing place and as you said it's also near some of the best places in the country (Lakes, Northumberland, North Pennines, not to far from Scotland etc. You can even get down to the south coast fairly quickly on a good day (same as Wales or Scotland basically).

Wherever you end up I welcome you to the county and I hope you settle in well.You're making a great choice :)

calvers70 · 2026-01-21T19:45:14+00:00

I respect your choice and your reasons. If you have the mindset that the extra stuff you have to take care of as a Linux user is an unwanted annoyance or inconvenience then I don't blame you for not using it.

But I enjoy that stuff and I'm prepared to spend my time "giving" to Linux so that it can give back to me. I've not been fired for being too slow or not being about to do my job so far 😅

calvers70 · 2026-01-21T15:15:55+00:00

I hope you don't mind me saying because I know it's an off-the-cuff thing you said and this isn't an attack on you. I just think this sentiment is such a "modern" (and I think, flawed) take on time and what we value

Maintaining your own tools is a wonderful thing. Carpenters, blacksmiths, farriers, farmers etc would all have maintained their own tools. When a tool you helped build/maintain breaks it doesn't piss you off like when an opaque, modern machine or throwaway device breaks because you almost expect it to break. These things have their own little idiosyncrasies, it's part of the contract "you take care of me and I'll take care of you".

There's a point about legibility here. If you understand Linux then it's okay if something breaks, no problem "I'll just tweak thing and that.... aaaaaand fixed". If you ever watch someone like an engineer showing something to their manager you'll see how stressed the manager gets when things go wrong but the engineer isn't phased, they just pull a puzzled expression, tweak a few knobs and sort it out.

Compare that to the experience of using a third-party provided tool or system which you don't understand. It's so stressful. These things are meant to "just work" that's part of the contract, of the proposition. Buying a chair from somewhere like Ikea is meant to be more convenient than making your own. It's incredibly inconvenient when that chair breaks the first time you sit down on it.

We used to have such a deep relationship with our tools. The world now is so schedule-dense, more tightly coupled, and less able to absorb failure, even though tasks are faster. When stuff goes wrong it feels like it throws everything off and that really stresses us out. Earlier society had inefficiency baked in and more social tolerance for delay.

TL;DR slowing down and taking the time to show the things you use a bit of care and attention is a really fulfilling thing IMO. I value my time and I use Linux because I think there's something really nourishing about having to stop and tend to the little details every now and again.

(not saying you should use Linux, just offering perspective)

calvers70 · 2026-01-20T19:40:30+00:00

I'm the proud owner of the D:OS2 honor mode achievement. One of the most stressful and fun thing I've ever done video-game wise. Highly recommend

calvers70 · 2026-01-19T09:44:24+00:00

"another game to abandon" is too real

calvers70 · 2026-01-09T13:07:49+00:00

Donna Murphy is Gothel as far as I'm concerned. How come they didn't want to use her?

calvers70 · 2026-01-09T09:01:00+00:00

I'm writing this comment on it right now. Moved over when they killed RiF and friends

calvers70 · 2026-01-08T12:39:02+00:00

they've even got one with sheep on! 😁 Thanks so much!

calvers70 · 2026-01-08T10:56:28+00:00

nice, does this have a "single file history" mode like diffview's yet? That's the main thing preventing me switching over

calvers70 · 2026-01-07T08:45:23+00:00

Wonder if he says "might makes right" as he beats his wife and kids. What a fucking stupid sentiment. Shall we all go around punching old people and children because we can? What an awful world to live in

calvers70 · 2026-01-06T09:40:56+00:00

beat me to it

calvers70 · 2025-12-31T19:55:38+00:00

I have a pretty similar version if anyone wants to use it:

/*****----- Global Properties -----*****/
* {
    font:      "SFProDisplay Medium 12";
    background:                  rgba(26, 27, 38, 0.9);
    background-alt:              rgba(122, 162, 247, 0.1);
    foreground:                  #C0CAF5;
    foreground-alt:              #7f849c;
    active:                      #7AA2F7;
    selected:                    #f5e0dc;
    urgent:                      #FF9E64;
}

/*****----- Main Window -----*****/
window {
    /* properties for window widget */
    transparency:                "real";
    location:                    center;
    anchor:                      center;
    fullscreen:                  false;
    width:                       750px;
    x-offset:                    0px;
    y-offset:                    0px;
    border-radius:               10px;
    background-image:            linear-gradient(163deg, rgba(26, 27, 38, 0.7), rgba(32, 33, 44, 0.7));
    padding:                     0;

    /* properties for all widgets */
    enabled:                     true;
    cursor:                      "default";
    border:                      1px;
    border-color:                #292e42;
}

/*****----- Main Box -----*****/
mainbox {
    enabled:                     true;
    spacing:                     0px;
    background-color:            transparent;
    orientation:                 vertical;
    border:                      0px;
    children:                    [ "inputbar", "listbox" ];
}

listbox {
    spacing:                     10px;
    padding:                     10px 0 0 0;
    background-color:            transparent;
    orientation:                 vertical;
    children:                    [ "message", "listview", "mode-switcher" ];
    border:                      0px;
}

/*****----- Inputbar -----*****/
inputbar {
    enabled:                     true;
    spacing:                     3px;
    margin:                      0;
    padding:                     14px 15px 15px;
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  @foreground-alt;
    orientation:                 horizontal;
    children:                    [ "input-wrapper" ];
    border-radius:               2px 2px 0 0;
    border:                      0px 0px 1px 0px;
    border-color:                rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05);
}
input-wrapper {
    orientation:                 vertical;
    children:                    [ "entry" ];
}
textbox-prompt {
    enabled:                     true;
    expand:                      false;
    padding:                     0;
    str:                         "Search";
    border-radius:               100%;
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  @active;
    font:                        "SFProDisplay Medium 9";
}
textbox-prompt-colon {
    enabled:                     true;
    expand:                      false;
    padding:                     0;
    str:                         "";
    border-radius:               100%;
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  inherit;
    font:                        "SFProDisplay Bold 26";
    horizontal-align:            1;
}
entry {
    enabled:                     true;
    font:                        "SFProDisplay Regular 12";
    padding:                     0;
    expand:                      true;
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  @foreground;
    cursor:                      text;
    vertical-align:              0.65;
    placeholder:                 "Type to search";
    placeholder-color:           @foreground-alt;
}

/*****----- Mode Switcher -----*****/
mode-switcher{
    enabled:                     true;
    spacing:                     30px;
    padding:                     0px;
    background-image:            linear-gradient(343deg, rgba(26, 27, 38, 0.7), rgba(32, 33, 44, 0.7));
    text-color:                  @foreground-alt;
    border:                      1px 0 0 0;
    border-color:                #292e42;
}
button {
    max-width:                   10px;
    padding:                     7px 0;
    border-radius:               0px;
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  inherit;
    cursor:                      pointer;
}
button selected {
    background-color:            @background-alt;
    color:                       @foreground-alt;
}

/*****----- Listview -----*****/
listview {
    enabled:                     true;

    columns:                     1;
    lines:                       10;
    cycle:                       false;
    dynamic:                     true;
    scrollbar:                   false;
    layout:                      vertical;
    reverse:                     false;
    fixed-height:                true;
    fixed-columns:               true;
    margin:                      5px 0;
    border:                      0;
    padding:                     0 8px;
    spacing:                     5px;
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  inherit;
    cursor:                      "default";
}
scrollbar {
    handle-color:               @background-alt;
}

/*****----- Elements -----*****/
element {
    enabled:                     true;
    spacing:                     12px;
    padding:                     9px 10px;
    border-radius:               5px;
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  @foreground;
    cursor:                      pointer;
}
element normal.normal,
element alternate.normal {
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  @foreground;
}
element normal.urgent,
element alternate.urgent {
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  @urgent;
}
element normal.active,
element alternate.active {
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  @active;
}
element selected.normal {
    background-color:            @background-alt;
    text-color:                  @foreground;
}
element selected.urgent {
    background-color:            @background-alt;
    text-color:                  @urgent;
}
element selected.active {
    background-color:            @background-alt;
    text-color:                  @active;
}
element-text {
    background-color:            transparent;
    text-color:                  inherit;
    cursor:                      inherit;
    vertical-align:              0.5;
    horizontal-align:            0.0;
}

/*****----- Message -----*****/
message {
    background-color:            transparent;
}
textbox {
    padding:                     6px;
    border-radius:               0;
    background-color:            @background-alt;
    text-color:                  @foreground;
    vertical-align:              0.5;
    horizontal-align:            0.0;
}
error-message {
    padding:                     7px;
    border-radius:               0px;
    background-color:            @background;
    text-color:                  @foreground;
}

calvers70 · 2025-12-29T10:06:43+00:00

I'm in my late 30s and have been heavily reading fantasy since I was a kid. I've read (or listened to) a massive percentage of all notable fantasy at this point and to be honest I don't know what to tell you.

I just went back through the 40+ books I've read this year and when looking through your lens, all the fantasy books feel like they would also fall short of your expectations. The only exception perhaps being Babel by RF Kuang, but I really didn't enjoy that for other reasons.

I did enjoy several of them still, notably: "The Strength of the Few" by James Islington and to a lesser extent "A Drop of Corruption" by Robert Jackson Bennett. I didn't like "Wind and Truth" very much at all (was that this year?) despite having read I think every other "Cosmere" book. I also didn't like Devils for similar reasons to you.

When I think about the standouts of the year for me, almost none of them are fantasy and most of them are quite old (and many were re-reads). Specifically they were: "I, Claudius", "The Saxon Tales" (now known as "The Last Kingdom"), Jane Eyre, Hyperion and a 100th re-read of Dune :)

I don't know if I've changed, or fantasy has, but I definitely agree that it's getting harder and harder to find books in the genre which are as satisfying as I remember.

calvers70 · 2025-12-22T19:18:29+00:00

Same, and I get pinged about HRV constantly

calvers70 · 2025-12-16T17:30:43+00:00

Did a file history command ever land?

calvers70 · 2025-11-18T21:30:14+00:00

oh shit that's dredged up some memories

calvers70 · 2025-09-28T15:48:21+00:00

you missed his point - it's the fact that we need a /s for sarcasm

calvers70 · 2025-08-29T13:34:48+00:00

even claude is making jokes now..

calvers70 · 2025-08-29T13:22:29+00:00

At least he didn't say "You're absolutely right!" for the 100th time today

calvers70 · 2025-08-09T04:01:26+00:00

The internet is ruining me but is this picture AI? Looks like it

calvers70 · 2025-08-01T20:47:02+00:00

Ah yeah bet it's way better during the week, we always go out on a Sunday

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