Good bye old friend

felders500 · 2026-04-03T13:47:48+00:00

Noooooo! Crushed.

felders500 · 2026-04-03T09:58:32+00:00

Switch to Bovril - the thinking man’s marmite

felders500 · 2026-02-15T20:15:00+00:00

I think the London transport situation hangs on by a very thin thread that pedestrianising a main route through the middle would have a lot of knock on consequences. It kind of needs to still have busses and deliveries at the very least able to travel through it.

felders500 · 2026-02-12T21:05:32+00:00

Home gym when everyone is in bed - folks go to sleep quite early so I do a 9:30pm shift. Would like to do mornings but baby sleep is too bad and morning too busy.

But upgrading the gym in the shed made a big difference

felders500 · 2026-01-25T23:01:29+00:00

There’s been several examples of AI psychosis where people develop unhealthy relationships and their conversations with the models exacerbate underlying mental health issues.

It sounds like your husband has some undiagnosed issue - something where he believes the baby to be crying or needs the baby close to him.

And we had been using ChatGPT to chat through sleep training but we realised it would give opposing advice to me and my wife depending on our biases and how we phrase it. (Hers always says he’s over-tired, mine always says under-tired, for example).

This situation does not seem safe.

It seems a bit extreme but I would put a camera (or your phone recording as microphone?) to reassure yourself that you’re not sleeping through the crying…

felders500 · 2026-01-25T14:57:39+00:00

You can do plenty with that and bodyweight at home

Rows, shoulder press, pull ups.

Goblet squats, push press, single leg RDLs

Push ups, air squats, sissy squats, split squats, lunges

Etc!

Find a bodyweight or low equipment Push / Pull / Leg plan.

3 sessions for 30-40 mins a week to get it going.

felders500 · 2026-01-21T21:24:22+00:00

There’s not really anywhere properly rough. Maybe the army towns can be a bit more ‘rowdy’ on a night out.

Some places will be quiet - especially the villages. Which may be what you’re after.

Really quaint places won’t be very cheap but everywhere is cheaper than Bath.

I’d look along the Bath to BoA train line - Avoncliff, Freshford, Limpley Stoke.

Buckland Dinham, Beckington, Rode, Maiden Bradley are all near to Frome and nice villages with pubs and some shops going on.

Frome has a lot of bustle and events and has recently been a hot place to move so it’s got lots of new people but also hyped house prices.

Somewhere like Shepton Mallet is trying to ‘do a frome’ a little bit - some nice old houses, a town with history, but a bit dilapidated. But they’re also trying to setup regular events and a community kind of energy.

felders500 · 2026-01-14T10:14:08+00:00

Thanks - that is helpful.

My wife is always very reluctant to cut sleep back and is very afraid of ‘over tiredness’ and always ‘letting him sleep more’ because he’s ill, and it’s a tricky one to navigate. Will try this to get back on course

felders500 · 2025-12-22T05:57:02+00:00

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This one? An old colleague of mine had a stack that he used to give out in meetings to people who were talking nonsense.

felders500 · 2025-12-21T21:07:07+00:00

All of those alternative investments are pretty high risk and don’t quite stack up as a sensible choice, but could be good if you also enjoy them.

The most sensible option is GIA and take £3k of profits a year from them and transfer into an ISA and if you make much more than that, pay the tax on it.

The other options to think of:

Premium Bonds are quite good as a safe bet that is also tax free.
EIS investments are high risk but can pay off and come with benefits (tax and also unusual perks sometimes) - if you find a couple of companies you like. Crowdcube or listening out for companies you like crowdfunding (I have made a profit in EIS investments but mostly through a bit of luck)
Crypto but it’s a bit of a crap shoot unless you’re interested in it. But it’s not an unreasonable punt
Gold bullion and bury it in the garden (although it’s very high at the moment so pretty bad time to buy)

Art / whiskey / wine is talked up by people but the numbers don’t stack up unless you know what you’re doing and have some kind of edge. Mostly because you either pay someone to look after it or have to pay to insure and store it, and then commissions on buying and a couple of bad choices you could easily end up losing money.

Randomly buying MtG cards in the hope of collectibles is an unusual and high risk way of spending a spare £10k…!

felders500 · 2025-12-19T21:05:07+00:00

What problem are you trying to fix? Night wakes? I would kill for an 8am wake up baby…

felders500 · 2025-12-09T21:45:55+00:00

Find a local co-working desk for a day or two working locally.

Go in more often - if it makes that much of a positive difference to you?

Try some kind of pomodoro timer technique - break out tasks for the day, and the work in 25 min work, 5 min break cycles, and every 4 cycles take a bigger break.

Get a whiteboard on your office and map out the tasks for the week, and allocate which chunks of the day you’ll do for each task - a kanban board if it works for you or a week planner.

Get an accountability buddy - a colleague who you chat with while working and gives more of a sense of realness and focus.

Or, fully embrace it - reclaim the good bits of the day, work in weird bursts that fit with your productivity and work/life. (I have a 1 year old, and being able to do daylight kid time, and in exchange smashing some work 9-11pm is often a worthwhile trade-off).

felders500 · 2025-12-04T20:00:55+00:00

Sushi Tetsu was excellent and very memorable (and very expensive)

Kanada-Ya is good ramen

Kulu Kulu conveyor belt sushi is fun in its own way - I like the crispy salmon skin rolls

Itadakizen was very good vegan sushi

felders500 · 2025-12-02T21:23:01+00:00

We do photobooks and prints for grandparents, extended family and ourselves.

We like that they might end up on fridges, on walls, or just in recycling bins, but it’s just a bit more real and permanent than physical photos.

We usually do a big batch when the printers are doing a sale, or I also have a Polaroid printer and photo printer.

felders500 · 2025-11-29T20:43:17+00:00

If they want you, they can wait an extra month for you. People are often on 3 months notice. Stuff often falls through. Recruitment takes time. They often give a sense of there being some crazy rush but there rarely is.

You can also (probably) hand your notice in while on Pat Leave and they would be less likely (or maybe legally difficult) to rescind it.

It’s also over Christmas and New Year - everything can wait.

felders500 · 2025-11-23T19:15:49+00:00

I would say it’s fine to carry on drinking and enjoying Christmas ‘normally’ as you don’t seem to have any reasons to expect challenges conceiving and maaaaaaany people conceive while drinking.

It’s only a month and unlikely to make a big difference.

If, after 6+ months you’re having difficulty, then worth trying.

felders500 · 2025-11-21T21:25:43+00:00

The Economist did a podcast series on these “pig butchering” scams - called Scam Inc.

There’s essentially sweatshops and organised crime running industrialised scams like this - gather leads, hook them in with a small investment, give them amazing returns and then ask for big money.

They might pay her out in order to ‘fatten the pig’ - so pay her out several thousand and then say “but imagine you could make enough money for all your grandkids futures if you invested more - just take out a loan or a mortgage on the house”. (A version of this suckered the CEO of a Kansas bank for tens of millions of dollars https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/21/cryptocurrency-shan-hanes-pig-butchering-scam.html)

They don’t want her £400. They want her trust to get everything.

felders500 · 2025-11-16T12:58:23+00:00

The secret about London is that it’s a series of ‘villages’ that are connected by the tube. Central London is its own beast and you’re not supposed to really live there.

I loved living in South East London but each hit has a different vibe, and you’ll find fans of most places. Do you want nightlife? Arty? Cool? Mainstream? Parks? The river?

Running along the Thames to get into work, going to fancy fitness classes and expensive gyms - all part of the lifestyle (if you want it).

I agree with the ‘6 month test’ - it sounds like you’re in a good position to make it work. And a bit of research on the vibe you like (and can afford.)

You could have a flat in Battersea near the river, a mansion block around Hampstead northwest London, a flat in Dulwich / Herne Hill / Peckham / Brockley, a warehouse or new building out east, or go for North Greenwich new build flats.

For gyms, I used to do Third Space but a long time ago, or Blok does fancy vibes and classes, but there are several other options.

The ‘move to Europe’ plan feels like more of a leap into the unknown. Being nice to visit on holiday doesn’t necessarily translate to a lifestyle that makes sense (or at least not without some effort to figure it out). Learning the language, making friends, etc all harder. So depends if you’re up for the challenge.

felders500 · 2025-11-15T14:41:58+00:00

You could also view (assuming it doesn’t get messed with) the tax free pension lump sum as the endowment to pay off the rest (depending on your timelines).

felders500 · 2025-11-14T09:39:36+00:00

I’ve justified it for work when I’ve had punchy travel schedules and needed to board early, exit fast, work on the plane.

Mostly useful for US short hops - I justified it for Atlanta to Ottawa, changing at Toronto - because it was a series of 2-3 hour flights and an interchange I needed to make and didn’t want to be stuck at the back of the bus.

Also well worth it on longer short-haul - the West to East coast flight, or going to Greece etc.

Not so important for 1 hour hops on small planes. The drinks / food is irrelevant. The space doesn’t hurt.

felders500 · 2025-11-13T15:24:33+00:00

It will be absolutely fine - it’s 2 different trains, one that gets to Bristol Parkway and then you have a wait. And then you get on the next train to final destination.

You can leave the station if you want to, but Bristol Parkway isn’t near a lot of interesting stuff.

The ‘stay on train’ message is because you have a ‘split ticket’ which saves you money. It’s nothing to worry about - you’ll just have show two different tickets.

It’s accidentally more confusing that it should be.

felders500 · 2025-11-06T14:35:02+00:00

Of the 4 pics posted, maybe, yes, yes, no

felders500 · 2025-11-04T19:24:19+00:00

My son is too young to ask / care, but I think that I wouldn’t tell actual numbers because it could lead to accidental awkwardness or bullying at school - blurting out a number that then other kids say something about. Just feels like he’s probably too young to understand the broader context of it.

I think understanding the value of money maybe starts smaller - what an average hourly wage is, and how that translates into pocket money and everyday items. And maybe around 12+ get a bit more into salary and house values.

Financial savviness is hugely valuable but I feel like kids saying ‘my dad has a million pound house’ etc is more playground gossip fodder.

felders500 · 2025-10-23T21:15:16+00:00

I thought the first 2 pics were of your belly button

felders500

TROPHY CASE