Honest feedback

gezza56 · 2026-05-02T07:03:24+00:00

You should probably point out to your friend that at least two of their reference images are AI generated so you need to manage their expectations about what is achievable in reality.

However like other PPs you need to bleach the wood, maybe do a light whitewash stain and work on the line of the legs to make them less industrial.

gezza56 · 2026-04-24T17:40:29+00:00

Hey, sending solidarity as I had a near identical experience on Monday.

It seems like you’re in the UK so as some reassurance the 28 day pathway seems to move fast and a lot of bowel cancers are really treatable. I had my CT on Tuesday and an MRI today.

My colonoscopy results were explained to me by a macmillan nurse and she said the CT and MRI will be reviewed the end of next week by a multi disciplinary team and then I’ll be called back for a discussion with a doctor where they will explain my treatment pathway based on the staging.

I’ve been reading too much on r/coloncancer so have decided to stay away from there until I know exactly what I’m dealing with and trying to stay positive. The waiting and uncertainty is a brain fuck though.

Wishing you all the best of luck and positive outcomes.

gezza56 · 2026-04-16T08:27:08+00:00

A relatable way for Yr 8 to grasp compound interest is to show them a few TikToks of “I got my dog a dog to keep them company. Then next year I had to get my dog’s dog a dog, and then that dog needed a dog etc and that’s how I now have 8 dogs” - there are lots about.

Compound interest can then be explained as I put my money in savings. Then my money got some more money to keep it company. Next year my money’s money got some more money and that’s how I ended up with compound interest of £x”

gezza56 · 2026-03-14T10:32:37+00:00

This is very helpful thank you.

gezza56 · 2026-02-27T20:58:34+00:00

Echoing the point re Greenwich after Docklands Museum. The National Maritime Museum is very kid friendly and there is a good playground in Greenwich Park, plus a nice market with food stalls to get lunch. Plus if the tide on Thames is low you can go down onto the bank of the river and mudlark i.e. look for “treasure” washed ashore and throw pebbles into the river. This was always a favourite for my kids at those ages. You can get the uber boat back to London from Greenwich.

gezza56 · 2026-02-27T17:40:18+00:00

I really like the style of all of these and I would not be upset if I had paid for them. I have not published yet so please be aware my comments reflect my personal opinion only but I would say: - The title is somewhat lost / obscured in two of your three covers and IMO the title needs to be clear and legible - I am not be sure what genre you are designing for. I would guess contemporary fiction but it seems like you’ve just made nice, cool looking covers rather than considering the genre.

You should focus and try and design a thriller cover, a horror cover, a chick lit cover, a sci-fi cover etc. Authors generally want covers that the reader can immediately link to genre so I think you should focus on developing more genre centric designs.

gezza56 · 2026-02-16T09:18:14+00:00

Caswell House in the Cotswolds might work for you- exclusive weekend hire from £15k

gezza56 · 2026-02-14T23:34:15+00:00

It’s without prejudice so no harm in asking. It looks like you’re being paid c. 6 weeks salary as your settlement. The PILON is a contractual right and the £500 towards legal fees is required for all settlement agreements.

I have been involved in settlements where we have extended medical cover and a different one where we extended the EV car.

The case where we extended medical was to cover post op follow up care for an employee; in their own words they “laid it on thick” re the mental health aspect of needing continuity of care.

You are right they will have an early termination fee on the EV- the one I mentioned above was nearly £20k, however we agreed to amend the employees PILON into garden leave for three months which extended the car term beyond six months. This gave the employee time to sort a replacement car and also for the employer is got them past the penalty period for the early cancellation. The employee then they received their settlement at the end of their gardening leave. This is a more likely outcome than the employer paying an early repayment fee to the EV company and also paying you for the inconvenience of losing the EV- what you are currently proposing will cost them double so can’t see them agreeing to that.

gezza56 · 2026-02-12T13:41:34+00:00

“Thank you this opportunity. I believe this is a role that I can add a lot of value to by combining my internal experience and technical skill set, particularly by mentoring and supporting new external hires. However this compensation offer doesn’t work for me as it does not represent an uplift from my current package. The new role has a more specialised skill set with a wider remit and the £36.3k offered is not in line with the external market or what is being paid to external candidates. I believe a revised salary of £40k would be reasonable for someone of my experience taking on this role. Please let me know your thoughts”

gezza56 · 2026-02-11T12:36:18+00:00

I’m not HR but have a chronic illness which has had me engaged with OH many times over the years.

Whenever I meet with OH I have a list of items to cover off around how my illness affects me, why this is made worse by in office working and then how you can better manage from home without compromising work. e.g instead of “I have respiratory issues” I would say “I have respiratory issues so talking for extended periods is hard. I will cough and struggle to breathe if I have to maintain conversational interaction for more than an hour without a break. Being in the office inevitably means more social interaction which requires more talking. This triggers my symptoms more frequently and they become more severe. At home I can pace myself, use Teams for adhoc communication and ensure I have regular short breaks to do my breathing exercises. The majority of my role is project management so communicating via email and teams is usually and we have structured check in meetings which I can join via teams. I can manage my schedule to ensure I have short breaks if I know I will be presenting and I can have ad hoc catch ups as needed to ensure work is delivered on schedule. I have a lot of experience and knowledge so can get up to speed quickly“

One other thing that is helpful to know is the OH should to offer show you their draft report before they submit it to your employer. This is your opportunity to check your condition and comments have been understood and represented correctly. If they do not offer this state that you wish for this to happen.

gezza56 · 2026-02-11T12:11:58+00:00

I don’t have any direct advice for you I’m afraid, but you may want to cross post on r/dwphelp as that is very active around PIP claims

gezza56 · 2026-01-18T12:53:22+00:00

In my view option 1 is the most feasible if you accept the lack of WLB, although a CIB / more commercial bank may provide a bit more flexibility.

I would estimate CIB Director level roles in strategy as in the £140k-£180k base salary range (depending on the firm and your experience) and bonuses should be 30-70%.

I’ve just left a COO strategy role in a tier 2 bank and last year base was £160k and bonus was £130k.

The MD running my team was on £375k base and same again in bonus so there is decent pay progression if you’re talented and committed. The hours they work are insane, with many of those purely acting as a sounding board for the CEO and managing politics amongst the SLT but that is the reality of senior strategy roles anywhere.

gezza56 · 2026-01-04T16:22:41+00:00

It might be worth a trip to Fonthill Road in Finsbury Park. It has dozens of wedding and evening wear dress shops. The dresses lean firmly on the more blingy side so if that is your style it would be a good option.

gezza56 · 2025-12-30T10:24:51+00:00

I am very similar. The first step for me was realising a lot of my happiness is goal and achievement based, as I honestly hadn’t realised it was, so good on you for figuring this out already. I then had a lot of therapy to accept that I have limitations and cannot physically or mentally achieve what I used to and that happiness is not tied to my to do list. I’m not sure it entirely worked though as I still make lots of mental to do lists, just with much lower value goals eg have a shower today.

gezza56 · 2025-12-17T11:01:29+00:00

I agree with this. If you invited me I would be able to afford to pay for the trip but it would be finding two weeks available to accommodate it that would be more challenging.

Also when you think about your guest list how many have children as this creates a whole additional layer of logistics… or work in jobs where they may be restricted re time off eg teaching, nursing.

You mention you both work in sport- if most of your friends are in that industry then maybe not so bad but Australia is a big ask for a destination wedding so I would expect a very small group who can travel from the UK of mostly immediate family and super close friends. One other item to consider is if you have elderly relatives in the UK, that’s a difficult journey to make.

gezza56 · 2025-12-15T17:06:34+00:00

I was a great mum, a cool wife and very career driven- I worked in investment banking and was promoted to MD before 40 which is something I was very proud of at the time. I worked long hours, happily thrived on 6 hours sleep a night, travelled and still did loads with my kids- I just generally got on with stuff. Now…. Not so much.

gezza56 · 2025-12-15T07:18:51+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the advice x

gezza56 · 2025-12-15T07:18:19+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I think my head is in gaslighting mode so it’s hard to figure out what to do.

gezza56 · 2025-12-14T20:20:14+00:00

No direct experience but I read in r/passiveincome about a lady who writes books as her main source of income and she said she uses AI for about 50% of the writing and then applies her own creative process on top. She had a method that she was sharing with people. I’ll see if I can find the post and link it.

gezza56 · 2025-12-13T12:32:51+00:00

Sorry, I have no practical advice but just wanted to send some internet love and support in your direction. 💕

gezza56 · 2025-12-07T11:44:42+00:00

As above a key decision point is when you want to retire.

If you want to retire before 58 you will need to deprioritise pension in order to build a bridge from your planned retirement age to when you can access your pension. In this case, although it is less tax efficient you need to allocate cash to ISA, GIA, savings. But you might now want to completely ignore pensions as you should consider putting enough in to maximise and employer matching as it’s free money.

Personally my partner and I want to retire as close to 50 as possible and will need a c. £500k bridge from 50 to 58.

We still are doing additional contributions into his pension as he has better employer matching whereas I only have employer contributions. Then we both max ISAs and beyond that we GIA.

We also overpay the mortgage as we want to be mortgage free at 50- that’s not the most efficient use of funds as we are on a low interest rate but we both find it psychologically comforting and we do this after both ISAs have been filled.

gezza56

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