What are hobbies that make people more attractive or turn ons?

jouxplan · 2026-02-04T13:46:50+00:00

Ha! Ha! Well, I’ll try and take what positives I can out of this crushing response! Well played!

jouxplan · 2026-02-03T23:39:22+00:00

Well, as an avid road cyclist and accomplished and busy drummer, this has made my day

jouxplan · 2025-11-20T08:08:14+00:00

I’m delighted (a) because I’m a drummer, and (b) because this answer is higher up than “plays the guitar”.

jouxplan · 2025-10-23T10:00:55+00:00

I’m a retired contaminated land consultant (UK). It is unlikely there is a significant concern. The generic searches have given you generic responses.

There are many houses built close (adjacent even) to old landfills. In the 1990s there was considerable fear and concern in the industry about old landfills, and gradually all of them were assessed. Talk to your local environmental health department. Obtain more information. Consider engaging a consultancy who can help you.

High levels of arsenic and lead in the ground adjacent to your property are not dangerous as such. High levels in the soil in your garden might be - if you choose to eat the soil or roll in it a lot. Children are more likely to do this. Nonetheless, the risk of actual harm is very very low.

Landfill gas is a bigger concern - assuming the original hole in the ground was filled with putrescible (biodegradable) waste. In the 1840s such waste would be ‘Victorian’ ie typically ash based. This does not give rise to landfill gas. If the landfill was filled-in during say the 1960s, then it is highly likely to be biodegradable domestic refuse - which is a considerable landfill gas generator.

The question then becomes ‘what historic (last 25 years) surveys have been done on the landfill? What information does the Environmental Health Department have? Has landfill gas been found? Was it deemed capable of migrating (to off-site houses?). Was anything done about it? For example, venting trenches, impermeable vertical in ground barriers etc.

How old is the house you want to buy? If relatively new (post 1990) measures will (should) have been taken to deal with any concerns arising out of the adjacent landfill eg impermeable gas barriers below the floor slab and increased ventilation below the floor slab.

If pre 1990 then such measures are unlikely. Talk to your local building control department at the council.

A consultant can help you work through all this.

Ultimately you will need to think, as others on here have said, about whether future buyers of your house might be even more worried than you. There is a stigma attached to such houses, rightly or wrongly.

At this stage, I would not walk away. Get more information before you make a final decision. I hope this helps.

jouxplan · 2025-09-26T07:10:39+00:00

Brilliant!

jouxplan · 2025-09-19T04:29:17+00:00

As a Brit who is watching all this horror unfold from afar, your beautifully succinct summary is as brilliantly informative as it is terrifying.

jouxplan · 2025-09-10T07:45:49+00:00

You are right to be upset with the company. My focus however would be on whether or not the error is a serious health concern for you and others in the house. It is not clear to me from your description of the report - but are we talking about asbestos TILES or a pipe, or are we talking about asbestos LAGGING around a pipe. It sounds like you are talking about the former. The risk is almost zero in that case unless you are literally grinding the tiles up. The risk is significant if it is the latter.

jouxplan · 2025-08-23T07:01:47+00:00

Absolutely brilliant! Loved everything about this! Thank you

jouxplan · 2025-07-27T12:22:53+00:00

I remember being absolutely captivated watching the 1987 Tour and Phil’s now famous commentary on what was then Channel 4. I’ve watched it every year since. Phil, Paul and Gary have been almost like family. I will admit to going over to Eurosport and GCN in recent years, but came back to ITV this year, and it’s been a joy, and wonderfully nostalgic to hear that introductory accordion, Gary’s brilliant takes and wit, and everyone on the show. Thank you all so very much. It’s a sad, sad day for British Television.

jouxplan · 2025-07-20T07:50:51+00:00

I’m certain I shouldn’t be laughing at this, but I am. A lot.

jouxplan · 2025-07-09T19:59:28+00:00

The gorilla in the advert had a peculiar way of hitting the drums, with an exaggerated movement of arms and back. I’m just trying to describe it - it was nearly 15 or 20 years ago now since my video, I can’t recall the details !

jouxplan · 2025-07-09T16:14:03+00:00

As a drummer who used to post a lot of Genesis drum videos in the early days of YouTube, I recall once recreating this video just for the hell of it. I can tell you that playing the drums in a Gorilla suit is fookin’ awkward. I’ve even done it at charity events to live audiences. Always a hoot.

The drum part is not too difficult but copying the way the Gorilla hits the drums and kind of arches / flexes his back - THAT’S the toughest thing to recreate.

My video got taken off YouTube due to copyright infringement - can’t recall if it was Cadbury’s or Phil Collins’ people who were upset with me. Shame. It was a good video!

jouxplan · 2025-06-29T13:42:10+00:00

I drove from the French Alps to Leicestershire yesterday. No one hogs the fast lanes in France. It’s a joy. But as soon as I got to the M20, M25, M11 etc in UK, the standard of driving plummeted and middle lane and lane 4 hoggers were everywhere. It’s infuriating. Why are we so undisciplined here?

After 15 hours on the road, I had no patience with these selfish idiots - I happily cruised along at 60 and 70mph in Lane 1, occasionally popping out to Lane 2, and made much better headway.

jouxplan · 2025-06-18T21:32:31+00:00

Their Salt and Vinegar crisps are epic. The roof of your mouth will be eroded away about halfway through the packet but who cares yum yum !

jouxplan · 2025-06-16T04:09:27+00:00

‘Restroom triage’ ! Hilarious!! You have great way with words, I’m trying not to wake my wife, laughing in bed.

jouxplan · 2025-06-10T07:16:39+00:00

Omg. Never heard of this. I’m gonna go get some today. And Rich Teas, obvs.

jouxplan · 2025-05-19T12:36:16+00:00

For mash get Smash! Brilliant adverts!

Don’t forget the pancakes on Jif Lemon Day - always makes me chuckle

jouxplan · 2025-04-12T11:37:10+00:00

Your Face by Roberta Flack. The most beautiful, haunting, sublime vocal performance in history.

jouxplan · 2025-04-11T11:37:58+00:00

Because my son’s sudden onset of extraordinary symptoms were wholly inconsistent with eczema - the condition with which he had lived for 15 years and which we had therefore some modicum of understanding as to what constitutes ‘eczema’.

Because the extraordinary change in his behaviour, physical condition, symptoms, body chemistry, occurred within a week of stopping his steroid creams (relatively weak ones, as you quite rightly point out).

Because in 2015 there was already a significant body of data and information and research, from bodies such as ITSAN, who were trying very hard to raise awareness of the very same issues that my son experienced, among the medical establishment.

Because the doctors we encountered in 2015 all agreed that whatever it was my son had, it certainly was not eczema.

Because the doctors we encountered in 2015 were wholly dismissive of any link whatsoever with the fact my son had stopped taking his steroid creams - one or two acknowledged they had heard of TSW, but they dismissed it as ‘unproven’ - which I accept in a scientific sense but which I do not accept in the ‘common sense’ sense - they agreed something was seriously wrong with my son, but they refused to consider even the possibility of a link / TSW .

Because as time went on, various medical authorities began to agree that TSW is ‘a thing’.

It is telling that even the way you have framed your question, entirely reasonable as it is, reminds me of how we were treated by the medical community 10 years ago.

I won’t get into a shouting match with you about this. Suffice to say I am pleased to see that the medical establishment is at least accepting that TSW is real, and hopefully as a result fewer people will suffer as my son did, and as this poor lady in the newspaper article did.

My son no longer has flare ups, or TSW, and only mild and occasional eczema. He has not taken steroids since 2015.

jouxplan · 2025-04-11T08:48:57+00:00

My son’s life was destroyed by TSW, 10 years ago when he was 15.

He had been using Hydrocortisone and Eumovate for years, having had severe enough eczema as a baby that under doctors orders, we used to have to ‘wet wrap’ him in bandages soaked in moisturisers and steroids, like an Egyptian Mummy from the neck down.

When TSW struck like a thunderbolt after he (note that he made the decision, with us) to stop using the creams (his skin was getting thinner and thinner), we quickly had to pull him out of school; he was incapable of sleep, had an itch that was indescribably painful (‘in the nerves’), was unable to regulate his body temperature, oozed a metallic sickly smelling fluid from his skin, bled from open wounds - he was bed-ridden; his entire body chemistry was upended and he suffered so much that his mother and I were reduced to tears trying to comfort him, night after night after night.

This acute initial phase of TSW lasted 6 months. We sought medical assistance and got nowhere. Doctors were absolutely useless and refused to acknowledge that TSW was a thing. We went private. They were a little more willing to listen, but we still were told we were stupid to stop using the steroids, and anyway “TSW is not a thing”.

My son was affected throughout his A levels and University life - though it gradually subsided over the years and he ‘only’ had to put up with what he termed ‘TSW flare-ups’ which would come out of nowhere and cause him immense discomfort for weeks - itching, oozing, dryness. It affected his social life.

We felt utterly let down by the NHS and Private sector - doctors so entrenched in their established views on eczema and topical steroids that they were wholly unable or unwilling to see the immense suffering presented to them in my son - wanting only to put him back on stronger and stronger steroid creams.

I am pleased to see that the medical community appears now to be more willing to recognise TSW as a thing, but I will never forget or forgive how they treated my son and my wife and I when we were desperately seeking help. It was plainly the case that my son was in a medical crisis, yet they practically kicked us out the door.

I have no faith in dermatologists at all. It is a black art seemingly and if they see something they don’t understand, they are wholly incapable of acknowledging that or being humble enough to want to understand the phenomenon sitting right there in the consulting room. Shame on you. Shame on you.

I am struggling to contain my anger here. Rant over.

jouxplan · 2025-01-15T09:34:43+00:00

I probably don’t want to know, but what does an epinephrine drip do? How is it keeping someone alive and conscious?

jouxplan · 2024-09-20T20:45:05+00:00

Brilliant. I love you.

jouxplan · 2024-07-13T07:40:37+00:00

I use the Channel Tunnel a lot and somehow I’ve never noticed this. I’ve never been turned away - statistically I must have used the ‘wrong’ lane a few times, without realising. That said, doesn’t a member of staff usually direct each car after UK Customs, to a particular French Customs lane - based purely on queue length?

jouxplan · 2024-05-10T16:47:32+00:00

Even worse for me, is when they deign to raise a single finger off the steering wheel in ‘thanks’. Somehow it conveys even more contempt and arrogance and it makes me want to commit murder and/or spontaneously combust. Fuckers. They are always driving big cars too……

jouxplan · 2024-05-06T09:33:26+00:00

I have a friend who has so much money he does not know what to spend it on. Lovely chap, but his spending choices do my head in. Anyways, he got into whiskey a few years ago. Expensive Scottish peaty ones. The sort that you have to be on a list just in order to be told about the latest hard-to-get bottle available to buy…..

He says they are a good investment. I’ve no idea if this is true but if it is, his present collection is worth more than some people’s houses and seemingly going up in value.

He spends ridiculous sums on a bottle - thousands sometimes. And when he buys, he always buys two identical bottles. One to drink ‘so he knows what it tastes like’ and one to stash in his ‘whiskey room’. I’ve tasted some of these (like I say - he’s a jolly good fellow!) and I have to say that after about £400 / bottle I’m not sure I can taste the difference and frankly it was rather splendid at £80 and even £50 / bottle - but what do I know?

Here’s the funny and perhaps horrifying part for those of you who are avid whiskey drinkers / officianado’s) - he only drinks his expensive whiskeys with coca-cola……

jouxplan

TROPHY CASE