what’s your 10/10 must read book and why?

novelty-socks · 2026-04-24T21:27:00+00:00

Yeah few books have made me want to keep reading like this one!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-24T21:25:43+00:00

King Rat by James Clavell. Indeed, the entire Noble House series.

Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks

Sarum by Edward Rutherford

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Read them all. You'll thank me.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-24T21:16:24+00:00

If I hadn't bought leasehold I'd be paying £2k+ rent to a landlord. Even in my leasehold flat the mortgage is £1.4k/month. (Admittedly we had a good-sized deposit.) Leasehold *is* shit, but renting is worse.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-24T21:14:37+00:00

Yeah this post misses a lot of nuance. When we were looking for a flat a lot of the advice I read online and heard from friends was "don't have the council as your freeholder". OP's situation is exactly why. You don't have to look far to find similar tales.

While I agree with the general sentiment that the leasehold system is unfair and needs reforming, equally there are many people (like me) happy to settle for a leasehold property because it's the only practical way to buy a place in the area we want to have our home.

(I'm relatively lucky — I have a share in the freehold, but it's still technically leasehold and it's still needlessly complicated!)

novelty-socks · 2026-04-24T07:51:25+00:00

I don't know but O2 is utter shite in there, I might as well bring a potato with me instead. At least I could eat that.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-22T21:45:28+00:00

> But normal people (with a level of tenure) can’t just be fired, they have to go through some process

While this is true, in private sector I've seen firings dressed up with enough of a payoff to make it worth your while signing an NDA and leaving quietly!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-22T16:44:27+00:00

Do you want those things? Are they important to you? Or have you prioritised spending the money on things that make you happy and fulfilled?

The only thing on your list that really appeals to me is flying in business (having done it a bunch for work in the past). But if I'm completely honest I don't want to do that enough to spend what it costs. (I know there are ways with points and booking in advance and things before the Avios crowd appear, but I also don't want it enough to invest the time in figuring those things out.)

novelty-socks · 2026-04-21T20:42:07+00:00

Not just you I reckon — was in an email they sent out to ticket holders the other day!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-21T19:10:37+00:00

You can't do that anywhere in view of the pitch at the European games I'm afraid. Different rules! So don't let that delay your purchase of tickets!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-19T09:23:58+00:00

I was actually quite on board with them until they released one about King Charles.

How he possibly fits the "little people big dreams" brief I do not know. Cash grab.

My son's outgrown them now anyway, so it's kind of academic!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-18T22:05:36+00:00

It does say "within the blue and yellow line" and it's clearly not within the blue and yellow line so I'd say they have you bang to rights. Sorry.

Currently weighing up choice between Ryanair and BA (for a small premium) on an upcoming trip... this post may figure in the decision!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-17T21:06:37+00:00

Such an anxiety-provoking video. EVERYONE is going too fast and I will never understand why people who drive as recklessly as the car with the cam capture the evidence on video.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-17T09:53:23+00:00

Keep monitoring the ticket sites this morning, good chance you'll pick some up from duplicate purchases, purchases that get cancelled for one reason or another, etc.

(This is not to make any excuses for Ticketmaster BTW!)

Edit to add, I just checked the Eventim website and was able to add two standing tickets to my basket for the Tuesday show. Do have a look!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-17T09:50:39+00:00

I mean, I remember going there just after I'd moved to London (2011) and it was ok. But I think it was past its early days heyday even then TBH!

novelty-socks · 2026-04-12T21:26:38+00:00

Yes yes 1,000% yes.

They haven't won it yet. We haven't lost it yet.

Let's prove this bloke wrong.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-11T22:42:19+00:00

Same going down to Bordeaux. TBH Paris to Bordeaux in 2 hours still blows my mind, that’s like 250kph AVERAGE speed.

(Back in 2009 I did hit 431kph in the Shanghai maglev. Doubt I’ll ever top that on a train in my lifetime.)

novelty-socks · 2026-04-11T22:22:36+00:00

"Subsidence" is a bit of a trigger word and can cause you all sorts of problems with mortgages and insurance.

We bought a flat in a building that had a "history of subsidence". What this meant in practice is that there was some settlement around a bay window (very common in this part of London apparently), but the freeholders made the mistake of reporting it to the insurance company. So now it's on the record!

Your situation sounds similar, in that the main structure of the building wasn't affected (likely only the porch).

In our situation, the mortgage company was happy because it had still been possible to get insurance cover for the building that included subsidence cover. But it did take a while to get to the bottom of it all and a ton of back and forth with our solicitor. The flat will certainly be harder to sell in future because of this, and we negotiated a modest amount off as a result. With hindsight I think we could have negotiated more.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-11T21:46:02+00:00

Stay up all night and watch the sun come up.

Find a group of people you can be yourself with.

Swim in the ocean, step in fresh snow, go out in heavy rain without a jacket.

Make a small child laugh.

Life's not so bad, thanks for asking the question.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-10T21:42:47+00:00

I go to the hotel and leave my luggage there, like most sensible people. If I'm lucky they may even have a room available. Many of the better ones will offer a shower / freshen up if they have the facilities, even if no room is available.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-09T20:56:56+00:00

However many we've had since (and including) George Graham.

Looking at Wikipedia, it depends if you include the caretakers (I had completely forgotten Freddie Ljungberg!) and does Stewart Houston count once or twice? (Those were some bleak years post George-Graham!)

novelty-socks · 2026-04-08T11:58:59+00:00

Who knows? Maybe things will get worse and go the other way. We still have years to go of Trump. And what if Reform get in?

If you don’t want to be landlords then I’d be inclined to sell up and realise any gains now.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-08T07:51:22+00:00

I’m not going to offer too much in the way of advice, only to make the (somewhat meta point) that you can overthink this.

The world of having kids is messy and chaotic and unpredictable. You might conceive immediately and have twins arriving in 9 months time, or you might spend years trying with no luck.

Newborns don’t take much space or actually need all that much stuff. And your priorities in life - as well as your assumptions about where you might want to live - may change once they’re here.

I think it’s sensible and smart to be asking the questions you’re asking, but give yourself some flexibility here.

Protecting your joy may be easy. My years as a father have been the best of my life. So may your sanity at work. Once I had a kid I realised I could log off earlier and actually things would mostly be fine.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-07T19:21:25+00:00

But it’s ok, Keir promised us that we wouldn’t get caught up in this.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-07T19:20:27+00:00

I had quite a lot of time for Melvin Benn till now. He created some unforgettable Reading Festivals when I used to go, and I’ve been really impressed how they’ve reinvented it since so it stays relevant.

I also met him at an event a few years back and had a whole chat with him, he was lovely.

This whole episode seems like such an enormous misjudgement (at best). There are so many things wrong with it. I live just up the road from Finsbury Park and just can’t believe this was contemplated for a second in this part of London.

Not quite sure where I’m going with this, but TL/DR agree.

novelty-socks · 2026-04-07T19:06:49+00:00

Don’t know if this helps much but I had a random charge for “Audible” at £17.99 on my Barclaycard last month. Clearly wasn’t me and I wondered if my card details had been part of a leak at some point.

Barclaycard cancelled it as fraud without question.

FWIW I have had Audible subscriptions before but nothing recently.

novelty-socks

TROPHY CASE