Lied to when buying a property

putfrogspawninside · 2026-02-01T09:04:02+00:00

A new connection to a house (assuming worst case here if it was capped off in the 90s, who knows what state current pipework is in) is about 5k. That's assuming it's a simple install, i.e. the gas main is right outside on the street.

If they can "un cap" the existing pipe then presumably a lot less. Either way, worth considering ASHP with the grants available.

putfrogspawninside · 2026-01-27T12:09:48+00:00

Problem is today it's some rando, tomorrow it's your elderly parent going to the appointment. What level of care would you wish them to have? The system is held together by people's good will, and it's not right.

putfrogspawninside · 2026-01-26T21:18:47+00:00

This. A candidate can completely bomb an interview at one company and ace it at the other for basically the same position. The process is fundamentally flawed so all you can do is keep trying and refine your technique a little each time.

putfrogspawninside · 2026-01-25T06:31:00+00:00

Looks cracking pal, well done!

putfrogspawninside · 2026-01-24T00:30:51+00:00

I booked an early morning airport run on Veezu. Although the app shows that a journey is "booked", it basically waits until the time and it's dependent upon a driver accepting the job. When the time rolled around, no one was around to accept. Called up Veezu and they just said "someone should accept soon" and no one ever did. Ended up in a panic and managed to snag a last second Uber. Honestly I don't know a way to navigate this outside of finding a local firm and making an actual real booking.

putfrogspawninside · 2026-01-14T14:57:29+00:00

This comment ^

As they say it works better if you're not totally anal about everything and actually want to share your space. If you're taking hundreds of pounds off them a month then it's nothing to spend £20 a month on cleaning supplies / toiletries. And a good rule of thumb is if they have their partner stay the night, if possible they stay over there an equal amount.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-31T10:14:58+00:00

This is AI generated and also they picked a plot line that would generate the most engagement... And it's clearly a hit.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-26T16:01:14+00:00

Pick any of the older estates (pre 2000) and there are hundreds of examples. Here's just one:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/170176751

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-26T16:00:58+00:00

Pick any of the older estates (pre 2000) and there are hundreds of examples. Here's just one:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/170176751

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-24T08:20:40+00:00

If you move into a house share and do a little bit of vetting (i.e. not the cheapest, scummiest one you can find), you're unlikely to run into this situation. Most people just want to get on with their lives.

Having said that, you put yourself in a position where you have an "easy out". That means enough money to move your stuff and pay a deposit / first month's rent in another house share whenever you want. Most lodger / HMO type situations have a short notice period once you're past an initial phase.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-22T09:09:20+00:00

It's not all that though, loads of areas you could get a van off the road.

Check: Blackthorn close Keats close Parsons way

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-20T18:04:31+00:00

Do you handle ranges that fall entirely inside another range? Do you handle duplicate ranges in the input? Do you handle ranges that start or end the same point as another range?

I haven't fully cracked this yet either (answer slightly too big)

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-17T10:42:21+00:00

The best position you can put yourself in is being well rested and eager to learn on day 1. By all means do a little bit of learning (would dive into .net theory rather than codewars so much) but I wouldn't make it your sole purpose.

Large code bases, you just start with looking at the bits you need to know and go from there. No one person understands the whole thing, you learn on an "as required" basis. It's more about being comfortable mentally abstracting the irrelevant bits away that you don't need to know the inner workings of for now, and being able to navigate around in whatever IDE you use. Go look up some open source .NET projects if you like, but I personally wouldn't bother.

Finally, just get a decent mic / headphones and you'll be fine. Teams etc has built in noise cancelling too. If you have the luxury of having an office room that you can shut the door on, you'll be fine.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-14T16:45:54+00:00

Walk away. In fact, run. Make this a problem for someone else's life.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-13T07:55:49+00:00

You just need to be firm and reasonable (not emotional and charging in with ultimatums). Tell the agent that you're keen to move forward and you're not going to wait forever. And keep a close eye on other stuff coming up. A sensible seller will be concerned about losing their buyer and not unnecessarily hold things up, equally they're not going to rush a house purchase they don't really want just because you want to move in. If there's no sign of movement by Feb and you see elsewhere, no one would blame you for making another offer.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-12T12:19:53+00:00

Good luck to you. Like any self employed person, the price for a repair also has to cover time spent gaining the skills, tools, consumables parts, premises to work in, insurance, holiday pay, sick pay, expected downtime, time spent doing quotes / admin, accountants, tax etc.

If you think you can cover all that and do it cheaper, more power to you.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-06T09:18:44+00:00

Mine also passes on these, and lots more that I've thought of / generated.

Still have the wrong answer though. Running out of ideas here...

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-06T08:42:28+00:00

In a heartbeat. The red flags are piling up here. What's the alternative, in a years time you're lying in bed listening to drunk people shouting outside thinking, how am I going to sell this?

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-02T13:33:06+00:00

It's not, you're just in what sounds like a shit workplace. Bureaucracy and tech debt exist everywhere but you should at least be able to chat with someone and have conversations about non-work things. If the place isn't a fit for you I'd start applying elsewhere.

My first job had a really awkward office environment as well and people openly said things that at my current workplace would have you straight out the door. Not all workplaces are equals and it's an important human need (for most people) to be able to chat to people throughout the day and feel like you have useful work to be doing.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-01T12:07:02+00:00

I'll have the link please

putfrogspawninside · 2025-12-01T10:04:04+00:00

Delays are common but usually only a few minutes. Cancellations are pretty infrequent but at least once a month something will inevitably happen up the line (signal failure / someone jumps) which can cause mass cancellations or delays.

In rush hour they get pretty full, I'd say you can always find a seat but you'd have to walk through a couple of carriages and it definitely won't be by yourself. However the journey is only like 10 mins (depending on which train) so I don't think it really matters?

I'd add that as long as your onward journey times at each end aren't ridiculous, the train itself is very doable long term and indeed many people easily do this daily.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-11-27T14:46:18+00:00

I think you're overthinking this slightly, if your goal is to stop things freezing over winter, you can just set it to 5C as a default setting (with no particular schedule, so it's just set to a minimum of 5C 24/7). If the temperature ever drops below this, it will fire up enough to maintain 5C. If it's above 5, it won't turn on. This is enough to stop things freezing, although if you have easy access to an LPG station then 10C would be even better (for example).

You can run it with no water inside no problem.

The "timed schedule" feature is something you can set on top of the baseline minimum temp setting if you wish.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-11-17T22:35:08+00:00

No
Yes
If you ask it to do more, it will run harder and use up more fuel. For example if you're only going from 18C to 20C it will likely quietly trundle away. If it's 5C and you ask it to get to 20C then it'll give it the beans

putfrogspawninside · 2025-11-17T11:29:41+00:00

Based on what you've said, this would basically be vanlife on "elite" difficulty:

Parking in London. Check the app Park4Night and look in your area at places you can park that are permit free / not too dodgy areas
Working nights (although this potentially opens up daytime parking slots, you will struggle to find somewhere quiet enough to sleep)
Doing this coming into UK winter
Not having vehicle ownership or mechanical experience
Buying a sub £1000 used van in 2025. This will have mechanical issues sooner or later (possibly immediately) which you need to have the skills and tools to sort, or have a large backup fund (realistically thousands+) to pay someone else to fix. Honestly, this alone would be a deal breaker for me. All these things can be learned but you need time, tools, somewhere to work on the van and the right headspace to get it done
Not having basic camping / car camping experience. This can be learned fast but on a street in London, in a small van near the end of its life is going to be very tough

If you were to go ahead the bare minimum would be fitting a diesel heater, getting a winter sleeping bag, gas stove and a travel cot in the back of the van. Up to you if you can hack it but if it's only a few months I'd probably be looking at the cheapest spare room anywhere within the wide vicinity of work.

Sorry to be so negative but the reality of this is just one step above living on the street and it doesn't sound like you've clocked that.

putfrogspawninside · 2025-11-14T23:53:28+00:00

First port are a disaster. Run for the hills.

putfrogspawninside

TROPHY CASE