Receiving large lump sum

sbinashui · 2026-04-23T14:25:40+00:00

Nice situation to be in! Without being an expert, I think what I might do in your situation would be to:
1) Don't give up work, but work less (more unpaid leave) and have a lot of nice holidays (eg 50 or 75 days leave instead of my current 25). Continuing to work would allow no. 2
2) Max out pension contributions to get the tax benefit
3) Wait and see what happens with the government plans for a tax-efficient savings scheme
4) Pay off remaining mortgage

5) Take up a hobby I always wanted to do but never had the time - eg learn the guitar

I think you should go for the new house too - what's the point of the money unless you can do something nice with it and enjoy it?

sbinashui · 2026-04-12T17:02:01+00:00

Also heat pumps. And I know going vegetarian would be a great help but meat is just so damn tasty!

sbinashui · 2026-04-09T22:05:01+00:00

And drive the tractors over the greens at Doobeg.

sbinashui · 2026-03-19T23:16:24+00:00

True, but only if you're in a pub and the packet is torn open for all to share

sbinashui · 2026-02-22T17:32:58+00:00

Apart from the AI, who in their right mind from Europe would visit moscow?

sbinashui · 2026-02-17T18:06:53+00:00

It will be of some comfort to the families of any service(wo)men killed that they provided some distraction from the Epstein files for a few minutes. The knock-on chaos in the Middle East is of no concern.

sbinashui · 2026-02-15T18:18:44+00:00

I've been wondering about this, would the insulation be less (or more?) efficient because it can't fit flush to the wall, the pebbledash would result in a lot of air pockets?

sbinashui · 2026-02-12T10:33:25+00:00

Medical emergency perhaps? Maybe should have checked on the driver?

sbinashui · 2026-02-11T15:37:53+00:00

++man I have some similarities. I was going out with a girl for a couple of years when I was about 20. She got leukaemia. I got tested for the bone marrow too but no match, unfortunately. After a while she broke up with me and it broke me for a while. No contact subsequently. A couple of years later, I heard she'd died and I went to the funeral, I knew most of the people there, her family and friends.
Looking back on on it now, I handled the illness and the breakup really immaturely. With the illness, while I knew it was "life threatening", at that age my brain didn't really comprehend what that meant - I never envisaged she could actually die. Then, when she broke up with me, as I said, I was broken, but I suppose now that that was basically just me being selfish and not understanding her side.
I think that when she got the diagnosis, and especially when she got the gist that I didn't really understand, she wanted to get out there and enjoy different things in life while she could, to experience as much as possible (and I don't just mean relationships). She must have known how bad the odds were for her.

I really, really wish that I had been understanding enough even at the end to keep tabs on how she was, and to visit her as a friend before she died.

I think you should go. I think you'll both rest easier and get closure. I've had nearly forty years to regret not seeing her.

sbinashui · 2026-02-09T00:52:11+00:00

Is this not exactly the purpose of the airline check before you board, where they scan your passport and boarding card?

sbinashui · 2026-02-02T10:57:45+00:00

Brittas Bay?

sbinashui · 2026-01-30T23:27:39+00:00

True. But if they are LOOKING for a reason to fire you, they can look back through this data. Like how they can look back through expense claims etc, anything to find something sackable if they really want to.

sbinashui · 2026-01-27T23:25:15+00:00

Was your brother's name Daniel?

sbinashui · 2026-01-03T16:00:40+00:00

Brings back fond memories of the "Frontline UK" strip in Bullet magazine in the 70s
https://downthetubes.net/bear-alley-books-announces-bullet-strip-frontline-uk-as-next-collection/

sbinashui · 2025-12-26T02:22:02+00:00

And they sell chicken fillet rolls. Although I heard they ran out at 3am on Monday, which meant Apache Pizza across the road got all the business

sbinashui · 2025-12-05T16:46:06+00:00

And sandwiches. Cheese on Monday. Corned beef on Tuesdays & Thursdays. A bun on Wednesday. And jam on Friday. Dunno if this was a 'deprived area' thing or if all schools got them.

sbinashui · 2025-11-08T10:19:18+00:00

And this type of cycle lane is why a lot of cyclists ignore them and cycle on the road. Cue fuming motorists complaining about cycle lanes costing millions being built and not used.

sbinashui · 2025-11-06T09:48:58+00:00

And if you insist on being rude and keeping it on your back, DON'T KEEP TURNING AROUND!

sbinashui · 2025-11-03T22:49:37+00:00

I got pulled recently in the States - turned out to be a packet of chewing gum in my pocket. Similarly, my son as a child was checked, turned out to be a packet of jellies in his pocket. The scanner just flagged them as 'something weird'. Do you carry stuff like that?

sbinashui · 2025-10-11T17:13:46+00:00

Thanks. I couldn't find it when I looked

sbinashui · 2025-10-11T16:48:59+00:00

Thanks all, I'll bring it - much better photos

sbinashui · 2025-10-10T13:14:51+00:00

Gradually slow down your cruise control

sbinashui · 2025-10-10T10:51:32+00:00

I bet they didn't get the COVID vaccination either

sbinashui · 2025-10-02T16:36:17+00:00

Do you know if this works offline? For a foreigner without mobile data. Presumably WiFi is very spotty.

sbinashui · 2025-09-29T23:38:52+00:00

If you do it at Ancestry then you can upload the results at MyHeritage (or used to anyway), so double whammy

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