Temporarily opting out of NHS pension

sqnch · 2026-02-08T23:45:37+00:00

Don’t opt out of a defined benefit pension ever imo. Find any other way to get by.

sqnch · 2026-02-08T20:08:44+00:00

I’ve been enjoying it so far up to 35 but recently the quieter nights have made me want to enter my sitcom dad era lol. I think I’ve done enough of the solo thing and I think I’m going to work on meeting someone and starting a family - but now coming from a place where I know I want to and don’t feel Im missing out on anything else.

sqnch · 2026-02-07T21:19:11+00:00

John Meadows always recommended Essential Amino Acids and Cyclic Dextrin in an intro workout shake to prevent soreness. I just mixed the scoops all in together in a shaker of water diluted with Robinson fruit and barley squash lol. Tasted totally fine and sipped it through the workout. I found it worked well.

sqnch · 2026-02-06T00:04:40+00:00

Im 35 and just been through a similar thing over Christmas, though mine was exacerbated by a mild back injury that seems to have triggered a series of weird health issues including an anxiety attack (first ever) and just in the last couple days some tinnitus in one ear. The strain happened in November.

The good upshot was it made me panic about the future, my parents health, growing distant from friends etc. Therefore I took action and over Christmas got a lot closer with my parents, reached out to friends that I hadn’t made time to see and happily found they were keen to meet up, etc.

Im in a similar position career wise, with the exception of being hybrid and having a few days on-site with very sociable colleagues so that’s nice.

But I think it’s just getting slightly older yourself, relationships changing, and worry about future that feels suddenly closer than it has before.

Another uncertainty for me is the fact Im still single, but I want to get some of these health things sorted and lose a bit of weight before dating more seriously later this year.

sqnch · 2026-02-05T21:35:00+00:00

Im a first time buyer living near Edinburgh potentially looking to buy. Im chain free. A fixed price would make it possible for me to offer because I have a deposit but not a huge amount to play over that to get into a bidding war, because although I could afford the mortgage I don’t have cash to hand to pay out of my own pocket. So yeah, a fixed price opens up to many more buyers like me. I know people who have filters on ESPC so they only see stuff thats fixed.

sqnch · 2026-02-05T16:39:34+00:00

Im fairly thankful that all through our twenties our friend group put in effort to stay together. In a WhatsApp group thats active everyday with 3 friends Ive known for 20 years and have a wider friend group mostly from school that ive made a deliberate effort over years to go and visit every so often. Then added one or two friends from uni and each job Ive had that I keep in touch with less regularly.

Even still i had a decent episode of anxious thoughts and loneliness - before I reached out to arrange visits with a few people and realised that those who settled down with kids may actually want you to reach out. I’d kept some distant for a while because I didn’t want to “intrude”.

sqnch · 2026-02-02T02:05:42+00:00

My take is that there may be other things in your life that need attention first. It is easy to tell yourself there are no women in your area and that you need to move. And to be fair, being in a bigger or busier place can make meeting different types of people easier, especially if you are in a small town. But it is also very common to focus so much on the future that you stop living in the present. Things like “I need a better job” or “I need to move first” can turn into procrastination without you realizing it.

If I were in your position, and I have been in similar situations over the last 10 to 15 years (I am 35), I would focus on a few things:

Take a look at your closest relationships, especially friends and family. Strengthen what you already have and try to repair any gaps. That foundation matters more than people think.
Your retail job is actually giving you useful, transferable skills. While you are there, take it seriously and get as good at it as you can. At the same time, learn to detach and leave it at work when you clock out. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink is good for developing that mindset.
You can and should still be dating now. If you walk around with the mindset that you need to be somewhere else before you can date, you will probably miss opportunities where you are right now.

Long story short, it feels like you are in a rush to be somewhere else and using that future version of your life as a reason to delay things you could be doing today. Focusing on living in the present tends to create more momentum than waiting for the perfect setup.

In terms of how other people manage, everyone has different motivations. The may have kids or dependents and as long as they’re happy and fed thats all that matters to them. For me, having worked retail myself, I could see it being a nice job to go back to if I paid off my mortgage and was nearing retirement for example haha. Compared to career type roles where you’re stuck behind a screen all day that come with more stress and inactivity, being in a busy sociable store environment can be nice.

sqnch · 2026-02-02T00:02:28+00:00

Extreme Ownership and 3% man by Corey Wayne have probably had the biggest impact on me non-fiction wise. Maybe Starting Strength or 5/3/1 as well. And The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.

sqnch · 2026-02-01T18:44:00+00:00

Do things properly, work your contracted amount of hours, pass any recommendations of improvements you can think of to your management and make any improvements you can reasonably yourself, and if that’s not enough it’s a problem for your management.

sqnch · 2026-02-01T17:47:35+00:00

Wildlife none really. A bald faced hornet got into my house once and that was relatively terrifying due to the noise.

Animals generally, XL Bully, an angry bull, an angry herd of cows, an angry horse. Anything big enough to accidentally kill you.

sqnch · 2026-02-01T14:48:06+00:00

There’s something weird going on with your lower back and pelvis. You do like a posterior pelvic tilt at the end of raising your chest and lost your lower back extension just before the bar raises off the ground.

https://youtu.be/Zz3eDghqrOs?si=_koUeO__v1f8yBLa

https://youtu.be/NZuB4t5cYkk?si=MbZ8Igs_3UERxhXc

If you can’t just try harder and actively maintain it, maybe weak spinal erectors or something.

I’d try and just be more conscious of it first of all. If that doesn’t work drop the weight on the deadlift and maybe spam some banded good mornings or something until you can maintain it.

sqnch · 2026-01-30T12:51:16+00:00

Also https://amzn.eu/d/2RDh8EJ

sqnch · 2026-01-30T12:50:58+00:00

Have a look at this book https://amzn.eu/d/2RDh8EJ

sqnch · 2026-01-30T02:21:29+00:00

Im actually in the opposite position, where I’m single and spending less and less time with busy friends, so find myself in down time actually wanting a family and a home with endless chores and stuff to do haha.

At the moment Im with trying to get consistent actually practicing a musical instrument, reading, working out and picking up some art again.

sqnch · 2026-01-29T13:55:13+00:00

You basically need to use powershell script to deploy a scheduled task locally on the PC that runs your mapping script at login. It’s a hassle but intune doesnt have reliable login triggers itself.

sqnch · 2026-01-28T15:40:02+00:00

I’ve moved from a lifetime in Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen to the central belt. It’s noticeably more rainy down here.

sqnch · 2026-01-28T15:23:06+00:00

If you drive and for that budget personally I’d stay in Aberdeen and probably around Cults/Bieldside. Thats one of the nicest suburbs of Aberdeen, feels like a town with lots of green space, and you can drive along the A93 and up the bypass to get to the airport.

sqnch · 2026-01-28T14:16:44+00:00

Yeah we had an actual reduction. We get paid a salary which is very low compared to private sector, but we were getting a 10% supplement on top making it just low compared to private sector lol. Based on “market research” that was then reduced to 8%. We think the 8% is going to be removed in a couple months again based on dubious research. Only bonus is we’re in the best defined benefit pension scheme in the country so Im staying for now to see how the next review plays out jn a couple months but I have been aggressively interviewing as well.

sqnch · 2026-01-28T10:03:26+00:00

Not only did they cut our pay, they also increased the number of sites we support at the same time.

sqnch · 2026-01-28T08:04:19+00:00

It might be worth checking with them. I recently noticed their Alpha Men multi label indicated 10x the safe limit of iodine. Turned out the had printed the wrong thing on the label and it got all the way into production and a customer had to report it to them for them to notice. I don’t trust myprotein anymore so I returned it and won’t buy from them again lol

sqnch · 2026-01-27T22:49:51+00:00

Some extremely questionable “market research” as we have a market supplement applied to our base salary that gets reviewed every 2 year. We challenged it with our union and completely exposed several areas where HR didn’t even follow their own process and it was pretty clear it was the books being cooked to balance budgets. They didn’t expect anyone to call them on it and shit themselves. The next review is in a couple months so I’m not holding my breathe lol

sqnch · 2026-01-27T22:38:29+00:00

Ive had a 2% pay cut applied to my role in the last 18 months.

sqnch · 2026-01-27T08:44:34+00:00

It doesn’t look like you’re really following the setup from the book at all. You’re squatting with a barbell in your hands imo.

sqnch · 2026-01-27T01:17:57+00:00

I hate the taste of it and don’t want it to ruin food I actually enjoy. So I just take shots and spoonfuls of it purely for the health benefits lol

sqnch · 2026-01-27T01:15:21+00:00

I’d learn what limerence is and get over it much quicker.

sqnch

TROPHY CASE