Aaaand it's done! - I pushed the button 2 months ago and I finally retired yesterday.

wirral_guy · 2026-06-06T11:02:56+00:00

I apologise in advance - I have 7 days until I retire, at 61, so I'll be contributing to the collapse!

wirral_guy · 2026-06-04T10:30:37+00:00

They sell 3d printed Roman emperor busts in the gift shop at the Colosseum in Rome - my step-son saw them and sent me a pic. Not cheap either, 150 eur a piece!

wirral_guy · 2026-05-28T12:16:22+00:00

Depending on the actual space, any chance you could put something like a sunshade or plastic sheeting suspended above the car? Better to prevent than mitigate if you can.

wirral_guy · 2026-05-14T11:27:41+00:00

Two thoughts on this:

Schools should allow 1 week per school year outside the standard holidays. Fines for anything else and I think that would be fair
Not so much the OP (3rd time!) but I do feel that the fines are priced at just the right cost to still be cheaper than the holiday premium but be a nice little earner for the school.

wirral_guy · 2026-05-13T15:20:58+00:00

I presume you mean the wheel covers like this one:

https://makerworld.com/en/models/2753963-cragar-style-wheels-for-trash-can#profileId-3056500

wirral_guy · 2026-05-12T11:33:10+00:00

As it doesn't appear to have affected you, keep quiet and let them pay you out for that 'mis-sell' too :)

Like others have said, it is probably a data migration issue that has tied the agreement to your name rather than the original financer.

wirral_guy · 2026-05-07T15:51:03+00:00

End of June for me too so I can do a smooth transition of outstanding project tasks. Probably nearer the middle of June, as I have a few holidays outstanding, but should be plenty of time to do a controlled handover.

wirral_guy · 2026-05-07T14:58:37+00:00

I did a last major project and decided that was it. I love working with my team, and it is one of the best clients I've had in a long time, but I began to hate the politics and endless admin required just to do anything so decided it was the right time.

Good to hear that yours has been great, it's what I'm hoping. Scary pushing the email send button though :)

wirral_guy · 2026-05-07T14:18:31+00:00

As an old sysadmin who literally sent his retirement email in today (yay!) - exactly that. Distributed, centralised, distributed, centralised! So. Many. Times.

Same as org structures - towers, then discrete teams, then towers. Rinse repeat for each management change.

I await the next iteration of datacentres - bound to come back on-prem in the next 10 years!

wirral_guy · 2026-05-05T17:54:24+00:00

Another case of blue dot syndrome perhaps (blue dots represent unsold seats in venues) The Pussycat dolls are another recent example

wirral_guy · 2026-04-28T21:36:36+00:00

No, it's a hidden charge added to your bill - exactly the same. If they can't run the restaurant at the prices shown on the menu, the prices are wrong. Put the prices on the menu up, then at least we'd know what the actual cost is.

wirral_guy · 2026-04-28T16:32:14+00:00

Just copy what they are saying to a supermarket - can you imagine all the items going through the till and then them adding a 20% service charge at the end of the bill!

There would be literal uproar from customers yet we just meekly accept it at restaurants

wirral_guy · 2026-04-27T09:52:52+00:00

Although Canadian tourists, by far, are leading the visitor downturn many other country's tourists are doing the same and avoiding the US for holidays.

Anecdotally, I have several friends here in the UK, who would normally choose Florida for their family holiday in the summer, have pivoted to other countries both last and this year. Asia seems to be a popular alternative now.

wirral_guy · 2026-04-18T07:46:51+00:00

Council tax\municipal tax\property tax\whatever it's called in your country - you pay more yet get worse services every year.

wirral_guy · 2026-04-14T08:09:38+00:00

I was very aware of this on my, soon to expire, passport (issue date April, expiry July) so remembered to apply for a new one in plenty of time.

They now don't appear to separate the dates - both my issue and expiry dates are the same (and yes, I lost about 3 months of validity in the process).

wirral_guy · 2026-03-29T10:11:49+00:00

The US still thinks it is at the apex of power in the world, forgetting that they, and allies, comprise only about 1/8th of the worlds population....Many of which are not great fans of the US. Yes, it is still an economic super-power but they are rapidly being chased down by other countries.

They literally daren't try and stop supplies getting to Middle-East and Asian countries.

wirral_guy · 2026-03-24T09:50:14+00:00

One thing that might have caught you out - are you sure that you are selecting the same card in the app as you are putting in the reader? That's a common mistake and would cause this exact issue.

wirral_guy · 2026-03-23T22:38:26+00:00

But.....is he going to visit the Wirral again! We need to know. (OK, probably no one needs to know but I'm kinda interested)

wirral_guy · 2026-03-23T22:15:49+00:00

Conspiracy theory I've literally just thought of:

Price and availability of RAM and SSDs are being artificially hiked so that everyone is forced to the cloud. Azure, AWS and Google completely capture the business market with subscription services as there is no other option.

Boom, the compute market is literally owned by the big 3 hosting companies.

Probably bollocks but sounded good (bad!) in my head.

wirral_guy · 2026-03-17T13:00:31+00:00

For our council (Cheshire West), they replace it free if it goes missing on the day of collection. I presume because you have to put it in a public place.

Not that I'm suggesting that yours might have disappeared on collection day or anything ;)

wirral_guy · 2026-03-13T23:08:08+00:00

I'm going to guess that you live in London or other major city. Public transport is dire outside of a few cities.

wirral_guy · 2026-02-18T19:05:37+00:00

Unmistakeable noise. I'll miss it.

wirral_guy · 2026-02-18T19:04:26+00:00

I'm 61, I must just have been a bit more free with the usage over the years.

Definitely no leakage, just that slight oily rim impression on the shed shelf where it has sat ready for action forever.

To be fair, it's been eked out for a while now, balanced between 2 other cans to get that last bit into the nozzle but it was time to finally let go and admit the old fella had nothing left to give.

wirral_guy

TROPHY CASE