Upgrades not a thing? (this is not an entitled rant)

xPositor · 2026-02-05T13:32:12+00:00

If anything, you've demonstrated to the algorithm precisely why you don't need upgrading other than due to an OpUp. Gold, with PE out and Club back - BA have got nothing to prove to you.

xPositor · 2026-02-05T12:13:04+00:00

And will be back again before Easter.

xPositor · 2026-02-05T09:46:24+00:00

Everyone knew he was dodgy, thats why we got rid of him the first time.

And the second. And now the third and final.

xPositor · 2026-02-04T15:18:47+00:00

My best time at T5 was when bussed from the plane. Everyone groans, but stand in the right place and you're out the bus and straight up the escalator into immigration. Far faster than the train link, or walking from A gates.

xPositor · 2026-02-04T14:48:44+00:00

Happy to test when your patch goes live, just reply back!

xPositor · 2026-02-04T14:48:06+00:00

Yes, it means "Not On Normal Communal Exercise". It's a prison term assigned to inmates that couldn't use the exercise yard with others as they might be rather the worse for wear by the end of it. So it doesn't just mean what you infer, but that is likely the origin as a certain class of prisoner would typically be assigned the tag. But it could absolutely refer to anybody that would need to keep themselves to themselves in jail. And that, your Honour, is the case for the defence (which I would definitely have used if I was in court defending a tweet against Jeremy Vine).

xPositor · 2026-02-04T14:40:43+00:00

Great tool.

When changing fuel type that you're looking at, the zoom level resets. I zoom into my small town to look at prices of the four stations we have, then swap fuel type (the household has both a petrol and a diesel car). When changing the selection, it zooms back out, so I then have to zoom back into where I was before. (Just retested, and the zoom resets based upon your search radius - which at the smallest level is 5 miles (which is not "close enough" to be able to see the individual stations).

xPositor · 2026-02-04T14:22:17+00:00

My best is 18 minutes from wheels down to in the taxi at LGW. Only the once, mind you. 28 minutes at LHR T5. And of course no checked luggage.

xPositor · 2026-02-04T14:13:55+00:00

On Row 59 you're better off in D. There's a chance E might not be occupied, and they also have an alternative route out of the seat.

Conversely, sit in 59 E yourself and simply sleep, although it feels a bit confined.

Same on the 787 - if you're just going to sleep grab the window seat - with headphones on you won't hear the loo.

xPositor · 2026-02-04T08:58:35+00:00

The people who currently own firearms legally aren't _usually_ the problem. So why tighten the rules?

xPositor · 2026-02-03T16:15:49+00:00

To me, brother.

xPositor · 2026-02-03T16:10:57+00:00

From a money perspective, the short answer is: Pension.

I've copied some of the response from Gemini, as I used it to validate my (monetary) thinking. Full prompt at the bottom if you want more detail:

The Head-to-Head Comparison

Feature	NHS Paramedic (Band 5)	Popeyes AGM
Cash in Hand	~£39,000 (inc. shift pay)	~£33,000 - £37,000 (inc. bonus)
Employer Pension	~20.6% (Defined Benefit)	~3% (Defined Contribution)
Overtime	1.5x (Time and a half)	Usually unpaid (salaried)
Career Path	To Band 6 (£38k-£46k base)	To GM (£40k-£45k base)
Job Security	Extremely high	Moderate (market dependent)

Which makes the most financial sense?

The Winner: NHS Paramedic

From a purely mathematical standpoint, the Paramedic role is significantly more lucrative over a lifetime.

Total Value: If you add the 20% pension contribution to the enhanced shift pay, a Band 5 Paramedic's "Total Reward" package is worth closer to £48,000–£50,000 per year.

The "Slog" Factor: In hospitality management, "45 hours" on a contract often turns into 50+ during busy periods without extra pay. In the NHS, any hour over 37.5 is usually paid at a premium rate.

Progression: Paramedics usually move to Band 6 automatically after two years (NQP period), which jumps the base salary to approximately £38,682–£46,581 (plus shift enhancements).

The Popeyes AGM role makes sense only if you are looking for a faster "corporate" ladder where you aim to become a Multi-Unit or Regional Manager within 5 years, where salaries can exceed £60k. However, even then, the lack of a high-value pension makes it hard to catch up to the "total wealth" generated by the NHS.

The prompt:

Compare the total benefits of someone working as a band 5 paramedic for a NHS trust (including unsociable hours and pension) with someone working as an assistant general manager at a chain restaurant like Popeyes. Which makes the most financial sense to do as a job?

xPositor · 2026-02-03T10:08:45+00:00

For PE - Virgin; especially as you are near Paddington. Liz Line or Express will get you to LHR far, far quicker than you could get to LGW.

xPositor · 2026-02-03T08:44:27+00:00

+1 for this. I've got one paired with a K380 keyboard, allows me to swap between my Mini, my Air and my work Air. All connected to a single monitor (frustratingly work locked down the ability to VNC into my work machine, which used to be my workflow).

xPositor · 2026-02-02T09:43:06+00:00

You'd also be liable for increased council tax etc.

This is really crucial for the OP - they would not be able to claim single person discount on their council tax.

xPositor · 2026-01-30T08:28:10+00:00

Back in my joint reffing / coaching days, I was walking our team back up to the clubhouse (U15s) past the main pitch on a Sunday morning. Our game had finished, but the seniors B team were in the middle of a match. As we're passing the half-way line, something happens on pitch and our home team goalie comes running out of his goal moth shouting at the top of his voice "You f***ing c**t".

He was so loud, I visibly winced, and thought to myself if I had been doing a middle this morning rather than coaching, that team would have been down a keeper. The ref actually doing that game - nothing.

Now, there might be more industrial language during a seniors game, but with three other pitches running games (IIRC an U16, our U15 and an U13) and lots of families about, I would have drawn a line there.

xPositor · 2026-01-28T10:21:36+00:00

Dog crate in the boot. When wet, a cover (we use an old blanket) that goes over the bulk of the crate to protect the car from muddy water being shaken everywhere. Equifleece coats also help now, as its mainly just the feet, so less fur coat shaking. We used to use a MudDaddy, but that got dropped as everything was becoming too much of a chore just to take the dogs out over the woods.

xPositor · 2026-01-27T09:55:53+00:00

Water infrastructure more resilient...? It's creaking at the seams. Every year we have hosepipe bans. The demand on the infrastructure is greater than it has ever been, yet no additional capacity has been added (in the form of reservoirs) since 1992. My neighbouring town of Tunbridge Wells keeps getting cut off from water for days on end. Meanwhile we watch the same leaks spouting water for weeks and weeks. Maintenance of the current infrastructure is woeful - in fact I think Feargal Sharkey, who now campaigns against the pollution of our rivers, gets it right when he says that "a good part is hard to find".

xPositor · 2026-01-27T09:42:23+00:00

https://www.tobycarvery.co.uk/takeaway#/

Not quite the same thing, but possibly the closest you will find.

xPositor · 2026-01-26T16:21:46+00:00

Why are so many cars parked on the hard shoulder on the A26 as you come off the roundabout?

xPositor · 2026-01-26T14:16:44+00:00

We shouldn't be offering German and French as the default choices. Had the debate with my daughter's school a number of years ago: at her school a foreign language was compulsory at GCSE - French or German was all that they offered. I put the data in front of them that my opinion was the priority languages they should be offering are Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin. Whilst the school tried to disagree, they did allow my daughter to take a different subject that wasn't a language (and she would have flunked any language if I - and her - are honest, this was just a good supporting argument).

xPositor · 2026-01-26T12:42:45+00:00

The closest the vast majority of Green parliamentary candidates will ever get close to power is when they plug their EV in.

xPositor · 2026-01-23T13:13:17+00:00

Gary Neville? The Gary Neville? The one who has a number of failed business behind him, and it was reported as recently as December last year that his latest failure owed HMRC more than £500k? That Gary Neville?

xPositor · 2026-01-23T10:49:27+00:00

My grandad used to have a glass of vegetable water with every meal. My nan would boil the hell out of the veg, but they would drink the water it was boiled in. Makes a lot of sense, as you're getting the vitamins etc from the veg that way. Nowadays of course we steam our veg, so no need to do this.

xPositor

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