I was walking today and just thinking to myself, how much I hate cars. I loathe them. It’s the noise and the fumes. I particularly dislike German carss, the way they are increasingly crafted like scud missiles to inflate the ego of the bully boy behind the wheel.

I can’t wait for quiet electric, self-driving cars to replace this racket.

Rant over.

I don’t agree with the Brethren banning all modern technology, but when you see all the problems arising from “screen addiction”, especially among kids, you could argue that secular society could do with ditching it all (digital detox) for more of the time.

Al Murray has done very well out of the pub landlord character. I’m amazed he managed to keep it going for so long. He now has honorary doctorates from two universities, which tells you a lot about the state of modern comedy.

Steve Coogan has to reprise Alan every 10 years or so as he can’t develop anything new and sustained. A lot of comedians get famous using a persona which is often closer to home than the comedian would like to admit.

Like popular music, I think popular comedy has run out of gas. The two periods of creativity – the idealistic 60s and the nihilistic 70s – have to be replaced by something else. Milton Jones?

Jack Dee’s Lead Balloon is insightful about how difficult it must be to come up with new material when it’s all been done before.

Rick Mayall was a force of nature, and he probably did the most consistently funny body of work, although for some odd reason he ended up playing second fiddle to that monster Greg bloke towards the end of his life.

This will sound strange but i think people whove had very good and loving relationships with their parents can cope better, insofar as they have the self esteem to manage it all. That is the kids have grown as independent adults.

The kids who never built any self esteem due to cold neglectful parenting on the other hand can find it difficult to cope. I think the term is dual dependency.

My dad has never ever been able to express emotion and its affected my siblings. I think if he could hsve shown affection we would all be in a better place and more resilient.

Brac is the main “family” resort, it is mainly for German and Croat families; Split is more for young couples and the cruise ships. A week in Split is a long time IMO, as it is quite a small city and I’m not sure it’s really set up for kids. So you could do three nights there, a few more in Brac, then some in Hvar – but that is moving around a lot especially if you have luggage. Depends on how happy your kids are with doing that.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>All the beaches are pebbled, but it is very beautiful.</span>

I love Croatia but if I had an 11 and 14 year old I would probably be looking somewhere else like Majorca (Pollensa area), or Ibiza, rent a villa, rent a car, explore the island on day trips from your base.

Malwarebytes advice is on their Twitter feed. I tried to post it here but the usual problem.

Basically update and reboot. Drop and Roll.

Yes its malwarebytes then. My laptop keeps crashing.

A bad week for updates…

Yes very slow over the last 5 hours.

Yes the mortgage system is internal and it effectively imprisons members, i.e. you want to leave we take your home.

Open brethren are more integrated but the basic theology is the same, very calvinistic and conservative. John Lennox the Christian apologist is open brethren.

Thanks Molgrips. My current plan is – take a holiday on a narrowboat, see how I take to it (used to do them as a kid and enjoyed); set-up my work situation so I’m at least on good freelance rates and working on a contract that lasts for 1-2 years. It’s report-writing so I only need the laptop and phone/internet reception isn’t necessary all the time. I don’t fancy scrimping and saving on the whole.

I will also look into the pension options for freelancers, as I think like many on here, that is the way of work which suits me best.

Oh and I also thought I could chart my boating and river pub adventures in a book. now that Tim and Penelope have created more interest in the canals. I’m a published author, although that was a more academic history book.

I think I was a bit concerned after reading the pensions thread on here. 36 isn’t that old, but I don’t have any pension. Of course, you could drop dead beforehand. But then again, I want to try and enjoy my life, I find it hard to delay satisfaction, so to speak!

My dad is the opposite of me – never spent any money, would get back from work, turn on the telly – but the thing is, he was ok with that, whereas I’m not. He now has a good pension for his retirement. I’ve done far more interesting things in my life, though.

What is increasingly obvious is how influential Peter Cook was – he popularised modern satirical comedy in the 60s and then created alternative comedy in the 70s with derek and clive.

But even Cookie ran out of ideas in the end.

Most first-rate comedians have five years of standup material, then move onto different things. I still think Frank Skinner can be very funny but he wisely takes long breaks between his standup shows.

They’ve had to do more charitable activities to ensure they retained their identity as a charity for tax purposes.

There is a difference between Open Brethren and Exclusive Brethren in terms of how they interact with the wider world.

If Exclusive Brethren, they keep themselves to themselves.

Why are they expanding? I think they have higher than average birthrates, but if you are Exclusive, you just can’t walk in and join them; it’s fairly closed community.

Im hoping that in 30 years time, basic income will be standard and I won’t have to worry about it all.

I’m feeling more fed up than tired. The winter affects me more as I get older. I don’t think I minded it much as a kid.

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought recently. I’m in my mid 30s and no real pension to speak of, however I am now into 2 years of a corporate job which does have a pension.

However, I just can’t see myself doing this for the next 30 years as I’m bored silly.

My new plan is to take on freelance consultancy work, buy a narrowboat and travel the UK canal system for the next two years.

I’m just hoping the state pension will be ok by the time I reach retirement; or that I somehow make a stash of cash in the meantime.

I watch the “worlds strongest man” on tv to keep an eye on the competition.

Just woken up from a dream which turned into a nightmare.
I was back at my old university (which in the dream now has its own massive train station and is about ten times the size).
I was supposed to give a business presentation, then was told I didn’t have to, so I went walking around. I started chatting to a beautiful Scottish girl, and we kissed. We then started walking around, but someone from work bumped into me, and said we have to rush back to the meeting with work colleagues. Then I looked for the girl and she had gone.
I think that means I’m sacrificing any hope of love for a career I increasingly dislike. So cash rich, poor in love.

My first post…
I think it depends on how affordable your mortgage is. If you have taken out a very big mortgage, say x 10 combined earnings, then downsizing could be a good option.
In the South East, people are now knocking 10 percent off to sell their properties; that could easily turn into 20 percent and then 30 percent off over the next 2-4 years. I think London and South East may be 40 percent overvalued.