Time for an update!

We found a local rescue centre that brings dogs from shelters in Bosnia to the UK. Meet Ted, a 7 month old hound that probably resembles closest to a Barak Hound. He is absolutely brilliant and I forgot how hard work it is having a puppy around. We had to wait a couple of months while transport was arranged and the first two weeks at home have been very chilled so he can take his time to settle in.

Sold a couple of cars with Motorway and had no hassle. It’s different to WBAC etc. Motorway valuation is just an indicative auction price. Dealers then bid for your car. Assuming you accept the highest bid, the sale is then directly between you and the dealer. I didn’t get any issues with haggling from either dealer.

My 5 year old is already a self proclaimed “swiftie”. I managed to get away with some tickets for Xenna this year instead 😂

https://www.whatsonfife.co.uk/event/128438-taylor-swift-tribute/

Any tips on finding rescue centres/organisations that will re-home dogs with small humans? I’ve checked our area which has a Dogs Trust, Perthshire Abandoned Dogs, SSPCA etc. All have stipulations where even if a homeless hound is great around kids, they have to be 8-10+ depending on the organisation. I’m totally agreed on the idea of just making visits and seeing what clicks, but it doesn’t seem that straightforward. I’ll send messages today to find out if there is flexibility in this, but would love to hear if anyone has been in a similar situation. If it’s a hard and fast rule I guess we start looking to smaller charities or private rehoming etc.

What you’ve said is again pretty null so let’s break it down a little more and try to consider them and include them in what you want.

@GolfChick – Thanks for the feedback. I’m not being deliberately vague. I think part of the problem is we did very little research last time round and just adapted our lives to the dog and she was the best thing we could have asked for, despite things like anxiety and malnutrition took a huge amount of love/time to work through. We drove for 3 hours to re-home a dog we had never even seen before, knowing we could provide a stable and loving home. I guess that was the point of this thread is to start getting ideas of possible breeds to look and and do more research than when we were in our early twenties, especially now as parents.

Grooming requirements? Do you want to need to take them to a groomers once a month? Need to brush them constantly? Want something that maintains itself?

In answer to your questions, coming from a dog with a long, soft coat we are used to 3 times a week brushing and beard trimming, but visiting the groomer 2-3 times a year would be ideal. Lower shedding coat would be preferred and was a benefit of having the beddie cross

Tenacious? Stubborn? Loyal? Biddable? Do you want them to be super friendly or aloof? Owner focused or independent.

This is a good question. We did look at Italian Spinone’s, but one of the concerns was a character trait of being extremely loyal, friendly and owner focussed which can tip into a tendency for separation anxiety. These are worth thinking through as by default I would go with loyal, friendly and owner focussed but it’s a double edged sword I guess.

Thanks for asking these questions, it helps massively.

Tara up there looks awesome, hopefully she has met up with Kea (who passed away a few weeks ago) on a beach somewhere and is having a race!

RIP Kea, I’ll miss seeing her photos on dog threads. I’m sure they are whizzing along the beach together!

Ours is a Bordoodle. He was a reject. He’s made out of a Border Collie and a Standard Poodle so is a decent size.

He looks very regal. What a handsome chap!

Honestly, this is basically the dog equivalent of when people who are looking for recommendations for a laptop “that’ll be used for web browsing, working on MS Office stuff, occasional basic photo editing etc”. The answer is “pretty much all of them will be very happy doing that”.

I don’t know what else to say 😂 No expectations in terms of balancing balls on the nose. If it likes to swim great, no big deal if not, I won’t hold it against him/her.

STW community delivers as usual 8)

For running/cycling, maybe Aussie Sheepdog

Not heard of the Aussie Sheepdog, will take a look!

Sprocker Spaniel ticks all boxes apart from medium/large

Whenever I think Spaniel, I think of hereditary issues like hip displasia. Have you had any problems with your Sprocker?

Randal 100% agrees

Randall looks like he got nothing from that plate :-)

A rescue, always a rescue.

I think that’s the way we’re likely to go. Too many dogs looking for good homes

I’ll recommend what I have…[awaits flaming]…a Goldendoodle!

I hadn’t thought of a Goldendoodle, but he/she seems amazing. Great feedback on the characteristics, thank you

There are four things that guarantee a well behaved doggo; time, understanding, work and the level of inane issues with the individual dog. The first three have nothing to do with the dog, the last has little to do with whether the dog is a rescue or not.

100% agree

I have one and he’s awesome, but riding with him was sub-optimal to put it mildly.

Yeah, we have looked at whippets and we love them, but I don’t think it’ll be the best fit

Perhaps some more requirements are needed? What sort of grooming requirements? You’ve had a lurcher before but what other breed experience do you have? what personality traits do you want? (I’m very experienced but I wouldnt want some of the traits of a terrier but everybody is different). Are you happy to work with high prey drive breeds? You say exercise is fine but how much and everyday? What about mental stimulation?

That’s a great shout. As adults, my wife and I have only had a lurcher with labs and in the family and live in an area surrounded by Vizslas, Labs and Collie’s which we meet almost daily. Personality wise, something that likes a lot of exercise (2+ hrs walks per day), requires mental stimulation, but also can be left at home and chill (after exercise) for periods (build up to 4 hrs) on occasions so not a breed which is totally wired to the moon all the time. Other than that where we go the dog will go. Happy to work with high prey breeds, our lurcher had an extremely high prey drive, but through a lot of training had a level of recall.

Greyhound. I would say that though. 😂

I’d love a Greyound, but having spent a lot of time with them, I think the zoomy, sleep mode won’t fit. Tara had the benefit of being greyhound crossed with Bedlington terrier so she could run most of the day at 30 mph which was a blessing and a curse at times 😂

I’m intrigued by the definition of decent job as well.  Middle rank spreadsheet shuffler isn’t really that much to aspire to,so why is it considered ‘decent’ when others aren’t? Wages?

It’s a pretty subjective thing. For me personally it’s about having a job that interests and motivates me, aligns with the skills i’ve developed and because of this likely pays more than minimum wage.

I don’t live in the middle of nowhere, but I do live in an area with miles of trails on my doorstep and limited job opportunities in the field I work in. I work fully from home, but I’ve spent a chunk of the last decade making decisions to try and protect my lifestyle regardless of work. If I lose my job tomorrow I’d be happy to take on any work locally and could pay the bills and feed the family. Might not be ideal, but my lifestyle wouldn’t really change.

If you move from a city and to somewhere remote, taking on a chunk of a mortgage and having cars on finance etc then it’s not going to be great when your job that supports this level of living falls through and you then have to compromise by moving again or living away from home/family. I’ve seen this a lot post covid where folks have moved to near where I live and are now being shafted by RTO and layoffs.

We went with the Berghaus 400 XL Nightfall. It just arrived and haven’t had a chance to do the mandatory garden night it in before we go camping. It wasn’t cheap, but Go Outdoors were doing 50% off plus a bundle deal on a footprint tarp and carpet so we felt it was a fair price. We went to see it pitched in the tent area outside the store in Edinburgh and it looks plenty of room for us (2x adults, 1x kid) but I think it would also be fine for you. The covered porch area was a big attraction as we can store the bikes in there as well as having lunch/tea on rainy days. Downside as mentioned by others above, it is bulky and easily takes up a chunk of the boot up and weighs around 28KG, but we have a roof box so it will likely live up there.

Does your budget allow you to buy the new car cash then sell the Leaf separately then take out a personal loan to cover the difference? If so, it might be worth exploring. I bought a new (to me) car last week and the PX price on my old one was £5100. WBAC was coming in at a similar price but they always knock off a chunk so I would expect £4.xk. I just sold it via Motorway for £5700 so enough of a difference for me for it to be worth not going down the PX route. This is the second car I’ve sold via Motorway and as you are selling to dealers it takes the hassle out of tyre kickers.

I don’t get a salary in USD, but do get funds (stock sale) wired every six months from USD to GBP and use OFX.

We’ve got an Octavia Scout that’s on it’s way out with a similar age and mileage to yours. Rear diff replacement after a long list of bills was the last straw. Also got a 2018 Karoq 1.5 TSI which we’ve had for 3 years and has been brilliant. Boot space is definitely limited compared to the Octavia, but still plenty of room and has been really reliable. Might be an option in your budget.

I know that – but I’ve been trying to get them to do it the DIY way for a couple of years with no joy.

This is the way. Given all they have on their plates if it’s one less thing they need to think about and puts their minds at ease then it’s worth the money and gets it done.

Ice rain and snow today but forced myself  to go out after a period of laziness. Local bimble down some trails near Dollar and Blairingone.

Work in IT (surprise!). Day 1 in a new job, replacing a guy who had already left. Arrived onsite, no HR welcome, no onboarding, no handover.Escorted to the data centre and was asked to start by upgrading all the network switches and telecoms servers in advance of a change that had been agreed for the following day. Lasted 12 months, mainly through stubborn pride, before calling my old boss to ask for a job.

Does commuting Gleneagles to Edinburgh not involve a change at Stirling? Genuinely interested as it’s one of my local stations but i’m put off using it, especially with a bike, for anything heading east.

Currently on the tarmac in Toronto waiting to finish boarding. No mention of any delays from the Air Transat, but it wouldn’t be the first time i’ve boarded a flight to be told we’re going nowhere.

Fingers crossed for everyone travelling over the next few days.

I did use a credit card. When i cancelled the booking I got £55 back for the cleaning fee and the rest (host fee, airbnb service fee) was lost. I assume even if credit card chargeback was an option I would only be able to do the full amount?

Also, i wouldn’t mind so much if I had just changed my plans. It’s the mix of safety of stay based on the reviews, Airbnb pulling the listing and change of host that meant I would be a pretty crap dad to put my family in that place. I wouldn’t have booked based on the current situation.

Thank you! Looks like they have the strict option. Annoying thing is even if i had noticed the drop in rating and poor reviews, most were left in the fortnight before my stay.

It sounds like you are hit with unachievable targets. In terms of sticking it for the long term, I would be thinking of it as risk and reward. It might be worth the risk of seeing this through for the next 2-3 years if the result of getting an increase in market share means that you personally are going to receive life changing benefits (monetary or otherwise). If the result of increased success is every increasing targets and responsibility without substantial reward then it wouldn’t be for me. Do you have an ownership interest?

I think the headcount thing is real. Before COVID we had teams distributed across Europe. Some worked from home. some in the office. We had zero issues with folk being in the office when needed for things like team meetings, all hands etc. Post covid there’s a mandated return to the office in a way that did not exist before, so it’s not really a return to a previous way of working, just heading in a new direction. My feeling is that large US companies, some with a tech focus, grew exponentially during 2019-2022 and then took a hit in the media when layoffs started to happen. This isn’t about improved collaboration, it’s about reducing costs through attrition whilst protecting reputation.

Thanks for the replies!

LAT
Full Member
it would be a shame to spend 3 months in western canada and to not visit yukon territory whitehorse is easy to get to and gives good access to haines and skagway in alaska as well as the other places around whitehorse.

This is a great shout, thank you. I had considered heading further north, and love the idea of the train journey.

paino
Full Member
If you’re heading to Seattle anyway why not take the opportunity to do a road trip through Washington state, Oregon & Wyoming? Having spent a fair bit of time in BC, the most memorable trip was visiting Mt Rainier/St Helens, then via Oregon to Yellowstone.

Thanks, I’ll check into routes.

sweaman2
Free Member
3 months is a decent amount of time. Unfortunately post COVID I think you’re going to have to book stuff (RV or Airbnb) so well done for thinking about this early.

We’re already struggling to find accommodation, especially for longer stays. Funnily enough we were looking at Golden today, but will also check out Revelstoke. Highway 3 looks interesting.

SaxonRider
Full Member
From Calgary, I would take the little one to Drumheller. Not because it’s beautiful, but because of dinosaurs and hoodoos.

Drumheller looks interesting and is on the list. My daughter loves everything dinosaurs (and unicorns!). The landscape looks amazing.

I’m really disappointed the elected officials in Vulcan aren’t wearing Spock ears

You’re starting the new job anyway. Assuming they have never worked with you before, it’s probably worth starting with the agreed home/office balance and then once they know they can trust you, see if there’s scope to reduce the number of office days. I guess it depends on the culture, but a lot of companies have to set some sort rules for all new hires to keep it fair and make sure noone takes the piss.

Also, you’ve not mentioned much about your home life, but factor that and work life balance into the direction you want to go in. I cut my teeth, as many others do, in an entry level position that involved a huge amount of oncall/weekend work. The overtime in my twenties was great. Not so good now I have a family and a desire to do something in my spare time other than work.

Cloud companies have captured something like 4% of the current market, so there is a lot of room for growth and if you are interested in something with a fairly buoyant job market then having a core understanding of cloud technologies (pick a vendor – AWS, Azure, GCP) then if you want you can specialise – networking, security, storage etc. However, I work with cloud technologies now and most days I still miss being out and about travelling to sites and physically fixing problems. You don’t get that unless you want to specialise in data centre management.

89p a litre this week for 1000 litres in Kinross-shire. We’re now sitting with about 2/3 of a tank which should do us through most of spring.

Are you flying to LGW then need to go straight to EDI or are you going into London first to stay then needing to fly? If the former I would just jump on a domestic flight. You are already there and there’s plenty of flights available, takes just over an hour. If it’s the latter you could take the train or you could fly from the nearest airport. You can get decent weekday flight options from London City if your closer to the centre of town.

I’ve got an active subscription under my profile. But if I click on the members area it says I have no active membership. Can still access the mag etc.

Like some other, my work have a process where you should tell your boss if applying for another internal role. Also, lucky that moving teams/roles is actively encouraged if it means retaining rather than losing good folk.

If you don’t have a similar process in place, I would think about how it will feel if you apply and your boss finds out anyway. Would they have preferred you gave them a heads up? If so there’s your answer. Industries are often small, let alone the same company. If the project management job doesn’t work out it’s always good to have options.

Must be dearer here in central Scotland. Paid £1.09 a litre this week for 1000 litres. 2700 litre tank, but I couldn’t bring myself to fill it at that price. Might regret that decision.

Surely if anything, a history of taking out credit with reliable repayments and no defaults will help make you low risk in the eyes of a mortgage supplier?

https://road.cc/content/news/nmotd-783-ps60-fine-ends-ps2460-293549

Miché added: “The driver did not attend court because he was bitten by an animal (squirrel).

Those pesky squirrels!

This is topical in our house at the moment. I was a field engineer in my twenties and regularly travelled, staying in hotels for 2-3 nights a week. It didn’t really impact home life as we didn’t have kids and my wife worked shifts so weekends were our time anyway. I definitely recognise the posts about lack of community/social life as most of my friends were made through work.

Fast forward to early thirties and we were trying to start a family (with complications), so I took a office/wfh based job with barely any travel so that I was around consistently for hospital appointments etc. Going from moving around a lot to sitting at the same desk every day was tough mentally and physically.

Three years ago an opportunity came along to work for a good company and the job was up to 50% travel doing some really interesting work. By this time we were lucky to welcome our daughter into the world and I had 5 months of regular travel in her first year. Covid hit and I’ve been WFH solidly throughout. With travel opening back up again I’m waiting to see what my job looks like and what the expectations are for travel. The bond I have with my daughter now wouldn’t be as strong as it is if I hadn’t been there for her to drop off/pick up from nursery, bath her, or put her to bed every night. I’m still struggling with what a balance could be where work is meaningful and I am active, but where my daughter grows up to be a close friend. I don’t have the answer yet.

Pacific Quay Premier Inn is my got to for nights out in Glasgow. Short walk to the centre along the river and the same again on the way back. Path is wide and well lit. Unless you have mobility issues, I wouldn’t think you’d get much out of being closer. Never had an issue with parking at the hotel

StirlingCrispin – Do you have a route for that ride? Looks cracking and should be doable from my door

I’m 37 so not nearing retirement. I hadn’t thought too much on the pension situation. I have a SIPP which has some previous pensions which I’ve combined and I have a current stakeholder pension which I pay into. I would be OK increasing my contributions to offset the reduced pay so that the same contribution is made.