Just the prompt I needed to remind me to get the 5 year old daughter into the previous Wallace & Gromits.

Everything is so abundant and obsolete so quickly, I don’t think youngster have the same attachment to stuff as in the past.

Not to mention, younger generations can’t (in general) afford such large homes to fill up with things.

I feel this was an idea introduced on Day Time TV so that people emptied their houses of all their superficial stuff and then bought a whole load more.

Well that’s the trick isn’t it. If the stuff causes you stress and you go to a lot of trouble to get rid of it, then buy more and fill the place up again you’ve got nowhere except you’ve spent some more money.

Before getting rid, perhaps it’s worth asking how it’s getting into your house and pondering on that a while?

TP Link Deco mesh here as well. Only two tower hobbies but rock solid WiFi across my Victorian semi.

Why does anyone bother with a TV aerial anymore?

I watch OTA live TV precisely never, but our TV (2022ish Sony jobby using Google TV as it’s OS) needed an aerial connection before it would do various TV over IP things for people like ITV and Channel 4, presumably for some sort of regional/geographical ‘are you allowed to watch this’ type check. As it happens this meant we needed to install one on the house (we’d just moved in and the previous occupants obviously used Virgin), but it was only in the region of £100 if I recall.

Book about Lego “This first official book for Adult Fans of LEGO® takes the reader on a visually stunning journey from the very earliest hollow bricks to the complex shapes and building techniques of today. ”

Along with the Mint Sauce book appearing this month, things are starting to get expensive.

In other news I skipped the Forest Stronghold (too big and too expensive really), but due to my strong nostalgia for all things Lego Pirates have ordered A Minifigure Tribute from a BrickLink seller. Reckon it’ll go very nicely next to my Black Seas Barracuda.

Bikepacking. Still a challenge, but one you can take at your own pace.

It’s a very specific choice of words parroted by the same sorts of people who came out with “we won you lost get over it.” He hasn’t come up with it spontaneously, he’s repeated what he’s read/heard by another imbecile. It’s exclusively used to trivialise hate speech, particularly of the racial variety.

This was all entirely news to me, but sounds like  you did exactly the right thing.

Tell him you need to see the passport in person and take a copy or it, as photos of passports aren’t accepted by your insurance company.

Completely the right move. That way it’s entirely objective, no blame can be attached to you etc. etc.

Also, people eh? My dad is involved in local cycle coaching and used to run CX sessions for kids at one of the local schools. Unsurprisingly, one of the pre-requisites was that they have a functional bike with brakes at both ends so on and so forth. Didn’t stop parents sending their kids with some proper non-functional machines. He doesn’t run it anymore…

Someone here has mentioned that the Met Office has been hacked.  Although I didn’t think the BBC used Met data these days?

The BBC use MeteoGroup these days apparently. Who are also forecasting hurricane force winds here in Hertfordshire. The rain still does appear to be falling vertically in the normal fashion so I’m going to assume the local trampolines are safe for the time being.

The envelope option might be mildly challenging with any MFA requirements you may or may not have.

Mitigate the bus factor by having >1 super administrators?

I’m looking for a particular sized standing deck. 120cm x 80cm.

That’s really going to leave a mark on your door when the delivery driver chucks it at your house.

It’s simply not relevant. I’m paying a subscription to receive a service. If I’m not receiving that service then that is my problem. If Amazon are sending small boys up chimneys then that is Amazon’s problem.

Lol. I disagree, I think it’s entirely relevant. The reason you’re not receiving the ‘premium delivery service’ (double lol) you’re paying for (triple lol) is because the corporate greed business model means that the small boys up the chimneys aren’t paid to do a particularly good job. So they don’t. Meaning you have a crappy time of it.

So in answer to your question, nah mate save your energy it won’t make any odds. HTH.

Ah dammit failed to consider seat reservations. Rookie error!

And in any case, I fail to see why I’m paying for a premium subscription service in order to go fetch my own deliveries.

You’re not paying for a premium service though are you. You’re paying for a company that makes the retail experience worse for almost everyone involved including the consumer (you, who has had to navigate both their horrible website and is now complaining about their delivery service), warehouse workers, people making these deliveries, and even people who don’t even work for or with Amazon because they have such outsize power in the market.

You’re not going to win here, and the only modicum of control you have over it is to not play the game.

I reckon 15 as well.

1x outbound for person
1x return for person
1x collection receipt
3x bike tickets outbound (one for each leg)
3x bike ticket counterparts outbound
3x bike tickets return
3x bike tickets counterparts return

PREORDER – SHIPPING MID-NOVEMBER 2024.

Just in time for my birthday, how delightful! Ordered.

The Force of Creativity is on my happy birthday to me list.

Not so fussed by Jabba’s barge, but I’m seriously tempted by the Forest Stronghold. Would go with my Lion Knight’s Castle an absolute dream.

What you’re actually saying is – “I’m too lazy and comfortable (intellectually, economically and situationally) to be bothered doing anything about this”.

I totally agree but this person has form in this area so unfortunately don’t think much is going to change here.

My go to parenting book recommendation is The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, which is very worthwhile in my opinion. It’s not really intended to help you understand how your children’s minds work, but it might help provide some insight into the way you react to their behaviour.

I’m no help on the child psychology aspect of it though, sorry.

Is this the book you’re talking about?

If so it was sold by Rapha for a little while, doesn’t look like they have it any more.

About 15 years ago I commuted in London on one of these (not my picture). Was absolutely great until the SRAM 3 speed hub gear crapped itself and then it took Evans years to get a replacement.

Pay per mile just hammers rural dwellers who have no choice to travel further for work, schools, health, goods and services, and provides no disincentive to urban dwellers. Most rural bus services are now dire and often non-existent, and active travel generally prioritises urban areas not between dispersed settlements.

I have no clue what the ‘correct’ solution to all this is, but fwiw when I think ‘I wish people drove less’ I’m not thinking of the people you’re describing above. I’m thinking of the twerps driving gigantic range rovers from their house at one end of town to the shops in the middle of town on a bright sunny day when you could just walk across the common, and then having the sheer brass to complain about having to maybe possibly pay for parking.

Utter losers.

4

1 Shimano winter gravel (2 bolt)

1 Giro rest of year gravel (2 bolt)

1 Specialized road (3 bolt)

1 Five Tens (flats)

Gravelling with the little brother.

But thanks for the advice, kind of scared of breaking them

Of all the things to worry about, I think you can take this one off your list. Young children are pretty resilient little things.

For what it’s worth my experience has been similar to other posters, I’ve found my 5 year old to be very matter of fact about death. No point dancing around it, as being anything other than truthful will just lead to confusion now and follow up awkward questions later.

But understanding that a bacon roll is more dangerous than three cigarettes helps to understand the relative dangers of smoking.

It does, but also it’s not really the point in my opinion.

If I go to a pub and someone eats a bacon roll next to me, I don’t also eat 1% of the bacon roll. I can do my thing and go home completely un-baconed.

I’m not here to tell anyone to stop smoking as their actions by and large don’t affect me (long term NHS cost savings notwithstanding). It just so happens that pub gardens are probably the last place that I might want to go to where those actions do affect me. Obviously the health effects are likely to be minimal, it’s more that I just really really don’t like the smell.

Or just Sunday morning

Is that just so that they can easily find anyone who wanders off?

Phew

Well now I feel the weight of responsibility.

Please confirm I am ordering the correct 2 items to achieve this before I blow £200 on the wrong thing.

Don’t think you want either of those things actually. Reckon this or something similar with one of them plugged directly into that black box of yours and the other two plugged in about the house should do the trick.

EDIT: sorry didn’t clock the dusty garage thing, either way I reckon you could have one garage adjacent and still get good signal in there. Or if you do end up having on in the garage they’re solid state boxes, no fans or anything so as long as it’s not being rained on I’m sure it’d be fine.

I don’t think I’d be quick thinking enough to come up with something smarter than ‘no thanks’ if they knocked on my door.

What I do find pretty appalling is their standing outside hospitals, looking all nice and welcoming and well adjusted, when they are obviously trying to catch people at a low point in their lives.

No way do I want the dog destroying. It’s not his fault fundamentally and the behaviour can be rectified. That might need to be with another owner though.

I’m not arguing that should happen, but I think it’s pretty clear that the dog is not happy with the current state of things. Therefore, this needs to be changed or the same thing may eventually happen again involving someone who is less chill about it than you. The options probably are a) dog is destroyed, or b) dog is rehomed, but I am not an expert (obviously) and could well be missing something.

In any case, obviously one of those is better than the other, and I’m not suggesting that you’ve done the wrong thing here. I’m more surprised that someone having a chat with the owner is seen as a sufficient response as I doubt it will change anything longer term.

Get the fibre installed and then don’t bother with their router, just plug it straight into a mesh wifi system. Dot them about your house as appropriate, and problem solved. Bonus points if you can hook them up with ethernet.

I cannot deny that owning a dog has influenced my views on how dogs should be treated and how their humans should behave, even more-so having an imperfectly behaved dog myself.

This is that normalisation that was mentioned earlier. I don’t own a dog, and therefore just don’t understand it from a (sweeping generalisation alert) dog owners point of view. Which is why the suggestion that having a chat is fine kinda blows my mind.

And there’s the STW I know and love!

I’m pretty impressed at how sanguine you seem to be about this, but I imagine that if something like this had happened to one of my children (leaving them with cool dog bite scar, naturally) or me for that matter I would be absolutely incandescent.

The penalties for having an out of control dog are much more severe than a ‘chat’, and from your description the owner doesn’t seem like they’re in the sort of headspace where they’re going to carefully follow ‘advice’ whenever they leave the house.

Turn The Ship Around, by David Marquet

Creativity Inc, by Ed Catmull

(BTW who sold the BRE ? I presume it was Major’s Gov, just like the railways ?)

Wikipedia says it happened in March 1997, so yeah in his last few months in power.

Imagine if there was a Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act that the CPS could use to charge those responsible in the companies.

From The Guardian

Detectives from the Metropolitan police’s criminal investigation said they would spend 12 to 18 months poring over the findings “line by line” before possible charges. These could include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud, perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.

The Crown Prosecution Service is yet to make any charging decisions and any trials are not expected to start until 2027.

So it could still happen, if we just wait for a few more years. Not particularly rapid these wheels of justice are they?

I think my only option is to suck it up and then rant about it on here. ;-)

Well do please continue by all means!