FA may well promote Lee Carsley (currently England U21 coach), just like they did with Southgate – and obv they were very happy with the end result of their decision to do so.

Potter has been out of the game for too long and hasn’t proved much beyond producing patterns of pretty play without an end product. Sure, he didn’t have the players to finish off those moves, but IMO he should have taken another role last year and proved his credentials.

Howe is a good shout, certainly more progressive than the man departing.

There’s logic to doing everything possible to entice Klopp to take it now or Pep to take it next summer. Both options would surely elevate our team to the top tier.

20 odd years ago, one of my mate’s family friends ran a business called CJD which was taken over to form STD. This was, of course, back in the days of mad cow disease.

Recently started watching Supacell on Netflix. Sarf London drug gangs kicking off and spilling into other people’s lives… but some of the characters have superpowers. Watchable for sure. Very fruity language for a 15, so beware if you’re fire this up with a young’un.

I’m hoping they’ll accept me just notifying them and not demanding his details in the first instance. I’ll make it clear that if going private cannot be resolved, eg cost is too high, then getting into his insurer will be the way to go.

I’m going to get a couple of bodyshop quotes to start with. Will also notify my insurer and tell them I’m initially looking at a private settlement (because the missus and I share joint policies on both our cars and I don’t want to risk a non-declaration biting us on the harris in the future).

Cheers everyone. As expected, there’s a mixed bag of experiences and opinions. His tax and MOT are all good, but AskMID isn’t submitting plates so can’t check insurance. I’m happy to get say 3 quotes and see what he comes back with – reckon they’ll be well north of a grand with replacement panels, paint matching and labour. Main concern is whether he’s going to stump up the cash – am guessing hard notes paid into my bank before any work is completed?

Having said that, he might realise, as others have said, that the cost is too much and insurance is the only way.

Thanks again peeps.

I’m going to chat to the form tutor as I mentioned yesterday, and it looks like I’ve got more context from some of the replies to here to assist with that.

FTR this is one incident, but I’ve heard more than enough about how much the ‘bad’ kids get away with since the start of yr 7. Added to that, my son was implicated in a misdemeanour 3 months ago that resulted in me receiving a call from the deputy head stating he will be issuing an invoice (for repairs) and had CCTV evidence… after gathering my son’s side of the story, I shared it with him and diplomatically made it clear that I would need to see said evidence before settling any costs, and that my stance was based on principles not financials. That was the last I heard of it, which makes me question the legitimacy of how well they supposedly deal with other issues involving bad behaviour – especially as they’re supposed to be very well respected in this area.

My son just explained the incident in detail because he saw the whole thing, and asked me “What if this particular teacher is really bad at dealing with this type of issue? Bad kids get away with a lot in her lesson and (autistic/ADHD boy) is an easy target for her.”

If that’s the case, then maybe this teacher isn’t up to the expected standard.

Either way, I’ve said that I’m going to schedule an EOY catch up call with his tutor and mention this along with my concerns for the bigger picture (on behalf of the wellbeing of all pupils). This way, there’s no 3rd party intervention.

Cheers peeps.

I think the comments so far indicate this is not a simple situation and the bigger picture is always going to be complex.

Yes, the boy has been formally diagnosed but the parents have been refused entry to a more suitable school. The current school is known for taking a strong stance on bullying, wellbeing etc, but I can’t testify to how well that is applied because I only hear through the ears and eyes of 12-13yr olds.

I’m wondering if the person our friend addresses her concern to might make a difference, eg is writing to the Head going to make the most noise?

Foden plays in a different position and role with City. Southgate chooses to mis-manage him. Should have replaced him with Gordon to create a proper attacking option down the left.

Had to laugh at Southgate’s presser – the players worked too hard in the first half and need to conserve energy. Seriously? Does he not know that players in possession make the ball do the work, ie England kept the ball well in the first 30 mins and the Serbs were the ones chasing shadows. How about setting the team up to play to their strengths and take the handbrake off. Not going to happen with My Play Safe in charge.

Tried watching Rebel Moon (Pt 1) this week. What an utter abomination. No interesting or likeable characters and a wholly unimaginative, cheap rip off of The Magnificent Seven as a plot. Avoid.

£3 small, £4 reg, and £5 large at the best chippy in this part of Surrey. Large is enough for 2-3 people. Fish is pricey, eg large cod £12.50, but it’s big and full of flavour.

Only Pakistan could deliver a Super Over like that.

Well played USA after nearly choking it.

The missus and I keep talking about this. She’s far more risk averse than me, so it’s unlikely we’ll go down the DIY route. I’ve no issue with that as we have a son, but I’d like to think we can cap the spend to a sensible level. Her mum spent literally thousands on hers due to the number of pensions/accounts that her husband had. I really can’t see how that type of fee is justified. I think some of these people must have attended the vetinary school of profiteering.

Yesterday I started Ready Player One. Read three chapters in the bath. Today I’m throwing it in the charity shop bag.

+1. I tried reading it a few years ago and found it very dated. Lots of YA gaming books seem to be similar or at least have a very generic plot that I find unengaging.

Finished the Warrior Prophet, middle book of Scott Bakker’s prince of nothing trilogy.

Gets compared to Malazan a lot and it measures up thus far, imho – brings the epic

Interesting. I’ve heard of Bakker but don’t know his work. I read Gardens of the Moon 20 years ago and found it utterly bonkers. Attempted Deadhouse Gates several times but couldn’t get on with it as it follows a different set of characters/plots and was bending my mind. Revisted it a month ago on Audible and again gave up. I get why people dig Malazan, but it can take a lot of effort to follow everything.

Finished S2 half an hour ago. Intense is an understatement. More like properly grim dark with a dash of Scouse wit. S2 E3-5 were particularly horrible on many levels.

Brilliant acting all round. One of the best dramas produced in these shores for a while.

Tried Tenda a couple of times here but it was rubbish.

Our latest Fritzbox from Zen doesn’t appear to offer the same coverage as their previous routers so I’m still in the market for some extender action.

That Switzerland dude smashed it.

On E4 of Fallout and it’s fun so far. some amazing visual FX interspersed with sequences that wouldn’t look out of place in Blake 7, eg the titan flying over the scrapyard and the gulper/squire attack.

Also watching The Dropout about the deluded fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos. Wow, she’s turns into a real nasty piece of work. Can’t believe she managed to string so many people along, including the Board, for so many years.

Really sad news. Have been a fan of their shows and recipes for year. Top blokes and never heard a bad thing said about them.

Just got back into Slow Horses – S2 E1 and E2. Still funny and easy to watch. Oldman is brilliant. Only things I don’t like – and I know these feed the vibe – are Min is a d1ck and the hacker guy gets on my man8008s.

(To be honest i thought the original also had these sort of issues – despite it being very good. Bualso got lost in its own mire.)

S1 of True Detective was awesome. Can’t remember it getting mired down in any way TBH.

Stating the obvious but Root needs to find form and JB needs moving on.

Thought we gave it a good go today,and honestly reckon we’d have have won had Crawley batted late into the afternoon and Stokes not been asleep. It’s all hypothetical though, but previous Eng teams would have scratched around with no intent and been bowled out for 187.

Motorising Lego seems to be very hit and miss – less of the former, lots of the latter. Stock Lego motors are often crap/clunky/underpowered, and of courses there’s lot of sh1t Chinese stuff doing the rounds.

I did look into Buwizz 2-3 years ago but the price put me off.

Did you buy from Richer Sounds and take up their 6 year warranty? 

The missus binged Boys Swallows Universe last week and rated it one of the best things she’s watched for a long time. The crazy thing is that it’s inspired by real events (from many years prior) and has a very endearing lead in Eli.

We also watched Oppenheimer (very good) and The Batman (okay).

Zen customer here for 10 yrs or so. Yes, they’re pricier but as I’ve been saying year after year, if you have an issue then they’ll do everything to sort it, even doing checks and talking you through stuff beyond their remit. The only difference as of 2-3 years ago is that they often take 1-2 mins to pick up the phone as opposed to seconds prior.

We looked at replacing our conservatory roof last summer but the prices were insane. So I opted to insulate it using YBS Superquilt then plasterboarded. It was a fair bit of work (280q ft) and we’re still waiting for a plasterer to finish off, but the end result is exactly what we wanted, ie easily regulated temps all year round;  cool in summer and warm in winter.

I also fitted custom PerfectFit duo shade blinds to all doors and windows to improve thermals (probably only a bit), add complete control over sunlight filtering, and basically give it a more modern look.

I really don’t get the love in for the XR4 that started years ago. I bought some off recommendations on here and found them to be probably the least grippiest tyre I’ve used in 20+ yrs.

Will the XR4 kill me in the Peak District/ Surrey Hills?

Used mine primarily in the Surrey Hills (and SDW) on my HT and didn’t get on with them at all. Methinks I might still be in the minority though.

I’ve encountered a few farms in the last couple of years who seem quite content with blocking off ROW, even building stables and barns to make them completely impassable. Pi55es me off when I’m doing a run on OS Maps only to find I have to add on a couple of miles to get myself back on track. Spoke to a farmer in Cheshire last year and he really didn’t give a sh1t.

I expect they’ll now sack Ten Hag, get Graham Potter in (if rumours are to be believed) and the same overpaid, half-arsed, bone-idle mediocrities will restart the same cycle until they get him sacked too.

I heard ETH being interviewed earlier and he said we were solid other than conceding 2 goals. Now, I’ve been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt for a while now, but if he honestly considers that inept horror show as solid, then I fear he’s genuinely incapable of setting the standards expected of this (and indeed any professional) club.

Both West Ham and United were awful for the first hour. A turgid pre-season friendly at best. Then we go a goal down and show no desire to get back into it. Diabolical, but totally expected.

We played Cryptic Killers Murder of a Millionaire over 3 evenings last Xmas and it was bloody good. Best suited to teens and older. Lots of working together as you collate your evidence etc. Was going to get another for this Xmas but opted for Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Baker Street Irregulars for the number of cases and longevity.
Also getting Beat That! for a bit of messing around.
More or Less and Shot in the Dark are good for 30-60 mins because anyone can play, it doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong, and it gets you thinking about a few things.
FTR, Jaws of The Lion hasn’t been played since we got to scenario 12 earlier in the year. It was getting a bit repetitive but the app (I mentioned in a couple of posts before) makes stat management an absolute breeze.

Also, Sequence is still great for 2 or 3 pairs playing against each other. The best thing is that you can’t confer with your partner, so you both end up making decisions that pee the other one off. You have to play it to understand it.

I got a second hand OLED one this summer and it’s exceeded expectations. In my ignorance, I thought it was all about Mario, Pokemon, Zelda etc, but there are so many games and genres out there, including plenty for the family because that has always been one of Nintendo’s strengths.

Joycons are good, but not the most intuitive for some games. I picked a 8BitDo Ultimate controller and it’s easily on par with any other controller I’ve ever used.

Nintendo’s online eshop has a very outdated look and feel to it, but you can create a wishlist of games and use a couple of apps to give you a heads up on discounts etc. Quite a few games have free demos too.

Defo worth getting the OLED IMO as the clarity/quality is better than previous gen. Worth considering second hand too as retail boxes rarely offer much in the way of discount.

FTR, portability is epic, eg back of the car on a journey, out in the garden on a summer’s eve etc… can’t do this with PS or Xbox (but can we a Steamdeck or similar).

Gaming laptop for 13 yr old monkey jnr, future-proofing him for 4-5 years. Obv quite speedy but it’ll replace the one he got at the beginning of Covid to primarily do his schooling, hence it’s incapable of playing anything more demanding that Minecraft/Roblox. Old laptop will get a new battery and get passed to his mum (as she can’t do anything personal on any of her work devices).

That’s the only extravagance this year as the money we’d normally spend on each other will be going into local food banks etc.

Watched E1 of BBC’s Kin last night. Now I like a bit of gangland action but this one is based around a bunch of wholly unlikeable characters with the exception of two that I don’t care about anyway. Won’t be watching anymore, but others might like it. 

Re Bodies, the missus and I took our time digesting it over a few days. From E4, we started pausing to chat through our interpretation of what was happening and how various threads were starting to link up. Sometimes we were right, sometimes not. Worth watching through to the end though. The MIL was so taken with it on first viewing that she rewatched the whole thing straight after to look out for all the bits of foreshadowing. Normally she works out whodunnits etc very early on, but this one had her baffled.

I want to caveat my earlier post by stating that we are by no means getting everything right and having an easy life. Almost everyday brings some kind of rollercoaster and we often have fall outs and get the right hump with each other. But we make up and crack on. Sometimes I’m envious of friends who seemingly have the perfect life and amazing kids, other times I see the challenges that others face and I’m probably grateful that we’re somewhere in the middle. 

Don’t be hard on yourself. Teenage boys can be bloody hard work.

Our’s recently turned 13 and his pre-teen years were increasingly challenging. Here’s my take on how we’re ‘managing it’ in the hope you might find something useful.

I use the Microsoft Family Safety app and Google Family Link apps to manage time/apps across his laptop and phone. This is useful if you want to put a hard rule in place and then flex it upon request, eg 2 hours on laptop on a Monday but you increase to 3 hours because of homework / good behaviour or whatever. It can cause arguments though, especially if the timer goes and he’s in the middle of something that he thinks is important, eg getting to a save point in a game. So, recently we’ve agreed to relax screen time rules on the premise that he comes off when requested etc (obv with a a bit of flex). This gives him more accountability and is working better all round.

Re school nights, he’s often still wired and could easily stay awake until midnight. Sometimes he’ll sneak time on a device, other times he try lifting weights, or taking something random apart.  These are all signs of him pushing boundaries so we choose when to be flexible and when to be black and white. Kids have to win battles from time to time.

I think overall, the most important thing is to acknowledge they’re ‘changing’, talk to them, and listen to them. They’re a mix of big kid and young adult, so you need to adapt to the situation.

FTR our lad is generally doing well at school (even though he doesn’t see the point in it), has mutual respect for his tutor/teachers, gets up to mischief but knows where to draw the line, and is always regarded highly by other parents. Remember, we as parents get the arse end of their behaviour.

Just finished One Piece on Netflix.  It’s actually really good and a lot better than I was expecting. Good fun, looking forward to season 2

Tried watching it but didn’t like any of the characters and couldn’t get on with it. The missus liked it and jnr loved it.

Started watching Bodies last week, and it’s rather intriguing. Finished E4 and pieces are now being put together.  

I was wondering the same because we’ve had less here for sure.