I think dmcnicol has a point – I personally feel myself relaxing more when driving in a 20mph zone because hey, guess what, cars are more controllable at lower speeds. More 20 zones pls!

I always say “someone else shook the coke can, you’re just there when the lid got opened”, or tut to myself and go, “What *is* their problem. Dearie me!”.

It’s also a bit of a power struggle/testosterone thing. You hear of old ladies falling victim to carelessness but never to road rage type stuff.

I would, therefore, recommend donning a long grey wig and shoving cosmetic padding down cycling shorts – semi seriously….! – aggressive drivers feel like the Big Man having a fight with a “bloody cyclist” MAMIL but shouting at a little old lady that their Mum might go to aquarobics with is something v few have the stomach for.

Hit target but then bounced back up and have not been all that conscientious. Might still make target (again) by 7 May tho!

+1 for Lavazza decaf (shop around if you end up using a lot, see if you can find the £3/pack special offers)

Btw am I the only one wondering if dyna-ti managed to escape the mOuse Issue somehow? #nosy

As one or two people have said, the advantage in ratproofing the bird feeder, tidying up the garden, filling holes & generally making the place the equivalent of a Ballardian wasteland for ratty, is that not only does Mr or Ms Tuft piss off elsewhere, but you don’t then get their cousins moving in.
If on the other hand the attractions are still there, the vermin will be too…

I had a summer job at Unilever knocking up a database of British meat-eating habits, had to read a lot of Meat and Livestock Comission publications during that, and this was peak Smiths era…
So luckily by the time I got together with the OH (who was vegetarian) I was veggie too. Ironically I have since gone vegan so it’s not ME that occasionally fills the fridge with cheese and gets followed there by the dog !

Vegan cake is piss easy and chocolate is just an excuse to have only the nicest most expensive chocolate. The real heartbreak is when you’re gagging for chips and the chippy tells you they fry in lard #sadface

When you’ve retired do you worry that you haven’t got enough money, or that something might happen that results in not enough money?

A bit, but more worrying about general civilization downfall type of thing, post-soviet pensioners living off €5 a week etc and NO I don’t think this is at all a rational or likely concern, but …. same sort of thing as worrying about the better half being killed in a RTC while popping out to get dog food. The same part of the brain which made us save, and enabled us to retire, is still beavering away trying to get all possibilities covered!

I have started walking a national trail in chunks and do lots of local exploring on the bike or with the OH & dog. But it is also nice being able to chill and read (or nap!) if that’s how you feel;)

Watching with interest as I’ve been thinking about getting an inflatable kayak – sounds like the rough plan of, “begin in the summer, in a local waist-deep canal, and take up a colleague’s offer of advice” is about right.
And don’t rush into going on the river…

Fell off the wagon with a huge bump over the BH – cake! Chocolate! Wine! Toast! I mean, not to any sort of wild excess, but I find these days I have to just see a sugarlump out of the corner of my eye to put on a kilogram.
Planning to do a lot of walking this week though so … Yeah I think time to put the rest of the chocolate in the freezer.

Sort of at goal weight but that’s, you know, after a gazillion poos and no breakfast, and a run. Hoping to get to the point where I can weigh myself any morning and be at or under goal weight, by May 7th.
Eating masses of chocolate yesterday may have helped as it killed any desire to eat more for a good long while 🤢

Do you actually need to do much on the move?
I ask because I kind of wish I hadn’t got my last laptop, I wish I’d got a tower+ monitor instead. Bloody thing never moves, I use a nicer external KB & mouse anyway and it developed a screen problem so now I’ve got an external monitor.
Just a thought.

@andrewh – bloody hell, I bet you don’t have to watch what you eat!

@munrobiker – salute to Chris tonight.

Last day of 90 and I took the bike out for a quick spin for an hour (felt a bit clunky as I’d been digging up ivy roots before that).

@felltop presumably that means tho you are younger than some of us!

@reluctantjumper the weight just seems to cling desperately on doesn’t it. Took me all of Jan to get back to my pre Xmas weigh in. And I have Easter eggs in the cupboard… Hmmm lots of long walks…

Club run (w00t) (all to regs – in pace groups of 6 or less etc) today, plus five minutes weights before I decided I wanted my tea NOW.
It’s been inspiring seeing other posters out hiking in snow etc and kept me motivated. Some of you are proper hardcore!

Something a bit different today, a couple of hours of gardening. I’ll sleep well tonight…

10km trot along the river towpath this evening for round 2 of a virtual race series. Not fast but it wasn’t a painful struggle so there’s that!

Not quite 5h on Hoth tho

You can get free versions of reputable AV software – that’s what I’d put on if I were setting up a relative’s PC.

I used to work in the field so I’m naturally cautious.
I’d say the first thing is to sort out a proper backup arrangement. If you’re not going to shell out for AV with an anti-ransomware feature then do at least have that set up!

5 mi jog and a short weights/core session followed by my breakfast with some (yeuch) leucine powder in. It had bloody well better be doing me good!
Good to see spring springing, but can’t help thinking of a handful of years ago when we could have a long weekend in a cheap hotel in Lanza for £150 each and be properly warm.

Jesus you unlucky soul.

Taking a side view, as well as what everyone has said, might be worth looking into what will help you get on top of the brain chemistry / functioning side of things.

What I mean is, you “know” that doing xyz is bad for you, but that’s just the conscious intellect – balanced precariously on top of the big, angry walrus of subconscious and instinct, it’s got a tough job on its hands if it wants to win!

If you can get an understanding of what makes that walrus tick and techniques on how to negotiate with it and calm it down, “you” you will have a lot easier time of things – like getting power steering in a car.

This could be all sorts of things from what to eat and when, when to switch off screens before bed, writing a diary (shred it after if you want!), breathing exercises, whittling, cathartic movies or novels, there’s all sorts of things to fling at the wall and some will stick and work for you.

I found the Steve Peters chimp book very helpful fwiw.

Last few days – out early this morning to dodge the rain (if not the traffic) – 36km – the 28mm tyres do make a small but noticeable comfort difference.

Last push now!
Weight is getting pretty close to what I think the crappy joints would prefer.

I *still* feel like I’m hauling lead though, so (oh god no!) have got some leucine powder to have after workouts, have taken up a bit of weight training and started a 6 week course of good old spatone in case the issue is iron levels. See how I feel after a month or 2 of that…

If your works pension is just more or less a normal DC pension with someone like Aviva, you can transfer chunks OUT of it into a cheaper SIPP.

So you get all the salary sacrifice benefits (basically if you sacrifice 100 gross a month, then that plus any employer matching and top-up from employer NI goes directly into the works pension as an employer only contribution – you don’t have to tell the IR because there is no tax to claim back – you WOULD have paid 20% or even 40% + employee NI on it, had you got it, but you never did get it, so no tax or NI was due on it).

That’s what I did – chose a very low volatility fund in the works pension – poss. even a deposit fund where I would have lost a tiny amount – and every so often, transferred most of what I had in there over to my SIPP which has lower charges.

@mrl, with salary sacrifice you avoid paying the NI on the amount sacrificed, so there is some advantage to just whacking up your contrib to the scheme for a bit.

Either way make sure, however, that you have enough annual allowance (including carry forward) to cover it, and check whatever rules are in place for annual allowance claw back if you have a really really good year.

However the flip side is if you just bung it in your scheme now, it’s invested now – presumably if you were feeding it in via salary sacrifice you’d want to keep it in cash while it’s waiting to – effectively – subsidize your drop in pay.

Also, everyone, check charges on your pension. Most DC work schemes will let you transfer chunks out to a SIPP with lower charges.

That seems to be the thing to do sandboy, get the ride in just after the jab before the immune system gets busy!
6km jog this morning – but back under the duvet to warm up before properly facing the day!

Strength training today! Sat in on a “faster over 50” seminar by the bloke who is the official coach for Comrades, and the v high level summary was, Recovery, Do Easy sessions Easy, walk breaks, Strength, Consistency.

So I’m going to make myself do 3x20min plus weights sessions a week and see how I feel after a couple of months. And do a bit less p1ss1ng around on my phone after midnight…

6km jog today as both me & run buddy were feeling a bit zonked (from our jabs? ). Shorts weather!!

Am looking forward to maybe walking the Ridgeway when things open up a bit. (the OH was surprisingly up for doing dropoff and pickup).

Lovely 50km ride in the sun with a friend. The 28mm tyre on the rear does seem to make it more comfortable so I should pull my finger out and fit the front tyre too!

Dog walk today – a bit weedy but have gardening etc to do too

Retired last autumn – mid 50s – had already been to one friend’s funeral and lost both parents. One of my colleagues pointed out I could always get a job if I changed my mind!

Despite lockdown putting the kibosh on a lot of things I’ve not regretted it. As much daylight as I want, only need an alarm a couple of times a week. Out every day, mostly with another (1) person so I do see people.
Slowly getting round to clearing up some of the detritus from all the previous decades. Bin/eBay/give away.

Have time to go to the market for fruit and veg, cook proper meals, will be growing veg. Shifted some weight.

Last week I vaguely missed work very slightly. That thing where they bring a problem to you and don’t know what’s going on and you have a good look, tell them what’s really up and how to sort it, and everyone is delighted. That feeling was fleeting though and I’m now planning a bit of long distance walking for when lockdown eases a bit ;D

7km jog today – don’t seem to have much aftereffects from jab, just dozey yesterday.

1 new tyre on so I could cycle off to get my vaccination. Did a bit of an exploration after and found some remarkably “urban” (i.e. between 2 steel fences, a shedload of litter) public rights of way…one railway foot crossing, 1 small bridge/underpass for same line, and a flooded path (unusual in suburbia).

Conti gator wasn’t that hard to put on, but is it that I’ve just not met the tyres thatt are so massively easy ,you don’t need tyre levers to finish getting them on?

A kilogram left to go. Starting to feel a “normal” size for me now. Chub Club has helped definitely!

I’m a cheap bastard so went with Post Office who are now Shell. Plusnet before who were fine, just dearer and for what we do (work and YT/Prime streaming) seems fine.

Well aligned teeth will be easier to keep clean and healthy. Debris can get stuck and lead to bad breath. An old friend has “British” teeth (“boys didn’t get braces in Bucks” when he were a lad).
Root canals.
Emergency dental visits.
Crowns.
Painful infections.
Implants.
And the minor expenditure on floss / mouthwash / interdental brushes.

Cf mine *did* get straightened and I floss once a week and have and a couple of fillings and that’s it.

3 1/2 miles jog just now.

Scotroutes might do some open water swimming this year. Suspect that starting to do it in 6C water might not suit everyone tho …

8 miles walk this morning! Now hoovering lunch like a souped up Henry.

8! Miles! “run”! This morning.
Afternoon will be spent wrestling new tyres onto the road bike, Wiggle free delivery was v fast 👍
I have my first jab booked for Friday so the weekend exercise may well be “30 mins Corpse Pose” if my body decides to devote itself to nowt but antibody production.

Thanks folks, booked both mine now – in the middle of booking a text came through telling me I could book with the local GP led lot but the jab centre in the local stadium is a bit of a closer/nicer ride.

More’n I’ve done since I don’t know when scotroutes!
Yesterday was close to the wind as “dog walk” was all she wrote, but went out with a buddy on the bike today and (I think, because my phone went into battery saving mode when I was going revived with coffee and snack en route) did 44 mi, which has got to be one of my longest rides yet.
Came back and ate an entire bunch of grapes….

Jog with a buddy this morning, 9km. Damn you headwind!!

I’d ring the pest controller and ask. But IME if you’re not sure you’ve blocked up all the access holes I’d leave them there for next winter!