10.3km jog (lead legs!) with a buddy. Age! Aaargh.

Re IFAs – what surfer said. I started out reading Motley Fool and Alvin Hall just for general common sense (of which I have little!) guidance, then the Tim Hayle book for ideas about how to spread your investments, Mr Monevator blog, citywire investment forums. And ask your older mates what they do if (I mean we ARE British so you would have to have known them a while!) you’re on good enough terms.

Market had ’em yesterday. No beetroot, white or red cabbage though, but quite often they don’t have hose or maybe it’s the wrong season? (They did have strawberries though!!!!)

Road bike today, in hindsight merrily ignoring the road close sign and going through the flood wasn’t the best idea but I’m here typing this now (feet got soaked, it was quite deep…) – wouldn’t do it again I think.

A friend recommended Tim Hayle’s “Smarter investing” as a good guide to how to arrange your SIPP and ISAs and I’d now second the recommendation.

£400k now can be battered by inflation, by share price drops, by interest rate changes, companies going bust (affects shares & bonds), commodity price changes.
How much did you have when the stock market plummeted this spring?

And although it’s true you may not be skiing aged 86, you may want to shell out for carers, cleaners, taxis etc to stay in your own home, or to pay for a care home that doesn’t smell of wee (rare I know). Or to go private for something that the local waiting list is enormous for. That can really add up.

I have just retired, mid 50s, but for a couple of years beforehand I was shovelling so much stuff into my pension that take home was around what I’d roughly calculated I’d want for retirement. Simultaneously I kept an eye on how much income & growth was produced by the investments.

Anyway if you have a DC company pension where they match contributions up to a point, you may well be able to do partial transfers out of it to your own SIPP with cheaper charges and a wider range of investments. That’s what I did – every so often moved a chunk from company DC pension into SIPP. The default investment in the company pension was a very low volatility one…

The vets are caught in the middle. On the one hand they deal with unwanted and poorly cared for dogs. They’re the ones putting them to sleep. Imagine what that’s like. On the other hand, they know the role of sex hormones in development – which is not that different to us.
https://dogsfirst.ie/health-issues/dog-neutering/
Has a good overview.

Desktop and get everyone to RDP into it from their own tablets?

I’d recommend the book “The body keeps the score” to the OP as it goes over the way trauma affects memory formation, concentration etc (the title makes it sound like it’s a “woo” book. It is very much not!).

Retired recently but I developed a habit of writing down working notes all the time – the company’s intranet had some sort of “blog” facility so I used that – best thing I did because as long as I could remember the meta-info (e.g. I’d used an interesting method for this type of problem, rather than what the method was!) or even if not I could just search it all – I could find stuff I’d long forgotten.
I got very good at saying, “that does sound familiar, I’ll check my notes and get back to you after this” in meetings!

Obviously the people who have all the facts and understanding at their fingertips as well as how to apply the material do very well, but luckily for the rest of us they are few & far between and constantly overworked 😉

30 mins of weights & yoga last night, 4 miles jog this morning.
Loving the pix scotroutes!
Weight still not quite what it was on Xmas Eve but nearly, just have to keep plugging on!
I always feel better for having done even the gentlest, shortest session, even if it’s 31 mins of yoga for pensioners!

A month in and still not quite back to the Xmas Eve weight – I think the thing is the weather is so crap it’s just sliced a bit of how much I exercise each week. Sadly I have crumbly knees and can’t run every day without causing problems with them.

Dryrobe? Very hard wearing and can go over the top of another coat if it’s really cold!
Built like a tank, huge pockets.

Out with a buddy in the sun today.
.
.
.
Must get mudguards…

You’ve not got me regretting the decision to dump the TV licence folks.
However I suppose it is time to do a guerilla raid with the clippers and sort another nail on the dog (one at a time then I hide the clippers and deny deny deny anything was going on).

Started off with a hatchback, got an estate. Bikes, dogs, mates with bikes and/or dogs – had to rescue a pair of friends after a mechanical and it fitted 2 bikes 2 passengers + driver.
✔️✔️✔️

Control userpasswords2
From the command line – lets you auto log in as a particular user.
If that’s a non-admin user all the better.

We were in Krakow for a week for a music festival a few years ago and what I found disturbing was that Auschwitz *was* advertised like just another tourist attraction… Tour to see the salt mine, so many zloty, tour to see Auschwitz, so many zloty, listed exactly the same. And if you went to the back of the souvenir shops they sold little figurines of Jewish men with hats and ringlets.

They made a lot of the Jewish heritage of some parts of the city but were pretty quiet about how come there weren’t any Jewish people there now…

But TBH it was much the same in southern Spain, quite happy to flog you a gazillion moorish-tile fridge magnet with one hand while giving Muslim tourists grief and hassle in the cathedral (ex mosque) in Cordoba.

People eh :/

3+ miles first thing with an early-rising running buddy (I say running – we’re pleased if we can get under 12 m/m these days!).
Even did a few strides at the end. But that’s probably wiped me for the day…

@oldtennisshoes, nah, you’ll be fine *tomorrow*.

Friday OTOH 😀

Love the picture scotroutes!
I went for a proper cycle today AND washed the bike after, it was that mild. Not, you know, sunny or anything of course, but also, quiet enough so that when I found myself on the main Oxford-Reading road for a mile it was OK rather than “turn round & go back” time.

6.6 mi today with a running buddy, now wedged next to the radiator warming up again – but pleased as the distance is edging up (if not the speed!). I’m not a natural “group” person but I do very much miss seeing real people and having conversations without a microphone, so even having that with one person is a bit of a treat.

Not quite down to “30 mins Corpse Pose” yet but feeling bleh, went for a walk so ✔️

4.5 miles jog (some walking) with a mate in the snow this morning. Dusted off the yaktrax!
We started running together before the turn of the century – c25k before c25k existed – and both (at slightly different times) have been very fit, but now age and injury and health issues have done a number on us and we’re back where we started, 5k ish and walk breaks!

45 mins on the hybrid today – instead of sitting indoors under the dog – now I just have to stay out of the marmalade jar – I fell to the 🍊 side a little bit earlier and must stop!

We stopped being able to get broadcast TV a few years ago when something broke (*), and I avoid radio news as well. I check something a little removed, like the Irish Times or the Aberdeen Press and Journal, occasionally. Anything important happen, I hear about it from friends or from people grumbling about it on FB (**) e.g. the Congress invasion.

Would definitely recommend! Basically I clocked that times I didn’t watch broadcast TV (e.g. student or living somewhere with no signal) I was much happier…

Saw the dawn today during a 3mi jog with a buddy – we start at 7am so that’s the first time! It really lifts the spirits – back in the day when I did the odd early-start race, it was always a special moment running towards the sunrise.

TwoDogs I have just done Yoga For Dummies which someone put on YT! (I had the DVD once but god knows where it’s gone).
It does indeed have wide-reaching benefits – I’ve recently discovered that I can hold off the cramps of runner’s trots if I do yoga in my head – boy do I wish I’d found THAT out years ago!

I ran (well… “Ran”… we’re talking 75 minutes here) 10k today for the first time in over a year.

Really glad we are still allowed to exercise with 1 other person, as my running buddies make all the difference.

Seem to be getting fatter if anything so have done some gardening too and am off to stick the rest of the chocolate at the bottom of the freezer.

I use KeePass & Chrome and put 2fa on anything that supports it. Someone opened a PayPal credit card in my name and although it had nothing to do with my (then patchy) approach to passwords etc, it spooked me sufficiently to take action.
Which reminds me, might be time to back up my phone. In case there’s a problem with Google drive…
The master password for KeePass (though mostly I use thumbprint) and the backup codes printouts are in a notebook in my safe.

I think the OP asked a genuine question in all innocence and it turned out to be like one of those times you were having a routine appointment at the GP and said, “Oh, the OH said I should ask you about this…” and a week later, you’re still in hospital and haven’t been home since the words left your mouth and there are stitches and a bucket load of drugs…

My 2 REIT-index-tracker ETFs, particularly the UK one (more so than the global one) and the commodities etf (IUKP, CMOD). Otherwise yeah everything else, well….

It’s very common, not just bereavement but in general, I see this over and over, people go through hell, get out the other side and then it’s as if their body and mind looks round, confirms they’re in a safe place now, and says,
“Ok, right, NOW you can have a nervous breakdown”
and you just fall apart like a comedy banger at the end of the journey.

There’s an excellent book called “The Body Keeps The Score” about how stress and trauma affects memory, emotion – e.g. the neurology of why memories of a traumatic situation seem vivid but disjointed and not “settled in”. Proper science. Might help.

You kind of are coping fairly well considering it all though. You vented. You had a lie down.
The leak will be someone else’s problem soon.
The house move will be stressful but most likely will happen and be sort of OK.
The professional interview will presumably rest on years of experience not just the last month.
The work stuff sucks and I’m sorry.
Can you get out for even 20 mins walk?
It stinks but long-term you’ll get through. Hang on in there.

More practically I’d say wait a year for the dog craze to die down and get one middle aged rescue dog of a low energy breed.

If that goes ok work your way up.

It’s a horrible feeling if you find out you aren’t the right home for a dog and they have to be rehomed, worse still if the bad fit messed them up so now they’re *harder* to re-home. It’s worth a bit of caution not to go through that. That’s where I’m coming from.

Happened to a close relative who wasn’t a bad person, just didn’t appreciate (or listen to people who said) that not all dogs had the same needs and personality of his first, lovely easy, dog. He was so upset.

A *collie*? Left to its own devices for 8h a day?
Sorry *two* collies you say?
And these would be the first dogs you have as adults?
And you’ve not had collies before?

Well… Minister…. That could be considered bold, may, courageous…

An hour’s potter up a local hill (some decent views) on the road bike – the last ten mins back are this lovely rolling net downhill which is always good if traffic is quiet. And a little sunlight!
Now to think up a wholesome dinner with Chub Club progress in mind – my go to cook tonight.

5 miles walk/run this morning, in sunshine!!!!

Feeling a bit sluggish so did a 30 mins flexibility workout but I do feel looser for it – would deffo recommend for those days where you’re not up to much – as long as the family are cool with seeing you sluggishly contorting yourself in your undies in the front room.

I have a Henry with an extension hose. Stair cleaning joy. That and the crevices of the sofa is all it gets used for now mind because we got a Roomba and one of their robot mops too. Expensive but nobody here likes vacuuming so not one penny of regret here. And cheaper and less hassle than a cleaner.

Today! It was “warm” (i.e. just above freezing) enough to go out on the bike for a ride with my regular Friday bike buddy. We even had a takeaway hot drink from a cyclist-friendly village shop! 40km!
Put cling film over my socks. May have helped. Not sure.

Early 5+km jog today with a friend who does it before work (I go back to bed as it’s still dark when we’re done!) and I had to take my hat, gloves and buff OFF. It was however definitely rainy.

Bring back summer when it was light and dry and I could easily go out for 2h at 4pm on the bike….sigh