I found Covid wasnt the issue it was the Pleurisy I developed afterwards then the AF, which means I am on medication (probably indefinitely) as a result….

@mogrim I have shingles at the moment. I think I developed it whilst away on holiday in Crete (60th present from Mr Surfer) came back on the 21st with an itchy rash on my back which became raised. Some odd symptoms such as minor headaches (unusual for me) some aches and pains in my back (that I put down to sleeping in a different bed) and more recently tingling down one side. On anti viral drugs for a few more days. Strangely enough not stopping me from running at the moment and managed 40 miles last week though I know it hits many people very hard. I am hoping mine doesnt suddenly get worse before it gets better…

Not petty at all and the more of these nobs we can get off the road the better. I would try non emergency police number or crimestoppers.

it’s still a very okay 16deg and the summer duvet stays on all year around.

We used to keep our daily temp at this, both my wife and I were working from home at the time. She used a small electrical blanket if she felt cold sitting still for so long. I was flamed on here and somebody said they would be divorced if they let theres lower than 23….

We have an ASHP now and this will be our first winter so will be interesting to see how we get on. I have the thermostat set to 18 now (which i think is more accurate than our previous 50+ year old gas boiler) So far it feels fine.

Hadnt considered them. Had a couple of items from them many years ago. top quality. Ill take a look.

Running every day for me was always a question of “when” not “if” I would be flexible where I needed to but those around me knew I would be exercising at some point. Running is easier than some sports, just put your gear on and run. When time was tight I would run early or run home from work or get dropped off 6 miles from home when returning from somewhere etc. There is almost always time to get some exercise in if you really want to. Fortunately for me me my wife realises the (largely mental now) benefits of exercise for me so is always supportive.

Update:

install went ahead mid June and leaving aside a few minor issues the work went ahead as expected. They made an error with their calcs and had to do more pipework which set them back 2 days, but no grumbles from them.

Up until the last couple of weeks we havent needed to draw any heat from the pump and only used it for hot water, 3 of us at home and we have a 250ltr tank so that energy was all drawn either from solar or battery charge at one of the lower Octopus Cosy “windows” I know its pretty meaningless to estimate any savings over such a short period with so many variables but I cant help myself… Love Octopus but their billing is a nightmare (not helped as we change tariffs through the year and feed back which buggers things further)

So from 22/7 to 22/8 2023 (with our old boiler) vs 22/7 to 22/8 2024 (ASHP) we seem to have made a net saving of £52

Of course the winter months will be the killer but of our annual gas bill of £1608 in 2023, £904 of it was Dec, Jan, Feb and March so as they are the worst for solar, it will be interesting to see how high our electricity bills are then. I have an 8.7kW battery so may boost that by another 4kW to allow us to bridge between the 3 low cost Cosy windows.

In terms of the ASHP itself it is not silent but I have to be outside to hear it, and the only indication I have that it is heating water is my power usage spikes on my Home assistant. I know it is heating now as the outside temp drops but the house is comfortable (at the moment) at 18C and it seems to hold that rock steady hardly using any power.

Anyway though a bit of feedback may be useful

which is why you see so many old boys trundling around at a gentle steady pace on the flat, then slowing to a grinding crawl on every steepish climb

It could also be because they are “old boys”! I am one (60 in a week) and I know from experience the physiological changes that take place as you age, regardless of effort and commitment. Its not a lack of (or wrong) training necessarily.

All of those activities can be anaerobic. If you want to improve performance and build your Vo2 max and your ability to run/swim/ride faster then some anaerobic training is important. Thats not to say you wont become fitter (and to some extent a little faster) just doing aerobic training but once you have trained aerobically for a while you will begin to plateau unless you continue to increase training load.

I’m currently on a sunbed in Crete so it’s local draught for me at the moment, as above its still a bit early…. although I spotted a bottle of something in the bar that looks like stout, I will take a look later :-)

God thread. I have retired but Mrs Surfer not until December 26. After that I am hoping we can do some long stays, particularly Europe. Not likely to buy anywhere I just dont think that is for us. We have a friend with a lovely place in Andalusia and they allow us to use it a reduced price.  Only thing is they use it themselves a lot so 8 weeks plus in one go might not be doable. Fag packet number crunching shows it not dissimilar to staying at home. I think the trick is to “live” there for the period and not treat it as an extended holiday, eating out every night etc…

In Europe we would also take the camper, meander through France and mainland Spain then spend 6 weeks on the coast.

@jamz ime by trying to run quicker you will engage the necessary muscles, i wouldnt overthink the form aspect. Set yourself the task of running a series of flat out sprints between say a couple of lamposts aiming to accelerate, reach max speed then hold for a few seconds before decelerating, do this a number of times until you feel you can’t hit a high speed. Do them on a slight downhill if you can.  Do them a couple of times per week and that should help.

@surferi’m thinking that the 25% will get rid of the mortgage as well as a new vehicle and a year or two of racing.

Some people look forward to the cash free lump sum to do something special. I used it to retire a bit early and our hobbies and aspirations can be met through our normal income. I dont want a sports car or a boat or a particularly lavish 6 star holiday or cruise, some people do. We have factored in annual holidays plus we have a camper van which is paid for and gives us all we need. the thing that was missing was the time to use it…

Yes as above. I chose not to pay off our mortgage as I was making more money keeping it in savings, plus Mrs Surfer gets a lower interest rate through her employer. Worth creating a spreadsheet to see which works for you. Shouldn’t ignore the psychological benefit of paying off your mortgage early, for many that is incredibly liberating.

Do you have to be part of a club to enter?

Its better as part of a club as @lunge says above but you dont always have to be. You can sometimes enter as a guest, look for your local leagues and just contact the organiser. If you are on the podium however you will not get the medal…

@weeksy

I have done this with Interactive investor. Its quite a simple process and your platform will talk you through it. They will signpost you to the compulsory and free advice service which will give you a generic explanation of the paths available. Once you have decided which is best for you your platform will have a step by step process to follow.

The process will be unique for you depending on your circumstances. Consider mix of savings between SIPPS, ISA’s and other DB and DC pensions as well as your partners circumstances and their pensions, income and tax implications. what you owe on your mortgage, your foreseeable outgoings, plans to downsize if appropriate, health, aspirations in retirement etc. This is all the homework I would suggest you do before making any decisions. Its not as challenging as it sounds as we all carry much of this around with us in our heads.

I have an outgoings spreadsheet for the next 25 years (obviously more crystal ball gazing the further ahead it stretches) which is useful to predict many knowables such as council tax etc then build in inevitable % increases each year. Then match that with your future income stream as pensions come online (include their increases between now and when you take them) then consider how active you will be in earlier years of retirement and try to plan your spend appropriately.

Honestly, most of our work and planning gets done in informal catch ups and chats!

AKA “meetings”

I’ll highlight to all particiants that once all agenda points are covered, we’re DONE. I don’t care if it’s scheduled for an hour and we’re done in 10 minutes. The meeting is for the agenda, not for the time.

AKA a well managed “meeting”

I also hated “pointless meetings” (IT, retired now) I joined an organisation (my last perm role) and introduced a number of meetings and a process of managing them. Agenda’s minutes, action points, follow up procedures etc. All of these were absent when I joined, although staff spent plenty of time apparently “in meetings” Initially there was a lot of push back, particularly from staff who didn’t welcome being held to account or provide feedback on their projects or make any effort to work collaboratively.

Meetings and communication are key to any organisation but they have to be managed correctly.

suggest a walking meeting

Great idea

standing meetings.

Yes, introduced these. So many people are happy to settle in for the morning/afternoon.

Miles Davis

John Martyn (again)

Steely Dan

Harry Chapin

Alpkit prob best option.

Arabian Knights from the Banana Splits.

I very rarely see a runner who looks happy whilst doing it

Joke right?

Yep, used them in the past and bought from their tent at events. Good setup.

I fancied the Epix (I have a 245 music which I am pleased with) but I spent a bit of time watching Youtube and some of the features I want (to seperate it from my 245) include the ECG monitor which is only available on the Pro. Also ability to answer calls on my watch (similar to the Apple watch Mrs Surfer has) im not sure if any Garmins have that yet.

I fancied the super display as I dont wear my glasses when I run but not always easy for me to see the screen when I am running. Reduced battery life is not an issue for me, never far from a charging point. Better mapping would be useful, combined with the better screen I could use it for navigation instead of my phone which would be useful.

Looks like the results are in. Bin them next week. :-)

Ice, eccentric heel drops and when stronger add weight gradually. Depending on where the pain is on your Achilles do these with or without bent knee. Lots of videos on youtube. Dont bother stretching, they cant be stretched and you could make it worse. I wouldnt try to massage the area either in my experience that does no good and is off the scale in terms of pain.

We went through this about 3 years ago when Mum first went into care. Lost count of the times we (My sister who lives nearby and me and occasionally our brother who lives in London) went to the house with great intentions then spent hours sitting on the floor looking through boxes of photographs. I dont envy you, its a heartbreaking task. I hope you have someone who can share the load.

ours can be run in cooling mode

Thats interesting. Ours has a “slider” on the app that allows it to “cool” We dont have UFH only radiators. Does that mean it will cool the radiators i.e cool and pump the water in them, and if so I wonder if that would have a noticeable effect on room and house temperature…. Not bothered either way but curious.

Ours is 8kW and just outside the kitchen window. I can barely hear it even when the window, 12 inches away from it, is open. I think the newer the unit the quieter.

Had one fitted about 3 months ago so not gone through a winter yet. We have solar and a home battery so this time of year the ASHP is only providing hot water. We have a 250ltr tank. We are off gas now so only have an electricity bill which is negative to the tune of about £15 per month as we are still feeding in more than we use. (4 bed detached, 3 adults at home)

Winter will of course be very different but our house is well insulated and our gas boiler was >50yrs old when we took it out so I know very inefficient. I didnt do it to save money I did it to reduce our carbon footprint so if we come in cost neutral then I will be happy.

Didn’t see anyone outside the villages,

I ran the Sandstone trail years ago (Circa 30 miles) and noticed this. Nobody really walks more than a stones-throw from their cars, do they.

I wanted to do this, this year but apathy got in the way. Thought I could do it in 4 longish days given there is no real ascent/descent.

By “extortionate” I am talking around £660 pa, on top of our premium £420 for us both. Given she would be using it only a handful of times over the summer months it made no sense.

In true STW style however, just starting a thread seems to have the desired effect!  I spoke to them again today and (she is 1 birthday older than that first quote) and the price is now £164 for the remainder of the policy (9 months) so it may be worthwhile. Its not my cost however so her choice. Glad that its a bit more reasonable.

Thanks for your replies!

@nickjb not sure but I will check today. She is a good driver, happy for her to drive it but the one incident she did have was when she was parked and somebody drove into her so fully comp would be preferable.

No, not a registered camper. The requirements are far to stringent now (no fixed high top roof)

It’s insured for us but adding her as a named driver (our preference) is extortionate, the short term policy option is just something we investigated in case it was an option.

@intheborders no her insurance is fine. She drives a 5yr old Mini and has no claims. We just want to allow her to use the van for weekends away when we are not using it. A short policy for say 3-4 “summer” months would be fine.

I think we were advised (for whatever arbitrary reason) not to even try until she was 25…

@stumpyjon yes looked at that and you would expect it to be proportionately higher than pa but it was prohibitively expensive.

In the 1500? Not who anyone thought. Great race.

I thought him and/or Nguse could cause an upset and get on the podium, watched them both on the US indoors and outdoor circuit. He was particularly impressive some time ago doing a 1500 and 3000m double (from memory) and both times were impressive.