Used both WBAC and Motorway, both times been pleasantly surprised at both the price I got and the lack of hassle. I did a fair bit of research to get an idea of my ballpark private sale price first, so felt like I knew what I was after going in, both times got more. This was 2021-2 though, so still some COVID related weirdness in the marketplace I think.

Pickle it?

We got a couple of these olpro ones, they’re great for the price https://olproshop.com/44l-travel-bag/

Just back from holiday, had Eurosport out there with loads of channels and varied coverage and good commentary. BBC is virtually unwatchable in comparison – really limited coverage and SO much waffling!

Aside from the Tory implosion, the only thing I’m enjoying about this election build-up is the selection of photos of Nigel Farage with his mouth open. They seem to sum him up rather well.

Tom Morello last week in Camden was fun. Bit of a mixed bag, he covered much of the RATM stuff with a couple of fun medleys, some acoustic numbers, and quite a few with the band. Not sure all of it worked but we all had a good time as did he. Highlights were a solo cover of Tom Joad, and Killing in the name with the crowd doing vocals. Great fun.

Also saw Blondie at the Piece Hall the week before. A great gig, they came out and tore through the classics, Debbie Harry was having a blast and the band were tight. Really glad to have seen them. She is brill, funny and charismatic.

I’m close to giving up since the app update, as well as one of our units just giving up randomly a couple of months ago. Sonos is a great concept and has worked well on the whole for us for a few years, but I find when it doesn’t work it’s the most frustrating experience.

I think they used that ‘speeded up’ thing in Fury Road, it’s quite subtle but noticeable.

I had a regular 25, it was great for home use (rarely had the volume over about 4, and it has aux in and a headphone jack), and just about managed rehearsals with band. Look for a second hand one and then move it on if you outgrow it.

Love the ducks and sparrowhawk. We’ve had a visit from the latter a couple of times but no ducks yet.

Seems like the frosts a couple of weeks back killed the frogspawn which is sad. As was finding that the three blackbird chicks had been gotta by some horrible cat. Having watched the blackbirds working so hard on building the nest and then feeding the chicks it was a bit of a gloomy day in the garden last week 😕

We split out ‘needs’ into a different bank account then bundle that amount plus a little bit at the start of the month. Then got into the habit of setting up a new fixed rate saver direct debit now and again. They work great for saving towards Christmas or holidays.

Also took on board the ‘pay yourself first’ manta a while back and set up a 10% of earnings savings schedule at the start of each month (60% stocks/shares ISA – 40% mortgage overpayment). I’ve found that has been great for building up a bit of a cushion, and it means we know we can spend what we have left over without worrying. Took some adjustment at first but the pain quickly dissipates.

I appreciate that for many it is not that simple, perhaps it boils down to knowing how much you need, and being disciplined with everything over and above that, assuming you have it.

Audiobooks or podcasts which I’m quite interested in but which aren’t funny or exciting work a treat for me. I’ve had the same episode of In Our Time on for a few nights now, never seem to make it past about 5 minutes.

Yes, thanks all, particularly @lord_summerisle for the detail!

Frogspawn in our pond for the first time since we dug it a couple of years ago. Had a few frogs visiting but this is what we’ve been waiting for!

Don’t know if the pic will work:

Edit: Didn’t notice the amount of dead leaves until seeing the photo!

I read (some of) the Nestor book, and thought it was quite good. Briefly went down a buteyko breathing rabbit hole, but then just made more effort to breathe through my nose. It’s actually improved my sleep I think – I don’t wake up as much and I don’t have a horrible dry mouth and wake up parched. Realising that it’s often possible to unblock my nose deliberately has been a revelation, as I’ve always had a stuffy nose.

I’ve not succeeded in not mouth breathing when cycling though, as my nose runs a lot. Stupid nose.

That is remarkable. I’d never heard of him before. Hard to imagine living like that.

Will take a look, thanks.

Not bikes but I enjoyed The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. A good ‘what have we got to lose’ story of walking the SW coast path.

I’m sure I read somewhere that a study suggested that £50k was a bit of a threshold salary, whereby happiness/satisfaction increases up to that point then drops off slightly, or increases much more slowly or something. Seemed plausible to me, it’s more than many will get obviously but likely to allow much of the freedom and flexibility many of us would like.

I dropped some hours two years ago allowing me to do a four-day week. It was a revelation, one of the best things I’ve done. Freed up time, mental capacity and energy. It’s given me the chance to do things I wouldn’t have done otherwise, namely volunteering, which is leading me towards the possibility of retraining and a career change.

I do think it’s slightly impacted my long term financial situation but I’m also happy in principle to work for longer – if that means being paid to do something I like and have some control over rather than vice versa. But never more than four days a week!

As @bensales, we moved ours out into Vanguard, I think that was about eight years ago now. We’re drip-feeding them in the hope that when age 18 rolls around they’ll have somewhere north of £10-15k to put towards uni or something useful/interesting/fun. Returns and fees seem to be better than what they would have got.

Edit: I think it was an excellent initiative. Hopefully one day we’ll have a government willing and able to introduce something similar.

We had a German shepherd next door regularly coming into our garden and crapping. I started by passively aggressively throwing it all back over but that had no effect. Eventually went round and calmly and politely raised it, asked them to make sure it didn’t happen again.

It’s made things worse. The bastard’s started bringing his dog with him now.

I’ve just extricated myself from OneDrive, after finding it had moved all my files out of my c drive. Probably my own fault for not understanding what it does, but it wasn’t quite the simple backup option I thought it was. Nearly started crying when I opened ableton and none of the folders I’ve pointed it towards had anything in them 😂

To be honest, the fact it does stuff to my files without explicitly telling me was enough to put me right off. I will look at the suggestions above, I want to get on top of backing things up safely.

Tesco raisin and cranberry mix in with the milk in the microwave. Or dates if we’ve got some.

Diced apple and a nice shake of the sweet cinnamon, stirred into the bowl. Slice a nana on top and sprinkle some light brown soft sugar on top.

+1 for cream and whisky. Or brandy cream.

Ssangyong L. Jackson

It Takes Two is good fun, nice two-player co-op, challenging but not too hard. We’ve also enjoyed Streets of Rage 4 (good soundtrack as well).

Aren’t electric shocks supposed to be effective in these kind of scenarios? 

Any more of these? Got a Christmas xbox on the way and looking for ideas, particularly of any obvious non-game pass games worth picking up. Although I’m going to try game pass as it looks good value. 

@vd No, BC Camplight support were called Peaness. They were better than the name suggested, 90s-esque guitar pop.

Looking forward to BC Camplight at Albert Hall tomorrow as well. 

We went as well! Excellent gig, you’re right about them doing the venue justice. We were chuffed to see the Chats too, they’re a bit of a family favourite, and did a great job. The first support band, Deep Tan, were pretty good although it must be bloody tough playing a venue that size when it’s half empty!

As above, most of it’s outside your control. The interesting bit is the idea that our feelings themselves are also outside of our control. Maybe how we react to them is the thing. I’m trying to get my head around this, and to take a step back and observe how I feel more. I find that it helps: “I feel angry because this person is doing whatever”. That momentary reflection is often helpful in defusing the feeling, or reminding me that what I do or say IS under my control. Distance and greater detachment from the feelings. Or something.

To be honest though, dropping a day at work was a very significant step towards becoming more relaxed and calm generally, although obviously it isn’t going to be possible for everyone. I’m very fortunate. 

Withnail 

The Three Amigos

Sounds like an excellent start. Have fun! 

Maybe, I guess. The main reason to learn is that the bass is more awesome!

I had a moment of madness in Forsyth’s yesterday. Just picked it off the wall and couldn’t put it back… 

It’s a Cort, I don’t know much about them, but it’s fantastic. I’ve been playing a Squier PJ which I thought was fine until I played this. Feels like a proper musical instrument. 

We’ve got two, one in more or less constant use. They’re good, load it up, cover, then unload dry washing the following morning. 

Also at Pigsx7 last night, took my lad. It was a cracking gig, proper noisy and fun. His first ‘proper’ gig, and he loved it.

I don’t always get on with the Ritz, but the sound was good last night. Great atmosphere too.

A pedal question if anyone has any expertise to offer:

I have a Bass Big Muff nano which has recently started breaking the signal chain when I turn it off. It works fine when it’s on, but about 30% of the time, clicking off cuts the sound completely rather than just bypassing the pedal.

I’m going to have to open it and have a look, but has anyone got any idea what I might be looking at? I’m sort of hoping I can spray WD40 on it or clean a connector or something, but equally could be something mechanical with the switch.

Thanks for any pointers.

I was pleased recently to discover the dirty blues tradition being maintained by Bob Log III – highlights include the tremendously-titled ‘Boob Scotch’. Spotify even provides the lyrics for maximum family singalong fun.

I’m curious, what criteria would you suggest to determine who gets one and who doesn’t?

I’d rather it was based on ‘we’re planning to adopt x, y, z approaches to using technology to educate your kids, please let us know if you need support in providing your kids with tools to access these things’.

That’s their problem, surely? They’ve rolled out iPads to their pupils, they’d have to be mad not to have a comprehensive insurance policy in place or at the very least issue them with protective cases.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear: I believe it should be their problem but in this case they’re making it ours in the parental consent t&cs.