Adsibob

I disagree. The £85k limit is there for a reason. Just to give you an example of a potential scenario: a bank goes bust (RBS, Northern Rock, Lehmans, Kaupthing and others all went bust in the last crisis, and only some of those were saved - complete lottery which get saved and which don’t) and maybe the government chooses to step in but the admin takes ages to reimburse you, maybe a year or so. Meanwhile interest rates have reached 11%, and the reimbursement doesn’t cover interest, just capital, so you lose a chunk of your investment through inflation whilst waiting for the admin on your refund. Unless you have tens of millions to invest, there will be sufficient accounts. Just keep all the details in a spreadsheet and password protect the spreadsheet. UK gilts are your friends. I wouldn’t hold it all in deposit accounts. I would put a small amount in equities (say 7.5%) as well, and some (say 5% in gold). Vanguard do cheap tracker funds that can be chosen to be fairly low risk.

This I agree with

Suggest you base assertion of facts on actual facts, not banter with mates.

Simply not the case. An FCA report published in 2013 found that slightly less than 30% of all mortgages were interest only, with the balance being capital repayment. See https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/research/fca-interest-only-mortgage-review.pdf since that time, the figure is closer to 10%. See https://www.mpamag.com/uk/mortgage-industry/market-trends/uk-finance-reveals-latest-data-on-interest-only-mortgages/407045

That is not really true. Almost all repayment mortgages allow you to overpay 10% of the outstanding balance a year, whenever you want; ie as a one off payment, or several one off payment. And if you want more flexibility than that, just get an offset mortgage, that offsets your savings against your mortgage.

yes you do, your mortgage yes it is, because your mortgage will (eventually) go up. It will go up much more than any other thing you will have putatively bought on finance, because a person’s home is their most expensive possession, so finance outstanding on a home is typically much greater than any other debt, say on a car, TV or credit card. (Putatively, because I know you don’t buy goods on finance.) of course it did. If your largest non-discretionary outgoing is your mortgage repayments, and so if/when those go up, that tightens available cash for discretionary spending. Job security, albeit related, is a C separate issue. With rates going up more quickly now, it is more likely we are heading for recession, so people will be more concerned about job security and that will be a further reason to spend less.

But the brake won’t be accessible as it’s concealed under the bed. I guess I could make little cut outs for accessing them.

Problem is the wheels are sort of under the bed. One would need to lift the bed to fit the chocks then lift again to remove them, making the whole process rather cumbersome.

I like this. There will be optimisations to the exact positioning and layout of the wardrobe area, but I think this is much more usable. Also gives more privacy between the en-suite and the bedroom.

Plus 1. I would keep the en-suite door where it is, and create two walk-in wardrobes, one either side of the passsge to the en-suite door.his and Hera (other genders are available.) The en-suite door should be ac regular door, not sliders, since they don’t provide very good soundproofing for toilet sounds.

I bought my daughter a bed which came with a concealed trundle bed underneath the bed. The trundle bed is on wheels and simply rolls out. It has no brakes and because the frame at the sides of the trundle bed is so low to the floor, it can trap one’s feet between the wood and the floor. Today I was standing bare foot by the bed, my daughter jumped on the bed causing it to roll over my foot. First time I swore in front of my daughter. Anyone come across an after-market brake which I could apply to this trundle bed. Something which can be activated after the trundle bed is pulled out? Ideally something concealed, or semi concealed under the bed.

That’s cheap for London standards!

No, that would be madness. Monetary policy should not be politicised. Far too important.

Would also need to learn how to use it, though this suggests it’s not rocket science: https://www.wikihow.com/Crimp-Rj45

But then I need to buy a crimping too as well don’ti I? Hardly seems worth it for one cable

The reason I ask is that to find an outdoor rated (waterproof and UV resistant) patch cable that is already terminated, there are not many options. I probably only need 5m, but only thing I've found is 15m plus and costs more than £24. I also need it to be white. How have others wired their external WAPs? @Iceverge, @Thorfun, @Dreadnaught and @joth any of you run ethernet cable externally?

Hopefully you are right. Will do. Any thoughts on whether I need a “special” waterproof patch cable to connect up the external WAP?

Thanks @Iceverge. Good advice. I’ve decided that for the moment, the only thing I’m spending money on is the outdoor WAP, as it will solve another issue we already have, whilst also opening up possibilities for the future should we wish to add more cameras.

Extremely helpful advice. Thank you. I’ve ordered this: With the plan being to use the surge protector between the external access point and the internal Ubiquiti Dream Router. My query is whether the regular white patch cable is okay to use outdoors? It clearly states on the product page that it is only for indoor use. Am I better getting a patch cable rated for external use?

I’ve temporarily set up an extra camera out front. Going to set up a sensor this afternoon so all the front lights come on when triggered. My best mate (who can deadlift 140kg) is coming over tonight for a bit, just in case.

thanks for all your comments and concerns. To clarify: @Nickfromwales, I have NEVER seen this miscreant before. And as I told the police, I don’t make a habit of following people in my car (which is what he accused me of at the outset of the incident - I pointed out that I had just got out of the backseat of an Uber, so couldn’t have been following him in an altogether different car - this made no difference, the guy was beyond rationality). @Big Jimbo, no offence taken; I usually am quite practical, but after having received repeated death threats from a lunatic and not had any sleep as a consequence, I’m not feeling that practical right now. My knee jerk “upgrade” was to get an extra Ring camera, but WiFi is not great outside my house (which essentially has an integrated faraday cage in the brickwork) and Ring’s PoE camera, which would be easy to install, appears to be out of stock. At least in terms of funding and prosecuting this miscreant/loon/bastard, thanks to my wife’s ingenuity, whilst I was on the phone reporting the matter to the police, she got some very good video footage of the criminal. It is sufficiently clear to identify him visually, shows his clothin, hairstyle and face clearly, and captured all the audio and his car registration number. Unless the car is not his, the police should be able to find him. During the altercation, I told him that he was trespassing, I had cameras everywhere and that this was all being filmed. This appeared to be counterproductive as it seemed to rile him up. He started saying “where’s the police, I’m not scared.” Then he drove off, then 5 minutes later he came back and said “where’s the police, they’re obviously not coming”. Then he got his phone out and started filming our house, and saying things like “now I’ve got videos too. Ghosh what a (expletive deleted)ing tool this guy was. Anyone know if it’s lawful for me to buy a taser gun and use it in self defence if he is crazy enough to come back? Failing that, the house is quite secure, but maybe the extinguisher idea is a good one.

Got home tonight around 11, as I’m getting out the car, a man accosted me literally at the top of my steps leading to my front door. Luckily no physical injury, but this has scared the shit out of me. Particularly because he came back twice within 30 minutes, shouting various threats of violence and saying things like “I know where you live, I’m going to (expletive deleted) you up”. Police attended, took a statement and are taking our ring doorbell footage and a video my wife took from the bedroom window. We have his car registration plate, so hopefully they can track him down with that. Need to upgrade the security appearance of our house, and possibly upgrade cameras, given the ring doorbell didn’t do a great job - I guess he didn’t come close enough to trigger it. He stepped onto our property, but not within the sensed area. I guess I could make the sensed area bigger. But won’t be good enough to get a close shot of him if he keeps his distance and just hurls abuse at us (or a brick)! We already have a big scary 3m tall gate blocking our side passage - though I need to speak to our adjoining neighbour as his is just a wooden door which is only 1.9m so easy to scale his door and then jump over our fence. I will get some more lighting and maybe more cameras. Any other ideas? A “beware of the dog” sign? (expletive deleted) me that was scary.

Screwfix to the rescue: https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-carbon-steel-sledgehammer-7lb-3-2kg-/1424V?tc=IB2&ds_rl=1244066&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1rqkBhCTARIsAAHz7K3ROUm53HdOrl63qBnjMvhsdXw86WRHMnnQKJxeAjOaOX0ZF6hLbtUaAk06EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds AND https://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-wood-grenade-4-way-log-splitter-1-6kg/51334

They are certainly not my choice of firewood, but I have it for free, and if seasoned long enough will be fine. I will burn it, mixed with some applewood that I also have (for free).

I have a very large pile of logs, that were cut from a felled 20m high leyland Cyprus tree. The guy who cut them left them 40cm plus long. Far too big for my log burner. They have been seasoning for about a year, but would benefit from being split. Some of them have a 30cm diameter. I have a 900g head axe, but it is too small to chop such large logs. I think if I first cut them into shorter 20cm lengths, the axe could manage to split those. What type of power tool is best for that? Chainsaw? Angle grinder? Something else. Rather not have to use a chainsaw, as I find them a bit scary.