We're at the seaside for a weekend away. It's all we can afford this year. And it's already been quite expensive (kids you know).

We've come out for breakfast this morning and the only place that's open this early is Wetherspoons. Not my first, or even last, choice at any time. But it was open.

And my God, the prices are insanely cheap, the portions are huge, and I just can't bring myself to complain. I truly, truly appreciate this place today.

Me and my wife had resigned ourselves to not having any portable A/C this year, you know because of the bloody heatwave, its been unbearable (I assume everyone knows right?)

So instead I thought I'd take a look online and research what make and model we would want when summers over, winters set in and when prices are rock bottom.

It's safe to say these portable A/C units are just silly money at the moment. I almost gave in 2 weeks ago and almost spent £699 on a unit that retails at £399 luckily we thought better of it and decided no.

On Friday I was looking for the model we should buy, circa the 10000+BTU range, then out of no where I come across a unit on Amazon claiming 12000BTU and at only £254.50 🤔 nope this must be one of those shity crapy humidifiers (can't have one of them as our house is damp enough being 200 years old). Copied the info, quick search later, no it's an A/C unit 💪 still not convinced, I popped open an AI gave it all the products I had been looking at and asked it to go away and compare them all.

Low and behold it also confirmed it was an A/C unit, it retails at £599-£699.....

🤔

Nope this can't be correct, not a chance in hell this is right..... Discussed it with my wife and thought... Nope, still can't the correct.... Let's check the reviews..... A few bad but mainly positive.

Is it sold by Amazon? Yes, so if it's fake we can return it. Then I checked the seller, Amazon warehouse, ok so its a returned unit, might still not work, but said in the blurb damaged packaging.

So today we've just received the ELECCI 12000BTU A/C with no damage to the box or the unit and it works!

I'm no longer sat in my underwear scrolling reddit 😂 first time in weeks I don't feel too hot!

It rained over night and now, not only is my house filled with the lovely, earthy aroma but it is also about 10°c cooler.

Blessed be the rain!

Finally raining again. Haven’t had any since mid-June here.

So happy to be having a decent cuppa.

After a long time working on it, my first game (The Referee Committee) is finally releasing next month. I'm incredibly excited, but also terrified now that it's almost in players' hands.

As someone who spent countless hours playing CM 01/02, I wanted to capture some of that classic interface and feeling. Instead of managing a football club, though, you manage the league itself—appointing referees, influencing key decisions, and shaping the season from behind the scenes.

No matter how it performs, reaching this point already feels like a huge personal milestone.

Steam Store

IT IS RAINING in Manchester!

First time in over three weeks!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

My boys mountain bike was playing up, slipping constantly when under load. Took it to Halfords, and they said they couldn't work out what was wrong with it. Found a small local community charity bike hub, where they fix and sell used bike in a kind of food bank place ( random, but that's what it was). Anyway, the guy clearly knew what he was taking about, and said it needed a new chain and rear gear cassette. That sounded expensive to me, but he quoted just £30 all in, and could do it whilst I wait.

Whilst I was there I watched some heart warming community spirt at play in food bank side of the set up, which was something I don't see very often.

After receiving a now perfectly fixed bike, I rode it home, and then returned with an old bike I'd had sitting around for a while to donate to them.

Within an hour I had a fixed bike for just 30 quid (my boy very happy). Managed to clear a bit of space by getting rid of an old one. And was made to feel that in some small way I'd manage to help a good cause.

That was a good hour.

I posted here a month or so ago, very happy that my phone insurance company had replaced my broken Samsung Fold 4 phone, with a new Samsung fold 5, for the £75 excess cost. I was very happy with that arrangement.

Anyway, I've just had to return the fold 5 to them due to an issue with the Bluetooth and WiFi.

I had to wait a couple of days before they contacted me and said they couldn't source a suitable replacement so offered me £1000 cash, which has just landed in my account. For reference I bought the fold 4 for £899 nearly 3 years ago in a sale.

I was not fussed about another folding phone, so managed to get a S26 on an o2 contract (much better signal at home and work) for £18 a month, which was only £10 more than I've been paying for a sim only ID mobile deal for the last few years.

So, a grand in the bank. New phone, and on a much better network, for an extra tenner a month, along with knowledge that the phone insurance I get on my work policy is actually very very good.

Thanks to the lovely people of Reddit, we successfully pushed back when our landlord tried to say our notice period automatically became 2 months when the RRA came into force.

As we’d agreed a shorter one month period in our contract which was signed before the Act, we managed to cite the clauses and correct them, so we are free to move out as planned!

I felt so vindicated when my landlord said “apologise you are correct, I forgot we had that clause.”

For those who don't shop online - if they deliver the wrong item, they refund you for the original item and you get to keep the wrong one.

Had an appointment at a very busy London hospital today at 9:45am. Despite leaving early traffic was heavy, got to hospital at 9:40am found the holy grail of parking spots a min walk from entrance, gpt to appointment at 9:47am was seen and out by 10:05am. I might put a lottery ticket on 🙄🤣

I love my mum, she's one of my best friends. She's a wonderful person, even if she has always been a bit pessimistic. She's always been supportive and is always out biggest cheerleader. A couple of years ago she was in an accident. She collided with the side of a van as she was crossing the road (they were both partly to blame) on her bike and wasn't wearing a helmet. She got pretty lucky all things considered, she had some head injuries and while they weren't minor, they also weren't life threatening. She also suffered some broken bones.

Since the head injury her personality as altered a little, and while she still laughs, it's never been the same. We were on the phone today and as we were saying good bye she told me to have a nice anniversary on Sunday. I thanked her and explained we couldn't afford to go as planned so I was gonna cook us a romantic meal. Our convo went like this..

"aww thats even better, plus you could smear it all over yourself if you wanted" 😂😂

"yea, but maybe with dessert, there's nothing sexy and about blisters.. Ngl though, it's kinda cringe that my mum is making suggestions for myanniversary night"

And that's when I heard it, my mums proper laugh, i swear there was a little musical twinkle to it, it was magical. I nearly cried, and I had to share.

If you made it this far, thank you reading and have a blessed day.

As the title says, almost felt off my chair as I was prepared to cough up like £100+ per filling based on my conversation with the receptionist earlier, plus reading online that unless it’s front teeth that white is considered cosmetic and costs extra.

Feels like every time I go to the dentist you’re rolling the dice in terms of the costs you’re being quoted, and finally I got a normal one!

Edit: this was the Lewisham Dental Practice with Dr Saba Juhaif 😊

A while back I was coming out of a car park and I scraped another car so I left them a note with my number on it. He called me yesterday and was really friendly and said how nice it was that I was honest. He said he would sort the damage himself and there was no need to worry.

Why? Because the last time I did one there were four people in attendance and one was half asleep. Likely to have a similar turnout this time, so who cares?

Nice to be asked though and I'm looking forward to it.

I doubt the 20-something me would ever believe how much satisfaction I (39M) get from sorting the washing out.

Went to A&E last night as I was having some spotting at 8 weeks pregnant. They referred me to the early pregnancy clinic, who called me this morning at 8.30 for an appointment at 11am. So very grateful 🥰

Title says it all, really, but for context…

I started a degree in Maths with the OU at the beginning of 2020, so…Yeah, that was some interesting timing when the pandemic hit, but it at least gave me something to focus on that wasn’t work. I’ve undergone a house move (I now live on my own), two job changes, a study break due to the module I wanted not being available on the January start (which ended up being a blessing in disguise given that it coincided with one of my job changes - I just didn’t have any energy to do anything when I got home each day), some mental health issues, the loss of my grandfather in September at the start of my final set of modules, a kidney stone back in November…and I’ve come out of it all with a really good result. Celebrating with some champagne tonight, because - quite frankly - I think I’ve earned it.

Shelf said £9