Any question answered...

I need some kind of slip-on footwear for taking the bins out, going in the garden, etc. Slippers are no longer cutting the mustard as they just soak up all the water.

Should I just accept that I'm at the stage of my life where I have a pair of crocs or is there a better option?

Wellies, always wellies.

Was gifted some Crocs as a joke. I wear them all the time for exactly what you've listed. Flip the speed straps back, and they're good for dog walks too. Would recommend.

Cheap rigger boots waterproof and fur lined, free if you bring them home from work

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@aggi

I am loving my v12 rigger boots

but also as a more robust pair of slippers might work, i was given a pair of these which are great for slipping on and using indoors and out

Bistro Crocs are my go to, cheap and well nigh indestructable.
On the Clock model has an even higher back.

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Cheers for the suggestions, wellies and rigger boots seem a bit overkill for slipping on to take the bins out. Tempted by the mules but I think the crocs may win out based on price.

Should I just accept that I'm at the stage of my life where I have a pair of crocs or is there a better option?

That's the conclusion I reached a few weeks ago. Told myself I'd never wear them except for pottering about in the front garden and never in public. Within a few hours of receiving them I was wearing them in the street outside putting the bins out.

Why are there so many bends in the Blackwall Tunnel?

To fit the necessary elevation changes into the available real estate without excessively steep gradients, and to keep the underwater section as short as practically possible.

When did everyone start saying 'real estate'?

Do you mean the Rotherhithe Tunnel? Someone once told me it's something to do with stopping horses from seeing the daylight at the exit and bolting

Want to download films to watch on a TV screen from a film festival (https://frenchfilmfestival.org.uk/FFF2015/wp/). I could download onto a laptop and connect this to the TV (via HDMI) but was thinking of a cheap media PC as a permanent fixture discreetly connected to the TV? What's the best/cheapest way?

Someone once told me it's something to do with stopping horses from seeing the daylight at the exit and bolting

That is also suggested for the original Blackwall bore, but I don't know whether it has any validity beyond being a well established urban legend.

I can get you a horse if you want to test it....

It probably dates from the earliest use of vernacular English (in place of Latin) in legal discussions, i.e. the middle ages.

if you want to test it

AFAIK, horse drawn traffic is now barred from using either tunnel, so you need to get me not just a horse but a dispensation from TfL 🙂

In addition to the previous answers, the Wikipedia article says this:

The tunnel has several sharp bends, in order that the tunnel could align with Northumberland Wharf to the north and Ordnance Wharf to the south, and avoid a sewer underneath Bedford Street. Some sources state an additional purpose was to prevent horses from bolting once they saw daylight. The tunnel carries two lanes of traffic, though higher vehicles need to keep to the left-hand lane so that they do not hit the tunnel's inner lining.

[...]

In contrast with the Victorian northbound tunnel, the eastern tunnel had no sharp bends

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwall_Tunnel

The Bedford Street mentioned doesn't seem to exist any more.

What's the best/cheapest way?

Probably a Raspberry pi in a nice case.

The Bedford Street mentioned doesn't seem to exist any more

Probably best that you don't mention that...
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols43-4/pp640-645
http://bombsight.org/bombs/8726/

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Real christmas trees - bought one with the trunk chopped into a point and standing upright in a nice disk of wood. Is the expectation/requirement that you also have a proper holder in which you can water the tree or does no-one actually do this? Just gone down a worrying rabbithole of christmas tree fires. I think I should probably buy a holder which can take water but would appreciate experience/verification....

Yeah well, you never know if something in the East End was destroyed by an actual bomb or by the post-war razing of much of it, which it's sometimes said was worse than the bombing.

As for the unfortunate history of the 'don't mention the war' joke, it's not really something I'm susceptible to. I've lived in London for 26 years and care about it. I've probably seen most of the consequences of destruction caused by German WWII bombs, including the (generally) inferior 'replacement' architecture, and I've often stood somewhere and mourned what used to be there. I also grew up in a city where 99% of the beautiful historic city centre was destroyed by Allied bombing, not to mention the loss of life, and curse all that equally, whether it's London or somewhere in Germany. It's perfectly conceivable that someone else might have started aerial bombing of civilian targets on the scale the Nazis did it, but that they did is one of their worst crimes.

The best Christmas tree holders are this kind, with the ratchet mechanism:

https://www.krinner.us/christmas-tree-stands

(Just the first search result, no idea what other brands are available.)

I don't think there's any point in watering Christmas trees, unless you have a permanent one in the garden.

When did people in the UK start saying 'real estate', other than in legal discussions?

They look de rigueur.