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What’s a good (big) car jump start battery pack to buy?

I got this https://amzn.eu/d/ci4dhbX but the leads were very flimsy, so I returned it

Thank you! It was great. In summary - it’s possible to do an unplanned August ride in the south of France if you drink enough, don’t care how fast you’re not going and are careful about not overheating [aka if you’re not shy on ice lollies].

Now reading books on the beach

In the end I just boshed through from Bergerac straight to Arcachon. About 160km, so I must have got fitter. Perversely because I have a cold I felt I just wanted to arrive.

The last two days were the best (Agen to Bergerac and Bergerac to the Atlantic), although the second half of the cycling yesterday (past Bordeaux) was average, I think I enjoyed it more as I was fitter and faster.

Some pics from yesterday:

Specially if you do it for 10 consecutive days.

I am not an expert, and more info might be needed by an expert to tell you definitively.

It sounds high to me, but there are lots of variables. I suspect a NASDAQ listed co’s stock option scheme is “unapproved” from a UK perspective. So it might get no tax relief. If it is all taxed as income, and not part of any approved tax efficient scheme, it might be 45% lost to tax plus national insurance contribution, which I think is 2% on the employee. As to where the rest of it has gone:

1) I vaguely remember there is one scenario where an employer can push employer’s NICS onto the employee, I can’t remember if this is that scenario.

2) have they deducted a “buy in” price from it? IE did the option have a value when you obtained it, that you didn’t pay for at that point but are paying for now, on exercise?

More importantly, is 42-45% of an amount still enough for a field?

There is also a wonderful swimming lake in Bergerac, near where I am staying, so I had a swim on arrival, listened to live music and had a questionable local biere blonde.

It was hot! But manageable. I have developed a cold, which is annoying, and meant I struggled to drag myself up and out in good time this am.

However, even at 36° as it was at 3-5pm, it was ok - I went a bit slower, and stopped a few times just to cool down. It was probably my favourite day so far. Day 1 (Montpellier to near Narbonne) might have been but it was rushed and stressy due to the train cancellation suddenly making it 50% longer.

Thank you! Interesting link & except.

So Truss & Kwarteng appear to have known nothing about this, which amplified their stupid decisions. They didn’t ask the obr, to avoid scrutiny, I don’t know if the obr would have explained it to them. It sounds like, from peston, that (in contrast with what I said earlier “no one knew”) various people did know but it looks like the boe and treasury were taken by surprise too.

I still have Truss as main culprit but I think others contributed

That colourful thing is a boat lift

Pics

Yeah this implies much more planning than happened. I had two pink pasela gravel kings or whatever they are, then punctured the rear in Tenerife, and that pirelli cinturato was all they had. I bought a matching front for this trip and ran out of time to fit it, so here we are.

I had this bike serviced (by Holy Spokes in Bristol, who were great) and learned it has many foibles, including not having been built straight! The headtube is apparently off centre, but it rolls straight with no hands so who knows. It was a custom for someone else and I think was built by someone with more vision than execution…

Anyway, it’s a total mishmash, but nice to ride

I’m in Agen now. I was debating:

2 days:
Day 1 -> Bordeaux (150km flat)
Day 2 -> Coast (60km flat)

vs

3 days:
Day 1 -> Bergerac (100km small ish hills)
Day 2 -> Bordeaux (95km flat)
Day 3 -> coast (60km)

But I’ve decided I’d be stupid to not cycle an extra day :)

It’s all very relaxed, not an epic journey by many people “on here”’s standards, but it has been excellent. Today was 23-27 and really lovely, if flat. Pics to follow.

Yeah I think so. Comparing the yield now and the estimated obligations now doesn’t seem likely to be too accurate/helpful to me

Here’s my go at it, I’m not an economist and don’t work in finance. I’m very happy to be educated further as to what I’ve got wrong:

1) final salary pension funds hold gilts (£1 trillion! Can’t remember but I think they said 60% of the pension fund assets)

2) gilt market values react to government actions.

3) in a bizarre connection that doesn’t make much sense to me yet, pension funds need to report their obligations (as of today, how much do they owe how many lucky boomers in final salary pensions) in terms of the income available from gilts, yield.

4) this yield increases when gilt market price decreases, so in a normal world, gilts going down today means pension funds can report that they will meet their future liabilities more easily - the % yield they have to use to report in has increased. It’s good for pension funds.

5) pension funds also hold gilts, but because they intend to hold them to maturity (nb I thought some gilts didn’t ever mature?) it doesn’t matter if the market value goes down today - if the face value is £100, but the market value today is £90, the pension fund shouldn’t care because it will get back the £100 on eventual maturity, from the government.

6) But LDIs. Pension funds also borrowed on short term markets to get more bonds (the £1tn), these are collateralised, ie mortgaged, so if the face value goes down eg to £90, the pension fund still owes the bank the original £100. So suddenly the pension funds do care if the face value goes down, because the banks can call their money in, quickly.

7) the banks would repossess the gilts and sell them, and this would tank the gilt market further. £1tn is a lot, it’s not just “the gilt market” that would tank so much as the UK economy.

That takes me to the end of episode 1….

You seem to understand a lot more about this than I do. You said you don’t have time, but it would be great to hear what you think. The relevant bit on LDIs is ~13 mins long from 27 mins in that first episode.

Ah awesome - I’ll read that.

A question: When the “yield goes up”, does it actually?

IE 10% coupon on £100 bond. Market value of bond drops to £90, effective yield 11.1111%.

I may have just answered my own question. Yield and face value coupon/interest are not the same thing. But, if you bought it for £100, then for most purposes*, you’re still getting 10% return on what you paid, regardless of current face value?

Thank you! All v interesting. I will re listen and see how much more I get this time. They made the other good point that the victors write history, and the BoE and treasury have pushed a narrative of 100% on Truss, but it’s more nuanced apparently.

This is the bit I didn’t really understand, and still not sure I do. It’s also the bit that Peston suggests took the BoE by surprise and was the bit I meant when I said no-one understood.

Canal life is not so bad

No, I have a saved search on eBay though and they come up periodically. Good for getting up small staircases.

I listened to a series of Robert Peston’s the rest is money (I’ll find a link shortly) on the mini budget. If anyone can listen, understand and explain it to me in simple terms I’d be very grateful, but from memory the gist seemed to be that there were “pools” of invested money that were specifically fucked by the mini budget, and that no one had told truss & Kwarteng about, because no one (eg BoE) understood them either.

This is part 1 of 5

Why did she say it? And what was she so angry about? And why was she directing it at one religion? A very odd thing to say if you’re not racist/anti-Islam.

No views on sentencing, I suppose it’s partly the unlubed dildo of consequence and partly an example for others. I hope and assume what she got was within the bounds of normal sentencing for what she said. I also doubt the “primary carer” bit, as that’s exactly what you’d say if you were defending.

Tomorrow I’m going to join our German ebike brethren* and go up the canal path to Toulouse, then continue to Bordeaux. If I were fitter and lighter and it were slightly less hot I’d go north now, to Najac, Cahors and Domme, then across through Bergerac to Bordeaux.

Another trip.

*I have the shimano spd sandals and they’re 2024’s best buy by miles. So ugly, so good. I emailed Quoc to ask them to make a pair. they said they think about it and gave me a 20% off code which was kind.

Day 2: coast to Carcassonne

Most pics from the saddle, pls forgive composition

I appreciate i’ve hijacked someone else’s thread, but this seems sensible