vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!
Re: vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!
I come from a long line of atheists who were VERY upset when I mentioned considering attending a local evangelical church at 27 years old. It was probably the worst family experience of my life. I think some of the other commenters' experiences here regarding their spouses and children sound wonderful.
Re: vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!
mini update for April, not much new to talk about. DW returns to work soon after her 11 months off with DD. That also means just a couple weeks before I go on paternity leave. I am still looking forward to spending a whole month with DD.
@cmonkey, sorry it took so long, we've been away at the coast, but there was a photo opp!
It was unseasonably warm, IIRC it was 17C when we took this shot! This time of year, you are lucky to get 10-12C at the east coast this far North. DD loved it
Since posting last, I also formally made my request to reduce hours at work, it didn't go to plan. A colleague left the team recently, we are small team, despite previously agreeing in principle to my proposal to start working reduced hours, the management had to go back on their word following the departure. However, not all was lost. We came to a compromise. I will be working 10 hour days over 4 days now, as opposed to 8 over 5. This means I'll still get a day at home with DD but the office loses no capacity in man hours. It kinda of worked out better for me, because it also means I don't lose 1/5 of my salary, so it won't delay retirement! Why didn't I think of that before.
On the down side, it means work days will be more tiring. To get in to work for 7.30am, I'll have to adjust to waking at 5am instead of 6.30am, but I also save 2 hours a week commuting to the office. That means late nights at the computer are going bye-bye!
I didn't pull the plug on the folding bike... yet. But I don't think it will be much longer now. I've held out as long as I can. I've been thinking about it a lot, could I really justify a third bike? It will give me a lot of flexibility with work, and it will especially come in handy on days I need to pick DD up from the in-laws, I'll be able to hop on the bus with it and DD after zipping home from work, and not worry about taking the car. The bus let me down with long delays and cancellations a few times in the 3 weeks I have been taking it. A folding bike would have been handy in those circumstances! It's no wonder people opt for personal cars instead around here. With a folder, it must be great knowing you can just unfold the bike and get on with your journey regardless of cancellations. I have tired of relying on public transport already, so I'm back to biking. I have also resolved to selling my first road bike to make room in my stable for a new arrival, it was never very well suited to real world commuting anyway, so I don't feel bad about the new acquisition. The new cycling season is kicking off now, so I should get some bites.
@cmonkey, sorry it took so long, we've been away at the coast, but there was a photo opp!
It was unseasonably warm, IIRC it was 17C when we took this shot! This time of year, you are lucky to get 10-12C at the east coast this far North. DD loved it
Since posting last, I also formally made my request to reduce hours at work, it didn't go to plan. A colleague left the team recently, we are small team, despite previously agreeing in principle to my proposal to start working reduced hours, the management had to go back on their word following the departure. However, not all was lost. We came to a compromise. I will be working 10 hour days over 4 days now, as opposed to 8 over 5. This means I'll still get a day at home with DD but the office loses no capacity in man hours. It kinda of worked out better for me, because it also means I don't lose 1/5 of my salary, so it won't delay retirement! Why didn't I think of that before.
On the down side, it means work days will be more tiring. To get in to work for 7.30am, I'll have to adjust to waking at 5am instead of 6.30am, but I also save 2 hours a week commuting to the office. That means late nights at the computer are going bye-bye!I didn't pull the plug on the folding bike... yet. But I don't think it will be much longer now. I've held out as long as I can. I've been thinking about it a lot, could I really justify a third bike? It will give me a lot of flexibility with work, and it will especially come in handy on days I need to pick DD up from the in-laws, I'll be able to hop on the bus with it and DD after zipping home from work, and not worry about taking the car. The bus let me down with long delays and cancellations a few times in the 3 weeks I have been taking it. A folding bike would have been handy in those circumstances! It's no wonder people opt for personal cars instead around here. With a folder, it must be great knowing you can just unfold the bike and get on with your journey regardless of cancellations. I have tired of relying on public transport already, so I'm back to biking. I have also resolved to selling my first road bike to make room in my stable for a new arrival, it was never very well suited to real world commuting anyway, so I don't feel bad about the new acquisition. The new cycling season is kicking off now, so I should get some bites.
Re: vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!
Hope all is well with you and your family! How's the trek to FI going?
Re: vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!
We are all very happy and are in good health thank you. We moved house (again) in October 2019 just before the pandemic (perfect timing.) Shortly after the UK house market exploded in the race for space/flight from big cities. We relocated near a great school for DD, but have a bigger mortgage to show for it, but with healthy savings rate before hand, this hasn't been any hardship. Coupled with my new part time hours, it has puts back FI some 3 years. My career has taken a backseat so I can spend as much time with DD before she heads to school September 2022. Neither of use feel qualified to homeschool, don't get me wrong, if money was no option, I might consider it, but the timing just wasn't right for us. My quest for FI will resume full speed next year. Assuming industrial civilisation hasn't collapsed by then 
Re: vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!
Quick update. How time flies. Low expenses means I have been able to take a further reduction in working hours AND pay. I now work from home (off-setting most of the cut in pay) for a charity. I won't go into finer details for obvious privcy reasons, but the savvy among you could probably figure it out, let's just say it involves getting more people riding bicycles in the hope that communities bend and don't break during this so called cost of living crisis. I won't be retiring any time soon, but I no longer need money to follow my passions, it's my work now, for a long time that felt impossible, but a bit of FU money took that fear away. It looks like energy markets will be failing this year, so I built a very modest DIY 300W solar array with a portable 1235Wh LiFePO battery, this will keep a few lights on, my laptop charged, and every now and then I can also charge my ebike battery with enough left over to boil enough water for the odd hot water bottle (inspired by the wonderful low tech magazine). I have plans to 3D print a vertical wind turbine this autumn to complement the system, so long as I can scavenge the parts required, it will help bridge the darkest of British months. Failing that, the battery is chargable by mains, so I can still keep HQ priortities operational during the intermitent brownouts I expect this winter. This summer I have accumulated all the ingredients required to build myself a wood-fired cob oven, I just need to build up the motivation and set aside a full week to assemble it so I can start my plans for my backyard 'community' bakery. It's official, I'm going solar-punk.
It's also interesting to note that given recent developments in the energy security front, some of my life long friends, who have always questioned my sanity, are starting, ever so slowly, to acknowledge I may have had a point in bringing up some 'edgy' views of risks of social collapse. And a subset of those have been coming to me from time to time for my thoughts on what they can do to prepare...
Oh it has been a fun year.
DD started school this week, and seems to be loving it. She's learning to swim, and recently we took our first mile long bike ride. Happy days and simple pleasures, despite everything else that is still going so wrong.
It's also interesting to note that given recent developments in the energy security front, some of my life long friends, who have always questioned my sanity, are starting, ever so slowly, to acknowledge I may have had a point in bringing up some 'edgy' views of risks of social collapse. And a subset of those have been coming to me from time to time for my thoughts on what they can do to prepare...
Oh it has been a fun year.
DD started school this week, and seems to be loving it. She's learning to swim, and recently we took our first mile long bike ride. Happy days and simple pleasures, despite everything else that is still going so wrong.
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Mister Imperceptible
- Posts: 1669
- Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2017 4:18 pm
Re: vexed's ERE journey from the very beginning!
The dynamic of going from perceived nut job to perceived guru.
Glad to see you post.
Glad to see you post.