ciaranm

This is the opposite of my experience. Getting _anything_ sorted with a physical bank takes a long time, prone to error, needs multiple phone calls/in person visits.

The one time I had a problem with Monzo they sorted me out over chat inside the app in ~2 minutes.

It's different, certainly. I'm talking second hand about someone so I don't want to attribute too much of what are my observations as truth - but he's definitely more aware of when he's struggling and can articulate that better compared with when he was younger. He's also at a secondary school with very small class sizes that's set up to help with cases like his, which helps.

He does have other health issues that make day to day life difficult in other ways, so I don't want to say everything's rosy. Still lots of hard work for my parents to manage.

Hey, just want to say that I've watched my own parents handle this with my youngest brother (now 13). It's incredibly difficult and draining both physically and emotionally. I can't imagine how tough it is first hand as a parent.

I find amazon's own courier is by far and away the most likely to deliver damaged goods, FWIW (Central/East London)

Mostly it's fine using AMEX. There's enough exceptions I carry another card, but it's not that bad.

Also: TFL accept AMEX contactless as payment/oyster equivalent.

I've seen anywhere between 5-20% working as a freelancer/consultant in London. This is partly why I think clients are keen to respond to cold emails about work - it can save them a lot of money compared to using recruitment agents.

Apply for contract work. Ask for it from recruiters who contact you. There's plenty out there in the UK, as long as you look. It's easy enough to get set up with an Ltd in 2-3 business days for everything you need, so don't worry about applying for stuff. Just manage your permanent role's notice period - contracts are generally looking for folks in a short time frame.

I'm exactly the same. I often type out replies to people, then just go 'nah not worth it' and close the tab.

The 'comment is free' section of the guardian is their freelancer/blog bit. What you're probably seeing is the same author being paid for the same piece from multiple sources. Not all that fishy, just the way freelancing works.

I'm not sure " To the degree that sometimes my bosses were left hanging, waiting for a day or more on my work." necessarily means what you're saying. There are absolutely ways to communicate that you need a personal day - or that something is delayed because [reasons] - that aren't 'just disappearing'.

I commute about 4.5km by bike(each way) twice a day, in London. It's much quicker than public transport. 12-17minutes by bike, with traffic + stop lights. I'd be looking at 30~ minutes by public transport. Even a taxi/car is likely 20 or more. Cities designed before cars are (imo) - so much nicer.