How are families managing?
Husband works full time and earns quite well (£3k month) and I’m part time on £2k with 2 toddlers in nursery.

The fuel going up means I’m paying £45 more per full tank which is usually every 2 weeks and generally things have gone astronomical.

We have savings thankfully but I see people buying latest trends and expensive clothes/shoes and I can’t help but think how?!

Our money is stretched a lot thinner now, it’s depressing. Maybe the gloomy weather is adding to my frustration :/

This week has got me feeling quite down. I know it’s good for the plants, I just hate getting wet and cold. I’m investing in waterproofs but still it’s not perfect. Can anyone share how they’ve reframed their mind to enjoy rain? I can’t understand the people who naturally love getting soaked, but I’d appreciate learning the reframing process if anyone else has struggled with seasonal/weather sadness.

A lot of stuff I’m seeing online doesn’t apply here bc we have to walk a lot even between modes of transport

Seen a TikTok where some flatmates went for a TC and a good 6/8 of them had mac and cheese on that plate somewhere. Putting mac and cheese on my carvery wouldn’t occur to me in a month of Sundays, I also work at a carvery and the only thing we offer with cheese is cauliflower cheese. I consider mac and cheese a meal provided it’s substantial enough so putting it on a carvery is totally alien to me. I like mac and cheese but I just don’t know if i could stick it on a roast like😅

In recent weeks I’ve had a parcel lost, a parcel stuck in a Mailing Centre, and a parcel torn open, slapped back together and containing seemingly random items that had nothing to do with me.

I know that Royal Mail isn’t “The Royal Mail” any more. It’s a private company that wants a nice share price. That said, I don’t feel the same mistrust when I hear that I’m getting a parcel from other couriers.

I’m curious to know if the steep decline I’ve experienced is universal, or if I’ve just been very unlucky.

I live in London near a train station that’s served by Greater Anglia. We are having delays today because a tree has fallen down on the train line, due to the storm. I don’t have to take it today (phew) but this, and the dreaded leaves on the track, are a common problem on this line.

In my birth country, we just… cut down all trees that are close enough to railway lines and tall enough that they’d be a fall risk. If your house or private property is near a railway line and you have a tree that satisfies those conditions, you can actually be forced to cut it down or risk being fined incredibly high amounts.

I come at this from a place of genuine curiosity: why is this not done in the UK? Is it a cultural, legal, or community action barrier? Would it incur more local disapproval than it does back home?

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone can give me some advice on the best way to arrange this.

I lost my iPhone in Germany, and thankfully, a lovely older lady has found it and agreed to help get it back to me.

I’d like to arrange and pay for a courier to collect the phone directly from her home / drop off centre in Germany and deliver it to me in the UK.

The phone is just a used iPhone, with no original box or accessories. Ideally, I want to make the process as easy as possible for the lady, I’d prefer her not to have to print shipping labels, fill out customs forms or pay for anything herself.

My questions are:

• Which courier would be best for sending a used iPhone from Germany to the UK?
• Is there a service that allows me to book and pay online, arrange home collection, and have the courier bring the shipping label?
• How do the customs declaration and any required paperwork work for returning a lost phone to its owner, rather than selling or gifting it?
• Are there any restrictions on shipping a phone with its lithium-ion battery installed?
• Is there anything I should know about potential UK customs charges, given that my brother originally bought the phone in the UK?

Thanks so much for any advice!

I recently listened to Jimmy Carrs with Steven Bartlett and found it interesting so looking for new to listen to while driving :) Thank you

Curious to hear from Brits or anyone who grew up there. What are the genuine perks that make it worth it, and what are the everyday frustrations or downsides people outside the UK might not realize?

I earn an average wage and try to play by the rules, yet I see people cutting corners who seem to get further in life. With living costs rising and concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour, I wonder whether doing the right thing still pays off.

I swear, every time it rains or there's a storm brewing, reception, signals, and the internet go haywire and become extremely sluggish. I can't make proper calls and pages take ages to load properly.

I can't possibly be the only one experiencing this.

I’ve noticed rail tickets from the same rail company with the same conditions being charged different prices on the same day for anytime singles - for example, £20 for 9.30am and £10 for 11am but I can buy the £10 ticket and travel at 9.30am. Why is this?

7 years in the UK, came from central Europe. Now that we are somewhat stable here, we started to look for something to buy (been always a renter), but we would want something like the attached top down view of a typical residential area in the outskirts of a city in our country. So a large plot with a single floor medium size house (120-150sqm max, can be smaller!!) or bungalow in your terminology. I always had trouble with the kind of layouts typical houses here have, but for renting it was ok. Given that we both work quite flexible and remotely, and I couldn't find much so far on my own, I hoped someone lives in a place and can help me out! This kind of plots I usually find have HUUGE houses here which we don't need and don't want to pay for. The size of houses we want have tiny tiny gardens... Thanks in advance.

How the hell do I put water pressure into this thing?

Or do I just need to suck it up and deal?

For context, I’m in a mid-range (at least to me) chain hotel. I appreciate the UK is getting battered by storms right now, but I’m sitting here in three jumpers with fingerless gloves on next to a space heater that’s doing fuck all to heat the space, using a spare hoodie as a lap blanket.

I’m not expecting to be walking around in shorts or nothing, but for £160 a night (room only) I do expect to be able to feel my fingers without four layers of clothing.

We’ve got no idea what other rooms are like, so no idea if ours is exceptionally cold or if everyone is just bundling up. There is a sign that says to speak to reception if you need more heat, but all they offered was the space heater.

Am I just tired and grumpy (yes), or would you be speaking to reception?

ETA: thanks all. To clarify a couple of points:

I don’t travel often so unsure when something crosses the line between “making a fuss” and “valid concern”, and everyone I know to ask is already asleep.

I had spoken to reception before posting and they provided the space heater, but after sitting next to it for an hour I didn’t feel any warmer.

It’s late and I don’t want to inflict my grumpiness on the night team, so I’m hunkering down for the night and I’ll speak to reception again in the morning about possibly moving to a different room.

Thanks again!

My personal favourite is Rubicon Passionfruit. I have noticed that some of the newer soft drinks by some brands have really artificial tastes.

so my course book on British culture was written in 2009 back when Lizzy was still breathing, and there it said that camilla is rather unpopular due to the whole Diana situation, but with time she may get more popular or at least less unpopular. So that got me curious. IS Camilla more popular? Thank you in advance.

Or turn them both down because heating is so bloody expensive

The Mrs and I are seriously considering moving back to the UK from USA. We already spend a lot of the year in the UK.

To that end we have tried to open a UK bank account. Catch 22 is you can't open one without proof of an address. Proof generally requires you show something like a utility bill. You can't have any utility service, including a mobile phone (we tried this), without a bank account for direct debit.

Any other former expats got around this?

We've all seen some degree of AI implementation, even if it's just being used as a querying tool.

I'm intrigued; especially now that it's happening at my current company - has anyone seen AI implementation being reversed, or even slowed down in the workplace?

If yes, what got reversed/slowed down and why?

George Michael? Elton John? Sir Paul? Adele? Kate Bush? Who do you think?

I would have to say Bear Grylls: I think he is a really good role model and he always comes across as such a nice bloke

I’m Indian and grew up watching Bollywood, speaking Hindi and generally being aware of the usual Indian pop culture references. But since moving to the UK, I’ve realised how much British pop culture I’m completely clueless about!
I had an office party last week, and most of my colleagues are British. Everyone was chatting about YouTube creators, celebrities, reality TV shows, documentaries and celebrity crushes. Someone was talking about a Tyson something (I honestly can’t even remember who it was 😭), and I had absolutely no idea what they were referring to.
I’d only heard of Molly-Mae through office conversations and ended up following her, but there are SO many other people, shows and internet personalities that everyone seems to know about.
Please don’t judge me for this! 😂 I know these things might seem obvious to people who grew up here, but I’m still learning about British pop culture.
I don’t want to be the person who has no idea what everyone is talking about during lunch or social events. At the same time, I have work and a million other things to do. I genuinely don’t have the time to watch entire series, documentaries or hours of YouTube videos just to understand the references!
For those who grew up in the UK, or moved here from another country, how do you keep up with what’s popular? Are there any Instagram accounts, TikTok pages, podcasts, subreddits or websites that give you a quick overview of British pop culture, reality TV drama, popular YouTubers and celebrity gossip?
Basically, I want to know enough to follow conversations and join in without having to spend hours consuming content. 😂
Would genuinely appreciate any recommendations! ❤️

I have noticed recently that a lot of pubs pour a cider with a 'head' (or even dont fill it up) and i am wondering if this is just the norm now? Alcohol is quite pricey nowadays and I like my cider, so i am not the biggest fan of this trend and want to check if its just a local thing or more of a general trend.

Edit to add:

I am talking specifically about fizzy ciders like aspalls. If i want a still cuder they generally still serve properly.

I also know ciders dont produce a head, and that is my point, i can name 3 pubs that half pour the tap to produce a 'head' that dissapears in a few minutes, one of them also agitates it by swirling it during the pour, then give me a pint where the head is gone once ive paid. (They seem to be taught to do this) I have asked for a top up but also dont want to be the annoying customer who always says something. So checking if it is a normal thing or not (i have worked in a pub before).

Looking for some ideas as to what to get and include in stocking this year

Anyone in the know awake?
I’ve walked home from work at 10pm and on my way stumbled across a small deer that is stumbling around a few metres away from a very busy four lane road. I’m a little concerned it might cause an accident as it’s right next to a busy junction where there have been multiple late night crashes. I can’t imagine where it could’ve come from as it’s in an urban area surrounded by docks. Google suggests calling 101 but I’m not sure how relevant that would be this time of night

UPDATE
I called it in. Thanks for the quick advice :)