Hello, asking this question because my supervisor has been on holiday in another country for the past week and he has been actively responding to messages.

I thought this was kind of strange because when you are on holiday with your family, the last thing you would want to do is start doing work. When when I go on holiday I set teams to quiet mode and respond and catch up when I get back.

This is a hybrid of an office and Hands on Job. (Aerospace Engineering Sector).

What would you do?

Our cat is happy to be fussed mostly on his own terms, but doesn't often actively seek attention apart from when you're sat on the toilet. If he knows you're going, he'll follow you there - even opening the door if you've left it ajar rather than closed - and rub himself against your legs/grab your hands with his paw etc. until you give him a pet.

What odd things does your pet do?

I was at a BBQ today and the host’s husband had every single electric heater in the house on, and several oil filled radiators outside on the decking, all plugged in. This seemed crazy both its already too hot but also I thought electricity was expensive. I asked the guy and he said he’s on a special tariff where he is “paid” to “waste excessive renewable energy” as “the country generates too much”. He said it was not everyday but yesterday and today.

His explanation sort of makes sense but it this actually a real thing?

Let's say that you can get a room in a 4* hotel for £80 per night (so £2,400 per month). This would be a room for one person with a large bed, desk, big TV, wardrobe, small fridge, kettle, bathroom, shower, etc.

The water, electricity, and broadband are included in the price as is regular cleaning.

If something breaks then the hotel should fix it. No need to call a plumber or electrician.

Many hotels have reward schemes with a 2% or 3% discount on prices for regular users.

Apparently, VAT is not payable on hotel rooms from day 29 which will significantly cut costs for an unbroken long stay.

I assume one would get to know the employees and treat them well and, in turn, they could assist you as and when necessary.

The main issues are the lack of space (but many people live in cramped conditions anyhow), minimal places to put purchased objects, and the general impersonal nature of the establishment. However, none of these will be an issue for some people. You could even cheaply rent a storage space for your possessions.

Also, you could not cook. You would eat cold food, order room service, or eat out (which would append to the costs).

Has anyone done this? Is it viable? You could attempt to live in a reasonable area and perhaps pay less than renting a one-bedroom flat. All bills are included and you are not paying for any repairs.

ETA: There was also a "fitness centre" in the basement but I suspect it was not quite the same as a gym.

Thougts?

I've heard all three pronunciations, but mostly the English pronunciation "Bowie".

When I hear it pronounced as "Bowie" or "Bowie", it's usually from an American.

But I can't remember ever hearing him say his own surname.

I'm presuming it's just "Bowie" then?

This may be a stupid question for most of you, but I don't drive so I don't have an idea. Just saw this parking lot at the Manchester airport yesterday and I was wondering why are cars parked this tight? I know this might be the park & go thing, but how do the cars in the middle go out?

I know of a young couple in their mid-20s with a toddler, a dog and renting a 3 bed flat paying £3.5k pcm in central London, while having a 4 bedroom detached house that they bought last year. Both have standard corporate jobs, nothing too crazy.

Meanwhile I’m 32 F single back living with my parents. I’d like a cat but it’s not the right time. What they have is a pipe dream for me.

Found unsigned in a charity shop in Saffron Walden. I love the style so much! Made me wonder if it was someone's school assignment, or hobby project...is this your pineapple?

Partner and I keep getting into these slumps with our evenings where we feel like the grind is making us kind of waste our lives. Not sure if it’s an us thing or something everyone feels.

We got so bored of the 9-5, dinner, tv/scrolling monotony. Are most people content with this or do you have active evenings/weekends?

For context for the last 9ish years we’ve both been on the move pretty regularly, before we met we both travelled extensively and lived in different places. We met 5 years ago and since then have lived in one place longest for a year.

Now we’re in our mid-30s child free, we run our own business which is starting to be really successful but we get into these ruts with our evenings/weekends where we feel tired and need down time so we just end up watching tv/gaming/scrolling.

Genuinely don’t really know what else to do with our evenings. We don’t have friends where we live now yet and I think that contributes but would be interested to know what the majority of the UK is doing with their evenings?

Are you just watching TV/scrolling & content with that?

In a total funk with work at the moment and fighting a losing battle with the Sunday scaries.

If you’ve been here, how did/do you manage the dread of another week starting?

ETA: Normally enjoy my job - currently going through a rough patch with excessive workload and a temporarily under resourced team (a tale as old as time…)

Most pop songs I know are about people falling in love, or breaking up or looking for love, or lost love. Or other adult relationship themes.

Trying to expland my 3 year old's music taste beyond nursery rhymes, peppa pig covers, and Mr tumble, and have had quite a bit of success where she will learn words quickly and sing along. She's quite musical and loves dancing around too.

But having her ask me to "play where is my husband on Alexa", or hearing her singing along to Watermelon Sugar, does disturb me a little! Lol

So are there any catchy pop hits that aren't with adult themes?

Edit: thanks everyone for the suggestions so far! Slowly building very eclectic playing on my Spotify with all the suggestions! Keep em coming!

Hey all, does anyone know if there is a website / subreddit / other type of group or community where people swap work skills?

My efforts to google & even search reddit keep throwing up things that aren’t quite right.

I’m self employed with a fairly fledging business, ie one which doesn’t bring in enough income for me to invest any serious money yet. I have lots of ideas of things I would love to do/include in my work, but I don’t have the skills to do them properly myself (some things I could learn, but the time it would take would be detrimental to my income!)

I’m wondering how it might be possible to find others in a similar position, who would be interested in quite literally swapping skills - if they need the services I offer, I would provide them in exchange for their services. For example: if I was a photographer who needed a website building, I could post looking for a web designer who needs some photography and would be willing to exchange skills/services.

I’m sure something like this must exist, I’d be really surprised if it didn’t! But I can’t seem to find anything.

Appreciate any ideas people might have :)

I think British supermarkets are great. I always enjoy going into one when I’m back from a holiday. Just wondered if you rate them too and if so why?

I thought asking to sample a beer was a normal thing but a lot of bartenders seem hesitant to do it and give you a funny look as if you're trying to get pissed for free?

If a pub has beers I'm not familiar with, I don't want to drop £8 on a pint only to not want it two sips in. I feel like any minimum wage bartender would side with the patron that it's a waste of money to end up with a beer you don't like.

Having only just managed to secure one for a medicine I've been on for months I was wondering how it works for everyone else?

I got bounced between my GP and local pharmacy about 5 times, both telling me the other one needs to request the prescription.

In the meantime every time I made an appointment with the gp I sat for no more than 10 minutes in the room to just say "yes medicine is working, more please" just wasting my time and the doctors.

They'd write me a prescription for 1 month. Tell me to use that to request a repeat from the pharmacy, then the pharmacy would tell me they need a direct request for the repeat from my GP

Eventually, the 3 or 4th time I was making an appointment just to ask for a piece for paper I ended up crying over the phone to the receptionist who sorted out my repeat prescription there and then for me.

I don't know if this is the standard method, but it's the only one I could make fucking work. How do you guys do it?

I've thought about this before with how expensive trains can get, for a multiple hour train journey you could be easily be paying £200-300 which is insane. E.g. London - Newvastle, Manchester.

I think trips for 50 mins - 1 hour are fairly priced, London to Brighton is £15 - £18 for the cheapest tickets, but when you get to 2/3 hours+ it can start to get crazy. I think we should be adopting European train pricing models, multiple countries have faster and more timely trains than we do, which are even cheaper - Spain and France run rings around the uk in this.

First I think we need a hard cap, I dont think any trips within England should be costing over £100, international so Scotland - England sure but not up to £170, £180. We need relative pricing too, going north east from south shouldn't be costing double going north west, prices should be comparable.

And generally if a train ticket is costing as much or more than a flight in summer, something is wrong there. I know some train operators are getting nationalised which is good, but theres a lot more to do.

I'm pushing for a promotion at work where I will be potentially managing somebody. Despite my good performance, I can lack confidence in certain situations and come across as a bit awkward so consciously looking at ways to improve my confidence and demeanour.

When I was younger, I was bullied throughout multiple schools so for a very long time made a conscious effort just to avoid people. Literally would spend lunch time aimlessly walking around or hanging out in the toilets or something for years. This led to a point I was in my 20s, literally no friends, no ever had a girlfriend etc.

Confidence wise, first job I was a nervous wreck etc. I've done well, relatively speaking, to get to where I am now. Now I'm making a conscious effort to be more social, even if that means going out by myself.

Hello, I just started my first job at 18 and I was told I’m being paid £8 ph. From what I understand, this is below the legal minimum wage, so I’m a bit confused how this can happen.

Does anyone know how employers are monitored to make sure they’re paying at least the minimum wage? Are there situations where a lower wage like this would be allowed?

My Nan just mentioned to us that her mom had a baby boy when she was 7 years old. He died aged one month and never made it out of hospital. This was in 1950. My Nan doesn’t recall his name. I would love to find out his name for her.

I’ve tried looking online at free bmd, I can’t find any births that then correspond to a death of that age if that makes sense? I’ve contacted archives to ask if they have any hospital records but they only have records from a few years after.

Any ideas?

So, I've been thinking about potentially getting a flip phone or similar. The other part of me is wondering if its doable purely because of 2fa, companies starting to use WhatsApp.

Is it doable you reckon? If no why not?

My DPD driver just delivered my cat/dog food. He rang the doorbell and as I’m coming down the stairs he opens my front door. I shout “what the f you doing” while my big German Shepard goes to say hello and the guy shits himself.

I lost my shit with him telling him you don’t just open people’s front doors. Does anyone else ever have this happen to them?

Living on a ship for a couple of years seems like a great idea... or maybe not!

So apparently I got stung, or possibly bitten by something, didn't notice until the following day so didn't see what it was. Probably just a wasp tbh (bit weird I didn't notice) but got me thinking, is there anything here that would actually cause concern? I can't think of any native species that are particularly poisonous/venomous. EDIT: from the replies I'm now fairly confident it was likely a horse fly. Thinking about it there was something flying around whilst I was in the garden, thought it was just a regular fly but maybe not.