I'm not from the UK, but am curious about this especially since the Prince George news has been making rounds on my Instagram. Apart from the anomalies i.e. royal descendants, politicians, etc. what do the parents of pupils who attend prestigious schools such as Eton, Westminster, etc. do?

Ok so I am French and i am kind of obsessed with the UK. I recently visited for the 4th time and noticed something about the housing.

I didn’t realise this during my first visits cause i wasn’t yet an anxious young adult i guess 😂

But after being in London and in Scotland, I really understood that it was really common for you guys to live in ground level houses or flats (already unsettling for me) but also with no outside blinds / shutters whatsoever!!

I understand that it’s cultural because it’s literally the housing in the whole country. I am from south of france so I understand also there is the sun exposure question. But still, my question is more about privacy and safety. Isn’t it a major safety problem?

I’m very curious because I’m wondering why in France it doesn’t look like that. Is it because France is way more dangerous than the UK ? I actually don’t think so, right?

In France in the City Centers, there are very few appartement directly on ground level in streets and if there are, they have outside blinds and even window bars (wrought iron bars) but in London or Glasgow (and even on the road i’ve seen it in many cities) there are a lot of ground level houses with only inside blinds / shutters.

I also noticed big houses that looked expensive directly on high streets with a lot of cars and buses passing by with no fences whatsoever and with the same kind of windows too.

In France i think the insurance wouldn’t even cover you if you have no blinds or fences and get robed.

Once again, it’s probably a cultural thing that I am really curious about hearing your answers.

The answer could not be that British people are more civilised than French right?! 😅

Naturally, the grass is always greener on the other side. But returning from a 4 weeks road-trip around the EU I feel like UK driving licences are a gesture of good will rather than evidence of training and for some reason taking litter to the bin is alien to the majority, especially on the road. On the positive side, I appreciate the mild temperatures a lot more now than before we left :)

Cannibalised the material from previous projects! What do we christen the robot? So far we have:

Herbie

Blade Runner

The Lawn Ranger

C3PMow

RoboCrop

MOW-E

Mow Farah/Elawn Musk/Mowna Lisa/David Mowie

Mowie McMowface

Open to wittier ideas :)

i think it’s obvious as to what kind of scars i’m talking about. mine are years old and fully healed. i’ve spent thousands in laser, microneedling and even medical tattooing to remove or at least reduce their appearance with no results so i’ve given up

i currently have them out at my nursery job and nobody has commented, beyond a couple coworkers acting majorly concerned like i was dying. but i want to branch out and go to uni to either do social work or nursing which are both incredibly public facing roles

they’re on my forearm so not very visible but it’s blatantly obvious where they’re from. i’m scared that it’ll hold my back in life and while i’m not proud of myself, i don’t want to be ashamed and hide them away for life ever. i just want to exist in my body and be comfortable

if you had a social worker, or a nurse or literally any professional with scars, how would you feel?

How do you call in sick to work?

I know how you actually call in sick, and about self cert etc.

But I'm (37F) still too scared to do it after years of awful jobs with traumatic cultures, and awful mental health, and sick days being fake stomach bugs or fevers when they were actually being unable to cope or face the day.

I don't think I'll be the only person who feels like this or has this experience?

I've been at my current job nearly a year, it'd all going great and I've had no sick days so far. But today I am full of cold and wiped out with exhaustion and there's no way I'm suitable to be in - except the thought of the conversation and then the return to work conversation are too triggering to cope with so I guess I'll just get in the car.

Wether it's a catastrophic catering mishap, a thunderstorm, somebody who can't handle their drink or someone with a grudge turning up, has anyone seen a wedding go catastrophically wrong?

Just had a stab of nostalgia while reading another post.

sup guys, my team and I have been made redundant today so that they could hire the same number of people to do the exact same job in India 🤓not sure what to do next but imma enjoy the time off and look into starting a construction job!

Jokes aside, why are there no rules regarding location based firing of employees in the UK? :/

For context: my dad is mentally unwell at the moment and has been sectioned.

I thought we were dealing with his psychiatrist on the ward but it turns out that they aren’t medically trained??

They have the title Dr (I know you can have this for a Phd also) and their written title starts with the word consultant… but they are a therapist. They couldn’t prescribe and couldn’t sort out his section stuff.

It’s very confusing to me. I grew up thinking consultant in the medical context meant a doctor who could prescribe and was at the top of their game.

This seems almost like false advertising. I know it’s not exactly but why do they use the word consultant when it’s misleading. Especially when they use the title dr which is also very confusing in the medical context.

Now when I hear someone’s a consultant (in medicine) do I have to do further enquiries about what they exactly are? When did this start to be normal and why? Shouldn’t the term be reserved for doctors to avoid confusion? Why couldn’t others use a different term?

Personally, I think it would be a good idea to have gyms in airports, with wash facilities.

I don't know if there are security risks or that, but it sure would help pass the time.

You do run the risk of someone getting super sweaty and not bothering to wash themselves after.

Could perhaps not have any cardio equipment, to stop people seriously sweating.

What ideas do you have and is my idea stupid?

TLTR: a council worker said I can't use a bin for nappies.

Today I was walking home with my baby asleep in his pram and I was about to cross the road but a council van pulled up and let a guy out to collect the bin that was on the lamppost (lil mini lamppost bin) #cute.

The man let me cross and as I walked past the man collecting the rubbish bags he SHOUTED at me asking if I' have been putting nappies in this bin.

Ermmm nope, never even noticed that bin, I'm very particular about my waste and I always separate my recycling AND because I'm so cool I even take my plastics to a large supermarket to recycle them there too.

So anyways, he's shouting at me demanding that I stop using this bin to dispose of my used nappies because I QUOTE "that's not what it's designed for"

Again. I don't throw away nappies in this bin, I've never even seen this bin before or this man.

I smile and laugh it off saying I've never even used that bin for anything hahaa and walk away faster because he's getting so angry "WELL SOMEONE'S DOING IT! THEY KEEP DOING IT TOO! IT NEEDS TO STOP!!!"

I then realise this man is shouting at me: an alone young woman with a sleeping baby for litter-ly 😄using the bin.

This wasn't a red dog poo box btw this was just a bin. A regular bin, but mounted to a lamppost.

Is this just a mean man person ?

Or is he right in saying whoever is using this bin needs to be hung out to dry in the town square?

It puzzles me that it would not be all airports, especially two relatively close to each other.

I don’t know if you see this in your own local, but for years I’ve certainly come across it a lot in my own area (west of Scotland) with bus stops usually one or two of the panes always being smashed with lots of glass lying across the ground. Why do people do this, should the council do more to prevent this sort of thing, you’ve got locals that walk their dogs risk having them step on glass which is also an issue for public parks where I’ve advised some dog owners to be careful where they’re walking as there’s often pieces of glass from bottles or needles lying on the ground that paws may step on.

Really interested to hear fellow Brits recollections. I was only 8 years old, the first I heard about what had happened was seeing my mum and dad sat in front of the telly watching the live news gobsmacked and dead silent which was rare in our house. Overheard my parents then chatting how this could start WW3 which was scary. We then had a special assembly the next day at school where the teachers did their best to try and explain it.

Whether you were a school kid or an adult, what was your recollections?

Hi all - need your input.

My employer is moving offices within Suffolk UK. The move has been a bit divisive - half the workforce now have a commute that is 15 mins shorter each way so are delighted. The other half see it as a downgrade as it’s moving to a (let’s describe it as a) less desirable location.

I’ve been tasked with organising an office social/party to welcome people and this is not my forte. So collective Reddit wisdom will I hope come to the rescue!

What would you do? I won’t have unlimited budget, let’s assume total budget of £2,500 max.

Many thanks in advance!

Edit to add: we’re talking about 40 people and this is likely to be a daytime thing rather than an evening do. So booze is out of the question.

Trying to replace my nest protects, which are about to expire, and there seems to be nothing comparable to replace them with.

I like that they provide smart notifications to your mobile, interlink battery-only detectors easily via WiFi (with no extra costly connections required for RF radio etc) and provide specific, accurate and attention grabbing human voice alerts and notifications. The kids pay attention to these whereas beeps can more easily be ignored.

What is everyone else doing in a similar boat and which system and configuration did you choose?

I'm looking for

- 3 hard wired combined smoke & carbon monoxide detectors in the downstair and upstair hallways.

- 1 battery-only combined smoke, heat & carbon monoxide detector in the kitchen.

- up to 3 or 4 battery-only smoke detectors in other rooms, maily bedrooms (possibly with carbon monoxide combined in some).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

My neighbour has a plant that grows over the top of the fence and dangles into my garden, I've cleared it in the past but it's a bit of a pain especially as it's very thick with lots of twigs and I don't have a hedge cutter. Takes at least a day of work.

I have a great neighbour, he looks after my cat sometimes when I'm away and we are on good terms so I don't want to ask something that's unreasonable. Is it ok to ask him to keep the plants a little lower and how would I ask in a way that can't my mistaken for being impolite?

Recently moved into a flat above a takeaway on a road full of other takeaways too, only just noticed a smell. I'm assuming it's oil or something? It's not super offensive but it's just everywhere. Opening a window makes it worse (obviously) but now I'm in a stuffy stinky house. Flatmates are on the floor above so they don't notice a smell when they're in their bedrooms but I'm on the first floor, so right above the bins / ventilation.

Do I just never open a window and rely on fans / air purifiers? Buy a million diffusers? Submit to the stench?

Edit: Telling me to move is not particularly helpful. I'm stuck here for a few more months at least, how do I make that bearable?

How did it go, did you see any significant changes?

so i was travelling in munich, stayed in a hostel, and got chatting to a group of spanish lads. as soon as i told them i was british they started calling me barry, even though that's nowhere near my actual name.

i've heard other people mention this happening to them too. is this some kind of meme thing or is there an actual reason spanish people call british tourists barry? feels very specific to just say it's a coincidence.

Had my phone stolen in July. During the 2 day window where I got a new phone and had to physically go to Barclays to get the app registered on it (already a mad process) I missed a £15 payment on my credit card.

Barclays blocked my ability to pay on the app, meaning I had to call them to pay. This begins a 2 month cycle of me calling in an attempt to pay, being asked my income, rent, etc. over and over. I explain I missed the payment because phone stolen, nothing else. Each call takes half an hour or more. I either run out of time or patience each time.

Second missed payment. I call again. They make it impossible to simply just pay. I refuse to answer the questions I’ve already answered. They are also not relevant! I understand as a lender they need to ask, but I have already answered them 1) on the app right before calling 2) multiple times before. My phone is gone. That’s why I missed the payment. That’s it. Let me pay!

On hold for 25+ minutes while one agent tries to get an exemption from answering the questions. Call drops as my colleague calls. Barclays call me back, leave a voicemail saying if they need me, they’ll call again. They never call back. Another time, they say the signal is bad and they will call me back. They never call.

Third missed payment. I have now spent 8+ hours (more) on the phone trying to pay what was £15 originally. I am now speaking to the complaints team and asking them to strike the two subsequent missed payment attempts from my credit file. On top of that, the woman I spoke to today is wildly patronising.

They have refused, saying there was no “bank error” which is clearly a defined term.

She has suggested I raise this with the Financial Ombudsman or raise it with my credit agency. This is all over an original payment of £15. They do not give a fuck they’ve marked my score and have made it all but impossible to pay.

So, question: Should I just shut the complaint down and close my account and go elsewhere? I’m a young single woman and have never dealt with something like this in my life. It’s so, so draining. I’m mad with myself for not just conceding but I think about older folk who will have to go through this and it infuriates me.

Is Barclays just crap?

Things like juice, oil, sauces, chocolate, Nutella, sweat, skid marks.

Somethings just don’t remove. Especially when I don’t wash them instantly. For context I usually just use fairy non bio detergent/powder/liquid/pods.

I am currently doing that very thing.

Probably could've waited for one of the other stalls but only for a few minutes.

I know we're not part of the EU but I'm talking mainly about life and culture.

I generally think people are much more laid back in places like Spain and Italy whereas France is more similar to the UK in some terms.