M22. I only ever hear negativity from brits on what life is like here. I'm welsh and have spent time in pembrokeshire, cardiff, norwich, chichester and I love it here.

Idk if all this negativity is fair or not. I know a lot of people are struggling (myself included financially). However, this country has so much more going for it than 95% of the world and i personally love it here more than any of the other 40 countries i have visited. The countryside, architecture, cities, music, history, culture, and entertainment are all elite.

The only thing issue i really do feel is how everything is so expensive (driving, public transport, rent etc) , though we have loads of great free things as well (NHS, countryside)

Had to get this out as its been on my mind, id love to hear why people disagree or why people may feel the same as i do.

Typical. We book a summery date for the wedding and now the forecast is looking like rain 50% chance as well as lower temperatures.

The wife (to be) is devastated. I keep trying to cheer her up by saying we will still have an amazing day and use the contingency plan. It’s not even happened yet but she’s already upset as she had a picture in her head of everyone outside enjoying the canapés, drinking pimms and champagne as well as our wedding photos in the grounds garden.

Has anyone ever had this and if so how did you deal with it? Was it still a great day, did the missus or fella still enjoy themselves?

We live in an era where we can travel almost anywhere in the world at the click of a button. We can go down to the food store and buy food without needing to hunt or work hard to get our daily meal/s. We live better than pretty much any royal person in previous eras, even those from as recent as 100-200 years ago. We have modern medicine which is absolutely massive, and has been a game changer globally.

We have a myriad of transport to get places domestically without the need for a horse or walking. We now get to experience so much more of even this country, rather than being limited to one area like many would have before modern transport. We can meet strangers online or via apps, even people from other countries.

Via YouTube we get to see other countries and places. We get to learn almost anything we want to from the Internet. We have mobile phones so contact with others is easy. The list goes on. Do we often take what we have in our current times for granted?

I'm talking about the stuff you wouldn't admit on a first or second date

Feel like lots of the current advice is outdated or not aimed at a UK specific audience and I'm looking for ideas

I'm turning 31 in just over two weeks, and apart from a few people I do a niche sport with, I'm basically a complete larry. I've drifted apart from my college/uni mates over the years as our lives have gone in different directions, and last year I spent about four months after my birthday in a profound depression. Since I'd like to give myself the best chance possible of avoiding that this year, and my birthday comes right after payday:

How would you spend a 31st birthday on your todd?

31, M, size 9.5 shoes, and the most interesting thing about me is that I once got paid to have malaria for two weeks.

I love these anecdote-based Q&As on this sub.

What's a weird, funny or somehow otherwise notable experience you've had when viewing a property (to rent or to buy) or when you are the person whose property is being visited by prospective takers? Weird agents? Weird prospective buyers/sellers? Bizarre requests/criticisms/needs? Strange items left visible?

Mine is probably fairly tame - I once visited a rental where the outgoing tenant had printed and framed dozens of his payslips and hung them up on the wall.

For those who went through the 2008 crisis, how bad were things then compared to now?

Was the job market better or worse than now? How was standard of life back then vs now?

I have tried pretty much every OTC HayFever treatment out there, and the 'least bad' is Fexofenadine (plus a Benadryl nasal spray). Even with these though, I find myself becoming a virtual hermit for the majority of June each year as my symptoms are too bad.

As a result I am considering seeing my GP to ask if there is anything they can prescribe which might be more effective. Just wondered what other people's experiences with prescription HayFever treatments.

I've completed my hairdressing level 3 at college, and unfortunately, after ringing/enquiring at every salon that I could realistically get to....I can't find a job.

It got to the point where I just needed any job because of money, obviously.

After applying to loads of hospitality, retail, etc, I've got a job at wetherspoons.

I'm currently completing my online training, then I've been told they should add me onto the rota.

My plan is to hopefully get a hair salon to work in, but I mean if that doesn't work....I don't know what to do.

I mean, the unpredictable hours aren't ideal and working most weekends, so I've thought about working here for a few months, getting some experience in kitchens, and possibly moving onto school kitchens?

That's if I actually like working in kitchens, though, which I don't know yet, but I've been told my daily tasks, and I think I will enjoy it.

My mum works in school kitchens, so I have that connection, which I'm obviously grateful to have, but I've realised that I don't really have a " dream job" I mean, do I want to be a hairdresser? Yes. But would I also not mind working in school kitchens? No. Is hairdressing my " dream job" I don't think so.

I've sort of discovered that I don't have a particular passion for one job/career, and seeing my friends head towards certain careers makes me feel like a low life, because I honestly don't know what my dream job is.

I guess I'm just going to play it by ear, and hopefully, it all works out!

If anyone has been in a similar position to me, I could do with some good advice.

I want to set up my best friend and my husband's best friend but they're both very shy and reserved people. I don't want to force anything but I'd like to get them talking. I was thinking we could have a BBQ with a couple of other friends and we'd play some board/card games and I'd team them up so they have to interact together. We're all 36-38 years old.

Anyone have any ideas of games?

When those digital revolving picture frames became popular about 20 years ago, I remember saying, "These are a fad. Total novelty. It'll never stick". I haven't seen one in forever.

Genuine non judgmental question, I completely forgot it existed until I remembered skin so soft.

Could I theoretically use this in a Tesco's?

I live in the south east of England

I'm having my wisdom tooth removed under local anaesthetic this week. Should I be pushing for this to be classed as sick leave rather than annual leave at work? In particular for the day itself and the days after. I work from home at a desk job.

I (mid-forties, former Indie type) lived in north London in the mid 2000s. Currently feeling nostalgic about my bus commute and the music I used to listen to on my Creative Zen. Happy bloody days! Unfortunately I no longer have the WMP library I used for stocking up that player and I can only remember a few songs from my playlists. Can anyone suggest what the heck else I might have been listening to in that period, based on my vague memories below?!

Stephen Fretwell - Run, Emily

José Gonzalez - Heartbeats

The Brazilian guy who did the Steve Zizou soundtrack

Guillemots - Get Over It

The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way

Kanyé West - Golddigger

Pigeon Detectives (??) - Moving to New York

That song that went "What's that coming over the hill is it a MONSTER"

The warbly woman who did the song for the Orange advert with the balloons (Joanna Newsome?)

Röyksopp, Zero 7, Air etc

(My musical background prior to this was broadly Massive Attack, 90s Britpop etc, but I remember in the mid-2000s I was pretty proud of myself for listening to more current music 😁)

Any suggestions welcome!

UPDATE: This has been a real trip down memory lane, THANK YOU for all contributions - I have plenty of new-to-me stuff to look up here as well as plenty of right answers. Off to start a new playlist 😀

Alright folks, hoping this will brighten up some Monday mornings. I need your help on a very serious matter.

It's Monday, June already, and here at least it's raining. Grizzly start to the week. So, comfort food tonight: I'm going to make cheese on toast. I haven't made it in ages and really fancy it.

But I can't decide what cheese to use. That's where you lot come in. Current top runners are extra mature cheddar or gruyère. I'm looking for your votes. Alternative suggestions also considered.

Bonus question: what else would you have with your cheese on toast? Soup is a popular choice of course, but what else might you go for?

Throughout my life, I (28m) have met people who don't mind, as their relationship is more like roommates, as opposed to a parents/son.

Meanwhile, I've also met others who genunally can't wait to kick them out as soon as they turn 18, unable to understand that life is more expensive, but do it anyway because "That's what we did".

I'd personally like to imagine that most wouldn't mind, but who knows?

As long as your son/daughter wasn't a useless layabout and actually contributed to the household in a meaningful way, would you mind if they still lived at home in this day and age?

EDIT: Much more engagement than I thought, but it seems like most don't mind.

For context, I have no siblings and both myself and my parents get along really well. I do pay board (£80 per week), do my own chores as you would expect, and also work with my dad.

Hi! So I’ve been dealing with severe pains when I am on my period for almost two years now. Everytime I go to my GP they pawn me off, they’ve tried giving me painkillers, putting me on different types of birth control methods to see if it will calm it down but nothing has helped, does anyone know if I went to the hospital and basically demanded for them to do tests on me, do you think they would help me? I can’t go on like this I miss work etc because of the pain when it’s day 1 & 2

Job market and life in general is tough in many places. For example europe has high unemployment too. Yet some always go on about how poor UK is doing in comparison but the issues are the same.

I hate B&M. I know it’s always been cheap sh!t but over the past year or so, literally everything we’ve bought from there has either been useless or broken in record time.

Household storage? Cheap plastic, broke in days. Furniture? Badly made, broke.
Solar lights for garden? Half didn’t work, half after it rained.
Pegs? Fell apart.
Clothes airer? Broke.
Gadgets? Either don’t do what they say, or break in no time.
Phone holder for the car? Doesn’t stick to the windscreen and can’t support a normal smart phone.
Garden hose accessories? Leak.

There’s a handful of exceptions (the branded food is largely exactly what you’d expect, and they do sell a solid watering can) but largely I think it’s all such bad quality that even at their cheap(ish) prices, it’s still a total waste of money.

But I’ve been accused of being a snob because I’d prefer to go elsewhere and pay a bit more.

Am I in the wrong here?! Am I a snob?

I desperately want to use my phone less. It’s such a time suck and I often don’t even enjoy it. I’m 33. I can remember a life without smart phones but I can’t remember what I used to DO in dead time.

Like this morning. I’ve finished my breakfast so now I’m just scrolling on my phone. Before I got up to make breakfast, I also scrolled on my phone. No plans today except a swim and some house jobs so I can see some high screen time in my future.

Please remind me. What did we used to do?

My manager has an ongoing issue with a colleague in our team. I enjoy working with the colleague and have had no issues with him; he is helpful and smart.

Last week the manager asked everyone in the team to carry out a simple task. Everyone completed the task but this colleague did used clumsy wording.

My manager has escalated this tiny issue with the aim of doing something to the colleague - a warning or performance management etc.

He wants me to send him an email using very particular wording - he wanted to sit next to me to draft the email but I said this made me very uncomfortable.

I absolutely do not want to get involved, and think the manager is being a bully by escalating a relatively small issue.

Equally, I don't want to annoy or offend my manager.
Any have any advice?

For starters, anything above 25 degrees makes me want to move country. I don't know what's wrong with me but I don't do heat well. So sorry for my moaning tone.

I have the standard south Asian wavy/borderline curly hair. It looks fine usually. I do absolutely fuck all to it - I haven't owned straighteners or curlers for 3 years. Tried lots of wavy/curly hair products they make it look awful. I haven't dyed or bleached it. Occasionally I will get highlights without bleach.

I get an expensive haircut every 6 to 12 months with all the works - feathers, layers and a good fringe. And then I just leave it as it is to wave as it wants and it looks completely fine. Great even.

Except now!! I don't know if it's the heat, the humidity, the car A/C (I've been driving more than I ever have), having the windows down or something else or that I'm showering in cold water up to three times a day (hair wash once a day max) and my Desi hair is used to being washed every two or three days, but it's just frizzy and flat now with no curl whatsoever. I oiled some of the frizz out and it just looks flat. Without oil I look like a homeless lady gone crazy, it's so frizzy. I've attached a photo of what I feel like - imagine that but like armpit length hair. What do I do?

It's still hot here, but dealable. I've got the fan on, dancing around my living room to one of my (MANY!) playlists on YouTube. Currently banging out Womack & Womack - Teardrops. 😸

Just around 2:30 am, one of my fire alarms downstairs went off a couple of times it kept going on and off. Then after a few minutes some more of my fire alarms went off but stopped. (I am not sure if all of them went off) currently no more have set off.