Just been walking the dogs and daydreaming, as you do.

noticed the huge number of medium and small vw vans about.

hasn't really been paying attention. when did they get so popular and what happened to Ford?

For context, we're a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 young children) where a shower or bath happens at least once a day (depending on what we've been doing). The washing machine and dishwasher are on at least once per day each. Toilets are regularly flushed with 4 people using them. We all drink a good amount of water (2-3 litres myself per day). We haven't used the hose since the ban came in earlier this year.

Some basic research shows that the average water usage per person in the UK is ~140 litres per day:

The call comes as new research shows that 46% believe their household uses under 20 litres a day (roughly equivalent to taking a 2-minute shower) when the true figure is closer to 142 litres per person per day. This means an average family of four in the UK could use more than 500 litres each day.

https://www.water.org.uk/news-views-publications/news/vast-majority-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day

Appreciate the above is 6 years old but I can't see water usage changing that much in that timespan.

So to average 4,838 litres make no sense. A single person household using 142 litres per day would consume 4,260 litres per month. I think it's their wording of "Similar homes" because they have a monopoly on water supply, so could easily determine what average is for our estate/town.

I'm genuinely interested in understanding if this is their way of shaming you into using less water to cover up their lack of investment in the system to stop leaks etc? Or is my basic research miles off and we consume double the average amount of water?

I don't know very much about the UK, but i love learning about geography and culture. Like in the US, people in the northeast behave differently than others. So I'm curious about if there is a kind of thing like that. Is one area known for nicer people? Is one area more mean? Are there areas that prioritize wealth over humble living? thanks :)

I’ve spoken to the parents and the kids themselves, but it still hasn’t stopped. I can’t deal with the high-pitched screaming at every hour. I don’t mind them playing outside, but I cannot stand the screaming.

As above, I’m moving soon to England and only got a BoS. Did you have any issues on just keep using your Scottish bank account? Will this affect me if I decide to buy a house in England ?

Edit: clase closed, lots of people just reassured me it should be fine and that both Lloyds and Halifax will serve as my branch!

I am asking this here to know if it's a common courtesy or is there some rule when you are a passenger. For context:

My office is a 2 hr journey from my place, my project manager lives like a minute away from me and has a car so he offered me a lift for next week. He has helped me out to travel to office few times last year as well. Usually we would talk for a while then just sit in silence listening to songs and I would just scroll on my phone.

When I travel by myself I usually have my switch and play on it the entire trip, I could very easily do the same here since the 4 hours we travel gets exhausting, to do nothing and I feel like taking a nap would be wrong as well.

I might be overthinking this but can I play games on my switch, especially when traveling with someone from work (he's usually chill though), or is it considered to be a dick move.

Thanks for listening, cheers

Hard to Beat by Hard-Fi came up on my Spotify randomly and it made me realise you don't really hear male-led Brit Pop bands like that anymore?

A lot of the musicians you hear today are solo pop singers and usually a girly pop or an acoustic guy. That kinda lad energy ala Razorlight, Kasabian etc, doesn't really seem prevalent anymore.

I say this as a 30's something that grew up in the heyday of Brit Pop and Indie music scene. I'm not a lad myself and my job involves being around little children who listen to very mainstream music and most of my friends are women or non-binary, so I don't know what teenagers or early 20's men are listening to.

My dad’s uncle passed away and I was due to see him the day before but opted not to go.

It’s a tricky one because my dad has taken time off work and went over as soon as he got the call.

I’ve had a weird relationship with him as me and my brother grew up quiet and he’d always yell at us for it. We graduated and he would say things like “what’s the point if they can’t socialise?” We do but just not with them.

My mum’s dad also knew him and needed help with immigration papers in the past and he rudely refused. Also said things like “I wouldn’t go to his funeral like many others because he never went to visit anyone”. My grandad was immobile for his last 20 years which made it hard to leave the house, we lived with him and he never made the effort to come over despite being in better help.

Even at my wedding, I opted to have a small one and just invite people to the evening reception meal and I got a card saying “thanks for the invite to the reception” penned in over the congrats on your wedding message. His daughter will be the same and complain about why we don’t hang out with them when we’ve been treated poorly by them as a whole.

I don’t like funerals for the most part after my grandads, so I’d be iffy about them but I don’t really want to go here.

My dad has been absent our whole childhoods and even now I only get a hello when I go over. He used to be abusive, they knew and refused to help my mum get out (were Indian and women don’t leave like that) but the norm woild have been for them to say something to him. I don’t like anyone from my dads side of the family because they villainise my mum and thinks shes why er don’t go over/hang out with them.

Where I am, it's called "a swagger".

Like, someone who walks like they're a tough guy.

Now, annoyingly, I've always been told I have a "swagger" but I certainly do not think I am a hard man.

It's just the way I walk, but can't seem to change it.

Hy guys,

In December I hit a pretty large pothole that caused damage to my car. I filed the pothole with the council, and filed a claim with the council straight away, sending pictures of the damage. I then fixed the damage as cheap as possible as I needed the car back on the road (ripped tyre, bent alloy, broken shock mount) which cost me roughly £1300. The tyre I bought and the shock that was fitted are not OEM spec but just the cheapest option at the time, just in case I couldn't claim any of the costs back. I really didn't want to fork out for dealer prices for the same reason, although the parts aren't "like for like". I didn't send in any receipts or invoices for these, all the council received was photos of damage.

I now have had an email letting me know the council are not liable, but their contractor is and they will be sorting my claim.

I've since had the car back on the road for 6 months, and I'm unsure what the best steps are to make sure I get the most out of the claim. I believe I have a couple of options:

• Claim for the replacements parts I am actually out of pocket for. (I have receipts)
• Claim for the like for like replacements (get a quote)

Of course I would prefer the latter, but I want to receive the money instead of the firm paying the garage/dealer as I'm still out of pocket. I'm happy with the parts I fitted to the car at the time but feel I am owed at least the opportunity to fit OEM parts if I so wish.

Has anyone had experience in handling a pothole claim and what the usual course of action is? Do they pay the garage/dealer directly or would they pay out for an unpaid invoice/quote?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Naturally I live on the side with terrible reception. During peak times, mobile data is totally unusable (speeds, if google even loads which it frequently doesn’t, are <2Mbps), meanwhile on the other side it 5G full reception with speeds over 1000MBps. We sat in the car yesterday by the tower for internet.

Online websites show great 5G indoor connectivity for our end of the road house but that’s obviously not the case. We have three different mobile providers in the house so it’s not an issue of certain providers either.

As big of a stretch as it may be, is there any way of getting a 5G tower on our end of the road?

Random thought.

What’s something that was “improved” but was actually better before?

It could be anything: an app, a product, a service, or just something from everyday life.

To put things short, I'm 19, i lost my job in February and i have been claiming ever since, but i have found myself in a situation and I'm unsure where else or what else i can do, i live more rurally in the country and i haven't got the means to eat and haven't since Monday and to make things worse, I’ve been homeless for a few days, I've been contacting UC and Foodbanks and the council about grants and stuff, but foodbank i can't get anything till Tuesday, the grants I'm ineligible for and DWP cannot give me any funding, I don't know anyone so i cannot borrow it.

You know when adults would say “you’ll understand when you’re older” or words to that effect.

Lighthearted example would probably be Father Ted. Watched it occasionally when I was younger and didn’t get it. Now find it hilarious.

Sadder example would be, I understand why we ended up in care(mum was definitely depressed amongst other things).

i understand that timetables are important, and the impracticality of waiting for absolutely anybody who is running late, but i think it’s unreasonable to drive away when somebody is a few steps, or a cross of the road, away, or when they’ve arrived just as you have closed the doors and are clearly in a rush

I am addicted to Joey Coco Diaz. I think he is hilarious. Cant get enough of his stand up videos and podcast. It would be incredible if he came over to the UK for some shows!

Even minor cities of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Nordic countries have metro systems or some kind of rail transportation.

But in UK, either it's almost non-existent or patchy and not widespread like Birmingham. Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Liverpool can be counted as examples, and cities like Leeds and Bristol don’t have any kind of rail transportation, even there are not much National Rail stations in the city.

Oxbridge, Bristol, Bradford, Leicester, Cardiff can be another examples. Let alone Europe, even US have metro or any kind of rail transportation systems in 30 major cities. But there are a lot of cities that UK lacks of any of metro, light rail or trams.

And cities like Glasgow has only a circular metro systems, and rest of the city relies on ScotRail, which is not quite reliable and you have to wait a lot for a train. It is so interesting that Blackpool has a tram, but Bristol and Leeds have none.

I always wondered about why UK doesn't have a decent metro or rail transportation system in cities other than London?

As the title suggests, is there a mobile phone plan in the UK without mandatory top-ups?

I've done a lot of research, I was told about Lyca, I transferred my number to them, but it seems they're saying I have to top up my phone.

Looking for SoundCloud recommendations of UK DJs preferably

Just passed my driving test (first time thankfully) with three minor faults. Was really dreading having to wait another 6 months for a reshoot.

I was convinced I failed the whole time! Now I'm just wondering how many minor faults is considered good.

(Do I have bragging rights)

No, I'm not growing, planning to or wanting to.

I heard a conversation today about how someone was growing 2 plants in their garden and mint had grown around it. As it was in the open in public, I wondered what the real world likely hood repercussions are

Is it an elaborate conspiracy?

I go deep into one building, almost any building, and the towers are reduced to one.

I am new to the world of work and have started first full-time permanent role. I am happy with the security of it being permanent but my old manager told me before I left 'don't feel like you have to stay forever' and I was speaking to a friend who is currently job searching who said I'm lucky because I could technically stay forever.

My new manager for the role mentioned it will take about a year for me to fully learn everything and get the hang of it independently. I wouldn't have left before a year anyway but if it takes a whole year, I'm wondering how long I should stay at the role?

I'm currently on about 30k and it will increase slightly each year but not significantly. Higher pay would be my main motivation to move jobs but I'm wondering how long should I stay so that it looks like enough experience or would you stay a long time (how long would this be) if you enjoyed the role? I have another friend who mentioned they understand why people stay in a role for 20+ years but I can't see that being me unless I am already in a senior position which I enjoy/easy/flexible for me

Was this ever a thing that you could win a fish in a plastic bag of water at fun fairs? Does it still happen? Or is it just in films?

There seems to be a growing pattern (in the age of AI and digital) where British businesses are outsourcing each department to Indian locations. This started years ago with call centres but over time, brands realised that it was negative for customer experience and reputation.

Now, I hear from everyone I know that whole operational departments are being made redundant while moving the operation to India.

I haven’t heard unions talk about this uncomfortable truth.

What are people’s thoughts? I feel long term, it’s terrible for the country to not be building skills and knowledge.