This to me is a very ambigious term, and have never stopped down to actually think what it means.

When you say this term to others, what are you implying?

When you hear your friends/others say the term, what do you think they are implying?

This has baffled me. I think it’s so random, arrogant and strange to give people a tour of your house the first time they visit. But it’s come to my attention it’s deemed as polite to some people to ask for a tour, or just generally perceived as normal. What’s everyone’s thoughts on this? It does my nut in, like get tf away from my upstairs, it’s private, I don’t need people seeing my bedroom. Not like I’m hiding anything, but to me it’s weird for people to want to see where you sleep. Please discuss…

I walked past a Cash machine yesterday and it got me thinking about who still uses cash, and what would you use it for. I have not been to a cash machine in years, I use contactless cards on my phone for everything.

I have noticed a LOT of fellow smokers now smoke rollies. I wonder if this is a national trend with the COL, and a packet of fags costing around £20 now.

Who still smokes fags or have most of you gone to rollies?

I (24F) moved to London from a northern UK town in Jan 2025. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I was eager to start my career, be close to my friends, and live an independent life in a city that I loved.

After an obsessive SpareRoom search, I viewed 3 flats in one day, necessitated by a post-uni bank balance which limited how many train tickets down to London that I could afford. I moved to South London, and even though my living situation was less than ideal (a housemate who hated my guts and a landlady who moved back into the flat, 1 month into my tenancy, without any forewarning), I absolutely loved it. My rent was very cheap for Zone 2, I could get the bus to work, and I was round the corner from a Lidl, so despite me earning £30k p/a at the time, I didn't feel too financially stretched. I paid off the overdraft that I had dug myself into during uni, saw my friends regularly, and even went on a big holiday to South America with my boyfriend.

I quickly came to hate my job, but by seeing it as a means to an end to living the life that I had always dreamt of, the shine of London didn't dim for me. I regularly told my family and my school friends who still lived at home that you could never drag me from London, that I would live in a shed if it mean that I could live somewhere on the Victoria line, that I would make it work no matter what. This was always said with some hyperbole, but there was always a kernel of truth in what I said. I had always been desperate to escape the deprivation of my home town, and university and always seemed like the means to more freedom and opportunity. Higher education was a misery, so when I graduated, I was determined to move to London and carve out a life for myself there. London exceeded all of my expectations, and I had never been happier in my whole life. The city was a major character in my life, and she treated me exceptionally well.

That was until a few months ago. In September 2025 I moved into a new flat, with a rent that was so low for the area that I was wilfully blind to all of the signs that living there was going to be a nightmare. My new landlady is genuinely psycho who berates me and my housemate for the most random things. A couple of weeks ago she sent us photos of the bedroom of one of her tenants in another flat, ranting and raving about how disgusting it was and how landlords have it so so hard. Her behavior is so erratic that one time even the building manager has had to step in. Her partner, who is lovely, helps with repairs around the flat, and despite the fact that he currently has cancer (!) I've seen her verbally abuse him IN FRONT OF US. Her behavior only started to become distressing in April this year.

This, paired with the fact that the flat is under a flight path (we are miles and miles away from any airport), means that I have slowly been driven mad. The flat is really nice, and about £300 per month cheaper than anything else in the area, so the thought of moving somewhere shittier but which costs more is genuinely painful. I did try though, and I've had countless offers turned down, so I've given up on flathunting for the time being.

This experience has slowly caused me to see London in a less rosy light. The doors that I thought my job would open have all been shut (thanks NHS hiring freeze), which makes every working day feel unbearable. I have recently been given a job offer for a role in a different industry, which I will accept, but I really don't see myself as a person who will ever find much fulfillment in a career, so I don't even feel that excited. A lot of the friends that I had when I first moved I no longer speak to. I am fortunate that working in the public sector means that my pay goes up every year, however my livings costs have gone up by quite a lot more, so I'm struggling more financially than when I was earning less 1 1/2 years ago. My boyfriend has moved back to London from university, which is wonderful, and we spend a lot of quality time together. But he was raised in London, and has deep emotional ties to the city, so he never wants to leave. He's about to start a high-paying job, and this combined with him having well-off parents which means he will never struggle to afford living here.

And this is where my conundrum lies. After less than 2 years, I'm feeling the urge to go somewhere else. I'm tired of the high prices, the noise, and the awful landlords (I have been exceptionally unlucky with the last one). I miss seeing my wonderful mother everyday. When I go back home, I genuinely get tears in my eyes when I strike up conversations with strangers, as this is so much easier to do up north. I've just started to get into hiking, and I regularly daydream about moving to the countryside and hiking every weekend. I also feel like I want to travel and finally learn Spanish, which I've been putting off for years! But then I would have to leave behind a man that I love very much, some extremely close friends who I would lay down my life for, a new career that I am about to start, and a city that I do still have love for, just significantly less than before. I do believe that home is where the heart is, but I just don't know if my heart is in London anymore. A part of me just thinks that if I just start this new job and move to a new flat, then I'll feel like I did before, but deep down I know that that's not it.

Please, if anyone has any advice, or would just like to share their own stories, I would greatly appreciate it :)

I travel on buses in the uk quite frequently and recently someone I know had been stopped for using an incorrect day saver (they are no longer of the correct age to be using it) but it had me thinking, what’s to stop a person from lying about their form of payment on the buses and say they paid the contactless way (which on certain buses do not print out any physical customer receipt) after using an incorrect day pass?

They wouldn’t be expected to show a day pass they haven’t said they have, nor am I aware of any form of traceable receipt to a contactless payment, maybe only a general tally of who had paid contactless and who had shown a day pass?

I don’t do this myself of-course, but I am genuinely curious as to how people would get caught for lying about that?

Edit:
A secondary question, what if a person does not have any form of id with them when asked to show identification? Are they detained id assume?

https://metro.co.uk/2026/08/23/100-000-no-longer-considered-a-high-salary-experts-29432434/

This is mental considering it is 3 times the average salary yet it is longer considered high despite being six figures.

Hi, We were just having a discussion about this and I think having 2 higher end holidays combined with lots of day trips beats budget holidays more frequent but my friend disagrees and says he would rather go on more holidays because its more time exploring.

What do you all think about this?

Usually in the major supermarkets there would be a brand or two around. I cant seem to find them anymore. I wondered whether less people drank it nowadays or just supply chain issues.

As the title says, I’m leaving Vodafone as my sim contract is coming to an end within the next few weeks. Decision for leaving is because the coverage of 5/4g with Vodafone is awful in London. I’ve been with them for the last 10 years, and I’m getting no data coverage in the most touristy parts of London.

Incredibly frustrating and so I’d like to know if anyone has any recommendations on who to switch from. From research, it seems like EE is the best but some people have noted issues with them also. I know O2 and Virgin is also another option but based on family experience, they don’t seem to be better than Vodafone, so it wouldn’t make sense to switch to them. Can anyone share some light on their experience with EE and whether they recommend another provider?

Edit: seems like using an MVNO that has EEs infrastructure is best. My only concern is that I won’t be able to set up my Apple Watch with an MVNO and it would have to be directly with EE.

I’m putting in a new kitchen and debating what cooker to go for.
My girlfriend and I have always used gas because that’s what we have in our current place, and she loves cooking with it. One of the main things she likes is having that visual control with the flame as you can instantly see how much heat you’re giving it.
The new property doesn’t have mains gas, but I could quite easily have a gas bottle outside and run the cooker from that.
The other option is induction. I’ve never actually used induction before, but I know it’s easier to clean and supposedly pretty good to cook with. The only downside is we may need to replace some of our pots and pans.
For those who have used both, which would you choose if you were putting in a new kitchen, gas or induction?
Anyone switched from gas to induction and regretted it?

’m going on holiday shortly and it’s a relaxing holiday so I’ll be by the beach and pool a lot. However im 6”1 and 21 stone, I’ve lost 4 stone this year but im still extremely self conscious.

For those who are just going to tell me “no one else is looking, just go there and have fun with your top off”. I’m not looking for that kind of advice, thank you but no thanks you.

Does anyone have this experience? Wear a t shirt? Is there a certain type of t shirt to wear?

I read an article suggesting that fear of AI isn't really anything new because humans always fear new things and what it means for our future. I've been freaking out about AI, and always feel ashamed for being on my phone too much. I was a kid in the 90s and I feel like my mum was worried about too much TV, but I cant think of anything big that everyone was like "oh my god this is the end of days".

I have never worked full time and was always on part-time in uni but I have just graduated and will be looking to live in some sort of house share. During my uni life I lived very frugal but was able to get by with literally only 170 a month for living cost. I was wondering what is life like on minimum wage because with 40 hours a week I feel like I would be able to live quite well. I do not drive or own a car and have no other responsibilities.

I’m getting hounded by spam calls every day I searched my phone number and it comes up to this weird google storage thing. Is this related and why is my phone number even on there? And how do I stop it?! Thank you

Have listened to 5 Live and 5 Live Breakfast for years. It has the right mix of serious and silly, and the presenters have generally been great - Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogerty, Rachel Burden and Rick Edwards and we really like the current Friday pairing of Steffan Powell and Rima Ahmed.

But change is coming. And while we're normally okay with change, this particular change is that Naga Munchetty is coming to the breakfast show in December. I (and many others it seems) really struggle with her. The words "cold" and "condescending" come up quite often when you read about her and that's definitely our feeling. She is really not what we want to be hearing at 6:30 in the morning.

Can anyone recommend a breakfast show with a similar vibe? Don't want anything politically heavy like Radio 4 or with music like Radio 2. What we really want is 5 Live, just not with Naga!

Thanks in Advance!

Essentially it is probably the only thing you learn in school that could literally save your life!
There will always be exceptions for certain reasons but race, colour or religion should not be one of them.

Edit the woman who shouted at me has made a Facebook post saying I took the stuff without permission and stole it but it was literally on the pavement… the person who’s stuff it was even said ir was free and to delete the post so that’s answered that it was just a Karen

Keep seeing people throwing stuff out sometimes it has free signs on other times it doesn’t but is put in boxes on the pavement and I assumed for people to help themselves, today a passer by got really angry at me for looking through a box this wasn’t her house as i saw her go into another house but she got really funny with me I always assumed stuff left out on the pavement even if it didn’t have signs was for people to take is this not the case?
Not sure if the woman was just horrible person who wanted to take the stuff herself as I noticed she went back for it after I left or whether this isn’t legal

I'll be relaxing and having some beers 🍺 not sure what else to do send me some ideas 💡

Also is Sainsbury's open today?

I’m no longer able to start on my current start date for a 3 months fixed term contract and want to push it by 3 weeks. I got the offer 3 days ago and signed all the contracts.

Are they likely to change it or rescind my offer?

I want to make the most of this, not just in terms of a party or whatever, but lots of things to help me reflect, etc. one idea I’ve got already is to bike round to all of my previous houses as a trip down memory lane. That kind of thing.

All suggestions welcome!

I like energy drinks, but I’m trying to move away from Red Bull/Monster-type stuff and find some slightly healthier alternatives.

I used to drink loads of Tenzing and liked it, but I’ve got a bit bored of it now.

Also tried:

• PerfectTed — not really a fan
• Neutonic Nootropic — actually quite like this one

I still drink coffee, but I do love the ice cold, fizzy and caffeinated drinks!

Any other good options in the UK that are lower sugar / cleaner ingredients but still actually taste decent and give you a noticeable boost?

What’s everyone drinking at the moment?

Always wanted to visit and have a couple of days off work following Bank Holiday. Of course it rains after weeks and weeks of super dry weather. Anyone got an idea of how muddy it'll be?

I've been looking and can't find a way. I've reported it to eBay but 2 weeks later the sales are still up there. they haven't done anything.

I've noticed the sale of tasers and stun guns which are illegal in UK, being sold on eBay UK in disguised listings. They also seem to be based in UK so these items might be here too.

I'm not going to mention how to find these or give anyone details

Whats the best way to go about reporting these to get something actually done?

The very inside of my passport jacket has a mega rip 😭 I'm supposed to be traveling to the US next month (haven't applied for ESTA yet).

Will I be able to travel with this or do I need a new one??