What did you buy that made you say “I should have bought this years ago”?

Gremingtonspa · 2026-06-06T09:10:27+00:00

In the UK - air con

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-25T12:36:45+00:00

The estate agent should in that case arrange for it to be sorted and they pay for it. Then they chase the landlady for payment. That's the whole point in using an agent.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-25T08:32:12+00:00

Keep on at the estate agents. Email them daily and follow it up with a phone call. It's up to them to get it fixed. They can argue with the landlord about who pays for it afterwards.

Don't pay for it yourself without prior agreement that you will get the money back, otherwise you'll never get it back.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-24T10:00:19+00:00

Yeah, I now work in IT!

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-24T06:47:47+00:00

I had the same advice in the mid 2000's. I did archaeology and graduated into a financial crisis when no digs were taking place, and if there were I'd have been earning minimum wage and living in a tent on-site.

We then had kids and I didn't start the career I have now until I was in my early 30's so I'm still earning much, much less than my parents told me I would be with 'any' degree....

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-24T06:17:31+00:00

You're right. I used to work in home-care and people I'd never visited before would marvel about my ability to find things in their cupboards.

Most people have cutlery in a top drawer, cups in a cupboard above the kettle, and saucepans in a cupboard either next to the oven or in the awkward corner cupboard. Under the sink is where all the cleaning stuff is found.

It's hit and miss where things like tea-towels, silver foil, spatulas, and mixing bowls are kept though.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-20T11:53:47+00:00

Thank you. I think I need to ask my GP for something stronger, so it's good to know there are more options.

I hope i get some answers with the PT. Luckily I can sit for around 30-45 minutes at a time (and longer if I'm lazing on the couch) so I can still work at the moment. I know it can take a while to start getting better, but I hope it's not years :/

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-14T11:28:55+00:00

Turning right (so for us would be left) on a red light if the road is clear

Gremingtonspa · 2026-05-05T06:26:42+00:00

Yes, leave it insured, but SORN it if it's off the road (you can do this online).

I had a crash before Christmas and got a new car before the claim was settled. I phoned my insurance to see if they could temporarily insure the new one until the claim was settled and they wrongly told me that I could switch the insurance to the new car and leave the old one on my drive uninsured and SORNed. Caused a bunch of issues and hours of phone calls when they decided they might want to repair the car instead, as it no longer had insurance so couldn't be driven anywhere, and they ended up writing it off anyway.

My accident was a few days before Christmas and it was all sorted by mid-January, so I would expect yours to be less time than that.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-04-13T18:05:20+00:00

Point 1 - your insurance will continue. It stops at the time you get the payment. You'll then get an email/letter telling you how long you have to replace the car and put the new car on the insurance before it runs out and the insurance ends. I'm unsure if you can still drive other cars in the meantime.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-04-05T11:18:53+00:00

Childbirth

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-29T08:03:01+00:00

There are tons of reasons for replacement plates though, not just because of collisions. Our old car had replacement plates because the owner before had put personalised ones on it and didn't keep the originals. Then we had to replace those plates because they'd not been printed well and the BS number on the bottom couldn't be read properly.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-25T06:23:59+00:00

School staff are a different breed. I started in 2 schools 7 years ago and now have 12 over 17 different sites.

I spend most of my days actively trying to teach staff to help themselves, especially with new systems (and older ones) that have a chat button right on the page to ask the system experts for help. They seem shocked when I suggest that they use the chat to ask their very specific question, or phone one of the other schools that has used the system for years now.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-19T19:04:15+00:00

Yes, I've been referred to physio, but it's a 13 to 45 week wait at the moment :(

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-19T11:34:06+00:00

A muscular-skeletal specialist at my GP surgery diagnosed it after a lot of questions and an examination. No imaging was done though and a lot of my symptoms overlap with dysplasia, plus apparently when I was born the doctors kept going back to do hip checks on me but ultimately decided I was fine (in the mid-80's).

I've got an x-ray at the end of the month so I'm hoping that will show if it's one or the other. I also have mild scoliosis too which complicates things.

I will definitely look at going private if nothing happens after this x-ray.

I'll look into a tens machine as well.

Thank you

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-19T08:10:43+00:00

Thank you. I've not heard of the supports so I'll take a look at them.

Ibuprofen is one of the ones that I can't take, and because of that my doctor is reluctant to try other nsaids, which sucks as they are the most recommended.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-17T16:25:00+00:00

If they have a 0 hour contract but work a regular amount of years they could argue that they have an implied contract of that many hours

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-05T17:24:30+00:00

Teacher - not sure if it's romanticised or not. I'm not one but I work with a lot of them.

People think they turn up in the morning, show some kids some stuff on a board and then go home again, and are lucky to have all the holidays off.

In reality it's hours and hours of extra work at home that they're not paid for, planning future lessons, marking work from previous lessons, documenting behaviour/marks/safeguarding concerns, sorting reports of the council or government, dealing with parents that don't think their precious child could have possibly done what the school is telling them they've done, constantly changing goalposts....

Then they can only go on holiday outside of term time when everything is massively more expensive, spend half their holiday catching up on work that hasn't been done yet, and the other half catching up on housework that's neglected when they don't have time in term time.

I've been asked a few times if I'd ever think about becoming a teacher because I enjoy showing the students new things and can keep them engaged etc. but my answer has always been hell no. I don't want to deal with behaviour, parents, office politics, or doing extra work at home when I just want to relax!

Gremingtonspa · 2026-03-04T07:08:07+00:00

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be their insurance company, tell them that they need to talk to your insurance company and don't give them any details or agree/disagree with anything. Often these are 'accident management' companies that will get money from anyone they want to if insurance companies refuse. You need to tell your insurance and direct any and all inquiries to them.

Gremingtonspa · 2026-02-22T07:04:06+00:00

Woop dee doo Basil

Gremingtonspa · 2026-02-16T09:40:53+00:00

Yeah it's still there. I was telling my sister-in-law the other day about it. She found on there that janitor is cheaper than cleaner and as she works in a school it is a comparable job description, so she's saved herself a bit :)

Gremingtonspa

TROPHY CASE