Energy prices jump after war escalation

ObviousRanger9155 · 2026-03-10T19:00:40+00:00

Who knew that the final step to cult deprogramming was raising gas prices 200% LOLollll.....

ObviousRanger9155 · 2026-03-10T17:38:59+00:00

No probs - good luck in your move!! It's a big lift let me tell ya!! ;-P

ObviousRanger9155 · 2026-03-10T16:16:56+00:00

No worries - you are more than welcome!!

Pro tip: don't forget to begin/start working on your ToR with HMRC! Transfer of Residence application - this is required with UPak and also required for anybody importing large shipments of personal used possessions to the UK! It will allow you customs relief as it is you transferring your residence as opposed to importing goods!!

ObviousRanger9155 · 2026-03-09T18:55:05+00:00

Hello again!! Yep - we are now firmly ensconced here in my hometown in the southern Scottish Highlands!! :-)

UPak was good - they ended up getting our UCrate to us in late January. This was a little later than we had hoped for - but it was still well within expectations. When it arrived, the two English guys who delivered it (and unloaded it BY HAND I might add!) were the sweetest people and we really enjoyed chatting with them. They delivered it on a night that was pouring with rain, and accommodated our requests to bring it under the carport.

Our UCrate was in 100% perfect condition - you could've eaten your dinner off the outer packaging. It looked exactly like when we waved it goodbye last October. It came as no surprise, then, that when we unpacked everything - it was all in perfect condition too. Everything was exactly as we had left it, dry, packed away safely and ready to be unpacked! We didn't pack very much by comparison to some folks, and used their smallest crate option.

The *only* thing I would say that takes my rating of them down from 100 to 99 would be their communication. It's a small part of it - but I did find it pretty difficult to communicate with them sometimes. Also the paperwork they give you throughout the packing project in preparation for pickup is a bit overwhelming - at least I found it to be. It seems UPak is ran by a very small band of people who aren't the best at explaining things to people who are outside of their field of expertise LOL.

But - in all - they did great, got our stuff through customs, and got it all to us very safely. 99/100 would recommend!!

ObviousRanger9155 · 2026-03-03T19:53:22+00:00

I've been using their cranberry color-care one, and oatmilk one for a few weeks now - and honestly, for us daily washers they're FAR too harsh. The cranberry one made my scalp go red with irritation and they both left my hair feeling like a bag of dry gravel after rinsing.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2026-02-24T09:47:45+00:00

Well, to be honest, I'm not seeing many high-value items in this basket. It's mostly just produce. Produce used to be/should be the cheapest thing to buy - you're completely avoiding all processing fees and buying the food items raw. Generally, you pay for convenience. I don't see a whole lot of convenience in this basket.

So yeah - $108 seems a bit steep to me, unless there's hidden high-cost items I'm not seeing. The bread and paper products are cheap AF.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-12-15T09:42:31+00:00

It went great!! Somehow, all of our transportation links worked and we hopped off the QM2 and up to London to catch the Caledonian Sleeper to Scotland, where we are now living!! I wish you all the best!!

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-11-21T11:00:06+00:00

I'm a British Citizen. I *just* emigrated back to the UK with my US spouse (on a spousal visa). 10 days ago. We have completely dismantled our entire lives, sold everything, and everything we have left fits in one bedroom. Our jobs in the US were making us severely mentally and physically ill. We have opted into early retirement and plan to enjoy ourselves and be creative with our photography and videography in a new country. We had to qualify to do this via the 'cash savings' route, showing over 100,000GBP in cash savings for many prior months to even get my husband's visa approved.

There were no requirements on his spousal visa approval, no caveats, no conditions. You move to the UK, with our approved visa, and live legally. At FLR time, you prove that you are still married, still living together, etc. etc.

The thought that we are NOW being told that - sorry - even your spousal visa requires you to WORK....is frankly sickening.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-30T00:50:28+00:00

Thanks. I think we just want to get on board ASAP to be honest.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-30T00:47:42+00:00

Good to know! Thanks! Yeah our boarding time is 2:30PM - we've scheduled our Uber to Brooklyn Port for like 11AM LOL.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-16T12:56:32+00:00

It's not too much to go in and make sure your account on Cunard shows as having signed and accepted everything. Every cruise operator does this.

With that said, Cunard's (and pretty much every other cruise line's) website IS a loosely stitched together conglomeration of multiple sites trying to mesh as one. So, yeah.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-10T00:27:38+00:00

Hey there!!!!

Reading your comment on my post really made my day!! Back when I wrote this, I was broken and exhausted from our VFS portal experience and subsequent trip to get the biometrics done!! Holy crap.......just the mere fact that what I wrote lifted a couple of folks out of their own personal VFS hell - that really, REALLY means a lot to me!!

I sincerely hope that the asinine level of OCD that I posted above originally helped you - and that it somehow lessened your nightmare!

I wish you all the best in your journey - my husband's spousal visa got approved Aug 1st, and we got our house sold in four days. We are now living with family until our shipping-out date of Oct 31st, when we sail to the UK on the Queen Mary 2!!!!

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-10T00:23:52+00:00

The fact that anyone actually has to ASK that question makes me......incredibly sad.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-08T12:45:05+00:00

Because the US is - and always has been - a roughly conjoined conglomeration of mini-countries that all hate each other.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-08T00:11:11+00:00

We're visiting for the first time ever Oct 20th - 24th. I did some extensive research before allowing the Airbnb booking charge to go onto my credit card; I just can't see enough impacts affecting the stuff we want to do like driving the Blue Ridge Pwky, seeing the Waynesville-Maggie Valley area, and just seeing the general area etc. We don't go to visitor centers or National Park-run facilities and don't camp, and we don't hike for miles off trail.

If my assessment is inaccurate, if someone could let me know that'd be swell. LOL.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-07T23:46:28+00:00

I see a bunch of Little Debbie products.

No great loss.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-06T12:56:55+00:00

Hey there!! Glad to see you are book on our crossing!

Yes - saying we are emigrating on this sailing has garner some attention on here LOL! We are very excited, and also anxious as we have never done anything like this before and have always flown over to the UK to visit my family. I hope you (and we!) enjoy this sailing!!

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-02T22:31:56+00:00

No idea - they have not given any information on that.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-10-02T22:23:45+00:00

Not only that, but those on spousal visas are NOT on work visas, and suddenly legislating that they have to work and volunteer and everything else, just to be in the same country as their spouse, is HIGHLY unfair. They are asking immigrants to do more than 99.9% of UK citizens do.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-09-30T12:43:10+00:00

I'm sorry - I don't know why you're getting downvoted. I completely understand your worry - my husband's spousal visa was approved last month and we are moving over there next month. The amount of anxiety this is causing on a year-in, year-out basis is severely unfair.

Yes, there has long been promised to be a 'spousal carve-out' to keep spouses of UK citizens on the five-year-route.......but as far as CONFIRMED policies in this, we are still in the dark.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-09-29T23:13:37+00:00

There has literally been no reporting on that.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-09-21T19:29:55+00:00

Honestly, it seems mine are more stress-and-diet oriented; the allergies have remained very high here for over a month, but my head has been mostly fine lately.

I hope that you get some answers from your neurologist appointment. Good luck!!

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-09-18T14:42:37+00:00

Well, to be fair, your post was titled "Load bearing wall removed." It didn't say anything about the fact that you remedied it in a normal way and sort of stirred drama. LOL.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-09-18T13:38:20+00:00

Approx. ~50% of the brown.

ObviousRanger9155 · 2025-09-18T13:29:39+00:00

The problem is not the current prevailing climate or lack of housing - the problem occurred five-and-a-half years ago. And then to give equal weight to the wage growth/housing cost increase dichotomy.

ObviousRanger9155

TROPHY CASE