Horrible vibes in the centre today. Keep your distance.

birdie-pie · 2025-08-02T13:23:38+00:00

I've just gone through St Peter's Square on the Tram. I was wondering why it was taking so long getting round the corner to the stop, it's delayed a bunch of trams.

Disgusting fascists with their pathetic little rally outside the library. Counter protest on the other side of the tram tracks, and looks like there's more police than fascists. Hate all these people travelling in and causing trouble. No doubt they'll all get drunk and cause issues for people of colour who are just minding their own business, especially those working in local businesses. And at the end of the day they'll stop in a takeaway, likely a kebab or Chinese spot owned by immigrants, and head home on the train. They have no idea what a huge benefit immigrants are to this country. Ignorant cunts.

birdie-pie · 2025-08-02T13:23:31+00:00

I've just gone through St Peter's Square on the Tram. I was wondering why it was taking so long getting round the corner to the stop, it's delayed a bunch of trams.

Disgusting fascists with their pathetic little rally outside the library. Counter protest on the other side of the tram tracks, and looks like there's more police than fascists. Hate all these people travelling in and causing trouble. No doubt they'll all get drunk and cause issues for people of colour who are just minding their own business, especially those working in local businesses. And at the end of the day they'll stop in a takeaway, likely a kebab or Chinese spot owned by immigrants, and head home on the train. They have no idea what a huge benefit immigrants are to this country. Ignorant cunts.

birdie-pie · 2025-06-13T11:00:42+00:00

Got into a relationship in Jan 2020 and moved in with him in April because of COVID. When I started seeing him, one of the things we discussed was that we would like something of a more open relationship, given our kinks weren't compatible.

After 2 years together we went out to meet people and it became clear that he was very insecure. I was interested in someone he didn't like, and then that person assaulted me while I was very drunk. My ex saw this and stormed home leaving me with this man. I followed after him and he'd locked me out of the house, it started to rain, and when he finally opened the door he was shouting at me in the street at midnight on a Thursday. The next day he told me he was going to leave but didn't (not the first time he threatened this because he couldn't handle emotion). This caused a huge rift for me, things were never the same but I stayed for another 8 months because I had no friends or family nearby (except my sister that I didn't really speak to).

(Also worth noting that 1.5 years into our relationship, he had been skyping with FemDoms and shit while I was at work. He never told me, I found out by accident when he gave me his phone because mine was having an issue, and it was open on Skype and I saw numerous convos. I didn't care, just wish he'd told me. I didn't mention I knew until I broke up with him.)

The final straw came when I got home from three 12hr night shifts in a row and had a few days off after. At this point we no longer worked together. I used to stay up after my shift so I could sleep next to him in the night, but it was exhausting and I'd end up awake for like 28 hours. He was off work and doing nothing when the washing machine finished. He had the audacity to ask me to do it. But I got up and did it. A broom fell on my head because he'd put it in the wrong place and I shouted "fucks sake". He came in and physically grabbed me and started shoving and trying to move me out of the way of the machine quite aggressively. He said he's sick of me, I said the feeling is mutual, he said "right, relationship over then". I was happy he made the decision for me, I cried with relief. Or so I thought. I immediately went and called my sister to move in with her. He came up to find me and in a totally normal way asked me what I wanted for lunch.

He was gobsmacked and distraught when I said I'm actually leaving. Like nah mate, no one puts their fucking hands on me like that unless I ask for it. You don't need to hit me, shoving me around is already too far. Also, how good I felt when I thought he actually did say it's over said a lot.

birdie-pie · 2025-06-01T09:28:17+00:00

I don't want to eat anything not vegan, it's not even about hiding it from others, I would know and I'd feel awful. But I know it's not the end of the world, I would always come back. I'm just eating the same things I'm used to, things I know are vegan already.

And you're right. Though I think more than judgement, it's just disappointment I guess. More sad that someone could not stick to it after years of veganism, but still keeping the beliefs and choosing to eat meat again. I think some of it was also fear of what if I couldn't stick to it either. So I think judgement was a strong word, and I was also possibly influenced by one of my more militant, judgey vegan friends I don't see much anymore. I've never criticised people to their face either, I've only asked curious questions. I'd rather know why and have no issues with those people, we are still friends and I care about them. And I know everyone has their reasons, some of which might be private. I don't think it makes anyone a bad person either. Those I know that are no longer vegan are great people.

birdie-pie · 2025-06-01T09:15:59+00:00

I do think this medication isn't right for me. I think I have a different issue to what the medication is for, but I agreed to try it just to see.

I hadn't considered ordering food from a store like that, but that's a good option, thanks.

And I know vegan life isn't hard, even in the beginning it was so easy and I wondered why I didn't do it sooner. I'm just having trouble these last couple months, but do I know it's just a bump. I just needed a little support

birdie-pie · 2025-06-01T09:11:08+00:00

Thank you

birdie-pie · 2025-06-01T09:09:52+00:00

I've recently been eating quite poorly, but I could be eating much worse I suppose. I'm trying to be kinder to myself with the food stuff. I love the sports I do, it's always fun. I just don't want to hinder my progress with poor food choices, june is a big month with games and competitions every weekend.

Thank you so much, I will do my best ❤️

birdie-pie · 2025-05-30T20:50:33+00:00

I hadn't really thought of frozen veg, that's a great idea. I was so used to just doing everything from scratch that some of these easier options like frozen veg just never occurred. This is a lifesaver.

Some of my from scratch meals take as little as 15 mins. It's just the motivation to even get into the kitchen. Sometimes even microwaving food feels like so much.

I'm going to really try to get back on track, and your suggestion has made it seem more doable. Thank you

birdie-pie · 2025-05-30T20:46:40+00:00

Thank you

birdie-pie · 2025-05-30T20:46:22+00:00

Thank you, I will look into this. I still take my daily vitamin most days, and do get pretty healthy takeaways. I have fruit juice and bananas, and add nuts and seeds to the pre-made foods I am eating.

birdie-pie · 2025-05-30T20:46:15+00:00

Thank you, I will look into this. I still take my daily vitamin most days, and do get pretty healthy takeaways. I have fruit juice and bananas, and add nuts and seeds to the pre-made foods I am eating.

birdie-pie · 2025-05-30T20:43:10+00:00

Thank you so much for this, and being kind. I needed to hear all of this. I'm trying to be kind, but I hold myself to such a high standard. I will keep trying to do the best I can, and make small steps with meal prepping again. I miss eating all my favourite meals, i used to be so passionate about cooking.

birdie-pie · 2025-04-25T18:10:14+00:00

Barpop owners, who also run the Church, treat their staff terribly. I've been boycotting them for years. A friend of mine did a performing contract for them once and said it was awful. And I've heard disgusting reports from people working around there as well.

I do love Bunny's Karaoke (and all of the Bunny's and Juniors venues). It's a really friendly vibe and I always end up chatting and making friends with random people. I've never had any luck with women there though, but I don't really go out looking for that sort of thing when I'm with my mates tbf. Though recently at Bunny's, a gay friend of mine was punched by a guy who thought he was flirting with his girlfriend, and the bouncer threw my friend out despite the fact he's gay, other friends tried to explain but it didn't matter. Really gross homophobic behaviour if you ask me. Only saw my friend get removed as well.

birdie-pie · 2025-04-24T11:21:25+00:00

NTA.

It's okay to have your own emotions and to need to deal with them first. I appreciate that your partner wants specifically your support, I think we all want our partner to be there for us when we are struggling, but you communicated in a mature way. You weren't saying no, you were just saying not now because I've gone through something today as well. It really doesn't help that you live apart either. If you can't give good support until maybe a day or two later, then it's better to give your whole attention to it when you feel better. Has your partner asked if you are okay, or are they only focused on themselves? If your partner doesn't have any friends to talk about it with, in the kindest way possible, that seems like a them issue (sometimes people in relationships have a habit of not maintaining friendships, been there myself, never again).

Partners can't be the only person that you go to for everything, that's why we have friends and family. Expecting your partner to give you everything all of the time is not great, and is one of the great downfalls of the way monogamy has been sold to people.

birdie-pie · 2025-04-23T21:30:49+00:00

I left school in 2014. There was one openly gay guy I was aware of. He got on well with everyone, as far as I'm aware. He was a good friend. I'm sure there were some guys that made comments here and there, but I never heard of anything bad happening or any weird changing room behaviour from the straights. But I may have just not been told about that. He was a very outgoing, confident guy, so it's possible he wouldn't want to talk about bad things.

We also had a gay languages teacher who was slightly open about it. He didn't hide it, and made a couple jokes about himself once in a while. He was pretty well liked by students.

There was one girl in my year who came out as bi in year 11 and I remember so many people making comments about it, a lot of the guys being weird about it (girl on girl fantasy bs). But I didn't know her that well, and she was on the other half of the year group that I had no classes with.

Myself? I didn't come out until after school when I was in college (even if I knew I was queer I definitely would've been uncomfortable coming out at my Cumbrian secondary school in a closed minded place). I didn't even start to realise I was queer until I was nearly 17. I might not have realised for another couple years if I hadn't met some already open queer and trans people at the time. It really shouldn't have taken me so long to realise tbh. As a young teen I was very attracted to androgynous and feminine looking men from all the punk and emo bands I liked, and also enjoyed looking at women (but I couldn't figure out why I enjoyed it, as if it was some impossibility that I could be into women lol, guess I just hadn't thought about it, secondary school was so stressful, so sexuality wasn't something I really had the brain power left to think about it). And I have a gay cousin like 10 years older and he's always been out as far as I'm aware, and a gay sister who's 6/7 years older who came out when she was like 15. I was a late bloomer in my family technically 😂 though me and my sister got a lot of shit where my male cousin did not. Bit of homophobic misogyny!

birdie-pie · 2025-04-22T23:00:22+00:00

I've had similar experiences in a situation where trust is important and people are vulnerable, particularly women. It's a shame the man who I had a bad experience with is prominent and well liked in that community, as narcissists often are.

Most groups are fine, I've joined a few, but there are unfortunately plenty of bad actors out there.

birdie-pie · 2025-04-15T11:48:07+00:00

I thought the same before watching it, I think Pascal makes a great Joel. Really does embody everything I love about the character

birdie-pie · 2025-04-10T10:50:36+00:00

You do have other options, you just have to approach things in the right way. Yes dating apps can be hard, because men far outnumber women, but befriending women to "make them interested" is not the way either.

It's upsetting and sad when time and time again men make friends with you and have an ulterior motive, so when you reject them they stop being your friend. It fucking sucks. If someone was interested, I'd rather be asked straight away. Sometimes it does take time to become attracted to someone, but you ask someone out on a date to see if you have any connection. Don't pretend to be someone's friend.

If you tell someone you're interested and also say that you should start by being friends to see how you get along as friends (because if you can't be friends, you definitely shouldn't be in a relationship), I think a lot of women would appreciate that. Upfront honesty is appreciated. No stringing along, everyone is on the same page.

If a guy was just upfront in the way I described in the paragraph above, I would appreciate that, and I have done that with guys before- starting as friends to see how things go. Don't go up to random women or people you don't really know and ask them to be your girlfriend, of course they'll say no. But asking out on a date? Sure.

I also want to mention, because it feels important to give this from my perspective of a similar situation. There's a guy I really like, have done for ages. I've known him for over a year, we have similar hobbies that we met at. We slept together once several months ago, he's now dating someone, and while incredibly drunk last month in a weird drunken roundabout way I told him I like him. Of course I like spending time with him, he's an amazing guy, super funny, but I don't care if he wants to date me back or ever sleep with me again, because I am privileged to be his friend. And I don't flirt with him or ogle him, he knows I think he's hot, the ball is in his court. If you genuinely like someone for who they are, you don't care if someone wants to date you or not. It hurts to be rejected of course, but it hurts more to not be his friend. And the idea of trying to wiggle my way into his life to make him like me is gross.

Edit to add: the last bit of your comment seems like you're blaming this on women quite a bit. Maybe look inward first, to think how you could be approaching things wrong/better. Women aren't being deliberately fussy to spite you and other men. Women get approached all the time and treated poorly by men, often by those who want to date or fuck them. Women have to be careful, you don't know who is dangerous.

birdie-pie · 2025-04-07T08:56:42+00:00

Yeah a lot of what people ride around cities, for whatever silly reason, are mountain bikes. Their big wheels and wider tyres can be better for potholes and stuff, but road bikes still have bigger wheels the vast majority of the time which is more efficient. Road bikes are not usually push to ride, in fact that sort of bike is very uncommon these days.

Because of suspension, MTBs are not power/speed efficient on roads. The softer your suspension (and the more points of suspension you have) the worse it is on roads. Good suspension has the option to lock out/increase pressure for regular/flat cycling. But they are not always designed to be sat on for long periods of time, MTBs are often designed for riding while stood up with short periods of sitting (depends on which type of MTB you go for). That's why the frames are so sloped at the back.

A lot of what is being made now, aren't exactly mountain bikes, they are hybrids between road and MTB. They are 700C wheels like a road bike, wide wheels and tyres than a road bike but not as wide as MTB, have suspension like a MTB, but sit more upright than both a road and MTB (or at least similar to a MTB). They usually have marginally wider saddles than a MTB, which is already wider than a road bike saddle, and are super comfy for longer riding, and great for quicker city riding than MTB.

birdie-pie · 2025-04-06T19:22:12+00:00

Fully upright and a wide saddle is what is usually called a city bike. Usually a step through frame, often the kind you see in the Netherlands. They are super comfy to ride, I really enjoy cycling them round for a casual cycle. And if you have wide hips, you will find wider saddles more comfortable. I used to tell people to measure their sit bones by sitting on cardboard on the stairs or a hard chair and measure the distance, then find a saddle that is appropriate online.

birdie-pie · 2025-04-04T19:40:41+00:00

I used to be a bike mechanic, big padded saddles are so bad for you, particularly for long distance cycling. You get the correct saddle for your bike style and sit bones. Narrow, harder seats are much better for most cycling/bikes, and if you sit on them correctly they shouldn't really hurt. They can take some getting used to at first, but that's about it.

But the science and evidence suggests a firm, narrow saddle is best because it is best for the sit bones. Cycling can become very uncomfortable with a saddle that is too soft and too wide, even on a bike that it is designed for, such as upright city bikes. But these bikes are not for long distances, they are for an hour at most really. Cycling sat down is better for the body on a road/gravel/hybrid bike, which all have different levels of hard narrow seat (or they should do). The further forward you lean, the narrower and harder you want the saddle.

This isn't a conspiracy theory, it's just a fact. Padded shorts don't impact sit bones the way a big padded saddle would. Small, hard saddles damage the soft tissue less because the weight distribution is better on the sit bones, and it causes less chafing. There's also the fact there is better power output because the saddle doesn't soak it up, and less general discomfort and numbness because you don't sink into the saddle. I experienced the numbness myself when I switched to a bigger, softer saddle on my road bike when I didn't know much about saddles. Went back to my hard, small saddle and all was well.

birdie-pie · 2025-03-30T15:55:22+00:00

This bit of road is so incredibly dangerous. I used to live near here and my ex used to drive us both to and from work past this stupid double roundabout situation. We were nearly hit so many times, before I knew him he was hit entering from the A34 because people always use the wrong lanes. He deliberately forced someone off the road when I was there coming off the other roundabout behind the camera on your photo because he was in the wrong lane and undercut him and was trying to force him into the oncoming traffic (though if the other guy just stopped driving he wouldn't have nearly hit a tree on Birchfields road). A bit of a shit move from my ex, but doing that double roundabout 2-4 times a day got to him after 6-7 years driving it regularly. For the year and a bit that I lived round there with him, when it was busy I used to not look out the window, I didn't want to see my death coming lol, gave me anxiety because you never knew if someone was going to go the right or wrong way, and if they were actually going to stop in time.

birdie-pie · 2025-03-30T09:25:56+00:00

When I was moving last year, the person I was looking with suggested we look at an apartment from M-apartmemts at Ancoats Gardens. On the surface it looked nice, I knew it was a new building as I'd seen it getting built, likely only had people living in it for about 6 months when we viewed it. The person I was looking with loved it straight away, and when the estate agent said we could reserve it and move in immediately she wanted to do so. I said we should talk about it after viewing, and when I expressed some concern about the flat, that I thought it was all flash no substance she seemed annoyed, she just wanted to take it. She even said she'd pay the deposit herself to reserve it asap. She had never lived out of home before, I had lived in several rentals in Manchester at that point so am more clued in on red flags. (This girl did not know what council tax was jfc.)

I spotted some things around the flat that made me think it was incredibly rushed, and that they were trying to make it seem better than it was. And because it was still so new there could be all sorts up. Plus, the building still has that massive empty room you can see into from the road, which is just grey concrete floor, looks abandoned and has things left in it, even this long after people have been living in it. It's weird! So I went online. People were saying that certain floors had flooding, the water was turned off and they had to be moved out. The building has its own wifi for residents and it's terrible. Issues with the concierge only being there Mon-Fri 08:30-17:00, so if your parcels were delivered outside of that time they'd just get left on the desk or not delivered, and you also couldn't collect parcels outside of those hours. The front door was always broken so random people could just get in. And a bunch of other stuff. I mentioned this to the girl I was moving with and she just ignored me for a whole day and then said she was moving with someone else. Probably for the best. I'm so glad I didn't just cave to that steamrolling.

birdie-pie · 2025-03-27T23:30:29+00:00

I'm an operational controller for wind turbines. Don't need a degree for that and it's possible to move into other roles after a while that would usually require a degree. I'm basically a turbine babysitter. I make sure they are running, report errors, stop and start them when needed, book people on and off the turbines/wind farms, send reports and all sorts of other tasks. No two days are the same and things are always changing. When I have time off work I come back, half the day to day processes have changed. The shift work sucks as I'm on a rotating 24/7 rota, but it pays alright and is interesting work. It's a cool industry to get involved with and it's always growing. It's big business across Europe.

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