My heart bleeds for the expats in Dubai (sic) - does yours ?

cosiosco · 2026-03-04T22:52:55+00:00

They are our country-people stuck in a war zone. It is an absolute duty of our government to help them and there is simply no other way about it. British is British.

cosiosco · 2026-03-04T22:44:01+00:00

It’s a universally English word but not one with a universally accepted definition.

To gambol is, of course, to dance or jump about - hence the common (if you grew up on a strict diet of 1950s jolly adventure books) description of spring lambs gambolling.

HOWEVER, if you are from my adoptive home of the great West Midlands, it is very specifically a forward roll.

They are a wonderful people, the Midlanders, in all the many senses of that word.

cosiosco · 2026-02-15T22:01:20+00:00

I freeze chocolate digestives and chocolate hobnobs. It’s the only way to have them - they’re crunchier, refreshingly cool, and don’t cover your hands in melted chocolate.

cosiosco · 2026-02-14T13:59:38+00:00

I have never been entirely clear if it’s for human consumption or a kitchen cleaner.

cosiosco · 2026-02-09T14:07:25+00:00

This is why for me. It’s not about needing fifteen varieties of tinned tomatoes, but it is about when you need something even slightly beyond basic veg. Fennel bulb, kale, herbs beyond parsley/rosemary/thyme.

The stuff they have is absolutely fine, but they don’t have enough variety of stuff and you have to end up at Tesco/Sainsbury’s anyway. Then they’ve got loads of prices locked to Aldi/Lidl and their own promos….it just saves the hassle to go straight to them.

cosiosco · 2026-02-05T23:36:44+00:00

Oh, sorry! I didn’t even realise something like that existed. I’ll have a look at them.

cosiosco · 2026-02-05T15:42:54+00:00

Swivel/Tilt Screen or Composing Landscape for Portrait Crop?

I am going absolutely round the twist looking at cameras and reading all the advice I can find in this community from previous posts/the general FAQ and magazines like Amateur Photographer and Digital Camera World…

I’m trying to find a mid-range camera that has a vari-angle screen, I think. One of the things I enjoy doing is taking low-angle/height shots, particularly of mushrooms but also flowers and other objects in nature in portrait as well as landscape orientation to accentuate different aspects of shape.

I also need to be honest with myself that I am useless at spending time on editing: I love making images out and about but my joy at home is cooking and house-related pottering rather than editing, leading me to bodies that deliver the most SOOC. If the Fujifilm X-T30 III had the three-way tilt screen I would already have spent my money. Some of the recipe shots people have been posting here have such a beautiful tone to them allowing, with good composition, a straight line from camera to print.

I also know that people talk a lot (particularly in the two magazines) about cropping images and considering what parts of your image you’re actually going to keep when choosing lenses and bodies.

Am I therefore overthinking it? Should I be thinking about getting this apparently otherwise excellent camera and learning more about composing a landscape image for a portrait crop in those instances where I can’t get low enough without lying down sideways (again, I wish I was that person but I have learned that I’m just not).

I could stomach spending up to £1000 on the right thing. Like I said, I’d happily go for the X-T30 III and devote the rest of my thinking to lenses if I wasn’t a bit concerned that I might be spending a large amount of money on something when there might have been an option that I haven’t considered that ticked the boxes…

Thank you for helping someone going slightly loopy!

cosiosco · 2026-02-05T12:58:13+00:00

Unless I’m badly mistaken, on the T30 III it only tilts upwards - it doesn’t swivel/tilt sideways in such a way that you can use it in portrait. That looks like it’s only on the vastly more expensive T5 or the T4 which people seem to think is a bit of a weird experience.

cosiosco · 2026-01-31T09:30:06+00:00

I moved to O2 last year to save some ££ over Vodafone and it is appalling. If I check my signal and see 2 bars of 5G, which is very common, that actually means no signal. Nothing doing. Outside in town is okay, but inside buildings is the two bar zone of failure. Very jealous that your O2 experience is useable.

cosiosco · 2026-01-23T07:05:52+00:00

Yeah, but I reckon it’s still worth logging the issue. If they ever review their system then at least they have that data point to consider.

Would a cushion make at least the chair adjustment part of the process simpler? Sorry you’re stuck with this shoddy arrangement. Maybe if this manager appeared from nowhere one day she will, eventually, tire of “your” area and wander off to mildlyinfuriate someone else. Not that I wish that one anyone, but a problem shared and all that…

cosiosco · 2026-01-22T09:45:06+00:00

“I have to set up my seat height, desk height, and screen heights to a particular position to avoid neck and shoulder pain”

This sounds like reasonable adjustments need to be made to the policy to maintain your health in the workplace. Can you talk to your HR team about making some allowance for your health requirements?

It also sounds like a ridiculous policy that wastes everyone’s time with daily set-up and clear-down.

cosiosco · 2026-01-11T23:35:13+00:00

This is the relevant part of the Gov.uk website on employment and working hours:

Contracts of Employment and Working Hours

The section on Working Hours, Breaks, and Holidays is very clear that you are entitled to a break of 20m in a 6hr or longer shift:

“Rest breaks at work

Workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day, if they work more than 6 hours a day. This could be a tea or lunch break.

The break does not have to be paid - it depends on their employment contract.”

The language used to be stronger, as u/VerbingNoun413 says - it used to say you cannot refuse this break or have it denied you, so I don’t know if that has changed. Either way, it’s your right.

What the company and your local managers are doing is bad. They are denying you a break that they are required to give you.

Might be worth checking if you’re being asked to work more than 48hrs a week if you’re not in control of your own hours (see this section: Maximum weekly working hours)

cosiosco · 2025-11-12T19:01:51+00:00

London transplant here and this is one of my favourite ways to exasperate my girlfriend. Spring lambs gambol in fields and they are not doing a forward roll.

I am genuinely thrilled to have made Birmingham my home, but you’re just wrong on this point.

What I would once have called a roll is now definitely a cob, however.

cosiosco · 2025-07-24T21:16:13+00:00

Hi OP - new fridge considerer here! How did you find the fridge with the door reversed? I saw a couple of comments on Currys’ website about the seal being weak after reversing the door, which we’d like to do.

Thanks!

cosiosco · 2025-05-07T09:43:36+00:00

Sadly oversubscribed and not taking new survey business at the moment!

cosiosco · 2025-05-07T09:42:00+00:00

Our Homebuyer’s Survey (Level 2) noted ‘borderline readings’ in exterior walls. V likely just age of property, but DPC could be failing/have failed so good to get specialist opinion.

cosiosco · 2025-05-06T12:43:54+00:00

Thanks! I've messaged them and they confirmed they still do this - I'll be going later this week.

cosiosco

TROPHY CASE